Human neuropsin gene in depression.

Background: Neuropsin (NP, kallikrein 8, KLK8) - a kallikrein gene-related (KLK) endoprotease - plays a key role in neuroplasticity processes, since intracellular signal cascades and regulation of gene expression are engaged in long-term synaptic plasticity. The main aim of this paper is to compare expression of the human neuropsin gene on the mRNA level in a group of patients diagnosed with depression and in a group of healthy subjects who have never been treated psychiatrically.

Subjects And Methods: 291 people, aged 18-67, were qualified to participate in the experiment: major recurrent depression group (MRD) and the control group (CG).

The significance of microRNAs in the course of rDD.

Background: In recent years, special attention in genetic studies dedicated to the development of various diseases, including mental disorders, has been paid to micro ribonucleic acids (miRNA, microRNA). As an object of our analysis we have selected the miRNAs which - due to the profile of their activity - may be significant in the aetiology and course of recurrent depressive disorders, i.e.

Is there a link between TNF gene expression and cognitive deficits in depression?

Unlabelled: Neuroinflammation is a known factor in the pathogenesis of recurrent depressive disorders. Depression is accompanied by activated immune-inflammatory pathways including increased levels of TNFα, sTNFR1and sTNFR2.The purpose of this study was to analyse the TNF-α, TNFRSF1A and TNFRSF1B genes on both mRNA and protein levels in patients with rDD, and to investigate the relationship between TNF-α,TNFRSF1A and TNFRSF1B gene expression and cognitive performance.

Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms of Genes Involved in Repair of Oxidative DNA Damage and the Risk of Recurrent Depressive Disorder.

BACKGROUND Depressive disorder, including recurrent type (rDD), is accompanied by increased oxidative stress and activation of inflammatory pathways, which may induce DNA damage. This thesis is supported by the presence of increased levels of DNA damage in depressed patients. Such DNA damage is repaired by the base excision repair (BER) pathway.

Role of MMP-2, MMP-7, MMP-9 and TIMP-2 in the development of recurrent depressive disorder.

Background: MMPs play a role in modulating inflammation and their impact in many inflammatory diseases has been investigated. The aim of the study was to demonstrate the relationship between selected polymorphisms for MMP-2 (C-735T), MMP-7 (A-181G), MMP-9 (T-1702A, C1562T) and TIMP-2 (G-418C) and depression, as well as between the importance of distribution of genotypes and alleles for the examined polymorphisms and the risk of depression occurrence.

Methods: The examined population comprised 203 individuals suffering from depression and 99 individuals who formed a control group.

Expression and Activity of Metalloproteinases in Depression.

BACKGROUND Depression is one of the most common mental disorders and often co-exists with somatic diseases. The most probable cause of comorbidity is a generalized inflammatory process that occurs in both depression and somatic diseases. Matrix metalloproteinases MMPs play a role in modulating inflammation and their impact in many inflammatory diseases has been investigated.

The role of MMP genes in recurrent depressive disorders and cognitive functions.

Objective: Among the 28 metalloproteinases described so far, 23 can be found in the human organism, but only few are expressed in the human brain. The main objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between MMP-2, MMP-9 and TIMP-2 gene expression and cognitive performance.

Methods: The study comprised 234 subjects: patients suffering from recurrent depressive disorder (rDD, n=139) and healthy subjects (HS, n=95).

Association between single nucleotide polymorphisms of MUTYH, hOGG1 and NEIL1 genes, and depression.

Background: An elevated levels oxidative modified DNA bases and a decreased efficiency of oxidative DNA damage repair were found in patients with depression disorders, including recurrent type (rDD). The glycosylases are involved in base excision repair (BER), which eliminates oxidative DNA damage. Therefore, we genotyped the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes encoding three glycosylases: hOGG1, MUTYH and NEIL1.

Variants of Base Excision Repair Genes MUTYH , PARP1 and XRCC1 in Alzheimer's Disease Risk.

Background: Many clinical studies have shown that oxidative stress pathways and the efficiency of the oxidative DNA damage base excision repair (BER) system are associated with the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Reduced BER efficiency may result from polymorphisms of BER-related genes. In the present study, we examine whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of BER genes are associated with increased risk of AD.

[General principles of effective communication between physician and patient with selected mental disorders].

Faced with the growing frequency of mental disorders occurrence and considering the necessity of improving the patient care, it is particularly important that physicians of different specialties knew the general principles of effective communication with patients who are mentally ill. Equally important is to spread the knowledge of the symptomatology of various mental illnesses. Studies published by the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology involving persons between 18 and 64 years old, show that 8 millions Poles suffers or suffered from mental disorders.

[Comparison of increase in depressive disorders in dependence of BMI value].

Unlabelled: In recent years, the research for the relation between depression and obesity is the basis of many studies. Interest in this subject results from the continuous increase in the incidence of both diseases and complications thereof, which constitute a serious social and economic problem. The aim of the study is to establish the dependence between depressive disorders and BMI.

Thiol protein groups correlate with cognitive impairment in patients with recurrent depressive disorder.

Background: Depressive disorders are multifactorial diseases in which cognitive impairments are one of typical features. Thiol protein groups (TPGs) are elements of chemical structure of compounds having antioxidative properties (glutathione peroxidase, metallothioneins) and their oxidation reflects the lost of compensatory capacity of antioxidative mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of TPGs in patients with recurrent depressive disorder (rDD) and to define relationship between plasma levels of TPGs and the cognitive performance.

