Ketamine as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy: the KANECT randomised controlled trial - CORRIGENDUM.

This notice describes a correction to the above mentioned paper.

Schizophrenia illness severity is associated with reduced loss aversion.

Loss aversion, whereby losses weigh more heavily than equal-sized gains, has been demonstrated in many decision-making settings. Previous research has suggested reduced loss aversion in schizophrenia, but with little evidence of a link between loss aversion and schizophrenia illness severity. In this study, 20 individuals with schizophrenia and 16 control participants, matched by age and sex, played two versions of the Iterated Prisoners' Dilemma, one version with only positive payoffs and another version in which negative payoffs were possible, with the second version being derived from the first by subtracting a constant value from all payoffs.

Ketamine as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy: the KANECT randomised controlled trial.

Ketamine has recently become an agent of interest as an acute treatment for severe depression and as the anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Subanaesthetic doses result in an acute reduction in depression severity while evidence is equivocal for this antidepressant effect with anaesthetic or adjuvant doses. Recent systematic reviews call for high-quality evidence from further randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Differences in Cognitive Outcomes After ECT Depending on BDNF and COMT Polymorphisms.

Objective: The study aimed to explore cognitive outcomes after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) depending on which version of common single nucleotide polymorphisms the patient expressed for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT).

Methods: A total of 87 patients from the clinical ECT service in Aberdeen, Scotland, were included in the study. Cognitive function testing (using Spatial Recognition Memory task from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery and Mini-Mental State Examination) and mood ratings (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale) were performed before ECT, after 4 treatments, at the end of ECT and 1 and 3 months after the end of treatment.

Anticonvulsant Mechanisms of Electroconvulsive Therapy and Relation to Therapeutic Efficacy.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is held to confer anticonvulsant effects, although the role of rise in seizure threshold upon clinical effect is uncertain. This study investigated the relationship in a large, consecutive, retrospective sample of patients receiving ECT in Aberdeen. We have tested the hypotheses of previous authors to further examine the relationship between seizure and therapeutic effect as well as discuss the potential underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

Socioeconomic status of patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy.

This study describes the relationship between socioeconomic deprivation and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) prescription and outcomes. Two research questions are addressed in this study: (1) Does the rate of ECT prescription increase with deprivation? and (2) Does deprivation influence ECT outcomes? Electroconvulsive therapy outcomes, of consecutive patients from Aberdeen, were compared across socioeconomic groups determined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintiles. A primary care sample, invited to complete the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), was used for comparison.

Hormonal contraceptives, menstrual cycle and brain response to faces.

Both behavioral and neuroimaging evidence support a female advantage in the perception of human faces. Here we explored the possibility that this relationship may be partially mediated by female sex hormones by investigating the relationship between the brain's response to faces and the use of oral contraceptives, as well as the phase of the menstrual cycle. First, functional magnetic resonance images were acquired in 20 young women [10 freely cycling and 10 taking oral contraception (OC)] during two phases of their cycle: mid-cycle and menstruation.

A comparison of ECT dosing methods using a clinical sample.

Background: Several methods have been used to determine ECT dose based on formulae, protocols or fixed-dosing. This study aims to explore the relative utility of these ECT dosing methods.

Methods: A sample of ECT patients from Aberdeen was analysed.

Growth of white matter in the adolescent brain: role of testosterone and androgen receptor.

The growth of white matter during human adolescence shows a striking sexual dimorphism; the volume of white matter increases with age slightly in girls and steeply in boys. Here, we provide evidence supporting the role of androgen receptor (AR) in mediating the effect of testosterone on white matter. In a large sample of typically developing adolescents (n = 408, 204 males), we used magnetic resonance imaging and acquired T1-weighted and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) images.

The expression of the clock protein PER2 in the limbic forebrain is modulated by the estrous cycle.

Daily behavioral and physiological rhythms are linked to circadian oscillations of clock genes in the brain and periphery that are synchronized by the master clock in the suprachiasmatic nucleus. In addition, there are a number of inputs that can influence circadian oscillations in clock gene expression in a tissue-specific manner. Here we identify an influence on the circadian oscillation of the clock protein PER2, endogenous changes in ovarian steroids, within two nuclei of the limbic forebrain: the oval nucleus of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and central nucleus of the amygdala.