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  • Thompson McNulty posted an update 4 weeks, 1 day ago

    Our study is based on a small sample size of only 65 Mexican-American individuals. Further studies using larger cohorts are warranted.

    Our data identified several rare functional variants in antidepressant drug response in MDD patients. These have the potential to serve as genetic markers for predicting drug response.

    ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00265291.

    ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00265291.

    Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) can help to prevent depression, but identification of the most important psycho-biological pathways involved is unclear. The improvement of cardio-respiratory fitness (CRF) in response to MVPA can vary markedly, we therefore examined the association between CRF and the incidence of depressive symptoms.

    We used data from The Maastricht Study, a large population-based prospective-cohort study. CRF was estimated at baseline from a graded submaximal exercise protocol and MVPA was measured with accelerometry. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the validated Dutch version of the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire, both at baseline and during annual follow-up over five years. Cox proportional hazards models were used.

    A total of 1,730 individuals without depressive symptoms at baseline were included in the analysis. During the 5-year follow-up, n=166 (9.6%) of individuals developed depressive symptoms. Compared to individuals with a low CRF, those with a moderate-to-high CRF had a significantly lower risk of developing depressive symptoms, independent of MVPA (medium CRF HR = 0.49 (95%CI = 0.33-0.72); high CRF HR = 0.48 (95% CI = 0.30-0.75). These associations were adjusted for age, sex, level of education, diabetes status, smoking status, alcohol use, energy intake, waist circumferences and antidepressant medications.

    PHQ-9 is a validated screening instrument, but it is not a diagnostic tool of depression.

    Higher CRF was strongly associated with a lower risk of incident depressive symptoms over 5-year follow-up, independent of the level of MVPA at baseline, suggesting that interventions aimed at improving CRF could reduce the risk of depression.

    Higher CRF was strongly associated with a lower risk of incident depressive symptoms over 5-year follow-up, independent of the level of MVPA at baseline, suggesting that interventions aimed at improving CRF could reduce the risk of depression.Chronic drug use is a neuroadaptive disorder characterized by strong and persistent plasticity in the mesocorticolimbic reward system. Long-lasting effects of drugs of abuse rely on their ability to hijack glutamate receptor activity and long-term synaptic plasticity processes like long-term potentiation and depression. Importantly, metaplasticity-based modulation of synaptic plasticity contributes to durable neurotransmission changes in mesocorticolimbic pathways including the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens, causing ‘maladaptive’ drug memory and higher risk for drug-seeking relapse. On the other hand, drug-induced metaplasticity can make appetitive memories more malleable to modification, offering a potential target mechanism for intervention. Here we review the literature on the role of glutamate receptors in addiction-related metaplasticity phenomena.The diagnosis of Tuberculous Cervical lymphadenitis (TCL) is challenging. The present study aimed to assess the performance of GeneXpert ultra (GXu) in the diagnosis of TCL on Formalin Fixed, Paraffin Embedded Tissues (FFPET). This study included 35 TCL cases confirmed by positive microbiology and/or positive GXu on Fresh Tissues (FT). The diagnostic performance parameters of GXu on FFPET were determined with reference to microbiology (positive Ziehl Neelsen and/or positive culture) and with reference to positive microbiology and/or positive GXu on FT. The GXu on FFPET was positive in 26/35 (74%) cases. With reference to positive ZN and or culture, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of GXu on FFPET were 63%, 100%, 100% and 71% respectively. With reference to positive microbiology and/or positive GXu on FT, these rates were 74%, 100%, 100% and 40% respectively. GXu on FFPET is a reliable tool for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex particularly for cases where microbiological investigations have not been performed.The spread of resistant bacteria in hospitals is an increasing problem worldwide. Transfers of patients, who may be colonized with resistant bacteria, are considered to be an important driver of promoting resistance. Even though transmission rates within a hospital are often low, readmissions of patients who were colonized during an earlier hospital stay lead to repeated introductions of resistant bacteria into hospitals. We developed a mathematical model that combines a deterministic model for within-hospital spread of pathogens, discharge to the community and readmission, with a hospital-community network simulation of patient transfers between hospitals. Model parameters used to create the hospital-community network are obtained from two health insurance datasets from Germany. For parameter values representing transmission of resistant Enterobacteriaceae, we compute estimates for the single admission reproduction numbers RA and the basic reproduction numbers R0 per hospital-community pair. We simulate the spread of colonization through the network of hospitals, and investigate how increasing connectedness of hospitals through the network influences the prevalence in the hospital-community pairs. We find that the prevalence in hospitals is determined by their RA and R0 values. Increasing transfer rates between network nodes tend to lower the overall prevalence in the network by diluting the high prevalence of hospitals with high R0 to hospitals where persistent spread is not possible. We conclude that hospitals with high reproduction numbers represent a continuous source of risk for importing resistant pathogens for hospitals with otherwise low levels of transmission. Acalabrutinib Moreover, high risk hospital-community nodes act as reservoirs of pathogens in a densely connected network.