The Bipolar Depression Rating Scale (BDRS): its development, validation and utility.

Objectives: Unipolar and bipolar depression differ neurobiologically and in clinical presentation. Existing depression rating instruments, used in bipolar depression, fail to capture the necessary phenomenological nuances, as they are based on and skewed towards the characteristics of unipolar depression. Both clinically and in research there is a growing need for a new observer-rated scale that is specifically designed to assess bipolar depression.

Hydrolytic activity toward pyridoxine-5'-beta-D-glucoside in rat intestinal mucosa is not increased by vitamin B-6 deficiency: effect of basal diet composition and pyridoxine intake.

Pyridoxine-5'-beta-D-glucoside (PNG), a glycosylated form of dietary vitamin B-6, is partially hydrolyzed in the small intestine by the cytosolic enzyme pyridoxine-5'-beta-D-glucoside hydrolase (PNG hydrolase) and by the brush border enzyme lactase phlorizin hydrolase (LPH) to release free pyridoxine (PN). This laboratory has previously shown that PNG hydrolase activity is inversely related to dietary vitamin B-6 in rats and guinea pigs. The current investigation was done to examine the effect of dietary PN on PNG hydrolytic activity and its distribution.