Laboratory interference in the thyroid function test.

Thyroid hormones and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) laboratory tests are commonly used worldwide, and their results have an important influence on decisions about treatment and further diagnostic processes. Any discrepancies between symptoms and laboratory results or between results of different tests should be closely investigated to avoid misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment. Inconsistencies in hormone tests might be a result of physiological changes in hormonal balance, a disease, drug intake, or laboratory interference.

Decreased use of active coping styles contributes to elevated allostatic load index in first-episode psychosis.

Accumulating evidence indicates that stress plays an important role in the development of psychotic disorders. Recent studies have revealed that patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) present systemic biological dysregulations related to stress-exposure in terms of elevated allostatic load (AL) index. However, the mechanisms underlying this observation remain unknown.

Testosterone, DHEA and DHEA-S in patients with schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Neuroactive steroids, including testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate (DHEA-S) might play an important role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Therefore, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies comparing the levels of testosterone, DHEA and DHEA-S in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. We searched electronic databases from their inception until Oct 29, 2017.

Metabolic dysregulation in first-episode schizophrenia patients with respect to genetic variation in one-carbon metabolism.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of metabolic disturbances in patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and test the hypothesis that genetic variation in one-carbon metabolism may account for metabolic dysregulation in early psychosis. We measured fasting glucose, lipid profile parameters, homocysteine, folate and vitamin B12 in 135 patients with FES and 146 healthy controls (HCs). Polymorphisms in the following genes were determined: MTHFR (C677T and A1298C), MTHFD1 (G1958A), MTRR (A66G) and BHMT (G742A).

Lower LINE-1 methylation in first-episode schizophrenia patients with the history of childhood trauma.

Aim: We investigated methylation of DNA repetitive sequences (LINE-1 and BAGE) in peripheral blood leukocytes from first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and healthy controls (HCs) with respect to childhood adversities.

Materials & Methods: Patients were divided into two subgroups based on the history of childhood trauma - FES(+) and FES(-) subjects. The majority of HCs had a negative history of childhood trauma - HCs(-) subjects.