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To Emily Dickinson, it was “fixed melancholy.” To essayist George Santayana, it was “rage spread thin.” The turns of phrase conjure different emotions, but these two writers were describing the same disorder: depression. The variance is more than a matter of literary or philosophical differences; it also reflects the fact that one was a woman, the other a man.

Therapists have long known that men and women experience mental illness differently. Yet when clinicians designed the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , the guidebook they use to diagnose psychiatric maladies, they purposely made the disease descriptions gender-neutral. Today evidence is mounting that in turning a blind eye to gender, clinicians are doing their patients a disservice. In fact, as more researchers investigate sex differences in depression and other mental illnesses, the inescapable conclusion is that gender influences every aspect of these disorders--from the symptoms patients experience to their response to medication to the course of a disorder throughout a person’s life.

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EKAZHEVO, Russia (Reuters) - A female suicide bomber killed herself after shooting dead a policeman on Friday in Russia's North Caucasus region, where the Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency, police said.

OSLO (Reuters) - The Norwegian Catholic Church said Friday it was aware of four more potential sexual abuse cases by priests against minors, two days after it revealed that a bishop who resigned last year did so after abusing an altar boy.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said in an interview aired on Friday that there is no guarantee sanctions will change Iran's behavior but he believes steady international pressure could alter Tehran's nuclear calculations over time.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to the United States for a four-day trip Monday aiming to address Iran's nuclear program and burnish her global credentials ahead of a crucial regional election in Germany.

MONTCOAL, West Virginia (Reuters) - Rescuers headed back into a West Virginia coal mine on Friday in a fourth bid to search for four miners missing since the deadliest U.S. mine disaster in a quarter century.

LONDON (Reuters) - British election officials will for the first time use Facebook to encourage more people to register to vote on May 6 after turnout fell to historic lows in the last two ballots, a watchdog said on Friday.

KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. Air Force Osprey aircraft crashed overnight in Afghanistan, killing three American service members and one civilian employee, the NATO-led international force in the country said on Friday.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai protesters stormed a satellite station on Friday, overrunning an army barricade and forcing their TV channel back on air in the first major confrontation in a three-day state of emergency.

By Maria Golovnina BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's new leadership said on Friday it had control over the armed forces and would do everything to prevent a civil war in the Central Asian country which hosts both U.S. and Russian air bases.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials again reiterated their commitment to low interest rates for "an extended period" on Thursday, given the fragile nature of the economic recovery, and suggested a reduction in the size of the central bank's balance sheet could take as long as two decades.

Scientists have discovered that drugs which affect the methylation state of genes could reverse autism's effects...

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - An astounded Tiger Woods exceeded his own expectations in his first tournament for almost five months as veteran Fred Couples charged into a one-shot lead in the U.S. Masters first round on Thursday.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Republicans boldly predicted gains in November congressional elections on Thursday and rallied loyalists with sharp criticism of President Barack Obama over issues from healthcare to foreign policy.

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Playing the Champions Tour has made Fred Couples feel like a kid again and on Thursday the 50-year-old had a bounce in his step as he fired a 66 to lead the U.S. Masters after the first round.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has withdrawn from a nuclear security summit in Washington next week, fearing Muslim delegates will demand Israel give up its assumed atomic arsenal.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Dozens of world leaders gather in Washington next week for an unprecedented meeting on nuclear security, with U.S. President Barack Obama hoping they can agree on how to keep atomic bombs out of terrorists' hands.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday made clear he was not going to take advice from Republican Sarah Palin when it comes to decisions about the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Editor's Note: Scientific American 's George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here .

Solar power involves wondrous quantum physics and materials science , but its fate may hinge on whether contractors can learn to bolt on the panels without losing too many screws. The panels themselves account for only about half the cost of a solar array; the rest is the installation and back-end equipment . As panel makers slash their prices , the nuts and bolts loom ever larger. Fortunately, a quiet revolution is now underway in installation. Brendan Neagle, the chief operations officer of Borrego Solar , a major U.S. installer, says they've sped up installation by 40 percent over the past two years. Zep Solar has invented a new roof mounting system, already supported by the module maker Canadian Solar , that speeds things up by another factor of two. And Nat Kreamer, president of Acro Energy , another large installer, says they've streamlined the preparation work and can get a system up on your roof within 30 days of your first phone call -- quite an improvement on the eight or so months it took me .

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a planned trip to Washington next week to take part in President Barack Obama's 47-country nuclear security summit conference.