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Alterations were found in parts of the brain known as white matter, which contains fibre tracts that enable brain cells to communicate with one another by electrical signals. White matter is a key component of the brain's wiring and its disruption has been linked to problems with emotion processing and thinking skills. The study of more than 3000 people -- the largest of its type to date -- sheds light on the biology of depression and could help in the search for better diagnosis and treatment. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh used a cutting-edge technique known as diffusion tensor imaging to map the structure of white matter. A quality of the matter -- known as white matter integrity -- was reduced in people who reported symptoms indicative of depression. The same changes were not seen in people who were unaffected. Depression is the world's leading cause of disability, affecting around a fifth of UK adults over a lifetime. Symptoms include low mood, exha...

"We know that cannabis use in adolescence is associated with outcomes like lower educational level, and difficulties with mood and depression, but through this long-term study, we've been able to provide a much deeper insight into this relationship, showing that certain characteristics of use may be more important than others," said Erika Forbes, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, psychology and pediatrics, and lead author of the study. "The findings highlight that understanding marijuana use across the entire period of adolescence, which we know is an extremely vulnerable developmental phase, may tell us much more about detrimental long-term impacts than knowing about overall or one time use." Researchers analyzed 158 boys and young men from Pittsburgh who were part of The Pitt Mother & Child Project ( PMCP ), a long-running longitudinal study of males at high risk for antisocial behavior and other psychopathology based on low income, family size and child...

The team studied nearly 400 individuals from birth to adulthood. Half of the participants had been born before 32 weeks gestation or at a very low birth weight (less than 3.3 pounds), and the other half had been born at term and normal birth weight. They assessed each participant when they were 6, 8 and 26 years old using detailed clinical interviews of psychiatric disorders. "Previous research has reported increased risks for anxiety and mood disorders, but these studies were based on small samples and did not include repeated assessments for over 20 years," said Jaekel. Their results? At age 6, children were not at an increased risk of any anxiety or mood disorders, but by age 8 -- after they had entered school -- more children had an anxiety disorder. By 26, there was a tendency to have more mood disorders like depression, but the findings were not meaningfully different between the two groups. This study is the first investigation of anxiety and mood disorders in ...

The finding is reported in today's online edition of the journal  Current Biology . "This discovery, which identifies a direct dopamine neuron connection to the circadian center, is possibly the first step toward the development of unique drugs, targeting specific neurons, to combat the unpleasant symptoms of jet-lag and shiftwork, as well as several dangerous pathologies," said Ali Deniz Güler, a UVA professor of biology and neuroscience who oversaw the study in his lab. Modern society often places abnormal pressure on the human body -- from shifting time schedules due to air travel, to work cycles that don't conform to natural light, to odd eating times -- and these external conditions create an imbalance in the body's natural cycles, which are evolutionarily synchronized to day and night. These imbalances may contribute to depression, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and even cancer. "Scientists have been working for decades to help the body's ...