Cumulative Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Triglycerides Differentially Relate to Subdomains of Executive Function in Bipolar Disorder; preliminary findings.

Objectives: Cardiovascular disease is disproportionally prevalent in bipolar disorder (BD) and has been linked to cognition in preliminary studies. Herein we evaluate the association between known risk factors for cardiovascular disease and executive function in BD patients compared to healthy controls.

Methods: In a sample of n=57 individuals (n=23 BD, n=34 controls) we assessed two subdomains of executive function; cognitive flexibility (using the Trail Making Test - Part B) and cognitive inhibition (using the Stroop Colour Word Interference Task).

Acute neuroimmune stimulation impairs verbal memory in adults: A PET brain imaging study.

Psychiatric and neurologic disorders are often characterized by both neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction. To date, however, the relationship between neuroinflammation and cognitive dysfunction remains understudied in humans. Preclinical research indicates that experimental induction of neuroinflammation reliably impairs memory processes.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as a neglected metabolic companion of psychiatric disorders: common pathways and future approaches.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is characterized by hepatic steatosis in over 5% of the parenchyma in the absence of excessive alcohol consumption. It is more prevalent in patients with diverse mental disorders, being part of the comorbidity driving loss of life expectancy and quality of life, yet remains a neglected entity. NAFLD can progress to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and increases the risk for cirrhosis and hepatic carcinoma.

The concept and management of acute episodes of treatment-resistant bipolar disorder: a systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: The definitions of treatment-resistant bipolar disorder (TRBD) have varied across studies. Additionally, its management is clinically challenging. An updated synthesis and appraisal of the available evidence is needed.

Validity of self-reported cancer: Comparison between self-report versus cancer registry records in the Geelong Osteoporosis Study.

Background: Determining the validity of self-reported data is important. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of self-reported cancer and investigate factors associated with accurate reporting in men and women.

Methods: Study participants (n = 1727) from the Geelong Osteoporosis Study, located in south-eastern Australia, were utilised.

Stroke.

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability globally. Diagnosis depends on clinical features and brain imaging to differentiate between ischaemic stroke and intracerebral haemorrhage. Non-contrast CT can exclude haemorrhage, but the addition of CT perfusion imaging and angiography allows a positive diagnosis of ischaemic stroke versus mimics and can identify a large vessel occlusion target for endovascular thrombectomy.

Effects of psychoactive drugs on cellular bioenergetic pathways.

Objectives: To investigate the actions of lithium, valproate, lamotrigine and quetiapine on bioenergetic pathways in cultured NT2-N neuronal-like cells and C8-B4 microglial cells.

Methods: NT2-N and C8-B4 cells were cultured and treated with lithium (2.5 mM), valproate (0.

Total Aβ/Aβ ratio in plasma predicts amyloid-PET status, independent of clinical AD diagnosis.

Objective: To explore whether the plasma total β-amyloid (Aβ) Aβ/Aβ ratio is a reliable predictor of the amyloid-PET status by exploring the association between these 2 variables in a subset of the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study of aging cohort.

Methods: Taking plasma samples at 3 separate time points, month 18 (n = 176), month 36 (n = 169), and month 54 (n = 135), we assessed the total Aβ/Aβ ratio in plasma (TP42/40) with regard to neocortical Aβ burden via PET standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) and investigated both association with Aβ-PET status and correlation (and agreement) with SUVR.

Results: The TP42/40 plasma ratio was significantly reduced in amyloid-PET-positive participants at all time points ( < 0.

An immune gate of depression - Early neuroimmune development in the formation of the underlying depressive disorder.

The prevalence of depression worldwide is increasing from year to year and constitutes a serious medical, economic and social problem. Currently, despite multifactorial risk factors and pathways contributing to depression development, a significant aspect is attributed to the inflammatory process. Cytokines are considered a factor activating the kynurenine pathway, which leads to the exhaustion of tryptophan in the tryptophan catabolite (TRYCAT) pathway.

The role of BDNF methylation and Val Met in amygdala reactivity during emotion processing.

Epigenetic alterations of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene have been associated with psychiatric disorders in humans and with differences in amygdala BDNF mRNA levels in rodents. This human study aimed to investigate the relationship between the functional BDNF-Val Met polymorphism, its surrounding DNA methylation in BDNF exon IX, amygdala reactivity to emotional faces, and personality traits. Healthy controls (HC, n = 189) underwent functional MRI during an emotional face-matching task.

Large-scale evidence for an association between low-grade peripheral inflammation and brain structural alterations in major depression in the BiDirect study.

