Clomiphene and hypospadias on a detailed level: signal or chance?

Background: Clomiphene, a drug used to induce ovulation, is chemically related to diethylstilbestrol (DES). DES is associated with vaginal cancer and infertility among daughters and with hypospadias among second-generation male offspring. Because clomiphene has a long half-life and metabolites have been found in feces up to 6 weeks after administration, fetal exposure is possible if the mother took this drug prior to becoming pregnant.

Potential psychosocial mechanisms linking depression to immune function in elderly subjects.

Although depression and immune changes in elderly subjects constitute a considerable health risk, mechanisms underlying the association between depression and immune function are unclear. The question of whether personality and social support can explain the variation in immune function during depression was addressed in 21 elderly depressive and 23 control subjects. The following variables were studied: neuroticism, extraversion, received social support, depression-related immune parameters [i.

Do depressive episodes lead to accumulation of vulnerability in the elderly?

The vulnerability-accumulation (or scarring) hypothesis postulates that the experience of depression induces a lasting increase in vulnerability, and through this raises the risk of recurrence. We examined the validity of the vulnerability-accumulation model for depressive episodes in later life. The sample comprised 26 elderly persons who had remitted from a depressive episode and 96 control respondents who were all selected from the participants of a large community survey among persons aged 57 years or more.

Psychosocial and vascular risk factors of depression in later life.

Background: Research on the aetiology of late-life depression has typically focused on either risk factors from the psychosocial stress-vulnerability domain or degenerative biological changes (for instance, vascular disease). We examined whether vascular risk factors could be interpreted within the stress-vulnerability model of depression.

Methods: The data came from a case-control design, nested in a community survey of elderly people.