Providing Mental Health Services in the Primary Care Setting: the Experiences and Perceptions of General Practitioners at a New York City Clinic.

Mental illness is a significant cause of disability worldwide, including here in the United States. Given the shortage of trained mental health professionals, a significant portion of patients needing care are managed in the primary care setting. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), for example, are seeking to improve the quality of care for this vulnerable population, but many are facing significant challenges relating to integration of new services.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor deficiency restricts proliferation of oligodendrocyte progenitors following cuprizone-induced demyelination.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a member of the neurotrophin family of growth factors that through its neurotrophic tyrosine kinase, receptor, type 2 (TrkB) receptor, increases 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine incorporation in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in culture. Roles in vivo are less well understood; however, increases in numbers of OPCs are restricted in BDNF+/- mice following cuprizone-elicited demyelination. Here, we investigate whether these blunted increases in OPCs are associated with changes in proliferation.

Transcultural aspects of somatic symptoms in the context of depressive disorders.

Somatic symptoms are a common presentation of mental disorders or psychological distress worldwide, and may often coexist with depressive and anxiety symptoms, thus accounting for what might be the most frequent psychiatric syndrome in primary care. Indeed, physical symptoms accompanying the clinical presentations of a variety of mental disorders may be considered as universal 'idioms of distress' that may vary across cultures, depending on attitudes and explanations embedded in each one of them. These variations in symptom presentations are the result of various interacting factors that ultimately determine how individuals identify and classify bodily sensations, perceive illness, and seek medical attention.

Regulated release of BDNF by cortical oligodendrocytes is mediated through metabotropic glutamate receptors and the PLC pathway.

A number of studies suggest that OLGs (oligodendrocytes), the myelinating cells of the central nervous system, are also a source of trophic molecules, such as neurotrophins that may influence survival of proximate neurons. What is less clear is how the release of these molecules may be regulated. The present study investigated the effects of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) derived from cortical OLGs on proximate neurons, as well as regulatory mechanisms mediating BDNF release.

Neurotrophin-induced melanoma cell migration is mediated through the actin-bundling protein fascin.

Expression of the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75(NTR)) in primary melanomas is associated with deeply invasive lesions. In turn, there is expression of high levels of neurotrophins at the invasion front of normal tissue adjacent to brain metastases, thus implicating this growth factor-receptor system in melanoma tumorigenesis. The neurotrophins nerve growth factor (NGF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) are potent chemotactic agents for human melanoma cells which express p75(NTR)in vitro.