It’s all in your mind?

            ANN ARBOR , MI -  A brain study found major differences between women with serious depression and healthy women in a brain chemical system that’s crucial to stress and emotions. The study adds evidence that depression has roots in specific alterations within the brain, specifically in the endogenous opioid system that is a central part of the natural pain and stress reduction system. Findings show significant variation between those with depression - variation that seems to be linked to whether or not the patients respond to an antidepressant medication. The study at the University of Michigan Medical School affiliated with the U-M Depression Center was in the Archives of General Psychiatry. It’s based on brain imaging, blood chemistry, and other data from 14 women with major depression, and 14 healthy women of about the same age and background. “This work gives further evidence of individual differences in brain mechanisms altered in major depression,” says senior author Dr. Jon-Kar Zubieta, associate professor of psychiatry and radiology. “We found these differences in the response of the endogenous opioid system. Some women, but not others, with major depression, showed exaggerated responses in this system when undergoing an emotional challenge.”

            SAN FRANCISCO - Kaiser Weekly Update noted the Kaiser Family Foundation held the first live interactive webcast in a series devoted to U.S. health and healthcare disparities. Each webcast in the "Today's Topics in Health Disparities" series has experts tackling issues in health disparities and answering questions from viewers. The first discussion was on key findings in the 2006 National Healthcare Disparities Report and interventions that may explain some gains in reducing disparities.

            `CHICAGO - The Critical Care Workforce Partnership endorsed the Patient-Focused Critical Care Enhancement Act, which raises awareness in Congress and the public about the need to optimize delivery of critical care medicine and expand the critical care workforce. The act was introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and is based on the May 2006 U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) report that confirmed the increased demand for current and future services will be exacerbated by an imminent shortage of critical care providers. The proposed legislation authorizes $9 million in appropriations for research and projects to address the burden imposed by the critical care workforce shortage. “Whether caring for an aging parent or anticipating your own healthcare issues, the need for critical care spans all ages and all generations,” said Dr. Mark J. Rosen, president of the American College of Chest Physicians.

            UPPSALA , SWEDEN - MedPage Today noted violent physical outbursts triggered by abuse of anabolic steroids, the so-called 'roid rage, may mask a more complicated criminal picture linked to the drugs. Among people being tested for steroid use, convictions for violent impulsive crimes were not different among those who tested positive or negative, said Dr. Fia Klötz, of Uppsala University . On the other hand, steroid abusers were twice as likely to have been convicted of weapons offenses, Dr. Klötz and his team stated in the Archives of General Psychiatry. One possible explanation is that being "bulked up" by steroids is an advantage for those routinely involved in offenses such as armed robbery or the collection of crime-related debts, Dr. Klötz and colleagues concluded. Such crimes aren’t usually impulsive, contrary to the usual picture of steroid-linked crime, but the perpetrators may benefit from the well-known aggressiveness tied to the drugs, researchers said. The finding comes from a study of known criminal activity among those tested for anabolic androgenic steroid use Jan. 1, 1995 -Dec. 31, 2001 at Sweden 's doping laboratory in the Stockholm area.

            CHAPEL HILL , NC - In families where both parents work outside the home, fathers who use a wide variety of words chatting with their children may be strengthening their language skills, a study shows. Researchers who watched two-year-olds interacting with their parents found the more diverse vocabulary a dad used in these encounters, the more highly-developed the child's language skills were at age three. "It seems to be important for fathers to be talking to their kids and to be using a variety of words to their child," Nadya Pancsofar, a graduate research assistant at the University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill and study co-author, told Reuters Health. "Our study was one of the first to look at the contribution of fathers' vocabulary to children's language development." Pancsofar and co-investigator Dr. Lynne Vernon-Feagans analyzed information from a study of 120 children recruited from 11 childcare centers. All had begun attending the centers before their first birthday. "These fathers were on average pretty highly involved in their children's daily care," Pancsofar noted. The key factors that predicted a child's language development were the diversity of the father's vocabulary, the mother's education, and the quality of day care, researchers found.

            WASHINGTON - Monday Morning in Washington, DC noted a National Consumer Needs Assessment found users with disabilities are lacking accessible medical equipment. The survey looked at examination tables, x-ray equipment, rehabilitation/exercise equipment, and weight scales and found extensive difficulties for persons with disabilities. For instance, 75% of the persons surveyed said they had moderate or greater difficulty with exam tables, over 68% had moderate or greater difficulties with x-ray equipment, 55% had moderate or greater difficulty with rehabilitation/exercise equipment, and 54% had moderate or greater difficulty accessing weight scales. The survey found 50% reported moderate or great difficulty with exam and procedure chairs, such as those typically used by dentists or for other outpatient medical services. Needs Assessment investigator, June Kailes, M.S.W., urged more consumers to file complaints under the ADA . Almost 500 persons participated.

            BALTIMORE - HealthDay News noted people who couldn't stomach a medical study requiring them to give up chocolate ended up helping science, anyway. These chocoholics' blood platelets displayed a reduced tendency to clot together in dangerous clumps, researchers found. The finding may explain why chocolate can be good for the heart. "Chocolate that's flavonoid-rich, that's dark, that's good quality, that's not traveling with all of its bad friends like sugar and fat, probably has some fairly potent pro-health benefits, although not as strong as aspirin," said lead researcher Diane Becker, professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "The quantities were far more than anyone would ever eat and the measurements were done only two to four hours after the people consumed it," Becker, a self-professed chocoholic, explained. "We didn't know about chocolate consumption the way people really eat it." The 139 individuals participating in this "offshoot" study had been disqualified from a larger study on the effects of aspirin on blood platelets. All had a family history of premature coronary heart disease, putting them at higher risk for heart disease.