Natural reduced water suppressed anxiety and protected the heightened oxidative stress in rats.

Background: In Japan, the effects of reduced water, such as hydrogen-rich electrolyzed reduced water and natural reduced water, like Hita Tenryosui water, have been examined. The purpose of the present study was to identify the role of natural reduced water in anxiety and blood biochemical analysis.

Materials And Methods: Natural reduced water and distilled water were administered to rats for 180 consecutive days, and their effect on anxiety-like behavior and depression was examined by using elevated plus maze, light/dark, forced swimming, and conditioned fear tests.

Reduced white matter integrity in borderline personality disorder: A diffusion tensor imaging study.

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions. BPD may be linked to an abnormal brain anatomy, but little is known about possible impairments of the white matter microstructure in BPD or their relationship with impulsivity or risky behaviors. The aims of the present study were to explore the relationship between BPD and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters and psychological tests.

Cognitive insight and functional outcome in schizophrenia; a multi-center collaborative study with the specific level of functioning scale-Japanese version.

The Specific Levels of Functioning Scale (SLOF) has been reported to provide a measure of social function in patients with schizophrenia. The aim of this multi-center study was to determine convergent validity of the Japanese version of SLOF, and if cognitive insight would be associated with social function. Fifty-eight patients with schizophrenia participated in the study.

Gender differences in automatic thoughts and cortisol and alpha-amylase responses to acute psychosocial stress in patients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Introduction: Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) has a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfection, and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency. The aims of the present study were to explore the relationship between OCPD and psychological stress and psychological tests.

Methods: We evaluated 63 OCPD patients and 107 healthy controls (HCs).

Hyperfunction of left lateral prefrontal cortex and automatic thoughts in social anxiety disorder: A near-infrared spectroscopy study.

Background: Patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) experience unusual fear in normal social situations. The verbal fluency task (VFT) was administered while subjects were undergoing near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) scanning. The purpose of VFT was to examine the functions of the frontal and temporal lobes.

FKBP5 is associated with amygdala volume in the human brain and mood state: A voxel-based morphometry (VBM) study.

The present study was to investigate the effects of 6 FK506 binding protein 51 (FKBP5) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on brain structure using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and the psychological tests to psychological stress. We genotyped 112 healthy controls with respect to 6 SNPs (rs) of FKBP5. We examined the Beck Depression Inventory and the State (STAI-S) and Trait (STAI-T) versions of the Spielberger Anxiety Inventory and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) to evaluate mood.

Association of TMEM132D, COMT, and GABRA6 genotypes with cingulate, frontal cortex and hippocampal emotional processing in panic and major depressive disorder.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the association of transmembrane protein 132D (TMEM132D), catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor alpha 6 subunit (GABRA6) genotypes with cingulate, frontal cortex and hippocampal emotional processing in panic disorder (PD) and major depressive disorder (MDD).

Method: The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in TMEM132D, COMT, and GABRA6 were examined in patients with MDD, PD, and healthy controls. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in patients with MDD, PD, and healthy controls.

Association of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism with HPA and SAM axis reactivity to psychological and physical stress.

Background: Decreased expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is implicated in enhanced stress responses. The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism is associated with psychological changes; for example, carriers of the Met allele exhibit increased harm avoidance as well as a higher prevalence of depression and anxiety disorder.

Methods: To analyze the effects of BDNF Val66Met on stress responses, we tested 226 university students (88 women and 138 men) using a social stress procedure (Trier Social Stress Test [TSST]) and an electrical stimulation stress test.

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy during the Verbal Fluency Task before and after Treatment with Image Exposure and SSRI Therapy in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Drug therapy with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has been used as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In the present case report, exposure therapy was used in addition to escitalopram (20 mg) to treat a 28-year-old female patient with OCD for 6 months. Her obsessive-compulsive symptoms comprised thoughts of words such as rape, crematorium, neck hanging, unhappy, death, die, and kill and images such as a shelf of gods, a shrine, a Buddhist altar, the sun, the sky, and the faces of her parents, siblings, and relatives.

Association of microcephalin 1, syntrophin-beta 1, and other genes with automatic thoughts in the Japanese population.

Automatic thoughts may be risk factors for depression and anxiety, and should be detected early. However, the genetic basis of automatic thoughts remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the genetic association of automatic thoughts with SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) involved in cognition, neurogenesis, neuronal cell structure, neurotransmitters, hypothalamus-pituitary adrenal axis and psychiatric illness.

Salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol responsiveness following electrically stimulated physical stress in bipolar disorder patients.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BP) is often associated with a change in hypothalamus- pituitary-adrenal axis function change due to chronic stress. Salivary α-amylase (sAA) levels increase in response to psychosocial stress and thus function as a marker of sympathoadrenal medullary system activity. However, sAA has been studied less often than salivary cortisol in BP patients.

The thyrotropin-releasing hormone test may predict recurrence of clinical depression within ten years after discharge.

Objectives: The underlying pathogenic mechanisms and predictors of recurrence in major depressive disorder are still largely unknown. Hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis dysregulation are thought to be related to the development and course of depression.

Design And Setting: Over a ten-year period, we investigated whether the results of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) testing and combined dexamethasone/corticotropin-releasing hormone (DEX/CRH) testing could be correlated with the recurrence of depression in 25 outpatients with clinically remitted major depression for at least 10 years.