Similarities and dissimilarities in the effects of benzodiazepines and specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the defensive marble burying test: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

One problem areas of animal models and tests for neuropsychiatric disorders is unclear reproducibility, including both internal and external validity. One way to examine external validity is with systematic reviews and meta-analyses, a standard practice in clinical research that is relatively neglected in preclinical research. Considering the need to evaluate the validity and reproducibility of frequently used animal models, this study presents a meta-analysis of the effects of prototypic benzodiazepines and specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the mouse defensive marble burying test (MBT).

Exploring test batteries for depression- and anxiety-like behaviours in female and male ICR and black Swiss mice.

Objective and rationale: Animal models are critical for the study of mental disorders and their treatments but are repeatedly criticized for problems with validity and reproducibility. One approach to enhance validity and reproducibility of models is to use test batteries rather than single tests. Yet, a question regarding batteries is whether one can expect a consistent individual behavioural phenotype in mice across tests that can be presumed to be part of the same construct.

The experience of being an in vitro fertilization (IVF) patient in a pro-natalist society - a form of emotional labor.

Israel is known as a highly pronatalist society. We conceptualize the pro-natalist state as the employer of in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients in the labor of procreation. We characterize the unique Israeli religio-cultural environment regarding infertility using the concepts of emotional labor, surface acting, deep acting, emotional dissonance, and burnout.

Comparing outcome measures of persons with severe mental illness in vocational rehabilitation programs: a dual perspective of consumers and providers.

Objective: Vocational rehabilitation for people with severe mental illness (SMI) has many benefits. Among the existing models, supported employment has consistently shown to have better impact on vocational outcomes while the findings on non-vocational outcomes are inconsistent. One source of variation with regard to non-vocational outcomes could be related to differences between consumers' self-reports and the providers' point of view.

Health-related quality of life of transplant recipients: a comparison between lung, kidney, heart, and liver recipients.

Background: Quality of life and psychological responses to transplantation are constructs used to assess various psychosocial aspects after organ transplantation. The purpose of this study is to compare physical, psychological, social, and environmental quality of life between recipients of four organs: liver, lung, heart, and kidney.

Methods: In order to compare the four types of quality of life and emotional responses post-transplant, HRQOL and TxEQ questionnaires were administered to 427 transplant recipients.

Revisiting the validity of the mouse tail suspension test: Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of prototypic antidepressants.

Animal models in neuropsychiatric research need validation. One way to address external validity is systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The present study presents a meta-analysis of the effects of antidepressants in the mouse tail suspension test (TST).

Between health and death: The intense emotional pain experienced by transplant nurses.

While extensive scholarship has been dedicated to the emotional experiences of transplant patients, little is known about the emotional experiences of transplant co-ordinators. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted with ten transplant co-ordinators who have worked for more than 20 years in this job. The transplant co-ordinators spoke of negative feelings and moral distress with regard to futile care of deceased donor family members as well as of living donors.

The Experiences of Parents of Children Undergoing Surgery for Congenital Heart Defects: A Holistic Model of Care.

The present article is based on a qualitative study focusing on parents of children born with congenital heart defects (CHDs) and hospitalized in the children's intensive care unit post-surgery. Our aim was to explore parents' subjective experiences as primary caregivers. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis according to the instructions of Smith and Osborn.

The impact of intensive staff education on rate of Clostridium difficile-associated disease in hospitalized geriatric patients.

Background: Toxin-producing Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of nosocomial diarrhea in geriatric units.

Aim: The purpose of study was to check the impact of intensive staff education on rate of Clostridium difficile-associated disease in hospitalized geriatric patients.

Methods: The sampling frame was all patients suffering from diarrhea checked for Clostridium difficile toxin during the years 2017-2018.

Early adulthood psychiatric diagnoses and the subsequent risk of life-time incarceration: a cohort study.

Background: The association between incarceration and psychiatric disorders has been noted. Yet, existing studies are cross-sectional or examine the risk of recidivism, which has limited the predictive validity of psychiatric disorders as a risk factor for incarceration. To overcome this limitation, this study used a prospective cohort to examine whether psychiatric diagnoses in early adulthood predicted incarceration throughout a 30-year follow-up.

Linking type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiac hypertrophy and depression in a diurnal animal model.

It was recently suggested that the Metabolic Syndrome should be renamed to "Circadian Syndrome". In this context, we explored the effects of living under standard laboratory conditions, where light is the only cycling variable (relevant to human modern life), in a diurnal mammal, on the relationships between affective-like pathology, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and cardiac hypertrophy. After 20 weeks, some of the animals spontaneously developed T2DM, depressive and anxiety-like behavior and cardiac hypertrophy.

Mice Lacking the Transcriptional Coactivator PGC-1α Exhibit Hyperactivity.

Significant evidence from various sources suggests that structural alterations in mitochondrial function may play a role in both the pathogenesis of mood disorders and the therapeutic effects of available treatments. PGC-1α is a distinct transcriptional regulator designed to mediate the synchronous release of neurotransmitter in the brain and thereby to coordinate a number of gene expression pathways to promote mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative phosphorylation. The role of PGC-1α in the context of affective disorder phenotypes and treatments has been suggested but not studied in depth.

