Validity and reliability of the Hamilton depression rating scale (5 items) for manic and mixed bipolar disorders.

Depressive symptoms during mania have prognostic value in bipolar disorder. For depressive symptoms, it has been proposed that shorter scales should be cost-effective and practical. To determine the usefulness of 5-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-5) in manic and mixed bipolar disorder, we used a four-week follow-up prospective, observational study.

Selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition reduces endothelial dysfunction and improves inflammatory status in patients with intermittent claudication.

Introduction And Objectives: Both endothelial dysfunction and a proinflammatory state are present during the early stages of atherosclerosis. In this context, increased expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) results in higher levels of vasoconstrictive and proinflammatory substances. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of COX-2 activity on endothelial dysfunction associated with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Patterns of treatment with PDE5 inhibitors in the clinical practice in Italy: longitudinal data from the Erectile Dysfunction Observational Study.

The Erectile Dysfunction Observational Study (EDOS) is a 6-months observational prospective multicentric study enrolling men with erectile dysfunction (ED) who asked, to be started on a treatment or to change a previous treatment. Aims of the study were to analyse the pattern of treatment and compare the efficacy of treatments used. Patients were enrolled during a normal hospital visit and were prescribed a treatment for ED.

A single dicer gene is required for efficient gene silencing associated with two classes of small antisense RNAs in Mucor circinelloides.

RNA silencing in the zygomycete Mucor circinelloides exhibits uncommon features, such as induction by self-replicative sense transgenes and the accumulation of two size classes of antisense small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). To investigate whether this silencing phenomenon follows the rules of a canonical RNA-silencing mechanism, we used hairpin RNA (hpRNA)-producing constructs as silencing triggers and analyzed the efficiency and stability of silencing in different genetic backgrounds. We show here that the dsRNA-induced silencing mechanism is also associated with the accumulation of two sizes of antisense siRNAs and that this mechanism is not mediated by the previously known dcl-1 (dicer-like) gene, which implies the existence of an additional dicer gene.

Impact of mental disorders and chronic physical conditions in health-related quality of life among primary care patients: results from an epidemiological study.

Purpose: To estimate the comorbidity of mental disorders with chronic physical conditions and to assess their independent and combined effects on health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Methods: Face-to-face cross-sectional survey of adult attendants to public primary care (PC) centres from Catalonia (Spain). A total of 3,815 out of 5,402 selected patients provided data for this study.

Perceived need for mental health care and service use among adults in Western Europe: results of the ESEMeD project.

Objective: This study assessed prevalence and correlates of perceived need for mental health care and its role in help seeking.

Methods: Data were from general population surveys conducted for the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders. The sample consisted of adults who screened positive for specific mood and anxiety symptoms in surveys conducted in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and Spain (N=8,796).

Translation of randomised controlled trial findings into clinical practice: comparison of olanzapine and valproate in the EMBLEM study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of olanzapine- and valproate-treated patients in an observational study of acute mania with the results of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) assessing the same treatments.

Methods: EMBLEM (European Mania in Bipolar Evaluation of Medication) was a 2-year, prospective, observational study of health outcomes associated with the treatment of mania. Severity of mania and depression were assessed at baseline and 6 weeks using the YMRS and the 5-item version of the HAMD, respectively.

Reasons and outcomes of olanzapine dose adjustments in the outpatient treatment of schizophrenia.

Introduction: Antipsychotic treatment dose adjustments may influence treatment outcomes in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: We analysed data from 4,247 outpatients with schizophrenia who started olanzapine monotherapy in the 3-year, prospective, observational SOHO study to determine factors associated with olanzapine dose adjustments and how these impact on treatment effectiveness and tolerability.

Results: Regression analyses showed an association between changes in the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) and olanzapine dose changes: patients with a lack of effectiveness were more likely to have their dose increased, whereas patients with good treatment response were more likely to have a dose decrease.

Cross-national associations between gender and mental disorders in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys.

Context: Gender differences in mental disorders, including more anxiety and mood disorders among women and more externalizing disorders among men, are found consistently in epidemiological surveys. The gender roles hypothesis suggests that these differences narrow as the roles of women and men become more equal.

Objectives: To study time-space (cohort-country) variation in gender differences in lifetime DSM-IV mental disorders across cohorts in 15 countries in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative and to determine if this variation is significantly related to time-space variation in female gender role traditionality as measured by aggregate patterns of female education, employment, marital timing, and use of birth control.

Tolerability of outpatient antipsychotic treatment: 36-month results from the European Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes (SOHO) study.

SOHO is a 3-year, prospective, observational study of schizophrenia patients who started a new antipsychotic in 10 European countries. Cohorts of patients were defined according to the antipsychotic started at baseline: olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, amisulpride, clozapine, oral typical and depot typical antipsychotics. Tolerability in terms of rates of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), tardive dyskinesia (TD), anticholinergic use, loss of libido/impotence, amenorrhoea/galactorrhoea/gynaecomastia, and weight change was assessed in 4939 patients who started monotherapy.

