Short- and Long-Term Outcomes of Patients with Postoperative Arrhythmia after Liver Surgery.

Background: New-onset postoperative arrhythmia (PA) has previously been described as a pivotal risk factor for postoperative morbidity and mortality after visceral surgery. However, there is a lack of data concerning liver surgery. The incidence and impact of new-onset postoperative arrhythmia after liver surgery was, therefore, analyzed in a monocentric study.

Incidence and impact of new-onset postoperative arrhythmia after surgery of the lower gastrointestinal tract.

Postoperative arrhythmias (PAs) are common events and have been widely investigated in cardiothoracic surgery. Within visceral surgery, a recent study revealed a significant occurrence of PA in esophageal resections. In contrast, PA in lower gastrointestinal surgery is rarely investigated and has been rudimentary described in the medical literature.

Incidence, Associated Risk Factors, and Outcomes of Postoperative Arrhythmia After Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery.

Importance: New-onset postoperative arrhythmia, which most often presents as postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF), is a frequent complication in patients undergoing visceral surgery of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Its relevance for patients' outcomes is unknown.

Objective: To assess the incidence of arrhythmia after upper gastrointestinal surgery, its risk factors, and its short- and long-term implications for patient outcomes.

Immunosenescence in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) is caused by intrinsic senescence and behavioral physiology.

Young honey bee workers (0 to 2-3 weeks old) perform tasks inside the colony, including brood care (nursing), whereas older workers undergo foraging tasks during the next 3-4 weeks, when an intrinsic senescence program culminates in worker death. We hypothesized that foragers are less able to react to immune system stimulation than nurse bees and that this difference is due to an inefficient immune response in foragers. To test this hypothesis, we used an experimental design that allowed us to uncouple chronological age and behavior status (nursing/foraging).

Dysfunctional cognitions of depressive inpatients and their relationship with treatment outcome.

Background: Dysfunctional cognitions can contribute to depression and its maintenance. They may be related to a higher relapse rate and a longer duration of the depressive episode. The relevance of dysfunctional cognitions for acute inpatient treatment of unipolar depression is examined in this study and its variability by cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

The relationship of health-related quality of life and treatment outcome during inpatient treatment of depression.

Purpose: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is important for long-term social functioning. It is considerably reduced in patients with depression. We studied the impact of HRQoL on treatment outcome in patients with unipolar depression.

Juvenile hormone biosynthesis gene expression in the corpora allata of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) female castes.

Juvenile hormone (JH) controls key events in the honey bee life cycle, viz. caste development and age polyethism. We quantified transcript abundance of 24 genes involved in the JH biosynthetic pathway in the corpora allata-corpora cardiaca (CA-CC) complex.

Personality disorders and outcome of inpatient treatment for depression: a 1-year prospective follow-up study.

This study examines the relationship of personality disorders (PDs) with the outcome of an inpatient treatment for depression. One hundred sixty-eight inpatients with unipolar depression (41% with PD according to SCID-II) were assessed at admission, discharge, and 1-year follow-up. Patients without as well as with PD showed a significant and comparable intake-to-discharge symptom reduction in all inventories.

The juvenile hormone (JH) epoxide hydrolase gene in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) genome encodes a protein which has negligible participation in JH degradation.

Epoxide hydrolases are multifunctional enzymes that are best known in insects for their role in juvenile hormone (JH) degradation. Enzymes involved in JH catabolism can play major roles during metamorphosis and reproduction, such as the JH epoxide hydrolase (JHEH), which degrades JH through hydration of the epoxide moiety to form JH diol, and JH esterase (JHE), which hydrolyzes the methyl ester to produce JH acid. In the honey bee, JH has been co-opted for additional functions, mainly in caste differentiation and in age-related behavioral development of workers, where the activity of both enzymes could be important for JH titer regulation.

Identification of a juvenile hormone esterase-like gene in the honey bee, Apis mellifera L.--expression analysis and functional assays.

Tight control over circulating juvenile hormone (JH) levels is of prime importance in an insect's life cycle. Consequently, enzymes involved in JH metabolism, especially juvenile hormone esterases (JHEs), play major roles during metamorphosis and reproduction. In the highly eusocial Hymenoptera, JH has been co-opted into additional functions, primarily in the development of the queen and worker castes and in age-related behavioral development of workers.

[Effects of slow-stroke massage as complementary treatment of depressed hospitalized patients].

Background And Objective: Among methods of complementary treatment of depression, massage plays an important role, at least in the U.S.A.

Effectiveness and feasibility of a standardized stepwise drug treatment regimen algorithm for inpatients with depressive disorders: results of a 2-year observational algorithm study.

Background: The goal of the Berlin Algorithm Project is to establish a standardized stepwise drug treatment regimen (SSTR) for the treatment of inpatients with depressive disorders. We are reporting on the first of 3 subsequent study phases evaluating effectiveness and feasibility of the SSTR in a naturalistic clinical setting.

Method: Patients with depressive disorders (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision criteria) admitted to an academic medical center for inpatient treatment were enrolled in the SSTR protocol that comprised an algorithm-guided sequential treatment process (including pharmacologic washout period, sleep deprivation, antidepressant monotherapy, lithium augmentation, monoamine oxidase inhibitor treatment, and electroconvulsive therapy) dependent on the scores of a standardized assessment of treatment outcome, the Bech Rafaelsen Melancholia Scale (BRMS).