The Circadian Syndrome: is the Metabolic Syndrome and much more!

The Metabolic Syndrome is a cluster of cardio-metabolic risk factors and comorbidities conveying high risk of both cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. It is responsible for huge socio-economic costs with its resulting morbidity and mortality in most countries. The underlying aetiology of this clustering has been the subject of much debate.

Red white and blue - bright light effects in a diurnal rodent model for seasonal affective disorder.

Despite the common use of bright light exposure for treatment of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the underlying biology of the therapeutic effect is not clear. Moreover, there is a debate regarding the most efficacious wavelength of light for treatment. Whereas according to the traditional approach full-spectrum light is used, recent studies suggest that the critical wavelengths are within the range of blue light (460 and 484 nm).

Predominant polarity in bipolar disorder patients: The COPE bipolar sample.

Background: The concept of predominant polarity (PP) is defined as presenting more symptoms of one polarity. Previous studies have defined PP as one polarity (either a depression or mania episode) occurring during at least two-thirds of the lifetime.

Methods: We conducted an observational study with the COPE-BD (Clinical Outcome and Psycho-Education for Bipolar Disorder, Clinical Outcome Measures Section) dataset to identify the diagnostic and treatment differences between bipolar disorder (BD) patients with and without PP.

Questioning the predictive validity of the amphetamine-induced hyperactivity model for screening mood stabilizing drugs.

Animal models are critical for the study of disease mechanisms and the screening of potential novel treatments. In the context of bipolar disorder, amphetamine-induced hyperactivity (AIH) is a frequently used screening model for antimanic effects. Yet, the utility of screening models depends on their predictive (or pharmacological) validity and it is expected that such models will respond to effective treatments.

Diurnality, Type 2 Diabetes, and Depressive-Like Behavior.

Although type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and depression are associated with disturbances in circadian rhythms, most studies of these diseases use nocturnal mice and rats while modeling diurnal humans. We suggest that the development of T2DM and depression are related to changes that accompany the switch from the mammalian ancestral nocturnal activity to the current diurnal one. We show that diurnal sand rats ( Psammomys obesus) held outdoors in laboratory cages (where they are exposed to natural environmental conditions) and fed a standard rodent diet do not develop T2DM in contrast to animals held indoors (where the only cycling environmental condition is light) fed the same diet.

Individual variability in female and male mice in a test-retest protocol of the forced swim test.

Background: The challenges to embody the complexity of symptoms and biological mechanism of affective disorders question the value of animal models as well as their reproducibility and validity. Validity is further hindered by large individual variability in many models. Whereas individual variability presents a challenge, it can also be used to study susceptibility and resistance.

The role of centrality to self-concept in moderating the associations between injury perceptions and outcomes.

Objectives: To test the centrality of injury to self-concept as a moderator of the associations between injury perceptions and outcomes.

Methods: Two concurrent studies on samples of injured individuals.

Measures: The centrality of injury to one's self concept was measured by the degree of self-injury separation (PRISM); injury perceptions were measured by the injury perception questionnaire; and outcomes by standard scales of self-assessed health, physical, emotional and social functioning, vitality, depression, anxiety and somatisation.

Perioperative biobehavioral interventions to prevent cancer recurrence through combined inhibition of β-adrenergic and cyclooxygenase 2 signaling.

Evidence suggests that excess perioperative activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the consequent release of catecholamines (ie, epinephrine and norepinephrine) in the context of cancer surgery and inflammation may significantly facilitate prometastatic processes. This review first presents biomedical processes that make the perioperative timeframe pivotal in determining long-term cancer outcomes nonproportionally to its short duration (days to weeks). Then, it analyzes the various mechanisms via which the excess release of catecholamines can facilitate the progression of cancer metastases in this context by directly affecting the malignant tissues and by regulating, via indirect pathways, immunological and other mechanisms that affect metastatic progression in the tumor microenvironment and systemically.

Osteophytes in the Cervical Vertebral Bodies (C3-C7)-Demographical Perspectives.

Vertebral osteophytes are an age-dependent manifestation of degenerative changes in the spine. We aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of cervical osteophytosis in a large study population. To do so, we developed a grading system for osteophytosis, enabling the assessment of their presence and severity in the cervical spine, and applied it to the analysis of dried cervical vertebral bodies (C3-C7) from 273 individuals.

Chronic Stress May Not Be a Factor in the Behavioral Response to Chronic Lithium in ICR Mice.

Background: Lithium (Li) is the prototypic mood-stabilizing drug, but the individual response to Li is highly heterogeneous. Some evidence suggest interactions between Li and stress, and it is possible to hypothesize that lithium's effects are modified by stress conditions. The current study examines the interaction between 2 chronic stressors, constant light (CL) and restrain and the behavioral responses to chronic Li in female and male mice.