A 4-Year Follow-Up Study of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Symptoms, Comorbidities, and Psychostimulant Use in a Brazilian Sample of Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

The aim of this study was to evaluate symptom persistence in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the development of comorbidities, and psychostimulant usage patterns. Follow-up studies were conducted in 37 patients with ADHD and 22 healthy controls, aged 10 and 18, 4 years after their first assessment. The ADHD was rated as persistent if participants met all DSM-IV criteria for syndromic or sub-threshold persistence, or had functional impairments (functional persistence).

A four-year follow-up controlled study of stress response and symptom persistence in Brazilian children and adolescents with attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity (ADHD).

This study evaluated children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Disorder andHyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), reassessing them at a four-year follow-up. Their cortisol response to a stress stimulus was measured twice. ADHD symptom persistence, development of comorbidities, and psychostimulant usage were also reassessed.

The response to stress in Brazilian children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

This study assessed the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, during response to stress, through the measurement of salivary cortisol in 38 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and its subtypes, who were matched to 38 healthy control subjects. These measures were made at four time intervals: 15 min before exposing the subjects to a stressor - the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) - and 20, 40, and 60 min after such exposure. The baseline cortisol levels were statistically similar in both groups.

Melancholia in Latin American studies: a distinct mood disorder for the ICD-11.

Objective: Melancholic depression is a lifetime diagnosis, typically with recurrent episodes. Melancholia, a syndrome with a long history and distinctive psychopathological features, is differentiated from major depression by the DSM-IV specifiers and partly described in the International Classification of Diseases - 10th edition. Within the present classification, it is frequently seen in severely ill patients with major depression and bipolar disorder.

Supplementation with fish oil and coconut fat prevents prenatal stress-induced changes in early postnatal development.

Adequate development of the central nervous system depends on prenatal and postnatal factors. On one hand, prenatal stress (PNS) has been implicated in impaired development of the offspring. On other hand, nutritional factors during pregnancy and lactation can influence fetal and postnatal growth.

Ethanol-induced sensitization depends preferentially on D1 rather than D2 dopamine receptors.

Behavioral sensitization, defined as a progressive increase in the locomotor stimulant effects elicited by repeated exposure to drugs of abuse, has been used as an animal model for drug craving in humans. The mesoaccumbens dopaminergic system has been proposed to be critically involved in this phenomenon; however, few studies have been designed to systematically investigate the effects of dopaminergic antagonists on development and expression of behavioral sensitization to ethanol in Swiss mice. We first tested the effects of D(1) antagonist SCH-23390 (0-0.

Inflammatory aspects of depression.

A bidirectional relation between depression and natural immunity has been identified: depressive episodes are associated to a relative immunodeficiency, conversely inflammatory activity has been implicated in the development of depressive symptoms and in the pathophysiology of depression. Depression has been associated with a decrease in the number and activity of NK lymphocytes and hence patients with depression may show immunodeficiency towards intracellular microorganisms and tumors. Paradoxically, depression is sometimes accompanied by an inflammatory state, developed from the peripheral stimuli (atopy) or central stimuli (chronic stress) and mediated by proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF and IL-1).

Pituitary volume and the effects of phototherapy in patients with seasonal winter depression: a controlled study.

Objectives: Our aims were to investigate the pituitary volume in patients with seasonal winter depression and healthy volunteers in winter and summer, and to assess the effects of phototherapy in these patients.

Method: The pituitary volume of 12 patients with winter depression and 12 healthy controls, paired according gender, age and menstrual cycle, were obtained from magnetic resonance imaging in winter and summer. Eight patients were submitted to phototherapy (10000 vs.

Kleine-Levin syndrome: interface between neurology and psychiatry.

We report the first episode of Kleine-Levin (KLS) syndrome in a 17-year-old male. The illness onset, clinical features, neuropsychological evaluation and polysomnographic recording are described. Typical symptoms hypersomnia, hyperphagia and sexual disinhibition were observed besides behavioral disturbances, polysomnographic and neuropsychological alterations.

The influence of n-6 fatty acid supplemented diet on the effect of imipramine in an animal model of depression.

Recent data have shown an association between polyunsaturated fatty acid and depression. This study examined the effect of the supplementation with n-6 fatty acid on the behavior of rats treated with imipramine and submitted to the Forced Swimming Test (FST). Non-supplemented imipramine-treated rats presented a significant reduction of immobility time in the FST whereas n-6 fatty acid-supplemented rats showed a significantly higher immobility time.

A survey on anxious and depressive complaints of Brazilian women.

Background: Affective disorders and symptoms are very prominent among women. However specific complaints and symptoms may vary in different cultures.

Methods: A survey on the most common complaints from Brazilian women, identified as anxious or depressive symptoms, was performed with a focus group of 6 psychiatrists.

[Neurogenesis and depression: etiology or new illusion?].

New hippocampal neurons are continuously generated in the adult brain of several animal species. Several studies have demonstrated that a variety of environmental factors, including stress, influence the proliferation of hippocampal cells. Thus, stress induced decrease of hippocampal neurogenesis seem to be an important factor in the etiology of depression.

Neuroendocrine effects of quetiapine in healthy volunteers.

The present study measured prolactin, cortisol, ACTH and growth hormone in healthy male volunteers following an acute oral administration of quetiapine, an atypical antipsychotic with high affinity for H1 and moderate affinity for sigma, alpha1, 5-HT2, alpha2 and D2 receptors. Fifteen male volunteers entered this randomized double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled study. Blood samples were drawn every 30 min from 09:00 hours to 13:00 hours.

Further validation of actigraphy for sleep studies.

Study Objectives: Actigraphy is generally compared to polysomnography (PSG), which has been considered the gold standard for sleep studies. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the concordance between PSG and two previously proposed algorithms (Cole et al, 1992; Sadeh et al, 1994) to analyze actigraphic recordings. The minute-by-minute agreement rate was evaluated through calculation of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.

Involvement of the opioid system in the development and expression of sensitization to the locomotor-activating effect of ethanol.

Previous studies have shown that pretreatment with naloxone (Nlx), an opiate antagonist, attenuates the stimulating effect of ethanol. The purpose of the present study was to determine the influence of Nlx on the development and expression of the sensitization to ethanol. Initially, effects of different doses of Nlx on the response to a low dose of ethanol (2.