Motor cortical excitability assessed by transcranial magnetic stimulation in psychiatric disorders: a systematic review.

Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a popular neurostimulation technique suitable for the investigation of inhibitory and facilitatory networks in the human motor system. In the last 20 years, several studies have used TMS to investigate cortical excitability in various psychiatric disorders, leading to a consequent improvement in pathophysiological understanding. However, little is known about the overlap and specificity of these findings across these conditions.

The PREVENT research programme--a novel research programme to identify and manage midlife risk for dementia: the conceptual framework.

It is clear that the neurodegenerative disease processes which cause dementias are initiated many years before the onset of symptoms. In people with mild cognitive impairment there is already good evidence available to suggest that many of the key pathologies are well established. The PREVENT research programme seeks to understand the origin point and sequence of pathological changes which lead to dementia.

A meta-analysis of the prevalence of depressive symptoms in Chinese older adults.

This study aims to explore the prevalence and influence factors of depressive symptoms in Chinese older adults from 1987 to 2012. The study investigated 81 published papers on depressive symptoms in Chinese older adults using the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-30) or the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) as a measuring tool through meta-analysis. A total of 88,417 Chinese older adults were included in this review.

Online cognitive-based intervention for depression: exploring possible circularity in mechanisms of change.

Background: This study investigates possible circularity in mechanisms of change in participants of Master Your Mood (MYM), a cognitive-based, online intervention for young adults with depressive symptoms. A previous study showed that MYM effectively reduced depression and anxiety and strengthened mastery.

Method: We randomized 244 participants with depressive symptoms into MYM or a wait-list control condition.

Comorbid substance abuse in first-episode schizophrenia: effects on cognition and psychopathology in the EUFEST study.

Unlabelled: Studies and meta-analyses investigating the influence of substance use disorder (SUD) (substance abuse or dependence) on psychopathology and neurocognitive function in schizophrenia patients have revealed controversial results. Most studies did only have small samples and did not focus exclusively on first-episode schizophrenia patients.

Method: In a post-hoc analysis of the European First Episode Schizophrenia Trial (EUFEST) psychopathology and cognitive performances of patients with (FE-SUD, N=119, consisting of N=88 patients with persisting SUD at baseline and N=31 patients with previous SUD) and without SUD (FE-non-SUD, N=204) were compared at baseline and 6 months follow-up.

Cognitive emotion regulation strategies moderate the effect of parenting self-efficacy beliefs on parents' anxiety following their child's surgery.

Objective: To explore the role of cognitive emotion regulation (CER) in the association between parenting self-efficacy (PSE) and state anxiety in parents of children undergoing surgery.

Method: In a prospective design, parents of 114 children admitted to hospital for planned surgical interventions completed self-report questionnaires assessing PSE, CER, and state anxiety. Mediational and moderational analyses were conducted to test competing theoretical models regarding the role of CER in the relationship between PSE and parents' anxiety.

The relationship between difficulties in psychological adjustment in young adulthood and exposure to bullying behaviour in childhood and adolescence.

Objective: This study investigates the relationship between involvement in bullying in childhood and adolescence and psychological difficulties in young adulthood.

Materials And Method: A total of 249 college students completed the Retrospective Bullying Questionnaire and Trauma Symptom Checklist.

Results: The results showed significant differences in psychological adjustment among respondents who were exposed to bullying compared to respondents who were not exposed to bullying.

More excited for negative facial expressions in depression: evidence from an event-related potential study.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the intensity evaluation of social stimuli in depression.

Methods: Twenty-four never-disordered control participants (NC), 24 sub-clinically depressed individuals and 24 participants diagnosed with a current major depressive disorder (MDD) were recruited. All participants completed an emotional intensity evaluation task, in which they were required to judge the intensity of the facial expressions by pressing response keys, with the event-related potential (ERP) being recorded during the process.

Effectiveness of an online group course for depression in adolescents and young adults: a randomized trial.

Background: Depression is a serious mental health problem, whose first onset is usually in adolescence. Online treatment may offer a solution for the current undertreatment of depression in youth. For adults with depressive symptoms, the effectiveness of Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy has been demonstrated.

Internet-based intervention to promote mental fitness in mildly depressed adults: design of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Investing in mental well-being is considered a supplement to current mental health service delivery in which the treatment and prevention of mental disorders are core components. It may be possible for people to enhance their well-being by boosting their "mental fitness."

Objective: Psyfit, an online, multi-component, fully automated self-help intervention, was developed with the aim of improving well-being and reducing depressive symptoms.

Alcohol and drug prevention in nightlife settings: a review of experimental studies.

This study examines the evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions aimed at the prevention of harmful alcohol and drug use in nightlife settings. A literature search was conducted in 2009. Of 161 studies, 17 experimental studies were included in the review, 15 alcohol-related and two drug-related studies.

The stress hormone system in various sleep disorders.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-system activity is regulated by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the primary endogenous circadian pacemaker. In addition, sleep plays an important modulatory role. However, data on HPA-system activity in sleep disorders are quite conflicting.

Diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's disease: rationale, methodology, and challenges.

There has been a large increase in the amount of research seeking to define or diagnose Alzheimer's disease before patients develop dementia. If successful, this would principally have clinical benefits both in terms of treatment as well as risk modification. Moreover, a better method for diagnosing predementia disease would assist research which seeks to develop such treatments and risk modification strategies.