Impact of oxidative/nitrosative stress and inflammation on cognitive functions in patients with recurrent depressive disorders.

Data show that up to 38.2% of the European population have a mental disorder and that recurrent depressive disorder (rDD) is among the most commonly diagnosed disabling diseases. Over the last few years, neurocognitive impairments in rDD have become a new research front focusing on the role of cognitive decline during the course of rDD and in relation to its clinical presentation and prognosis.

COX-2 gene expression is correlated with cognitive function in recurrent depressive disorder.

Cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) may be a key inflammatory enzyme involved in recurrent depressive disorder(rDD). In rDD group, COX-2 expression were higher and significant correlations occurred between COX-2 expression and cognitive functions. In controls there was no significant association between analysed variables.

Working memory impairment as a common component in recurrent depressive disorder and certain somatic diseases.

Objectives: Deterioration of the working memory is regarded as one of the most important deficits in a number of somatic diseases. The purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of working memory in 4 groups of patients: 1) diagnosed with recurrent depressive disorder (rDD), 2) with diabetes type 1 (DM1), 3) with diabetes type 2 (DM2), 4) with arterial hypertension (HA) and in healthy controls (HC).

Methods: The study comprised 300 subjects: rDD (n=99), DM1 (n=31), DM2 (n=31), HA (n=30) and HC (n=109).

Vascular endothelial growth factor gene (VEGFA) polymorphisms may serve as prognostic factors for recurrent depressive disorder development.

Recurrent depressive disorder (rDD) is a multifactorial disease. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the factors that have been suggested to play a role in the etiology and/or development of this disease. Limited information related to the role of VEGFA gene polymorphism in depressive disorder is available.

[Influence of antidepressant pharmacotherapy on the course of cancer].

The coexistence of two or more diseases in one patient, especially in old age, is a common situation. The problem of drug effects, specifically speaking, their interaction and impact on the second condition still remains not fully explored and thus is very interesting. At the same time, it is commonly known that depression and cancer are some of the most frequently met disorders and following the WHO forecasts, their prevalence will constantly increase.

Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 gene (KDR) polymorphisms and expression levels in depressive disorder.

Recent research findings suggest that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) participates in the development of depressive disorder. VEGF is involved in neurogenesis and neuroprotection processes, mediated by vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2). VEGFR2 also plays a role in angiogenesis, a process related to neurogenesis and other biological processes.

Total antioxidant status correlates with cognitive impairment in patients with recurrent depressive disorder.

Unlabelled: Depressive disorder is a multifactorial diseases, that one of the typical feature are cognitive impairments. The aim of this study was to determine the total antioxidant status (TAS) in patients with recurrent depressive disorder (rDD) and to define relationship between plasma levels of TAS and the cognitive performance.

Design And Methods: the study comprised 74 subjects: patients with rDD (n = 45) and healthy subjects (n = 29).

The expression of genes encoding for COX-2, MPO, iNOS, and sPLA2-IIA in patients with recurrent depressive disorder.

Background: There is evidence that inflammation, oxidative and nitrosative stress (IO&NS) play a role in the pathophysiology of depression. There are also data indicating altered inflammatory gene expression in depressive disorder and that genetic variants of IO&NS genes are associated with increased risk of the disease in question. The aim of this study was to explore mRNA expression of four IO&NS genes PTGS2, MPO, NOS2A, and PLA2G2A coding respectively: cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), myeloperoxidase (MPO), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and secretory phospholipase A2 type IIA (sPLA2-IIA).

[Trazodone in the treatment of addiction].

The problem of addiction to psychoactive substances (SPA) is an important aspect of modem psychiatric treatment. This is due to the increasing number of addicts, and reducing their increasing age. It is estimated that in the United States in 2006, people aged over 12 years of meeting criteria for dependence on SPA was 20-25 million.

Malondialdehyde plasma concentration correlates with declarative and working memory in patients with recurrent depressive disorder.

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the cognitive decline, especially in memory impairment. The purpose of this study was to determine the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) in patients with recurrent depressive disorders (rDD) and to define relationship between plasma levels of MDA and the cognitive performance. The study comprised 46 patients meeting criteria for rDD.

Functional polymorphism of the myeloperoxidase gene (G-463A) in depressive patients.

Unlabelled: Gałecki P, Florkowski A, Bobińska K, Śmigielski J, Bieńkiewicz M, Szemraj J. Functional polymorphism of the myeloperoxidase gene (G-463A) in depressive patients.

Objective: Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is an enzyme involved in the production of hypochloric acid as well as other reactive oxygen species.

[Restless legs syndrome].

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is characterised by daily dynamic sensorial and motor syndromes. It is a relatively little known syndrome among neurologists as well as psychiatrists. In spite of a growing number of researches on this issue, the problem seems to be underdiagnosed.

Analysis of two polymorphisms of the manganese superoxide dismutase gene (Ile-58Thr and Ala-9Val) in patients with recurrent depressive disorder.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) may contribute to the pathogenesis of depressive disorder (DD). Functional genetic polymorphisms of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) are candidates for DD susceptibility. The study examined the relationship between MnSOD gene polymorphisms (Ala-9Val, Ile-58Thr) and DD in the Polish population.