Scientists Get Closer to Depression’s DNA
Health Day News writes that, according to a team of researchers, genes from a “specific region of chromosome 15″ may lead to depression!
“We should be able to hone more finely into the gene,” said Myrna Weissman, co-author of one of the papers and a professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University and head of clinical and genetic epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute, both in New York City. “Then, we can see mutations and develop treatments,” she said.
Look for the full article in the February issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry written by lead scientists at Stanford University. Researchers write that about 10 to 15 percent of people suffer from depression at some point in life and between three & five percent have depression chronically. Scarily enough (because I am a woman), women are twice as likely as men to live with depression.
Although no single gene (scientists guess that there are several genes instead) has been decided upon as the responsible one, studies of families, and especially twins, have revealed that depression is partly genetic. While things may be genetic, one must take the environmental factors (including psychological trauma) may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Once the actual genes are found is very important and it may teach researchers exactly how genes are involved in depression, and maybe one day, what genes actually do.
April 9th, 2007 at 4:45 am
cool blog!
April 16th, 2007 at 1:14 am
cool blog!
April 18th, 2007 at 2:08 am
nice photos of this blog