Publications by authors named "Andreescu C"

Background: Late-life depression (LLD) is characterized by repeated recurrent depressive episodes even with maintenance treatment. It is unclear what clinical and cognitive phenotypic characteristics present during remission predict future recurrence.

Methods: Participants (135 with remitted LLD and 69 comparison subjects across three institutions) completed baseline phenotyping, including psychiatric, medical, and social history, psychiatric symptom and personality trait assessment, and neuropsychological testing.

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The Circle of Willis (CW) is a critical cerebrovascular structure that supports collateral blood flow to maintain brain perfusion and compensate for eventual occlusions. Increased tortuosity of highrisk vessels within the CW has been implicated as a marker in the progression of cerebrovascular diseases especially in structures like the internal carotid artery (ICA). This is partly due to age-related plaque deposition or arterial stiffening.

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The increasing awareness of the potential health risks associated with microplastics' (MPs) and nanoplastics' (NPs) presence in the environment has led to a significant rise in research focused on these particles over the past few years. This review focuses on the research on MPs'/NPs' presence and spread, pathways of exposure, toxicological effects on human health and legal framework related to MP/NP challenges. Several research projects have aimed to assess their potential harm to human health, focusing on different systems and organs.

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  • Late-life depression (LLD) might be linked to changes in brain structure and aging, but this study looked to see if brain age could help predict if someone with LLD would relapse.
  • Researchers studied 102 people with LLD and 43 healthy individuals over two years to see how their brain age compared and if it related to relapsing.
  • The results showed that brain age wasn’t different between healthy people and those with LLD, and it didn’t predict whether someone would relapse, which was unexpected based on previous studies.
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Worry is a transdiagnostic symptom common to many neurocognitive disorders of aging, including early stages of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Severe worry is associated with amyloid burden in cognitively intact older adults, yet the mechanisms underlying this association are not well understood. We hypothesize that this relationship involves altered brain and cardiovascular reactivity to acute stressors, a brain-body phenotype that also increases risk for cardiovascular disease.

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  • Optic nerve and chiasm hemangioblastomas are rare tumors, often seen in patients with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease, and have limited documentation in clinical literature.
  • A study analyzed 12 VHL patients with these tumors, gathering clinical data and MRI results to establish treatment strategies.
  • Findings suggest most tumors are slow-growing and asymptomatic, but some patients may experience rapid progression, highlighting the importance of monitoring and individualized treatment approaches.
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Studies have confirmed that anxiety, especially worry and rumination, are associated with increased risk for cognitive decline, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Hippocampal atrophy is a hallmark of ADRD. We investigated the association between hippocampus and its subfield volumes and late-life global anxiety, worry, and rumination, and emotion regulation strategies.

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Depression in older adults with cognitive impairment increases progression to dementia. Microbiota is associated with current mood and cognition, but the extent to which it predicts future symptoms is unknown. In this work, we identified microbial features that reflect current and predict future cognitive and depressive symptoms.

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Clinical endocrinologists encounter in their practice patients with thyroid diseases on a daily basis. Still, diagnosis of rare structural thyroid disorders can be quite challenging. In some instances, they do not only impersonate but can also conceal, other conditions such as thyroid carcinomas.

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Sepsis is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite the remarkable advances in modern medicine throughout the last century, the mortality rates associated with sepsis have remained significantly elevated, both in high- and low-income countries. The main difficulty in the diagnosis and treatment of septic patients is the tremendous heterogeneity of this condition.

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  • The REMBRANDT study looks at late-life depression, which can cause problems like forgetting things and being sad again after feeling better.
  • Researchers will enroll 300 older people who either have been treated for depression or have no mental health issues, and observe them for two years.
  • The study aims to figure out what causes depression to come back and how it affects thinking abilities, so they can find ways to help people stay well.
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Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) is a rare genetic disorder characterised by a non-functioning PTH. Usually, the diagnosis is made following (symptomatic) hypocalcaemia. We describe a case in which epileptic seizures and abnormalities in dental development were the main clinical manifestation of PHP type 1B.

