1,720,960 research outputs found
Variation of circulating levels of BDNF neurotrophin in depression: correlations with symptom severity, metabolic status and inflammatory indices
No full textBackground: Major depression is a chronic, debilitating syndrome and a heterogeneous disorder both in the transverse that in the longitudinal course. Recent studies show how Major Depression can be considered as a systemic pathology, and there is a large literature on the neuroanatomical, neurophysiological and neuroendrocrinological correlates of this illness, although no laboratory test has been sufficiently sensitive and specific as a diagnostic tool for the disorder so far. Numerous studies indicate, in depression, in addition to neurotransmitters and neuroendocrine markers, the involvement of the inflammatory response and, more generally, of the immune system, energy/redox metabolism and and the system of neurotrophins, in particular of the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF).
Aims: aims of the study were to evaluate the peripheral, bloodstream counterpart of BDNF in Major Depressive Episode through its measurement in plasma and platelet samples obtained from a well-defined group of patients; to search possible correlations with patients’ clinical symptoms and results at routine laboratory tests, these last including the main blood metabolic, cellular and inflammation parameters.
Methods: All subjects participating to the study were recruited from inpatient or outpatient healthcare settings with a major depressive episode in a contest of a diagnosis of MDD, BD-I, BD-II according to DSM-5. The sample was evaluated by clinical and biochemical assessments. Clinical evaluations were assessed with psychiatric rating scales: HAM-D, YMRS, CGI-s, GAF. About Biochemical assessments: a sample of peripheral venous blood was withdrawn from each recruited patient and then processed to obtain separate platelets and platelet-poor plasma (PPP). Then free mature BDNF was determined in patients’ platelet cytosolic fractions and plasma by means of an enzyme immunoassay method (sandwich ELISA). To evaluate inflammation indices and hematochemical parameters: a sample of blood was also collected and sent to the laboratory of Cisanello Hospital. All data obtained by clinical and laboratory evaluations were organized in database and used for statistical analyses.
Results: Patients present mostly a Major depressive episode “with anxious distress” specifier (79.4%) in the context of a diagnosis of BD-II. They had particularly severe depressive symptoms (HAM-D scale≥ 17), a mild manic component, with relevant impairment. White blood cell counts and ratios were found positively correlated to depression scores, while CRP was slightly raised in patients without correlating with symptom severity. There is a negative correlation between intra-platelet mature free BDNF levels and more severe symptoms of depression (HAM-D scores), while plasma BDNF (PPP-BDNF) revealing a more complex profile, with a link with the presence of a mild inflammatory condition, together a tendency to increase in depressed patients with suicide attempts.
Conclusions: The results of this study allow to believe that plasma and platelet neurotrophin levels are distinct components that might underlie peculiar networks related to inflammation, symptom presentation and severity of symptoms. These results encourage the search of other inflammatory mediators that could better explain the here observed relation between plasma BDNF variations and white blood cell indices, with the aim at applying these patterns as predictive biological indices of tendency to relapse, severity of depressive episode or responsiveness to drugs
Stalking: a neurobiological perspective
No full textNowadays stalking is becoming a real social emergency, as it may often fuel severe aggressive behaviours. No exhaustive aetiological hypothesis is still available regarding this complex phenomenon. However, the detailed descriptions of some of its peculiar features allow to draw with cautions some general suggestions. Probably stalking may arise from the derangement of those neural networks subserving the so-called social brain and the pair bonding formation, in particular the processes of attachment/separation, attraction/romantic love/reward. In addition, it seems to be modulated by excessive functioning of the dopamine system coupled with decreased serotonin tone. It is believed that the investigation and deepening of its possible neurobiological substrates may be helpful in the prevention of the severe consequences of stalking
Is there a relationship between depression with anxious distress DSM-5 specifier and bipolarity? A multicenter cohort study on patients with unipolar, bipolar I and II disorders
No full textBackground: To estimate the prevalence of DSM-5 anxious distress specifier (ADS) in depressed patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar I or II disorder (BD), and to compare socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, and response to naturalistic short-term treatment between ADS and non-ADS group. Methods: 241 outpatients with a major depressive episode (MDE) were consecutively recruited. Outcome were remission (HDRS21 total score < 7), response (≥50% reduction of baseline HDRS21) and improvement (CGI-i score ≤ 2) after 12 weeks of treatment sustained for 4 weeks. Results: ADS was more frequent in BD than in MDD (respectively, 66.9% and 51.2%, χ2 = 6.1, p = 0.013). Compared with those non-ADS, patients with ADS had more severe depressive (respectively, HDRS21 total score 20.0 ± 4.4 and 18.6 ± 3.9, t-test = 2.67, p = 0.008) and mania symptoms (respectively, Y-MRS total score 2.2 ± 2.9 and 1.3 ± 2.3, M–W-test = 2.86; p = 0.004) at intake, a higher rate of BD family history (respectively, 35.2% and 22.2%, Χ2-test 10.4, p = 0.004) and more previous hypomanic episodes (respectively, (median (range) 0 (0–20) and 0 (0–15), MW-test = 2.39 p = 0.017). In the MDD group, patients with ADS had higher scores on hyperthymic temperament and mania symptoms (Y-MRS total score (median (range) 2.2 (0–26) and 0 (0–11), respectively, M–W test 2.071, p = 0.038). ADS and no-ADS patients did not significantly differ on outcome measures. Limitations: The observational nature of the study and the absence of blinding in outcome assessment. Conclusions: ADS is the most common DSM-5 specifier for MDE, is more frequent in BD and need a personalized treatment with moderate use of antidepressants, mostly tricyclic
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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