Genetic Trigger of Depression Identified: Potential Target for Novel Class of Therapeutic Agents
Duman’s team did whole genome scans on tissue samples from 21 deceased individuals who had been diagnosed with depression and compared gene expression levels to those of 18 individuals who had not been diagnosed with depression. They found that one gene called MKP-1 was increased more than two-fold in the brain tissues of depressed individuals.
So much for my theory that green jellybeans and reality TV were responsible for depression. I wonder if there is some corresponding genetic compensation for depression in some gene responsible for creativity. Agatha Christie, Charles Dickens, Edgar Degas, Anne Hathaway and William Faulkner are said to suffer or did suffer from depression. Woody Allen once said that one reason he made films is to escape from melancholy. This is not to say one should wallow in depression and self-pity in order to facilitate creativity. F. Scott Fitzgerald tried that to some degree and died in middle-age.
MU Researchers Find Celebrity Journalism May Contribute Positively to Consumer Health
“Based on the discussion of participants, we observed that it is possible for celebrities to serve as surrogate interpersonal contacts for people,” Hinnant said. “Therefore, it would be less likely for a consumer of celebrity media to check with a friend or family member before changing a health behavior based on a mass-mediated message. The presence of a celebrity in a health story could serve as that interpersonal contact for the reader.”
Hinnant says participants in her research demonstrated how they took celebrity health behaviors seriously, weighing the moral implications and mitigating circumstances of a celebrity’s life before judging a health behavior. Her study also revealed how the readers are an active audience, one that considers context instead of just conduct. Hinnant believes a person may be more likely to respond to a celebrity health story if that person has past experience with the specific issue in question.
I’ve read somewhere previously that if a celebrity writes a book about their own or family health experience and they appear on a show like Oprah or The Today Show – and talk about breast cancer for example – doctors appointments for cancer screenings go up for the next month.
Ezra Klein is either too nice or having a naiveté brain fart, Americans prefer tax increases to benefit cuts
In Washington, the fiscal commission — and the elite consensus — favors sharp spending cuts over tax increases as a way to plug the entitlement hole. In the country, the preference is just the opposite: chart at link.
Interestingly, this holds true for every single age group. We’re not looking at a situation where the elderly oppose benefit cuts in large numbers, but other demographics are more favorably inclined. In fact, it’s the young who are most steadfastly opposed to benefit cuts
What people want is the deluxe chocolate sundae with all the extras and not have to pay for it. It has been holy writ for as long as I can remember that the vast majority of people believe if you just trim the government of a few bureaucrats and this or that entitlement all we’d live in Eden and walk on clouds. Otherwise relatively rational people believe you can have a civilized society with all the institutions that make stability and wealth possible and not pay a dime. As a nation we’re awful at making the connections between services, costs and associated benefits.
Election 2010: Alaska Candidate Joe Miller’s Private Security Guards “Arrest” Reporter at Public Event – because it is so radically unusual for a reporter to pursue a candidate for the U.S. senate to ask questions. Conservatves4Palin have distinguished themselves with the claim that anyone who feels threatened can – by way of “common law” – handcuff and detain anyone. The problem with that argument – one among several – is the statutory law against false arrest and kidnapping. The other is the general application of common law as they see it is anyone would be able to handcuff and detain anyone they “felt” threatened. The reporter could have thrown down Miller and his guards, handcuffed them all and used common law as his defense. And we could all say goodbye to freedom of the press as well. Miller has used the felt threatened argument himself ; if that is the case why did his goon guards erase the video tape which would have thus helped Miller with his side of the story – Joe Miller Really Doesn’t Want to Take Questions
inkbluesky 