Use the following reading passage to answer the questions below.
Depression
Men and women may each benefit from different treatments for depression. This is the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, which identified opposing alterations in gene expression changes between men and women with the condition.
Researchers have found that men and women with major depression have opposing changes in gene expression.
Major depression, or major depressive disorder, is a mental health disorder in which depressive symptoms persist for at least 2 weeks.
Such symptoms include continuous feelings of sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, or guilt, loss of interest in activities and hobbies, lack of energy, and — in some cases — suicidal thoughts.
It is estimated that in 2016, around 16.2 million adults in the United States experienced at least one episode of major depression.
Such episodes were almost twice as common among women than men.
Given the difference in the prevalence of major depression between the sexes, scientists have investigated whether there might be distinctions in the molecular mechanisms that drive major depression in men and women.
One study that was reported by Medical News Today last year identified different responses in the supramarginal gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex brain regions of male and female participants with depression.
In this latest study, lead author Dr. Marianne Seney, Ph.D., from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in Pennsylvania, and colleagues pinpointed specific genetic differences between men and women with major depression.
What is the meaning of distinctions as used in this passage?