Plasma metabolome analysis of patients with major depressive disorder.

Aim: This study sought to characterize the plasma metabolite profiling of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: Psychiatric assessments were made with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. In the exploratory cohort, plasma metabolite profiles of 34 MDD patients and 31 mentally healthy controls were compared using capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry.

Coping strategies and risk of cardiovascular disease incidence and mortality: the Japan Public Health Center-based prospective Study.

Aims: Coping strategies may be significantly associated with health outcomes. This is the first study to investigate the association between baseline coping strategies and cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and mortality in a general population cohort.

Methods And Results: The Japan Public Health Center-based prospective Study asked questions on coping in its third follow-up survey (2000-04).

Coping strategies and cancer incidence and mortality: The Japan Public Health Center-based prospective study.

Background: Psychological stress is a modifiable risk factor for health outcomes and can be managed through coping mechanisms. Biological and behavioral hypotheses have been proposed to explain the association between stress coping strategies and cancer outcomes.

Methods: The Japan Public Health Center-based study asked questions on coping behaviors in its 10-year follow-up survey.

Persistent distress after psychological exposure to the Nagasaki atomic bomb explosion.

Background: Although there is speculation that individuals living in the vicinity of nuclear disasters have persistent mental health deterioration due to psychological stress, few attempts have been made to examine this issue.

Aims: To determine whether having been in the vicinity of the Nagasaki atomic bomb explosion in the absence of substantial exposure to radiation affected the mental health of local inhabitants more than half a century later.

Method: Participants were randomly recruited from individuals who lived in the vicinity of the atomic bomb explosion in uncontaminated suburbs of Nagasaki.

Long-term influence of working abroad on returnees' mental health.

Although international business travel is increasing, there is a lack of research on its repercussions for mental health. This study analysed the long-term influence of international business travel on the mental health status by comparing depression, anxiety and job stress between workers with and without international assignment experience. The subjects were divided into an 'experienced group' composed of 70 male workers who had experienced an overseas assignment of at least six months, and a 'non-experienced group' consisting of 2,163 male workers who had not.

Depressive symptoms and life satisfaction in elderly women are associated with natural killer cell number and cytotoxicity.

Well-preserved natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity (NKCC) is associated with healthy aging. The objective of the survey was to investigate psychological factors related to NKCC and NK cell populations in elderly women. A cross-sectional study involving 181 participants was conducted using the Japanese version of the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and additional questions assessing psychological status and lifestyle.

Association between perceived social support and Th1 dominance.

Social support is supposed to have a positive health effect via alteration of immunity. In this study, associations between perceived social support and immune systems were examined. Immunological assessments, e.

The immunophilin ligand FK506 protects against methamphetamine-induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity in mouse striatum.

Repeated use of methamphetamine (MAP) is known to cause neurotoxicity in the dopaminergic neurons of the striatum. Recently, we reported that FK506, a calcineurin inhibitor and immunosuppressive agent, could attenuate acute behavioral changes and the development of sensitization after administration of MAP. In this study, we investigated the effects of FK506 on the neurotoxicity in the dopaminergic neurons induced by repeated administration of MAP.

Uncoupling protein-2/uncoupling protein-3 gene polymorphism is not associated with anorexia nervosa.

Energy expenditure abnormalities have been observed in anorexia nervosa (AN). The uncoupling proteins (UCPs) have been implicated as having a role in energy metabolism and thermogenesis, and an association between a marker flanking the UCP-2/UCP-3 gene cluster and AN has been reported. Also known are insertion/deletion and -866G/A polymorphisms in the UCP-2 gene, and the -55C/T polymorphism in the UCP-3 gene.

Positive coping up- and down-regulates in vitro cytokine productions from T cells dependent on stress levels.

Background: Specific coping styles have been shown to modulate stress-induced immune alterations and influence actual health outcomes. This study examined the effects of stressors and coping styles on human T-cell subpopulations and in vitro cytokine production using a cross-sectional design.

Methods: Seventy-one men (18-60 years old) were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire that evaluates quantitative workload, mental demand and coping styles.

Association of lymphocyte sub-populations with clustered features of metabolic syndrome in middle-aged Japanese men.

To examine the relationship between altered cellular immune status and clustered features of the metabolic syndrome, we measured body mass index (BMI), serum concentrations of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, and blood pressure levels as well as differential leukocyte counts and lymphocyte sub-populations among 439 apparently healthy Japanese men aged 35-60 years. The components of the metabolic syndrome were defined based on the following criteria: BMI >/=25.0 kg/m(2), fasting plasma glucose >/=6.

Development of the overt-covert aggression inventory.

The expression of anger in Japanese people is different from that of other races. We developed a new brief inventory, the Overt-Covert Aggression Inventory, to assess aggressive behavior ofJapanese people by focusing on their uniqueness and examined its reliability and validity. This inventory, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale, the Japanese version of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and the Picture-Frustration Study were administered to 3,104 men and 316 women in a factory.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) suppresses experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis: NPY1 receptor-specific inhibition of autoreactive Th1 responses in vivo.

Prior studies have revealed that the sympathetic nervous system regulates the clinical and pathological manifestations of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an autoimmune disease model mediated by Th1 T cells. Although the regulatory role of catecholamines has been indicated in the previous works, it remained possible that other sympathetic neurotransmitters like neuropeptide Y (NPY) may also be involved in the regulation of EAE. Here we examined the effect of NPY and NPY receptor subtype-specific compounds on EAE, actively induced with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein 35-55 in C57BL/6 mice.

Coemergence of insomnia and a shift in the Th1/Th2 balance toward Th2 dominance.

Objectives: Insomnia is associated with physical and mental disorders. We examined the effect of insomnia on immune functions, focusing on the T helper 1 (Th1)/ T helper 2 (Th2) balance, by a cross-sectional design.

Methods: We provided a self-administered questionnaire to evaluate sleep habits, smoking and medical disorders to 578 men without any toxic exposure (20-64 years old), and measured natural killer (NK) cell activity in 324 men and production of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) after stimulation with phytohemagglutinin in 254 men.

Psychological stress increases human T cell apoptosis in vitro.

Objectives: Recent studies have shown that apoptosis is involved in stress responses. The present study examined if stressors increase in vitro apoptosis of peripheral blood T lymphocytes in a dose-dependent manner.

Methods: Daily subjective stress was quantitatively analyzed in 40 nonsmoking men with a daily hassles questionnaire.

Relevance of neuropeptide Y for the neuroimmune crosstalk.

Both cellular and humoral functions of the immune system are modulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). This interaction is mainly mediated by the release of catecholamines (CA) and their receptor-specific action on immune cells. However, neuropeptide Y (NPY), also present in sympathetic nerve terminals, is released upon SNS-stimulation.

Reliability and validity of the Japanese-language version of the impact of event scale-revised (IES-R-J): four studies of different traumatic events.

The authors developed the Japanese-language version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R-J) and investigated its reliability and validity in four different groups: workers with lifetime mixed traumatic events, survivors of an arsenic poisoning case, survivors of the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, and survivors of the Tokyo Metro sarin attack. Evidence includes retest reliability and internal consistency of the IES-R-J. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and partial PTSD cases indicated significantly higher scores than non-PTSD cases.