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The use of radioactive iodine in the treatment of hyperthyroidism is common practice. However, a standardized treatment protocol with regard to radioactive iodine treatment (RAI) remains subject to discussion. We retrospectively analyzed 100 patient records.

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Objective: We investigated the relationship between anxiety phenotypes (global anxiety, worry, and rumination) and white matter hyperintensities (WMH), with special consideration for the roles of age and executive function (EF). Our hypotheses were 1) anxiety phenotypes would be associated with WMH and 2) EF would moderate this relationship.

Design: Cross-sectional.

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Background: The menopause transition is a vulnerable period that can be associated with changes in mood and cognition. The present study aimed to investigate whether a symptomatic menopausal transition increases the risks of depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders.

Methods: This population-based, retrospective cohort study analysed data from five electronic health record databases in South Korea.

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The efficacy of antidepressant treatment in late-life is modest, a problem magnified by an aging population and increased prevalence of depression. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of treatment response in late-life depression (LLD) is imperative. Despite established sex differences in depression and neural circuits, sex differences associated with fMRI markers of antidepressant treatment response are underexplored.

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This study examined the temporal relationship among depression, anxiety, insomnia, perceived stress, and physical activity in adults aged 60+ years with a history of major depressive disorder. We conducted a longitudinal study with 12 weeks of follow-up. Assessments consisted of phone or video interviews and included questionnaires evaluating depression, anxiety, insomnia, perceived stress, and physical activity.

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Objective: To investigate the relationship between anxiety and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and whether it is mediated by perceived stress, at the population level.

Method And Design: In a longitudinal study of 368 adults aged 65+ from a population-based cohort, we annually assessed anxiety symptoms (GAD-7), perceived stress (PSS-4), and ratings on the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR®), where CDR = 0.5 was operationalized as MCI.

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Background: Both clinical and non-clinical levels of disordered eating behaviours have been associated with deficits in emotional processing.

Methods: Through a correlational design, the present study examined the relationship between different types of disordered eating behaviours and various forms of emotional processing. N = 209 female undergraduate participants completed self-report measures of disordered eating behaviours, perceived emotion intensity, emotion regulation skills, and self-compassion.

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Although pituitary adenomas (PAs) account for 15% of intracranial tumors, pituitary carcinomas (PCs) are a rare entity. Most commonly, PCs evolve from aggressive PAs invading the surrounding structures and eventually leading to metastatic lesions. Due to the low incidence, the diagnosis and treatment remains challenging.

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Summary: The Covid-19 vaccination has been rapidly implemented among patients with cancer. We present two cases of patients with endocrine tumours who developed lymphadenopathy following a Covid-19 vaccination. In the case of a patient with multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) 1 syndrome, an 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18FDG)-PET/CT showed positive axillary lymph nodes.

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  • Major depressive disorder is common and has significant impacts on individuals and society, but antidepressant treatments often rely on trial and error, with no reliable ways to predict their effectiveness.
  • Brain MRI techniques, including structural and functional imaging, show potential for predicting treatment outcomes, though they are not yet widely used in clinical settings.
  • Key findings suggest that a larger hippocampal volume and lower white matter burden are linked to better treatment success, while network-focused measures like brain activation patterns may offer a more nuanced approach for understanding and predicting responses to treatment.
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  • A new brain age model based on machine learning was developed to detect amyloid and validate its accuracy using clinical data from 650 participants in South Korea, showing it can estimate brain age with a mean error of about 5.68 years.
  • The study found that an increased brain age correlates with higher amyloid levels and worse cognitive function, indicating its potential as a predictor of cognitive decline.
  • The model replicated earlier findings, successfully distinguishing between different stages of dementia and amyloid status, suggesting it could be useful for monitoring cognitive impairment in older adults.
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Psychotherapeutic approaches in late-life anxiety have limited effect on reducing worry severity. The self-referential processing of worry contents (self- vs. other-focused worry) and reappraisal styles (internal vs.

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