| Daily Dose: Type 2 Diabetes Linked To Depression, Aging Face
Those with diabetes and high blood sugar also have elevated levels of an inflammatory marker associated with depression, according to the new research. Doctors said a study of senior citizens suggested a direct biological link between diabetes and depression. Lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet also contributed to depression in people with the disease. Faces Do Not Age Uniformly Doctors say gravity is not why the face falls and that the face does not age uniformly. The face is made up of distinct fat compartments that individually change with age. Those changes are what lead to wrinkles, sagging and hollowed skin. Doctors said the face is like a three-dimensional puzzle with pieces around the forehead, eye, cheek and mouth.
3 million in Japan have mental illness
TOKYO - The number of Japanese suffering from mental illnesses topped 3 million for the first time in 2005, the government said Friday, amid efforts to improve mental health services in Japan. 2005 was the first year the number exceeded 3 million, Cabinet Office official Toshiaki Nagato said. Japans population in 2005 was 127 million. But he said it likely reflected an increase in the number of mental health care facilities and other treatment options that allow more sufferers to come forward and be counted. The government has earmarked substantial funds for programs to help those with depression and other mental illnesses and is more actively involved in trying to get those affected to seek help through awareness programs. Conditions regarded as mental illnesses in the report included addictions, Alzheimers disease Alzheimers disease, depression, epilepsy and stress-related disabilities.
Diagnosis, Treatment of Youth for Depression Fell After FDA Alert
Researchers are troubled by data indicating that large numbers of young people with depression are being left untreated after the FDA issued its first advisory about the antidepressants in 2003. Rates of the diagnosis and pharmacological treatment of depression among children and adolescents dropped sharply after October 2003, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its first public health advisory informing health care professionals of an increased risk of suicidality among youngsters taking antidepressants. These findings, which appeared in the June American Journal of Psychiatry, have heightened the concerns of researchers and clinicians alike that suicide rates among untreated children and adolescents will rise unchecked. In fact, a study published in the February Pediatrics revealed an 18.2 percent increase in suicide from 2003 to 2004 among youngsters under the age of 20 (Psychiatric News, March 2).
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