Extension of transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment for depression in non-responders: Results of a naturalistic study.

Background: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) shows efficacy in the treatment of major depressive disorder using a standard course of 20-36 treatment sessions. However, research efforts are being made to improve overall response and remission rates. Evidence from open-label extension studies of randomized control trials suggests that extending the rTMS treatment course beyond 36 treatments may improve outcomes, however, little has been published on the benefit of extended TMS treatment courses in clinical practice.

Capacity-limited resources are used for managing sensory degradation and cognitive demands: Implications for age-related cognitive decline and dementia.

Older adults with sensory deficits are at higher risk for developing cognitive impairment and dementia. It remains uncertain if the link between sensory and cognitive functioning reflects a common underlying factor or whether sensory deficits directly undermine cognitive processing. This issue was addressed by comparing behavioral and event-related potential responses of 16 older and 16 young adults during a working memory paradigm that parametrically varied visual contrast level (100%, 69%, 22%) and cognitive task load (1-4 face pairs to remember).

Markers of Novelty Processing in Older Adults Are Stable and Reliable.

Exploratory behavior and responsiveness to novelty play an important role in maintaining cognitive function in older adults. Inferences about age- or disease-related differences in neural and behavioral responses to novelty are most often based on results from single experimental testing sessions. There has been very limited research on whether such findings represent stable characteristics of populations studied, which is essential if investigators are to determine the result of interventions aimed at promoting exploratory behaviors or draw appropriate conclusions about differences in the processing of novelty across diverse clinical groups.

Biomarker identification in psychiatric disorders: from neuroscience to clinical practice.

Patients with psychiatric disorders exhibit several neurobehavioral and neuropsychological alterations compared to healthy controls. However, signature endpoints of these behavioral manifestations have not yet been translated into clinical tests for diagnosis and follow-up measures. Recently, neuroproteomic approaches have been utilized to identify unique signature markers indicative of these disorders.

Impaired initial vowel versus consonant letter-word fluency in dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Objectives: Early detection of Alzheimer disease (AD) is important. With AD, the loss of connectivity should first induce dysfunction in those representational networks with the weakest connectivity. Less frequently used networks have weaker connectivity.

Qualitative versus quantitative methods in psychiatric research.

Qualitative studies are gaining their credibility after a period of being misinterpreted as "not being quantitative." Qualitative method is a broad umbrella term for research methodologies that describe and explain individuals' experiences, behaviors, interactions, and social contexts. In-depth interview, focus groups, and participant observation are among the qualitative methods of inquiry commonly used in psychiatry.