Attentional biases to body shape images in adolescents with anorexia nervosa: an exploratory eye-tracking study.

Body image distortion (BID) plays an important role in the etiology and maintenance of anorexia nervosa (AN). Previous studies of BID in AN showed small biases in visual scanning behavior (VSB) towards images of body shapes. The aim of this study is to investigate biases in VSB when body shape images compete with images with a different theme (social interactions) for subjects׳ attention.

Calculated bioavailable testosterone levels and depression in middle-aged men.

Background: The association between circulating total testosterone (TT) levels and depressive symptoms remains unclear. We sought to determine the relationship between physiologically active bioavailable testosterone (BT) and depressive symptoms in middle-aged men with and without major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: We assessed and compared calculated BT levels in two groups of middle-aged men (40-65 years): untreated subjects meeting DSM-IV-TR-defined criteria for a major depressive episode as part of major depressive disorder (N=44) and a matched non-depressed control group (N=50).

Measuring the severity of depression and remission in primary care: validation of the HAMD-7 scale.

Background: Symptomatic remission is the optimal outcome in depression. A brief, validated tool for symptom measurement that can indicate when remission has occurred in mental health and primary care settings is unavailable. We evaluated a 7-item abbreviated version (HAMD-7) of the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) in a randomized controlled clinical trial of patients with major depressive disorder being cared for in primary care settings.

Is the cerebellum relevant in the circuitry of neuropsychiatric disorders?

Contemporary mechanistic models of several psychiatric disorders propose abnormalities in the structure and function of distinct neural networks. The cerebellum has both anatomic and functional connections to the prefrontal cortex, the subcortical limbic structures and monoamine-producing brainstem nuclei. Conspicuously, however, the cerebellum has been underemphasized in neuropsychiatric research.

A naturalistic visual scanning approach to assess selective attention in major depressive disorder.

Cognitive biases in information processing play an important role in the etiology and maintenance of emotional disorders. A new methodology to measure attentional biases is presented; this approach encourages subjects to scan and re-scan images with different thematic content, while the pattern of their attentional deployment is continuously monitored by an eye-tracking system. Measures of attentional bias are the total fixation time and the average glance duration on images belonging to a particular theme.