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Science Friday > Archives > 2003 > July
> July 18, 2003:
Hour One: Coral Reefs / Genetics of Depression
Whether a person gets depressed in response to the stresses of life
may depend in part on a common gene mutation. A study released this
week in the journal Science looks at how people with different forms
of a gene known as 5-HTT respond to traumatic and stressful events.
The gene is thought to help regulate the brain chemical serotonin.
It comes in two lengths - long and short - and is inherited from both
parents, meaning that every person has either two short forms, two
long forms, or one short and one long version of the gene. The researchers
found that participants in the study who carried two short copies
of 5-HTT were at higher risk of developing depression. Participants
with two long copies seem to be at lower risk. In this hour, we'll
take a look at the genetics of depression.
Plus, the decline of Caribbean coral reefs. New research says that
in the past 30 years, the amount of coral covering the ocean floor
in the Caribbean has declined dramatically. As late as the 1970s,
half the ocean floor in the Caribbean was coral-covered. Now, the
researchers say, only a tenth of the ocean floor there has a coral
cover. They base their findings on 65 different studies, examining
over 260 individual sites in the Caribbean. We'll find out what might
be responsible for the decline, and steps that could be taken to improve
coral health.
Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (2-3 Eastern),
and share your opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required).
Guests:
Isabelle Côté
Senior Lecturer
Centre for Ecology, Evolution
and Conservation
School of Biological Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich, United Kingdom
John Ogden
Director, Florida Institute
of Oceanography
Professor of Biology,
University of South Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
Daniel Weinberger, M.D.
Chief, Clinical Brain Disorders
Branch
National Institute of Mental Health
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland
Douglas Levinson , M.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Center for Neurobiology and
Behavior
University of Pennsylvania School
of Medicine
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Books/Articles Discussed:
- "Influence of Life Stress on Depression: Moderation
by a Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene," A. Caspi et al. Science,
July 18, 2003.
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- "Long-term Region-wide Declines in Caribbean Corals,"
T. A. Gardner et al. Science, July 18, 2003.
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- (find
more SciFri books here)
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Related Links:
The
Coral Reef Alliance : Welcome to CORAL
The
Coral Reef Ecology Home Page
NOAA's
Coral Reef
United
States Coral Reef Task Force
EPA
> Oceans, Coasts, and Estuaries > Habitat Protection > Coral
...
- NIMH
- Depression
NARSAD:
National Alliance for Research On Schizophrenia and Depression
MEDLINEplus:
Depression
Depression genetics study: depressiongenetics.med.upenn.edu
, 877.407.9529.
This segment produced by Karin
Vergoth
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