Depression and Mania Induce Pro-inflammatory Activation of Macrophages Following Application of Serum from Individuals with Bipolar Disorder.

Objective: Evidence has suggested that immune imbalance is involved with bipolar disorder (BD); however, its precise mechanism is poorly understood. This study investigated whether biochemical changes in the serum from BD patients could modulate the phenotype of cultured macrophages.

Methods: Eighteen subjects with BD and five healthy individuals were included in this study.

Social instigation and repeated aggressive confrontations in male Swiss mice: analysis of plasma corticosterone, CRF and BDNF levels in limbic brain areas.

Introduction:: Agonistic behaviors help to ensure survival, provide advantage in competition, and communicate social status. The resident-intruder paradigm, an animal model based on male intraspecific confrontations, can be an ethologically relevant tool to investigate the neurobiology of aggressive behavior.

Objectives:: To examine behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms of aggressive behavior in male Swiss mice exposed to repeated confrontations in the resident intruder paradigm.

Evaluation of cytokines, oxidative stress markers and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in patients with fibromyalgia - A controlled cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Previous studies measuring serum levels of biomarkers of inflammation/oxidative stress and neurotrophins levels in fibromyalgia (FM) have rendered inconsistent results. In the present study, our aim was to explore the levels of interleukins, oxidative stress markers and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in patients with FM in relation to depression and severity of disease.

Methods: In a prospective controlled cross-sectional study, serum concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), protein carbonyl and BDNF were measured in 69 FM patients and 61 healthy controls (all women).

Serum magnesium and proton-pump inhibitors use: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of serum magnesium levels with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) use and other factors.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 151 patients admitted with acute diseases in the Internal Medicine Division of the Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, after the exclusion of conditions that are commonly associated with hypomagnesemia: diarrhea; vomiting; chronic alcohol use; severely uncompensated diabetes mellitus; and chronic use of laxatives, diuretics or other drugs causing magnesium deficiency.

Results: All patients had normal serum magnesium levels.

Group B Streptococcus detection: comparison of PCR assay and culture as a screening method for pregnant women.

Streptococcus agalactiae or group B Streptococcus (GBS) is one of the most important causal agents of serious neonatal infections. Numerous assays have been evaluated for GBS screening in order to validate a fast and efficient method. The aim of this study was to compare the culture technique (established as the gold standard) with the molecular method of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with specific primers (atr gene).