Depression Treatment: Neural Correlates of Treatment Response in Depressed Bipolar Adolescents During Emotion Processing.

Neural correlates of treatment response in depressed bipolar adolescents during emotion processing.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Brain Imaging Behav. 2013 Jan 25;
Diler RS, Ladouceur CD, Segreti A, Almeida JR, Birmaher B, Axelson DA, Phillips ML, Pan LA

Depressive mood in adolescents with bipolar disorder (BDd) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, but we have limited information about neural correlates of depression and treatment response in BDd. Ten adolescents with BDd (8 females, mean age = 15.6?±?0.9) completed two (fearful and happy) face gender labeling fMRI experiments at baseline and after 6-weeks of open treatment. Whole-brain analysis was used at baseline to compare their neural activity with those of 10 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). For comparisons of the neural activity at baseline and after treatment of youth with BDd, region of interest analysis for dorsal/ventral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and amygdala activity, and significant regions identified by wholebrain analysis between BDd and HC were analyzed. There was significant improvement in depression scores (mean percentage change on the Child Depression Rating Scale-Revised 57 %?±?28). Neural activity after treatment was decreased in left occipital cortex in the intense fearful experiment, but increased in left insula, left cerebellum, and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in the intense happy experiment. Greater improvement in depression was associated with baseline higher activity in ventral ACC to mild happy faces. Study sample size was relatively small for subgroup analysis and consisted of mainly female adolescents that were predominantly on psychotropic medications during scanning. Our results of reduced negative emotion processing versus increased positive emotion processing after treatment of depression (improvement of cognitive bias to negative and away from positive) are consistent with the improvement of depression according to Beck’s cognitive theory.
HubMed – depression

 

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in brain samples from patients with major psychiatric disorders: Gene expression profiles, MtDNA content and presence of the MtDNA common deletion.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2013 Jan 25;
Torrell H, Montaña E, Abasolo N, Roig B, Gaviria AM, Vilella E, Martorell L

Several lines of evidence support a mitochondrial dysfunction in major psychiatric disorders. The objective of this study was to determine whether mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) expression or content are implicated in the mitochondrial dysfunction observed in schizophrenia (SCH), bipolar disorder (BD), and major depressive disorder (MDD). MtDNA gene expression and mtDNA content (including the MT-ND4 deletion) were measured by RT-qPCR and qPCR, respectively. Post-mortem brain tissue from 60 subjects, divided evenly into four diagnostic groups (SCH, BD, MDD, and control (C)), was analyzed. MT-ND1 gene expression was significantly increased in the BD group compared with the C group. MDD and SCH patients showed a similar pattern of mtDNA expression, which was different from that in BD patients. Similarly, a larger number of MDD and SCH patients tended to have the MT-ND4 gene deleted compared with BD and C subjects. However, no other significant differences were observed in mtDNA gene expression and mtDNA content. Notably, high variability was observed in the mtDNA gene expression and content in each diagnostic group. Previous studies and the present work provide evidence for a role of mtDNA in SCH, BD and MDD. However, further studies with larger patient and control groups as well as by analyzing distinct brain regions are needed to elucidate the role of mtDNA in major psychiatric disorders. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
HubMed – depression

 

Pain-Related Work Interference is a Key Factor in a Worker/Workplace Model of Work Absence Duration Due to Musculoskeletal Conditions in Canadian Nurses.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

J Occup Rehabil. 2013 Jan 26;
Murray E, Franche RL, Ibrahim S, Smith P, Carnide N, Côté P, Gibson J, Guzman J, Koehoorn M, Mustard C

Objective To examine the role of pain experiences in relation to work absence, within the context of other worker health factors and workplace factors among Canadian nurses with work-related musculoskeletal (MSK) injury. Methods Structural equation modeling was used on a sample of 941 employed, female, direct care nurses with at least one day of work absence due to a work-related MSK injury, from the cross-sectional 2005 National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses. Results The final model suggests that pain severity and pain-related work interference mediate the impact of the following worker health and workplace factors on work absence duration: depression, back problems, age, unionization, workplace physical demands and low job control. The model accounted for 14 % of the variance in work absence duration and 46.6 % of the variance in pain-related work interference. Conclusions Our findings support a key role for pain severity and pain-related work interference in mediating the effects of workplace factors and worker health factors on work absence duration. Future interventions should explore reducing pain-related work interference through addressing workplace issues, such as providing modified work, reducing physical demands, and increasing job control.
HubMed – depression

 

More Depression Treatment Information…