A prospective hospital-based study on C-reactive protein as a response predictor of antidepressant treatment in drug naïve patients with major depressive disorder.

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute phase reactant that is implicated in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD), due to its role in the execution of various important neurological events, including neurogenesis, mediation of neural plasticity, and synaptic transmission.

Aims: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between the level of CRP to remission rates after antidepressant therapy.

Methods: Fifty patients of first episode MDD with no past history of antidepressant exposure and other medical comorbidity were recruited after obtaining consent for Escitalopram therapy.

A Prospective Observational Study on Changes in Intraocular Pressure and Iridocorneal Angle Following the Use of Escitalopram and Amitriptyline.

Background: Depression has emerged as one of the prime morbidities affecting professional and personal lives worldwide. Antidepressants are one of the mainstays of management of depressive episodes. Although antidepressants are considered a safe class of drugs, the studies examining the effects of antidepressant prescription on intraocular pressure (IOP) have shown a propensity to increase IOP, but not consistently.

Pragmatic deficits in patients with schizophrenia and right hemisphere damage: A pilot study.

Background: While pragmatic deficits are well documented in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and right hemisphere damage (RHD), there is a paucity of research comparing the pragmatic deficits of these two groups. Do they experience similar cognitive dysfunction or is there a dissociation between the two patient groups?

Aims: To investigate the nature of pragmatic deficits in these two groups and to gain an understanding of the underlying cognitive mechanisms that might be associated with these deficits to further future investigations.

Methods & Procedures: A total of 60 participants (15 patients with SCZ; 15 with RHD; 30 (15 + 15) healthy controls (HC) were administered the Bengali Audio-Visual Test-Battery for Assessment of Pragmatic Skills.

Information overload regarding COVID-19: Adaptation and validation of the cancer information overload scale.

Background: Access to excessive information from multiple sources relating to COVID-19 in a short span of time can have detrimental effects on individuals.

Aim: The study aims to validate Corona Information Overload Scale (CoIOS) by adaptation of Cancer Information Overload scale (CIOS) on English speaking Indian citizens.

Materials And Methods: An online survey was carried out using Google Form on 300 individuals out of whom 183 responded.

Pattern of cognitive deficits in vascular dementia.

Background & Objectives: There is a paucity of literature on the cognitive profiles of vascular dementia (VaD) in India. The current study was undertaken to investigate the pattern of cognitive deficits in patients with VaD.

Methods: Fifty patients fulfilling the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria of dementia and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences criteria for VaD were assessed using Mini Mental State Examination, Kolkata Cognitive Screening Battery and other relevant tests including magnetic resonance imaging of brain.

Storage, Degradation, and New Connectivity of Face-Related Semantic Memory in Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Excepting amnesia, impairment of other domains also hampers the activity of daily living in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although prosopagnosia poses problem in interacting with other persons, it rarely causes problem during interaction with close relatives as known voice acts as cue for recognition.

Objective: In a cohort of AD, we planned to study errors in recognition, naming, and assigning relationship of close relatives, to assess the type and frequency of errors and to explain with current knowledge and hypothesis.

Schizophrenia-like psychosis as the presenting feature of neurosyphilis in a non-human immunodeficiency virus-infected Indian man: A reminder of a forgotten complication!

Syphilis is a great masquerader of several diseases. About 4%-10% of patients with untreated syphilis may develop neurosyphilis (NS). Psychiatric manifestations may rarely be the presenting feature of NS.

Dissociative Experience in Unipolar and Bipolar Depression: Exploring the Great Divide.

Objective: Unipolar and bipolar depression (UD and BD) differ strikingly in respect to neurobiology, course and management, but their apparent clinical similarity often leads to misdiagnosis resulting in chronicity of course and treatment failure. In this study we have tried to assess whether UD and BD can be differentiated on the basis of their dissociative symptoms.

Methods: Thrty-six UD patients and 35 BD patients in active episodes, without any psychiatric comorbidity were selected from outpatient department and compared for depressive and dissociative symptoms using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Dissociative Experience Scale-II (DES-II).

Serum uric acid levels in first episode mania, effect on clinical presentation and treatment response: Data from a case control study.

Bipolar disorder (BD) patients have increased serum Uric Acid (UA) levels as compared to their healthy counterparts. They also demonstrate higher impulsivity - while symptomatic, as well as when in remission. Impulsivity adds a risk of self-harming behavior to BD, and studies show that it increases with UA levels.

Prevalence, burden, and risk factors of migraine: A community-based study from Eastern India.

