Drug-Induced Liver Injury (DILI) in Patients with Depression Treated with Antidepressants: A Retrospective Multicenter Study.

Introduction: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is the 4th most common cause of liver damage in Western countries and can be caused by antidepressants.

Methods: Against the background of increasing antidepressant prescriptions and increasing use of polypharmacy, we analyzed administered antidepressants and other pharmacological substances, liver toxicity, comorbid somatic secondary diseases together with the occurrence of DILI in a patient population of 6 centers throughout Germany.

Results: The majority of the enrolled 329 patients received polypharmacological treatment in an inpatient setting.

HDAC1 links early life stress to schizophrenia-like phenotypes.

Schizophrenia is a devastating disease that arises on the background of genetic predisposition and environmental risk factors, such as early life stress (ELS). In this study, we show that ELS-induced schizophrenia-like phenotypes in mice correlate with a widespread increase of histone-deacetylase 1 () expression that is linked to altered DNA methylation. overexpression in neurons of the medial prefrontal cortex, but not in the dorsal or ventral hippocampus, mimics schizophrenia-like phenotypes induced by ELS.

Efficacy of orally administered Silexan in patients with anxiety-related restlessness and disturbed sleep--A randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

The anxiolytic effect of Silexan, a patented active substance with an essential oil produced from Lavandula angustifolia flowers, was investigated in patients with anxiety-related restlessness and disturbed sleep. 170 out-patients with a diagnosis of restlessness (ICD-10 R45.1), a Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) total score ≥18 points and ≥2 points for HAMA items 'Tension' and 'Insomnia' participated in this randomized, double-blind trial and received 80mg Silexan or placebo once daily for 10 weeks.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characterisation of JNJ-40411813, a positive allosteric modulator of mGluR2, in two randomised, double-blind phase-I studies.

Metabotropic glutamate receptor-2 positive allosteric modulator, JNJ-40411813 (ADX71149), was characterised for clinical effects in healthy volunteers in two phase-1 studies. In study 1, healthy men received 50-, 100-, 150- or 225 mg and women received 100 mg JNJ-40411813 (n=6, each cohort) or placebo (n=2, each cohort) twice daily for seven days; smoking men (n=30) received placebo twice daily on days 1-7, 100 mg JNJ-40411813 (n=20) or placebo (n=10) on days 8-14. In study 2, healthy men received intravenous 0.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy as continuation treatment to sustain response after electroconvulsive therapy in depression: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective acute antidepressant intervention, sustained response rates are low. It has never been systematically assessed whether psychotherapy, continuation ECT, or antidepressant medication is the most efficacious intervention to maintain initial treatment response.

Methods: In a prospective, randomized clinical trial, 90 inpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) were treated with right unilateral ultra-brief acute ECT.

Childhood maltreatment and adult proinflammatory status in patients with major depression.

Background: An increasing body of research considers the immunological effects of major depression. It remains an open question, whether depression itself acts in an immunomodulatory fashion or whether other factors related to depression result in these immunological effects. Regardless, major depression is often the result of early life stress, the implications of which are not satisfactorily understood.

Quetiapine as combination treatment with citalopram in unipolar depression with prominent somatic symptoms: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study.

Background: Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) accompanied by physical symptoms may be less responsive to antidepressant treatment. Quetiapine has been evaluated in the treatment of bipolar depression and has been recently approved as an add-on therapy for unipolar depression. Less is known about the efficacy of combination therapies in patients suffering from MDD with somatic symptoms.

Association of VMAT2 gene polymorphisms with alcohol dependence.

Alcohol-related diseases cause significant harm in the western world. Up to 65 % of the phenotypic variance is genetically determined. Few candidate genes have been identified, comprising ADH4, ALDH2, COMT, CRHR1, DAT (SLC6A3), GABRA2 and MAOA.

The influence of daytime napping versus controlled activity on the subjective well-being of patients with major depression.

While the impact of sleep on cognitive functions such as memory is under extensive study, the role of sleep in modulating a persons' subjective well-being remains largely uncharacterized, especially in groups with psychiatric disorders. To gather more information on this topic a study was conducted with 20 patients suffering from Major Depression (MD) and 20 healthy controls, matched for age, gender and education. All subjects rated their subjective well-being at 10a.

Pathways linking early life stress, metabolic syndrome, and the inflammatory marker fibrinogen in depressed inpatients.

Background: Previous research has shown that metabolic syndrome as well as early life stress can account for immunoactivation (e.g. in the form of altered fibrinogen levels) in patients with major depression.

Stimulus pulse-frequency-dependent efficacy and cognitive adverse effects of ultrabrief-pulse electroconvulsive therapy in patients with major depression.

Background: : Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly effective treatment for major depression. New ECT devices with shorter pulse widths seem to induce seizures more effectively at a lower seizure threshold and with fewer cognitive adverse effects. Suprathreshold right unilateral (RUL) ultrabrief-pulse ECT with pulse widths between 0.

Haplotypes of dopamine and serotonin transporter genes are associated with antisocial personality disorder in alcoholics.

Introduction: A different genetic background is postulated for alcoholics with early onset and with antisocial personality disorder (type 2 alcoholics) compared with those with late onset and without antisocial personality disorder (type 1 alcoholics). The dopamine transporter (DAT) and the serotonin transporter (SERT) are involved in endophenotypes that are associated with these subtypes. Our study was aimed at investigating whether distinct haplotypes, defined by polymorphisms associated with the expressions of DAT and SERT, were associated with subgroups of alcohol dependence.