A new psychosocial approach shows promise in helping preschoolers with symptoms of depression function better and learn to regulate their emotions, according to an NIMH-funded study published online ahead of print October 31, 2011, in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

A certain type of brain cell may be linked with suicide, according to a recent investigation. People who take their own lives have more densely packed von Economo neurons, large spindle-shaped cells that have dramatically increased in density over the course of human evolution.

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Peering through a microscope at a plate of cells one day, Ralph M. Steinman spied something no one had ever seen before. It was the early 1970s, and he was a researcher at the Rockefeller University on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. At the time, scientists were still piecing together the basic building blocks of the immune system. They had figured out that there are B cells, white blood cells that help to identify foreign invaders, and T cells, another type of white blood cell that attacks those invaders. What puzzled them, however, was what triggered those T cells and B cells to go to work in the first place. Steinman glimpsed what he thought might be the missing piece: strange, spindly-armed cells unlike any he had ever noticed.

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Men in same-sex marriages enjoy better health, have fewer doctor visits and lower health care costs compared to other gay or bisexual men, researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health wrote in the American Journal of Public Health...

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan declared its tsunami-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant to be in cold shutdown on Friday, taking a major step to resolving the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years but some critics questioned whether the plant was really under control.

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Alcohol abuse does its neurological damage more quickly in women than in men, new research suggests. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence that is prompting researchers to consider whether the time is ripe for single-gender treatment programs for alcohol-dependent women and men.

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None of us can stand perfectly still. No matter how hard we try, our bodies constantly make small adjustments, causing us to sway slightly as we stand. A new study finds that people with bipolar disorder tend to sway more than those who are unaffected, which may lead to new ways to treat and diagnose the illness.

When psychologists diagnose bipolar disorder, they typically look for mood swings between agitated mania and bleak depression. Previous studies have linked bipolar disorder to abnormalities in the cerebellum and basal ganglia, regions of the brain that are also important for motor control. This connection led Indiana University psychologist Amanda Bolbecker and her colleagues to hypothesize that people with bipolar disorder might also have problems with motor skills.

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Men who have lost their partner to cancer and who are still single four to five years after their loss run a far greater risk of developing mental illness than those who have managed to find a new partner, reveals a unique study of 691 Swedish widowers carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy. More than 22,000 people die of cancer in Sweden each year...

Participation in horticultural activities can improve confidence and social skills, cultivate a positive attitude, and rejuvenate the mind and body...

In spite of the mind-expanding perks of city life , urban living is known to increase the chances of developing mental disorders such as schizophrenia . [More]