There are no gender differences in depression rates in prepubescent children, but, after the age of 15, girls and women are about twice as likely to be depressed as boys and men. In this article, three models for how gender differences in depression might develop in early adolescence are described a

The emergence of gender differences in depression during adolescence.

https://www.gettingstronger.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Lupien-Definition-of-Stress.pdf

The effects of stress and stress hormones on human cognition: Implications for the field of brain and cognition.

The acute effects of corticosteroids on cognition: integration of animal and human model studies

Smell and taste disorders are common in the general population, yet little is known about their nature or cause. This article describes a study of 750 patients with complaints of abnormal smell or taste perception from the University of Pennsylvania Smell and Taste Center, Philadelphia. Major findings suggest that: chemosensory dysfunction influences quality of life; complaints of taste loss usually reflect loss of smell function; upper respiratory infection, head trauma, and chronic nasal and paranasal sinus disease are the most common causes of the diminution of the sense of smell, with head trauma having the greatest loss; depression frequently accompanies chemosensory distortion; low body weight accompanies burning mouth syndrome; estrogens protect against loss of the sense of smell in postmenopausal women; zinc therapy may provide no benefit to patients with chemosensory dysfunction; and thyroid hormone function is associated with oral sensory distortion. The findings are discussed in relation to management of patients with chemosensory disturbances.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/articlepdf/619670/archotol_117_5_015.pdf

Smell and taste disorders, a study of 750 patients from the University of Pennsylvania Smell and Taste Center.

Stress- and treatment-induced elevations of cortisol levels associated with impaired declarative memory in healthy adults.

Fluctuations in symptoms and moods during the menstrual cycle

Various behavioral and neurological phenomena are reported to occur in relation to the phase of the menstrual cycle in women, including mood changes, suicide attempts and seizures. It is suggested that fluctuations in female sex hormones during the menstrual cycle might be related to these findings,

Variations in some measures of arousal during the menstrual cycle.

&NA; Eighteen normal male subjects, each serving as his own control, were tested with acute cortisol and placebo intravenous infusions on separate days. Previous studies have shown that enhancement of the amplitude of the averaged‐evoked‐potential by random flashes reflects selective attention. Cortisol administration was accompanied by a significant decrease in this enhancement. It is therefore hypothesized that cortisol may be acting to decrease the subject's ability to attend differentially to visual stimuli. Cortisol significantly increased the latency of the averaged‐evoked‐potential resulting from flashes when the subject attended to flashes. Several measures reflecting time perception were significantly changed by cortisol in a direction comparable with a slowed “internal clock”‐‐ie, produced intervals were longer with the drug. Cortisol produced no changes in two‐flash fusion threshold, mood adjective check list scores, and &agr;‐rhythm.

Cortisol effects on averaged evoked potentials, alpha-rhythm, time estimation, and two-flash fusion threshold.

The contingent negative variation (CNV) was recorded in the interval between paired visual exposures of male nudes, female nudes, and sexually "neutral" silhouettes. Groups of 12 male and 12 female subjects viewing 50 randomized presentations from each stinmulus category responded with averaged CNV amplitudes proportional to the predicted degree of sexual interest in the stimulus classes.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/177/4050/718.full.pdf

Contingent Negative Variation as an Indicator of Sexual Object Preference

The amplitude of the contingent negative variation (CNV) was studied in twelve male subjects given oral doses of methamphetamine (10 mg), secobarbital (50 mg), and placebo on the three testing days separated by one week. Orders were balanced across subjects and testing conditions were double-blind. The mean amplitudes of the CNV elicited with methamphetamine were significantly greater than those obtained with secobarbital and placebo. Comparing secobarbital with placebo yielded no significant results, possibly due to the low secobarbital dosage. The sensitivity of the CNV amplitude to methamphetamine suggests that the CNV may be a sensitive measure of arousal and attention and could provide a reliable index for assessing the relative arousal effects of complex drugs on humans.

Donald T. Lunde

Papers

Fluctuations in symptoms and moods during the menstrual cycle

Variations in some measures of arousal during the menstrual cycle.

Cortisol effects on averaged evoked potentials, alpha-rhythm, time estimation, and two-flash fusion threshold.

Contingent Negative Variation as an Indicator of Sexual Object Preference

The effects of methamphetamine and secobarbital on the contingent negative variation amplitude.