Background: Headache is common in communities; however, epidemiological research regarding its prevalence is infrequent in India.

Aim: We planned to study the prevalence of migraine, its disease burden, and the associated risk factors.

Setting And Design: This is an urban community study conducted in Kolkata with a cross-sectional and nested case-control design.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice in relation to stroke: A community-based study from Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Background: The rising incidence of stroke in India indicates the importance of evaluating the existing knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) in the community, which is essential for stroke control.

Objective: To explore and compare stroke-related KAP among participants from stroke-affected families (SAFs) and nonstroke-affected families (NSFs).

Design: Using stratified random sampling, a three-phase house-to-house survey was conducted in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Epidemiology of dementia and its burden in the city of Kolkata, India.

Objectives: Increase in aging population is expected to lead to increasing prevalence of dementia in India. In this study, we aimed to determine prevalence, incidence, and mortality of dementia and its subtypes and assess dementia burden in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALY).

Methods: A community study was conducted over 5 years (2003-2008) in Kolkata, India, on 100,802 (males 53,209) randomly selected subjects to assess prevalence and capture data on incident cases and deaths.

Correlates of functional outcome among stroke survivors in a developing country--a prospective community-based study from India.

Stroke survivors (SS) are rising with higher incidence of stroke in developing countries. In addition to physical impairment, other factors such as cognition, social interaction, and depression determine the functional outcome after stroke. Considering the paucity of data from developing countries, we planned to determine the change in various functional parameters among SS.

Clinical effectiveness and safety of escitalopram and desvenlafaxine in patients of depression with anxiety: a randomized, open-label controlled trial.

Aim: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI) are effective in treating anxiety disorders associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). This randomized, controlled, parallel-group, open-label, phase 4 trial (CTRI/2012/08/002895) was undertaken to compare the effectiveness and safety of desvenlafaxine versus escitalopram, a standard antidepressant.

Materials And Methods: Effectiveness was assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D17) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A).

Assessment of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in drug naive patients of bipolar disorder.

The levels of fasting glucose, fasting insulin, insulin resistance (IR) and the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a sample population of bipolar disorder (BPD) patients who were newly diagnosed and psychotropically naïve were assessed and compared with an age, sex and racially matched control population. 55 BPD-I patients (15-65 years) who were non-diabetic, nonpregnant, and drug naïve for a period of at least 6 months were included in the study. Diagnosis was made using the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders (SCID IV).

Depression among stroke survivors: a community-based, prospective study from Kolkata, India.

Objective: Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a disabling entity among stroke survivors (SS). Longitudinal studies on PSD, essential to determine its prognosis, are lacking from developing countries. This prospective study was undertaken to assess the prevalence, natural history, and correlates of depression among SS in an Indian community.

Disease burden of stroke in Kolkata, India: derivation of disability-adjusted life years by a direct method.

Background/aims: The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) is a new time-based measure of disease burden incorporating both disability and mortality. Our study aims to determine the DALYs lost due to stroke using a direct methodology and the implications.

Methods: A population-based, house-to-house, 2-stage, prospective study on stroke was conducted over 7 years in Kolkata, India, on 100,802 randomly selected subjects to capture the incident cases of first-ever stroke and those with fatal stroke.

Dementia: Indian scenario.

As per the estimates of the World Health Organization, aging population is increasing in developing countries and dementia is going to become epidemic among elderly in the coming decades. This demands early action to prevent the disease and treatment of the affected persons, which is poorly existent in middle- and low-income countries. The need of the hour to tackle dementia in India is to estimate disease burden in the community, search for risk and protective factors of dementia, and undertake measures to provide social benefits to the sufferers and those who are at risk.

Cognitive dysfunction in stroke survivors: a community-based prospective study from Kolkata, India.

The frequency of cognitive dysfunction among community stroke survivors (SS) is not known in India. This prospective study investigated the prevalence of poststroke mild cognitive impairment (psMCI) and poststroke dementia (psDem), the annual progression rate to dementia, and pertinent risk factors in a sample population of SS in Kolkata, India between September 2006 and July 2010. From a community-based stroke registry, 281 SS were assessed at baseline year after excluding attrition due to various causes.

Determinants of quality of life in HIV-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral treatment at a medical college ART center in Kolkata, India.

Health-related quality of life (QOL) has become a high priority of long-term management of HIV-infected individuals. The newly diagnosed HIV cases were assessed to obtain sociodemographic and clinical findings. Eyesenk Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) for HIV-infected patients, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to get data regarding personality traits, QOL, and depression scores.