A Harvard University study has found that long-term depression in people over 50 could more than double their risk of having a stroke. The risk remains significantly high even after the depression eases.
New Medical Specialty Proposed for Combined Depression and Heart Disease
New research suggests that there is a strong link between depression and heart disease. Angelos Halaris, M.D., Ph.D., a psychiatrist at the Loyola University Medical Center, is so impressed by the strength of the correlation that he proposes a new medical subspecialty specifically to study and treat combined depression/heart disease patients. The new subspecialty, “Psychocardiology,” would be for the purpose of increasing physician and patient awareness of the strong link between the two disease processes, and would also increase the likelihood that patients with one of the two diseases — who would therefore be at risk of developing the other — would receive appropriate monitoring.
Healthy Neuroticism Linked with Lower Levels of an Inflammatory Biomarker
A new study suggests that healthy neuroticism may protect your body against inflammation. Researchers have found that some self-described neurotics tend to have lower levels of a biomarker known to play a role in inflammation and chronic disease. The study is published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity [1].
NIH Researchers Implicate Unique Cell Type in Multiple Sclerosis
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found evidence that a unique type of immune cell contributes to multiple sclerosis (MS). Their discovery helps define the effects of one of the newest drugs under investigation for treating MS — daclizumab — and could lead to a new class of drugs for treating MS and other autoimmune disorders.