Background: Preliminary research suggests that major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with structural alterations in the brain; as well as with low-grade peripheral inflammation. However, even though a link between inflammatory processes and altered brain structural integrity has been purported by experimental research, well-powered studies to confirm this hypothesis in patients with MDD have been lacking. We aimed to investigate the potential association between structural brain alterations and low-grade inflammation as interrelated biological correlates of MDD.

The Potential of Carnosine in Brain-Related Disorders: A Comprehensive Review of Current Evidence.

Neurological, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric disorders represent a serious burden because of their increasing prevalence, risk of disability, and the lack of effective causal/disease-modifying treatments. There is a growing body of evidence indicating potentially favourable effects of carnosine, which is an over-the-counter food supplement, in peripheral tissues. Although most studies to date have focused on the role of carnosine in metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, the physiological presence of this di-peptide and its analogues in the brain together with their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier as well as evidence from in vitro, animal, and human studies suggest carnosine as a promising therapeutic target in brain disorders.

Mediation of the influence of childhood maltreatment on depression relapse by cortical structure: a 2-year longitudinal observational study.

Background: Childhood maltreatment is a leading environmental risk factor for an unfavourable course of disease in major depressive disorder. Both maltreatment and major depressive disorder are associated with similar brain structural alterations suggesting that brain structural changes could mediate the adverse influence of maltreatment on clinical outcome in major depressive disorder. However, longitudinal studies have not been able to confirm this hypothesis.

Fermented foods, the gut and mental health: a mechanistic overview with implications for depression and anxiety.

Mental disorders including depression and anxiety are often comorbid with gut problems, suggesting a bidirectional relationship between mental health and gut function. Several mechanisms might explain this comorbidity, such as inflammation and immune activation; intestinal permeability; perturbations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; neurotransmitter/neuropeptide dysregulation; dietary deficiencies; and disturbed gut microbiome composition. The potential of modulating the microbiome-gut-brain axis, and subsequently mental health, through the use of functional foods, is an emerging and novel topic of interest.

Leaky brain in neurological and psychiatric disorders: Drivers and consequences.

Background: The blood-brain barrier acts as a highly regulated interface; its dysfunction may exacerbate, and perhaps initiate, neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Methods: In this narrative review, focussing on redox, inflammatory and mitochondrial pathways and their effects on the blood-brain barrier, a model is proposed detailing mechanisms which might explain how increases in blood-brain barrier permeability occur and can be maintained with increasing inflammatory and oxidative and nitrosative stress being the initial drivers.

Results: Peripheral inflammation, which is causatively implicated in the pathogenesis of major psychiatric disorders, is associated with elevated peripheral pro-inflammatory cytokines, which in turn cause increased blood-brain barrier permeability.

Effect of Aspirin on Disability-free Survival in the Healthy Elderly.

Background: Information on the use of aspirin to increase healthy independent life span in older persons is limited. Whether 5 years of daily low-dose aspirin therapy would extend disability-free life in healthy seniors is unclear.

Methods: From 2010 through 2014, we enrolled community-dwelling persons in Australia and the United States who were 70 years of age or older (or ≥65 years of age among blacks and Hispanics in the United States) and did not have cardiovascular disease, dementia, or physical disability.

Role of IL-6/RORC/IL-22 axis in driving Th17 pathway mediated immunopathogenesis of schizophrenia.

The immuno-inflammatory origin of schizophrenia in a subset of patients is viewed as a key element of an overarching etiological construct. Despite substantial research, the immune components exerting major effect are yet to be fully clarified. Disrupted T cell networks have consistently been linked to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.

Patient centric measures for a patient centric era: Agreement and convergent between ratings on The Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) scale and the Clinical Global Impressions - Improvement (CGI-S) scale in bipolar and major depressive disorder.

Background: Concordant with an increased emphasis on consumer engagement, the Patient Global Impression Scale of Improvement (PGI-I) is commonly used as an outcome measure in studies evaluating the efficacy of treatments in medical and psychiatric conditions with subjective symptom domains. The current study evaluated the agreement between PGI-I and Clinician Global Impression Scale of Improvement (CGI-I) ratings and convergent validity of PGI-I among individuals with bipolar or major depressive disorders.

Method: Data were derived from three double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre studies conducted from 2007 to 2015 among adult individuals (N = 472).

Tenecteplase versus Alteplase before Thrombectomy for Ischemic Stroke.

Background: Intravenous infusion of alteplase is used for thrombolysis before endovascular thrombectomy for ischemic stroke. Tenecteplase, which is more fibrin-specific and has longer activity than alteplase, is given as a bolus and may increase the incidence of vascular reperfusion.

Methods: We randomly assigned patients with ischemic stroke who had occlusion of the internal carotid, basilar, or middle cerebral artery and who were eligible to undergo thrombectomy to receive tenecteplase (at a dose of 0.