Macrophage contributions to ovarian function.

Macrophages are multifunctional cells that play key roles in the immune response and are abundant throughout female reproductive tissues. Macrophages are identified in tissues by their expression of cell surface receptors and can execute diverse functional activities, including phagocytosis and degradation of foreign antigens, matrix dissolution and tissue remodelling, and production and secretion of cytokines, chemokines and growth factors. Their specific localization and variations in distribution in the ovary during different stages of the cycle, as well as their presence in peri-ovulatory human follicular fluid, suggest that macrophages play diverse roles in intra-ovarian events including folliculogenesis, tissue restructuring at ovulation and corpus luteum formation and regression.

A preliminary study of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children mania rating scale for children and adolescents.

Objective: To construct a mania rating scale designed for children and adolescents.

Methods: Fourteen questions from the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present Episode (K-SADS-P) 1986 version plus a new item assessing mood lability were used to construct a clinician-rated mania rating scale (K-SADS-MRS). Interrater reliability was determined prospectively with 22 patients from a bipolar outpatient clinic.

Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging of reward-related brain circuitry in children and adolescents.

Background: Functional disturbances in reward-related brain systems are thought to play a role in the development of mood, impulse, and substance-abuse disorders. Studies in nonhuman primates have identified brain regions, including the dorsal/ventral striatum and orbital-frontal cortex, in which neural activity is modulated by reward. Recent studies in adults have concurred with these findings by observing reward-contingent blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in these regions during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms; however, no previous studies indicate whether comparable modulations of neural activity exist in the brain reward systems of children and adolescents.

Measuring aerobic fitness of Hispanic youth 10 to 12 years of age.

Obesity is a major health problem in the U.S., especially for Hispanic youth.

Clinical presentation and course of depression in youth: does onset in childhood differ from onset in adolescence?

Objective: To simultaneously and prospectively compare the clinical presentation, course, and parental psychiatric history between children and adolescents with major depressive disorder.

Method: A group of prepubertal children (n = 46) and postpubertal adolescents (n = 22) were assessed with structured interviews for psychopathology and parental psychiatric history and followed once every 2 years for approximately 5 years.

Results: With the exception of more depressive melancholic symptoms in the adolescents, both groups had similar depressive symptomatology, duration (average 17 months), severity of the index episode, rates of recovery (85%) and recurrence (40%), comorbid disorders, and parental psychiatric history.

Measuring mood and complex behavior in natural environments: use of ecological momentary assessment in pediatric affective disorders.

This article describes the theoretical background and methodology of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and reports results from a pilot study using EMA techniques in 16 children and adolescents with affective disorders and 5 subjects who were healthy and at low risk to develop future affective disorders. Multiple daily assessments of the subjects' mood, thoughts, and behaviors were performed in their natural environments using brief interviews on cellular phone calls by the study staff and by wrist actigraphy. The pilot results demonstrated that the EMA methodology is feasible in this population, as 17 of 21 subjects were able to complete the entire 8-week protocol.

Growth hormone response to growth hormone-releasing hormone and clonidine in young monkeys: correlation with behavioral characteristics.

Blunted growth hormone (GH) release in response to stimulation by a secretagogue has been widely reported in both children and adults with anxiety and depressive disorders. Blunted GH responsiveness appears to be a stable characteristic of an individual, suggesting that it may be useful as a biological marker that would allow early recognition of these disease processes. Another potential biological marker for anxiety disorders is the temperamental construct of behavioral inhibition.

Gastrointestinal distress to serotonergic challenge: a risk marker for emotional disorder?

Objective: Serotonin is an important mediator of gut sensation and motility. The authors' aim was to determine whether inadvertent gastrointestinal (GI) distress to serotonergic challenge predicted future major depressive and/or anxiety disorders in exposed children.

Method: l-5-hydroxytryptophan was administered to 119 prepubertal children free of psychiatric disorder as part of a psychobiological cohort study initially designed to examine familial loading for mood disorder as the exposure of interest.

An assessment of the Roche Amplicor Chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae multiplex PCR assay in routine diagnostic use on a variety of specimen types.

The Roche Cobas Amplicor Chlamydia trachomatis/Neisseria gonorrhoeae polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay can simultaneously detect both C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae, and has been cleared by United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the testing of endocervical and urethral swabs and urine specimens.

Spectral analyses of sleep EEG in depressed offspring of fathers with or without a positive history of alcohol abuse or dependence: a pilot study.

The current study was designed to examine the effects of family history of alcohol use disorders on spectral electroencephalographic (EEG) sleep measures obtained in a sample of youth with depression. We evaluated sleep in 32 depressed youth (8-16 years of age) with and without a family history of alcohol use disorders. Eighteen of the participants (10 males and 8 females) reported a positive paternal history of alcohol use disorders and made up the family history positive (FHP) group.

Leptin and leptin receptor expression in the rat ovary.