Community rehabilitation outcomes across cultures following traumatic brain injury.

Objective: This exploratory study investigates Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) rehabilitation outcomes among culturally diverse outpatients in community-based rehabilitation who have sustained a Mild to Moderate TBI. The major aims of this study are twofold: firstly, to determine whether community-based rehabilitation outcomes following TBI differ across Măori, Pacific and Pakeha cultures; and secondly, to identify any service delivery needs Pacific people in TBI rehabilitation require that may be distinct from Pakeha.

Method: A fixed comparative non-experimental design was utilised where participants were selected using direct control based on their self-identified ethnic group resulting in sub-samples of 11 Maori, 11 Pacific and 11 Pakeha (n=33).

Translating effective web-based self-help for problem drinking into the real world.

Background: Drinking Less (DL) is a 24/7 free-access anonymous interactive web-based self-help intervention without therapeutic guidance for adult problem drinkers in the community. In a randomized controlled trial (referred to here as DL-RCT), DL has been shown effective in reducing risky alcohol consumption.

Objective: To assess whether the findings of DL-RCT are generalizable to a naturalistic setting (DL-RW) in terms of ability to reach the target group and alcohol treatment response.

Curbing problem drinking with personalized-feedback interventions: a meta-analysis.

Context: The effectiveness of personalized-feedback interventions to reduce problem drinking has been evaluated in several RCTs and systematic reviews. A meta-analysis was performed to examine the overall effectiveness of brief, single-session personalized-feedback interventions without therapeutic guidance.

Evidence Acquisition: The selection and analyses of studies were conducted in 2008.

Effectiveness of a web-based self-help smoking cessation intervention: protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for many chronic and fatal illnesses. Stopping smoking directly reduces those risks. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a web-based interactive self-help programme for smoking cessation, known as the StopSite, by comparing it to an online self-help guide.

Inflammatory and oxidative and nitrosative stress pathways underpinning chronic fatigue, somatization and psychosomatic symptoms.

Purpose Of Review: The aim of this paper is to review recent findings on inflammatory and oxidative and nitrosative stress (IO&NS) pathways in chronic fatigue and somatization disorder.

Recent Findings: Activation of IO&NS pathways is the key phenomenon underpinning chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS): intracellular inflammation, with an increased production of nuclear factor kappa beta (NFkappabeta), cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible NO synthase (iNOS); and damage caused by O&NS to membrane fatty acids and functional proteins. These IO&NS pathways are induced by a number of trigger factors, for example psychological stress, strenuous exercise, viral infections and an increased translocation of LPS from gram-bacteria (leaky gut).

Psychiatry for the person and its conceptual bases.

The 2005 General Assembly of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) established the Institutional Program on Psychiatry for the Person (IPPP) in response both to a recognition of our profession's historical aspirations and to recent international developments in clinical care and public health. These considerations point to the relevance of a comprehensive understanding of health and the centrality of the person in the delivery and the planning of healthcare. The IPPP's goals can be summarised as the promotion of a psychiatry of the person (of the totality of the person's health, both ill and positive), by the person (with clinicians extending themselves as full human beings), for the person (assisting the fulfilment of the person's life project) and with the person (in respectful collaboration with the person who consults).

Molecular-cytogenetic investigation of skewed chromosome X inactivation in Rett syndrome.

We have developed an approach to differentiate homologous X chromosomes in metaphase chromosomes and interphase nuclei by a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique with chromosome X-specific alpha-satellite DNA probe. FISH analysis of metaphase chromosomes in a cohort of 33 girls with Rett syndrome (RTT) allowed us to detect eight girls with structurally different X chromosomes, one X chromosome with a large and another one with a small centromeric heterochromatin (so-called chromosomal heteromorphism). Step-wise application of differential replication staining and the FISH technique to identify the inactivation status of paternal and maternal chromosome X in RTT girls was applied.

High resolution multicolor fluorescence in situ hybridization using cyanine and fluorescein dyes: rapid chromosome identification by directly fluorescently labeled alphoid DNA probes.

We tested DNA probes directly labeled by fluorescently labeled nucleotides (Cy3-dCTP, Cy5-dCTP, FluorX-dCTP) for high resolution uni- and multicolor detection of human chromosomes and analysis of centromeric DNA organization by in situ hybridization. Alpha-satellite DNA probes specific to chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 4 + 9, 5 + 19, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 + 21, 14 + 22, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, X and Y were suitable for the accurate identification of human chromosomes in metaphase and interphase cells. Cy3-labeled probes had several advantages: (1) a high level of fluorescence (5-10 times more compared with fluorescein-labeled probes); (2) a low level of fluorescence in solution, allowing the detection of target chromosomes in situ during hybridization without the washing of slides; and (3) high resistance to photobleaching during prolonged (1-2 h) exposure to strong light, thus allowing the use of a high energy mercury lamp or a long integration time during image acquisition in digital imaging microscopy for the determination of weak signals.

Peculiarities of the polypeptide composition of the morphofunctionally different neurons of the rat brain.

The present study was aimed to identify peculiarities of the polypeptide composition in three morphofunctionally different classes of neurons of the rat brainstem: giant multipolar neurons of n. reticularis gigantocellularis, relay sensory neurons of lateral geniculate body and pyramidal neurons of the pyramidal layer of the CA3 - CA4 fields of hippocampus. The method of free hand dissection of neurons and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) slab gel microelectrophoresis in our modifications were used.