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| Photo Credit: Shutterstock/Angela Waye |
Here are 10 amazing discoveries you may have missed this week.
1. Blood Test for Depression
“Where are you going?”“Out.”“Who are you with?”“People.”“When will you be back?”“Whenever.”
Ah, the teen years.
Our culture regards adolescents as sullen, moody and disillusioned, but
it’s no joke at any age when what appears to be moodiness is actually
depression or anxiety, serious problems that can be hard to diagnose.
That’s why a new
study -- preliminary but promising -- showing that a simple blood test
can diagnose depression is pretty huge news.
"Once you have a measurable index of an
illness, it's very difficult to say, 'Just pull yourself together,' or
'Get over it,'" Eva Redei, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in
Chicago and leader of the study told Melissa Healy of the LA Times.
The Times story describes how
the study was done by testing rats, one group of healthy test subjects,
another with a vulnerability for depression. The rats with depression
had 11 molecules in their blood and brains that were “largely absent” in
the healthy rats, and 15 molecules in rats that had depression
and anxiety that were absent in those with depression only. Researchers
then tested for these “biomarkers” and found teens with depression “had
significantly higher concentrations of the 11 targeted molecules in
their blood,” and 18 biomarkers distinguishing teens with depression
from those with depression and anxiety. READ MORE
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