Leptin is an important satiety hormone and reproductive regulator and is found, along with its receptors, throughout the ovary. To date, the changes in ovarian expression of both of these proteins throughout the estrous cycle has not been studied, and the examination of protein expression has not distinguished between different forms of the receptor. In this study leptin mRNA expression in the immature gonadotropin-primed rat ovary increased 3-fold after human chorionic gonadotropin administration, followed by a dramatic increase in mRNA for both the short form (Ob-Ra) and the long form (Ob-Rb) of the leptin receptor (approximately 8- and 7-fold, respectively).

The stressful life events schedule for children and adolescents: development and validation.

The development and psychometric properties of the Stressful Life Events Schedule (SLES), an interview instrument to assess stressors in children and adolescents, are described. Children (< or =12 years) and adolescents (>12 years) with psychopathology (n=30) and non-psychiatric controls (n=30) were interviewed with the SLES about the occurrence of stressful life events during the prior year. To examine concurrent validity of the SLES, all subjects also completed the self-report Life Events Checklist (LEC) and half the sample completed the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS).

Children with prepubertal-onset major depressive disorder and anxiety grown up.

Background: The continuity in adulthood of major depressive disorder (MDD) first arising before puberty is largely unknown. This information could guide early treatment and clarify the appropriateness of including children with MDD in genetic studies.

Methods: Eighty-three subjects with onset of MDD, 44 subjects with anxiety disorder and no MDD, and 91 subjects with no evidence of past or current psychiatric disorders were assessed by two psychiatrists before puberty (Tanner stage < III) and were evaluated 10 to 15 years later as adults by an independent team without knowledge of the initial diagnosis.

Calix[4]arene, calix[4]resorcarene, and cyclodextrin derivatives and their lanthanide complexes as chiral NMR shift reagents.

Calix[4]arenes, calix[4]resorcarenes, and anionic cyclodextrin derivatives were examined as chiral NMR solvating agents. The calix[4]arenes were prepared by attachment of amino acids through the hydroxyl groups of the phenol rings. Chloroform-, methanol-, and water-soluble derivatives were prepared and tested with a range of substrates.

Child and adolescent depression: short-term treatment effectiveness and long-term opportunities.

As with adult major depressive disorder (MDD), child and adolescent MDD is characterized as a common, chronic and recurrent disorder. It is also associated with short- and long-term functional impairment, morbidity, and mortality. Effective treatments, both psychotherapeutic and pharmacotherapeutic, are available for the short-term treatment and management of youth with MDD.

Differentiating depressed adolescent 24 h cortisol secretion in light of their adult clinical outcome.

A clinical follow-up study was performed of adolescent major depressives and normal control subjects approximately 10 years after the subjects had undergone serial cortisol measurements over a 24-h period. In light of their young adulthood clinical status, our objective was to ascertain whether there were any premorbid cortisol abnormalities associated with depressive course of illness. In all, 77 young adults who had received a diagnosis of adolescent major depressive disorder, or were determined to be normal volunteers free of psychiatric diagnosis at index period and during follow-up, were studied.

Medication treatment for depression in children and adolescents.

Depression in children and adolescents is relatively common and associated with significant morbidity and mortality-thus, it is strongly deserving of treatment. To date, there have been a number of randomized, controlled trials of both tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the acute treatment of depression in youths. Surprisingly, the available data do not demonstrate TCA superiority over placebo for this disorder in this age group.

Heritability of fearful-anxious endophenotypes in infant rhesus macaques: a preliminary report.

Background: Research efforts to discover the genetic underpinnings of anxiety and depression is challenging because of the etiologic heterogeneity inherent to these disorders. These efforts might be aided by the study of related behavioral phenotypes in model organisms, such as monkeys.

Methods: Eighty-five rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) from the Oregon National Primate Research Center were drawn from a standard matriarchal colony and tested for behavioral response in four testing paradigms designed to elicit fearful-anxious reactions.

Skating to where the puck is going to be: a plan for clinical trials and translation research in mood disorders.

As part of the National Institute of Mental Health Strategic Plan for Mood Disorders Research effort, the Clinical Trials and Translation Workgroup was asked to define priorities for clinical trials in mood disorders and for research on how best to translate the results of such research to clinical practice settings. Through two face-to-face meetings and a series of conference calls, we established priorities based on the literature to date and what was known about research currently in progress in this area. We defined five areas of priority that cut across developmental stages, while noting that research on adult mood disorders was at a more advanced stage in each of these areas than research on child or geriatric disorders.

Higher dietary variety is associated with better nutritional status in frail elderly people.

Objective: A narrow range of food choices may lead to dietary inadequacies, a particular concern in elderly people. We hypothesized that consumption of a more diverse diet would predict better nutritional status in frail elderly persons.

Subjects: Subjects included 98 frail nursing home residents (36 men, 62 women), mean age 87.