Study Suggests Inflammation Medicines Treat Depression
A recent Emory study has shown that certain medications meant to prevent inflammation may also help treat patients suffering from severe clinical depression.
The purpose of the study – conducted in the School of Medicine and published in the online version of the Archives of General Psychiatry on Sept. 3 – was to find out if blocking inflammation could help relieve symptoms of depression, specifically in people who have not responded well to other antidepressant treatments, according to Andrew Miller, the senior author of the study and professor at the School of Medicine.
Infliximab, the drug used in the study, is a new biologic drug used to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Biologic drugs are unique in that they target just one molecule in the body – in contrast to other drugs that treat overall symptoms – so they have a very specific purpose, Miller said.
Miller said the study used a double-blind design, meaning that neither patient nor doctor knew who received the actual medication or a placebo, a fake drug that neither treats nor causes harm.
The subjects were given either the medication or the placebo every two weeks for a total of six weeks and attended three clinic visits.
Every one to two weeks, the researchers interviewed the subjects to determine the extent of their depression, Miller explained.
Miller and the other researchers found that only the patients with high levels of inflammation responded to the drug.
The researchers measured inflammation using a simple blood test available at any clinic or hospital that checks for certain protein levels associated with inflammation.
"If our theory is right, and people with depression and high inflammation respond to drugs that block inflammation, then we will be able to easily identify those people before they are put on a bunch of drugs that probably won't help," Miller said.
After replicating the study with a larger group of subjects, the researchers hoped to confirm that one molecule – an inflammation-causing cytokine called tumor necrosis factor – that the drug targets is in fact the cause of severe depression, according to Miller.
Biologic drugs such as infliximab allow researchers to discover which molecules are responsible for causing a disease in a selected group of people, which is a huge advancement in treating depression, Miller noted.
Emory, Ga. Tech Develop App To Diagnose Ear Infections
The Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University have collaborated to develop a new medical clip-on device that can be attached onto the iPhone, along with a new software application, to diagnose ear infections in children.
Wilbur Lam, an assistant professor in the joint department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, developed the device called Remotoscope.
The Remotoscope device allows parents to take photographs or video footage of the eardrum using the iPhone.
With the device, parents can then send the images to a physician for review and a diagnostic confirmation.
The Remotoscope is a clip-on attachment with a software application that turns an iPhone into an otoscope, an instrument that pediatricians currently use to diagnose ear infections in doctors' offices and hospitals.
The clip-on attachment will use the iPhone camera and the flash as the light source, according to a Sept. 20 University press release.
The software will provide magnification in order to record the images and videos on the phone.
According to Lam, the device could help to prevent many late-night trips to the emergency room by allowing frantic parents to receive diagnoses of ear infections at home.
Lam said he believes the device could save a significant amount of money for families and health-care systems, since ear infections cause more than 15 million office visits per year in the United States.
Ear infections affect 75 percent of children by age six, making it the most common diagnosis for preschoolers.
Lam explained that children who acquire ear infections at a young age have a higher chance of recurrent ear infections.
According to the press release, a clinical trial at the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory School of Medicine will test the quality and effectiveness of the Remotoscope compared to the traditional otoscope.
Lam said he aims to commercialize the Remotoscope and future pediatric devices as a part of CellScope Inc., the company he co-founded.
Researchers Study Reciprocity in Monkeys
University researchers have examined the roles of reciprocity, or giving favors, in monkeys to better explain the human behaviors of sociality, sharing and other prosocial acts of kindness.
The recent study examining capuchin monkeys has shown that monkeys act similarly to humans when helping others, despite benefits and costs to oneself, explained Malini Suchak, an Emory graduate student in the psychology department and the lead investigator of the study.
Suchak defined prosocial behavior, or the act of helping others, as a motivation to help somebody for selfless reasons.
The study tested whether "direct reciprocity could promote generosity" among capuchin monkeys, according to Suchak in a Sept. 12 University press release.
The researchers tested 12 capuchin monkeys in pairs on a prosocial task in which the monkeys chose between a selfish act that benefited only themselves and a prosocial act that benefited themselves and a partner.
In the press release, Suchak said the study suggests that monkeys were more willing to do favors for others if they could alternate and help each other, regardless of what prosocial act they were doing.
This is similar to human behavior in that, like humans, the capuchin monkeys may have understood the benefits of helping each other and used this knowledge to maximize the returns of helping others, according to the press release.
The researchers then examined the influence of each monkey's relationship outside the experiment.
They found that there was no difference between helping a familiar partner or a complete stranger, according to Suchak.
Suchak explained that this research will advance information on the beginnings and biologic understanding of cooperation and reciprocity in humans with strangers as well as familiar people, since monkey biology and behavior is comparable to humans.
The study was conducted at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
Suchak collaborated with Director of the Living Links Center at Yerkes and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Psychology Frans de Waal.
The study has appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
– Compiled by Sf Mallika Manyapu
Read More
Trending
