Improved estimation of the risk of manic relapse by combining clinical and brain scan data.

Introduction: Estimating the risk of manic relapse could help the psychiatrist individually adjust the treatment to the risk. Some authors have attempted to estimate this risk from baseline clinical data. Still, no studies have assessed whether the estimation could improve by adding structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data.

Higher lymphocyte count associated with larger hippocampal volume and fewer depressive symptoms in drug-na ïve first-episode psychosis.

Circulating white blood cells (leucocytes), which form the peripheral immune system, are crucial in inflammatory processes but their role in brain structural change in schizophrenia has been scarcely studied. With this study we want to determine how and which type of white blood cells are associated with hippocampal volume (as a key structure in schi- zophrenia etiopathology) in first episode psychosis (FEP) patients. Moreover, to determine the association between white blood cells and clinical symptomatology, including positive and negative symptoms, cognition and depression.

Brain imaging correlates of self- and other-reflection in schizophrenia.

Background: An alteration in self/other differentiation has been proposed as a basis for several symptoms in schizophrenia, including delusions of reference and social functioning deficits. Dysfunction of the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), a region linked with social cognition, has been proposed as the basis of this alteration. However, imaging studies of self- and other-processing in schizophrenia have shown, so far, inconsistent results.

Autobiographical memory and default mode network function in schizophrenia: an fMRI study.

Background: The brain functional correlates of autobiographical recall are well established, but have been little studied in schizophrenia. Additionally, autobiographical memory is one of a small number of cognitive tasks that activates rather than de-activates the default mode network, which has been found to be dysfunctional in this disorder.

Methods: Twenty-seven schizophrenic patients and 30 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing cue words that evoked autobiographical memories.

Shared and differential default-mode related patterns of activity in an autobiographical, a self-referential and an attentional task.

The default-mode network (DMN) comprises a set of brain regions that show deactivations during performance of attentionally demanding tasks, but also activation during certain processes including recall of autobiographical memories and processing information about oneself, among others. However, the DMN is not activated in a homogeneous manner during performance of such tasks, so it is not clear to what extent its activation patterns correspond to deactivation patterns seen during attention-demanding tasks. In this fMRI study we compared patterns of activation in response to an autobiographical memory task to those observed in a self/other-reflection task, and compared both to deactivations observed during the n-back working memory task.

Multiple adverse drug reactions and genetic polymorphism testing: A case report with negative result.

Rationale: Defects in drug metabolic pathways could explain why some patients have a history of multiple adverse drug reactions (ADR); therefore we aimed to analyze genetic polymorphisms in a patient with multiple ADR related to drugs with a common hepatic metabolic pathway through CYP2D6.

Patient Concerns: We report a patient with psychosis and hypertension related to amitriptyline, tramadol, and duloxetine within a 2-year period.

Interventions And Outcomes: A pharmacogenetic test was performed to assess the causative role of the CYP2D6 enzyme, but did not demonstrate a metabolic deficiency.

Mental disorders in HIV/HCV coinfected patients under antiviral treatment for hepatitis C.

This paper aims to review the epidemiology and management of mental disorders in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfected patients, the need for antiviral therapy in this specific population, and current treatment strategies for HIV/HCV patients with psychiatric and/or substance use disorders. This is a narrative review. Data was sourced from electronic databases and was not limited by language or date of publication.

Depression as Measured by PHQ-9 Versus Clinical Diagnosis as an Independent Predictor of Long-Term Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of Medical Inpatients.

Background: Depression has been associated with higher rates of mortality in medical patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of depression in medical inpatients on the rate of mortality during a prolonged follow-up period.

Method: This is a prospective follow-up study of a cohort of medical inpatients assessed during 1997-1998 in medical and surgical units at a tertiary university hospital in Spain and followed-up for a period ranging between 16.

Comorbidity between depression and inflammatory bowel disease explained by immune-inflammatory, oxidative, and nitrosative stress; tryptophan catabolite; and gut-brain pathways.

The nature of depression has recently been reconceptualized, being conceived as the clinical expression of activated immune-inflammatory, oxidative, and nitrosative stress (IO&NS) pathways, including tryptophan catabolite (TRYCAT), autoimmune, and gut-brain pathways. IO&NS pathways are similarly integral to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The increased depression prevalence in IBD associates with a lower quality of life and increased morbidity in IBD, highlighting the role of depression in modulating the pathophysiology of IBD.

The glutathione system: a new drug target in neuroimmune disorders.

Glutathione (GSH) has a crucial role in cellular signaling and antioxidant defenses either by reacting directly with reactive oxygen or nitrogen species or by acting as an essential cofactor for GSH S-transferases and glutathione peroxidases. GSH acting in concert with its dependent enzymes, known as the glutathione system, is responsible for the detoxification of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) and electrophiles produced by xenobiotics. Adequate levels of GSH are essential for the optimal functioning of the immune system in general and T cell activation and differentiation in particular.

To a broader concept of remission: rating the health-related quality of life in bipolar disorder.

Background: The relationship between remission and quality of life in bipolar disorder is incompletely understood. This study aimed to determine cut-points on the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the European Quality of Life Index (EQ-5D) that corresponded with an objective clinical measure of remission in bipolar disorder patients.

Methods: Data from a 2-year prospective observational study of bipolar and schizoaffective patients were analysed.