Public Citizens and the Constitution: Bridging the Gap between Popular Sovereignty and Original Intent

I sincerely congratulate the citizens of America upon the fair prospect which now presents itself to their view; and promises a long reign of virtue, happiness, and glory, as the result of a constitution which is the real vox populi so often ardently desired by mankind, in vain, for the first time, discovered by the patriotic sages of America

No association of the Val66Met polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor with hippocampal volume in major depression

Recently, an association of the Val66Met polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor with hippocampal volume in patients with major depression has been reported. Here, we aimed at replicating this finding in an independent German sample. We included 79 patients with unipolar major depressive episodes and 84 healthy comparison participants. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism was determined in all participants. The volume of the hippocampus was manually traced on high-resolution magnetic resonance images. The hippocampal volumes of patients were significantly smaller than those of the comparison participants, confirming previous reports. There was, however, no Val66Met effect on hippocampal volume in either group. To conclude, we did not replicate the Val66Met effect on hippocampal volume in neither patients with major depression nor in healthy participants