A study led by researchers in Canada who analysed post mortem brain samples of suicide victims with a history of being abused in childhood
found changes in DNA expression that were not present in suicide victims with no childhood abuse history or in people who died of other causes. The
affected DNA was in a gene that regulates the way the brain controls the stress response.
The research was the work (more…)

A new study has found that the more a teenager is exposed to television and other electronic media the higher are his/her chances of developing depression symptoms in young adulthood - this is especially the case for young men, says a study published in Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA/Archives journal.
The authors explain that depression is the leading cause of non-fatal disability worldwide. It tends to start during adolescence (more…)

Recent results from a text messaging campaign for calling hypertensive patients in for periodic blood pressure reading ran by the Lea Surgery in City & Hackney tPCT has delivered response rates of 76%.
From searches made on their GP system, the surgery sent out a group text message to selected patients inviting them to call the surgery to make an appointment. Within three weeks of sending (more…)

Johns Hopkins and other researchers report what is believed to be the first direct evidence in lab animals that the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil amplifies the effects of a heart-protective protein.
The team’s findings, to be published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation online Jan. 5, helps explain why sildenafil, more widely known as Viagra, has already been (more…)

A 20 year study by American scientists suggests that happiness may spread from person to person because they found that people surrounded by
happy people in their friends and family network were more likely to remain happy in the future.
The study was published online in the British Medical Journal, BMJ on 4 December by authors James H Fowler, associate professor in the
Department of Political Science at the University of California in San Diego, and Nicholas (more…)

Several factors, such as older age and high weight gain, are known risk factors for pre-eclampsia and other pregnancy-related blood pressure disorders. Now a new report suggests that social factors - including living in a rural county - may also increase the risk of pre-eclampsia and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH), according to research presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 41st Annual Meeting and Scientific (more…)

An Internet program helps to reduce depressive symptoms and prevent episodes of clinical depression in adolescent patients at risk, reports a study in the February issue of the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, (more…)

Ed Wagner, MD, MPH, knew there had to be a better way. He and Group Health colleagues set out 15 years ago to explore how best to engage patients with chronic diseases in effective care. With Robert Wood Johnson Foundation support, they developed the Chronic Care Model. More than 1,500 U.S. and international medical practices have adopted the Model. Buy generic clomid (more…)