Cross-cultural equivalence in depression assessment: Japan-Europe-North American study.

Objective: Worldwide use of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) presupposes that depression symptomatology can be measured the same way across countries but no empirical study has yet examined this issue. We therefore examined cross-cultural consistency of factor structure of HRSD.

Method: A 17-item HRSD data were sought for 5,185 individuals diagnosed with major depression in Japan, Europe and North America.

Strategy for structure elucidation of drug metabolites derived from protonated molecules and (MS)n fragmentation of zotepine, tiaramide and their metabolites.

TSQ ESI MS/MS and ion trap ESI MS(2) cleave protonated molecules. MS(2) at m/z 332 of zotepine cleaved m/z 245 (10%), m/z 287 (5%) and m/z 315 (100%) fragment ions at protonated positions. MS(2) at m/z 356 of tiaramide cleaved m/z 338 (18%), 313 (10%), 226 (100%), 198 (78%) and 131 (60%) fragment ions at protonated positions.

Identification and characterization of the human serotonin-4 receptor gene promoter.

The human serotonin-4 (5-HT(4)) receptor gene expression is highly regulated in various tissues. We isolated the human 5-HT(4) receptor gene containing the 5'-flanking region and characterized its promoter. By 5'-RACE (5'-rapid amplification of the cDNA ends) and inverse PCR, multiple transcription initiation sites were identified.