Smooth pursuit eye movements of patients with schizophrenia and affective disorder during clinical treatment.

Background: Smooth pursuit eye movement dysfunctions are considered a biological indicator for vulnerability to schizophrenia. This study examines test-retest stability of specific eye movement variables such as velocity gain and different saccadic categories.

Methods: Smooth pursuit eye movements of 27 schizophrenic patients and 30 patients with major depression were examined three times during clinical treatment using high-resolution infrared oculography.

Basic parameters of saccadic eye movements--differences between unmedicated schizophrenia and affective disorder patients.

Background: Smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) dysfunctions are considered a biological marker for schizophrenia and have been studied widely. In contrast, saccadic eye movements have received less attention, although disturbances have been described previously. Basic neurophysiologic parameters of saccades in schizophrenics, especially in unmedicated patients, have not been studied extensively.

Subthreshold symptoms and vulnerability indicators (e.g., eye tracking dysfunction) in schizophrenia.

Subthreshold symptoms in schizophrenia can be prodromal signs of a psychotic relapse. In people without schizophrenia, similar symptoms may indicate the presence of disorders termed schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Subthreshold schizophrenia-like symptoms may indicate a genetically transmitted higher proneness to schizophrenia.

[Schizophrenia simplex, schizotypal disorder and compulsions. Differential diagnostic considerations].

We report on the case of a man, whose psychopathological symptoms markedly varied during different phases of his illness, causing difficulties in applying common diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia. Depending upon each of the predominant symptoms, this resulted in different diagnoses and therapeutic strategies. We also discuss the importance of obsessions and compulsions in differential diagnosis in this case.

Smooth pursuit eye movements in schizophrenia and affective disorder.

Background: Smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) dysfunction is considered to be a promising candidate for a biological marker for genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. There are conflicting findings regarding the question of what is exactly dysfunctional in SPEM dysfunction and what component of eye movements is really specific to schizophrenia. The purpose of the current study was to help to clarify the nature of (SPEM) dysfunction and its specificity to schizophrenia.

Serum concentrations of thyroid hormones in patients with nonseasonal affective disorders during treatment with bright and dim light.

Serum concentrations of thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyrotropine were measured in 34 patients with nonseasonal affective disorders before and after 1 week of light treatment. Nineteen of these patients received bright white light (2500 lx) and 15 dim red light (50 lx) for 2 hours daily in the mornings over a 1-week period. Slight but significant reductions in the rating scores for the depressive symptomatology were found for both the bright-and dim-light groups, but there were no significant differences between the two groups.

Structure and feasibility of a standardized stepwise drug treatment regimen (SSTR) for depressed inpatients.

"Standardized stepwise treatment regimes" (SSTR) are one way to rationally guide treatment in cases where the first treatment intervention did not yield satisfactory results. At the Department of Psychiatry of the Free University of Berlin a SSTR has been implemented into routine drug treatment for depressive disorders. The SSTR consists of eight consecutive treatment steps.

Differences in semantic information processing in schizophrenics.

Well-established findings in schizophrenics suggest that they have difficulties in interpreting contextual information. We used electrophysiological means to investigate this hypothesis. The N 400 paradigm was used in 29 acute schizophrenic patients and 28 controls.

Clozapine treatment after agranulocytosis induced by classic neuroleptics.

Despite its potentially fatal side effect--agranulocytosis--clozapine has become an important drug in antipsychotic treatment. With this in mind, this report presents the case of a 23-year-old schizophrenic who had suffered from agranulocytosis after simultaneous short-term treatment with butyrophenone and phenothiazine neuroleptics 3 years ago. After nonresponse to two other classic neuroleptics, the administration of high-dose clozapine led to a full recovery without the recurrence of hematologic disorders during 24 months of follow-up examinations.

Orthostatic challenge during neuroleptic test dose: a possible predictor of short-term outcome.

Cardiovascular measurements were used as indicators of autonomic arousal during an orthostatic challenge test without medication and after a test dose of 150 mg perazine in 20 acute schizophrenic patients. Unmedicated schizophrenics showed elevated heart rates and elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure in comparison to healthy volunteers. After a test dose of 150 mg perazine, responders (using BPRS outcome criteria after 23 days) showed a pronounced orthostatic heart rate reaction in comparison to nonresponders.

Lithium effect on smooth pursuit eye movements of healthy volunteers.

Smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) dysfunctions in major affective disorder patients have been reported to be associated with lithium treatment. We report that SPEM of 13 healthy volunteers, either taking lithium (n = 7) or placebo (n = 6), were not significantly impaired by lithium. This could point to a pathophysiologic difference between affective disorder patients and a normal population.

Blood serotonin, serum melatonin and light therapy in healthy subjects and in patients with nonseasonal depression.

The 24-h rhythms of blood serotonin and serum melatonin were determined in 39 unmediated inpatients with nonseasonal affective disorder and in 14 healthy men and women after 7 days of morning bright-light (2500 lx) or dim-light (50 lx) treatment. Bright-light treatment led to a more than 50% decrease in the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) score in 4/19 patients and dim light in 1/17 patients. After light treatment the mesor (the daily mean estimated by cosinor analysis) of patients' and subjects' melatonin levels did not change significantly, nor was there a correlation between phase change and decrease in HRSD score.