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Study links depression to low blood levels of acetyl-L-carnitine
Investigators at Stanford and elsewhere have shown, for the first time in humans, that low blood levels of acetyl-L-carnitine track with the severity and duration of depression.
People with depression have low blood levels of a substance called acetyl-L-carnitine, according to a Stanford University School of Medicine scientist and her collaborators in a multicenter study.
Naturally produced in the body, acetyl-L-carnitine is also widely available in drugstores, supermarkets and health food catalogs as a nutritional supplement. People with severe or treatment-resistant depression, or whose bouts of depression began earlier in life, have particularly low blood levels of the substance.
The findings, published online July 30 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, build on extensive animal research. They mark the first rigorous indication that the link between acetyl-L-carnitine levels and depression may apply to people, too. And they point the way to a new class of antidepressants that could be freer of side effects and faster-acting than those in use today, and that may help patients for whom existing treatments don't work or have stopped working.
Also at The Rockefeller University.
Acetyl-l-carnitine deficiency in patients with major depressive disorder (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1801609115) (DX)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @12:36PM (2 children)
"No. I find drug tests degrading. You guys are still doing this stuff?"
"It's not a drug test; we want to know whether you're at risk for depression. Depressed people reduce productivity."
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:31PM (1 child)
Too bad someone has not invented a simple "piss into this cup" test for psychopathic managers and C level people. After all, soulless psychopathic people with no empathy reduce productivity.
I thought paxil back in 1992 was supposed to be the magical cure all for depression. At least from the ads and press coverage I remember. Now some vets give prescriptions for paxil to some dogs that bite -- and under a generic name rather than the brand name.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 02 2018, @01:55PM
If there's one thing that history shows, it's that soulless psychopathic people with no empathy drive productivity, especially when the economic system in place provides an incentive to do so in a way that benefits everyone else at the same time.