[Gender differences in the neurocognitive components of depression].

Unlabelled: The clinical symptoms of major depression are paralleled by typical neurocognitive deficits. Our aim was to investigate the gender differences in neurocognitive impairment in patients with major depressive disorder.

Methods: 96 patients with acute major depressive disorder meeting DSM-IV criteria participated in our study.

[Validation of a new mood questionnaire on healthy sample].

Depression is a frequent, wide spectrum disease causing substantial suffering. Quantitative tools for measuring depression are rather important both at the clinical and non-clinical state. BDI (Beck Depression Inventory) the HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and the BHS (Beck Hopelessness Scale) are used both in clinical practice and research.

Association of the STin2 polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene with a neurocognitive endophenotype in major depressive disorder.

Background: The aim of our study was to investigate the association of STin2 polymorphism and cognitive dysfunction in major depression.

Methods: 71 patients with major depression and 99 controls were genotyped for STin2. All depressive subjects and 30 controls also completed tests measuring neurocognitive performance.

Association between depression and the Gln460Arg polymorphism of P2RX7 gene: a dimensional approach.

The P2RX7 gene (coding for P2X7 purinergic receptor) has been suggested as a novel candidate gene for major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BPD). The proposed risk allele (G-allele) of the rs2230912 polymorphism results in an amino acid change at the 460th position, marking this genetic variation a possibly functional one. Here we present a case-control analysis of 171 patients diagnosed with MDD or BPD and 178 controls, as well as a dimensional approach using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) for studying the Gln460Arg polymorphism of the P2RX7 gene as a genetic risk factor in depression.

[Markers of cognitive vulnerability in major depression].

Neuropsychological deficits have been reported in patients with major depressive disorder in a lot of lectures. The aim of the present study was to measure the neurocognitive functions of major depressive patients and healthy controls, and identify some vulnerability marker of the disease. Seventy-one patients with major depressive disorder were compared to thirty healthy control subjects on tasks from Trail Making Test, Stroop Test, Rey Verbal Auditory Learning Test and Rey-Osterreich Figure Test.

[Association of neurocognitive endophenotype and STin2 polymorphism in major depressive disorder].

Two well known polymorphic regions of the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4) are the 5HT-TLPR which consists of a 44-bp insertion or deletion in the promoter region and the STin2 consisting of variable number of tandem repeats in the second intron. Several studies focused on the association of the 5HTTLPR and behavioral or clinical factors of depression; on the other hand, the relation of the STin2 to major depressive disorder (MDD) is less widely investigated. We carried out a case-control study of 71 MDD patients and 99 healthy control subjects comparing frequencies of the STin2 allele- and genotype variants in the two populations.