Comparison of different valuation methods for population health status measured by the EQ-5D in three European countries.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare different valuation methods for population health status measured by the EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) in three European countries.

Methods: A representative survey of the noninstitutionalized population aged 18 and above was conducted in three European countries (Germany, The Netherlands, and Spain). A total of 11,932 respondents were interviewed using the EQ-5D self-classifier.

Is it always the same? Variability of depressive symptoms across six European countries.

Using common diagnostic systems together with structured interviews to assess mental disorders has made it possible to compare diagnostic groups of mental disorders across countries. The implicit assumption is that the symptomatology of a particular disorder as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) will not vary between different countries. However, it is conceivable that there will be some variability in the symptom patterns.

Psychometric properties of the twelve item World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHO-DAS II) in Spanish primary care patients with a first major depressive episode.

Background: Psychometric information on the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHO-DAS II) in depressive primary care (PC) patients is scarce and has been obtained with the 36-item version of the instrument. The main objective of this study was to analyse the dimensionality, internal consistency and construct validity of the 12-item WHO-DAS II in a large sample of Spanish PC patients with a first diagnosed major depressive episode.

Method: Data were collected between December 2006 and July 2007.

Prevalence of mental disorders in primary care: results from the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders in primary care study (DASMAP).

Objective: Previous epidemiological studies have revealed a high prevalence of mental disorders among primary care (PC) patients. However, most studies have methodological limitations (e.g.

Epidemiology of major depressive episode in a southern European country: results from the ESEMeD-Spain project.

Background: Information of the epidemiology of Major Depressive Episode (MDE) in Spain, one of the biggest southern European countries, is scarce and heterogeneous. The objective of this study was to assess the epidemiology of the disorder in the Spanish sample of the ESEMeD project.

Methods: The ESEMED-Spain project is a cross-sectional, general population, household survey conducted with a representative sample of Spanish non-institutionalized adult population.

The epidemiology of eating disorders in six European countries: results of the ESEMeD-WMH project.

Few data are available to estimate the prevalence of eating disorders (EDs) and their correlates in the community. This paper reports data on EDs obtained in the framework of the ESEMeD project, aimed at investigating the prevalence of non-psychotic mental disorders in six European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain), using a new version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. The ESEMeD study was a general population cross-sectional household survey.

Mental disorders and termination of education in high-income and low- and middle-income countries: epidemiological study.

Background: Studies of the impact of mental disorders on educational attainment are rare in both high-income and low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries.

Aims: To examine the association between early-onset mental disorder and subsequent termination of education.

Method: Sixteen countries taking part in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative were surveyed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (n=41 688).

The cost of relapse in patients with schizophrenia in the European SOHO (Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes) study.

Background: Relapse in schizophrenia is one of the greatest burdens of the illness.

Aims: To estimate the costs associated with relapse in a pan-European naturalistic setting.

Method: The SOHO study is a 3-year, prospective, observational study of 10,972 outpatients with schizophrenia across 10 European countries.

Observational study designs for bipolar disorder - what can they tell us about treatment in acute mania?

Randomised controlled trials may have generalisability limitations when applied to the complex treatment of patients with bipolar disorder. Observational study designs can inform us about the diversity of bipolar disorder treatment in naturalistic settings. The aim of this paper was to describe the treatments prescribed for acute mania in a large prospective observational study of bipolar disorder.

Variability in the COMT gene and modification of the risk of schizophrenia conferred by cannabis consumption.

Introduction: The risk of schizophrenia conferred by cannabis has recently been proposed to be modulated by the Val158Met polymorphism (rs4680) at the COMT gene. To date, these findings have not been replicated in independent samples.

Material And Methods: We tested the potential gene-by-environment interaction between Val158Met genotype at the COMT gene and previous use of cannabis in schizophrenia in 192 healthy controls and 91 inpatients with DSM-IV schizophrenia.

An empirical study of psychosocial and clinical correlates of delusional disorder: the DELIREMP study.

Objective: We aim to describe psychosocial and clinical correlates of delusional disorder (DD) and its types. This approach is important because most knowledge on DD does not come from empirical data collected using a validated systematic research method.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample of 86 patients fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for DD as established using the SCID-I.

Telephone assessment of behavioral inhibition and activation systems.

Introduction And Objectives: The activity of behavioral inhibition and activation systems (BIS and BAS) has been related to several mental disorders. The availability of a validated questionnaire to assess BIS and BAS over the telephone could aid research. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the procedural validity of telephone administration of the sensitivity to punishment/sensitivity to reward questionnaire (SPSRQ) as a measure of BIS and BAS activity (by means of its two scales: the sensitivity to punishment [SP] scale and the sensitivity to reward [SR] scale).

Perceived stigma among individuals with common mental disorders.

Background: Severe mental disorders are associated with social distance from the general population, but there is lack of data on the stigma reported by individuals with common mental disorders.

Aims: To identify the correlates and the impact of stigma among individuals with common mental disorders.

Methods: Cross-sectional, household interview survey of 8796 representing the non-institutionalized adults of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.