OrganizedWisdom has excellent information on depression. The information delivered is divided in:1. 5 great resources2. what is depression3. what are the symptoms and complications of depression4. what are the types of depression5. what are the treatments of depression6. what Are The Holistic and Alternative Treatments for Depression7. how do you prevent depression? 8. wisdom, stories and blogs about depression 9. foundations and support groups on depression 10. message boards, chat and discussions about depression 11. scientific and medical journal articles on depression 12. clinical trials on depression 13. related .....read more »

Chocolate reduces irritability and rejection sensitivity in patients with atypical depression. The question about chocolate craving succesfully allocates two third of particpants with three or four symptoms of atypical depression.How?3000 participants reporting clinical depression completed a web-based questionnaire when visiting a website (http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au). Respondents were required to have experienced depressive episodes lasting at least 2 weeks and requiring treatment. The questionnaire was used to investigate self-reported benefits of chocolate during a depressive episode and examine for any specificity of personality style to such chocolate craving.More resultsWhen depressed 1465 (54,4%) reported food cravings, with 1210 (44,9) specifically being chocolate cravers (50,7% .....read more »

Dr Shock is skeptical about the possibilities of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) influencing the neural networks involved with depression. TMS can influence the cortex on the surface and probably a few centimeters beyond. In research TMS has been used to disrupt neural activity experimentally in studies of human cognition but relatively little is known about how TMS works.Effects of TMS on brain functions:1.Single burst TMS instead of repetitive TMS applied to the visual cortex interferes with visual imaging (repeated stimulation=rTMS has a longer lasting effect than a sinle burst)2. Stimulation of the right spot in the motor cortex causes the .....read more »

Interesting question in relation to Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia can occur during an ECT course. The memory of some recent events can be lost due to ECT, some patients complain of forgetting recent events. This retrograde amnesia extends from shortly before ECT to events that occured during the illness episode.That is why this is an interesting question. How is it possible that some memories are not consolidated. It takes time for a short-term memory to become long-term memory. The passage of time allows it to become resistant to interference from competing stimuli or disrupting factors such .....read more »

What is the difference? Dr Shock forgot. He received a review of a manuscript. Fortunately it will be accepted if...... And one of the mistakes Dr Shock made was confusing the two, using them both for efficacy. After a search on the web Dr Shock will remember the difference, once and for all. He found a clear explanation on medicinescomplete.com. Mind you English is not his native tongue.Efficacy is: Whether or not an intervention can work under ideal conditions relates to efficacy.1 If the conditions of a trial are optimised, the measurement of the outcome variable may detect even .....read more »

Gearlive has it. Scientists developed a translucent frog so they can see the organs and blood vessels during experiments with diseases.Related posts: Female Academics Pioneers in Science Twitter Lists of Health and Science Symphony of Science Ode to the Brain ..read more »

No Dr Shock is not going into herbal remedies nor acupuncture or any other expensive crap. Papayas are used to introduce Year 3 medical students to uterine anatomy, endometrial biopsies, intrauterine contraception, and uterine aspiration. They sure learn a lot more than we did in the "Old Days".During the second week of the Year 3 obstretics and gynaecological clerkship students participate in a "Papaya Workshop". The Gynaecologists pokes holes in the stem ends to mimic the cervix. On these papayas the students practice intrauterine contraception (IUC) placement with two different IUC's. They learn to dilate and aspirate and curette their .....read more »

How commonly prescribed medications and medical conditions affect ECT is written in a recent article in Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine. This article: Electroconvulsive Therapy: What the Internist needs to know, can be downloaded for free. It is an excellent clearly understandable written article. Even patients can benefit from the presentation of all this knowledge and discuss some points made in this article with their psychaitrist and consulting internists.It starts with an accurate description of the history of ECT, indications, but more important which medical assessments are needed and when. Comprehensively the authors divided the medical conditions that may require .....read more »

Part-time work and office hours are important factors for recent graduated medical students. These factors influence their choice for becoming a general practitioner and public or occupational health specialist. So not long from now 60-80 working hours per week as in the "Old Days" will be history. A larger percentage women choosing medical education enhances this trend. Enthusing medical students for your specialism also works. The main factor for medical students for choosing a medical specialism is enthusiasm for that particular specialism. The second important factor is their experiences during their education and third their experiences working in that specialism .....read more »

Blogging addiction is a serious condition. Dr Shock is 64% addicted to blogging which is very high according to his wife. Before looking for marital counseling fortunately Dr Shock found a blog with 23 health tips for bloggers. If you're not a blogger you may try them as well.Two tips:If you're in a healthy relationship, have sex at least once every 3 days. I'm dead serious about this. It can be critical to both mental and physical stability.If you're addicted to IMing, porn, RSS reading, movie watching, shoe shopping, music searching or whatever else dominates your time.... TAKE BACK CONTROL .....read more »