Chromatin Ultrastructural Abnormalities in Leukocytes,as Peripheral Markers of Bipolar Patients

This study investigated the ultrastructural conformation changes of the chromatin in blood leukocytes of bipolar patients, versus normal controls, by using the phosphotungstic acid-hematoxylin (PTAH) block-staining method, modified for electron microscopy, and the immunohistochemical localization of the histone H1, by the immunogold method. These two methods are basically complementary. If histone H1 immunolabeling is used, it shows that the immunogold labeling on chromatin is different in the three phases of the illness, i.e., high in normothymia and low in depression as well as in mania. However, in this particular tissue fixation (4% paraformaldehyde-1% glutaraldehyde in 0,1 M phosphate buffer), the heterochromatin in the nuclei remains identical in the three phases of the illness. On the other hand, the PTAH method shows exactly the area of electron-lucent condensed chromatin, separate from the area of electron-dense, decondensed, chromatin. The present data confirmed that both the clinical state of depression as well as that of mania display activated lymphocytes and neutrophils with their characteristic relaxed de-condensed chromatin. On the contrary, the state of normothymia shows a reversion to the condensed state of the chromatin, as it is observed in the leukocytes of the normal controls. The ultrastructural conformations of the chromatin, revealed by the PTAH method, in combination with the histone H1 immunogold labeling, applied in blood leukocytes, supports the use of these two methods, as screening methods of choice in investigating blood biological markers in mental illness.     

Predicting Colonoscopy Screening Behavior and Future Screening Intentions for African Americans Older than 50 Years

Abstract

African Americans experience a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality from colorectal cancer, which may be due to low adherence to screening recommendations. Previous studies have found relationships between decision-making factors and screening behavior, but few have looked at both cognitive and affective factors or within a specifically African American sample. To better understand determinants that drive screening behavior, this study examines affective, cognitive, and social variables as predictors of colonoscopy in an age-eligible African American population. Participants completed surveys assessing affective associations with colonoscopy, perceived benefits and barriers, self-efficacy, knowledge, fear of colonoscopy, perceived risk, and colorectal cancer worry and fear. Regression analysis was used to model decision-making constructs as predictors of screening behavior/intentions. Affective, cognitive, and health care experience variables predicted colonoscopy completion and intentions. Provider-level factors and previous cancer screenings predicted prior screening only, but not intentions. Affective and cognitive components of perceived risk were associated with decreased likelihood of colonoscopy behavior, but increased likelihood of colonoscopy intentions. These findings suggest that colonoscopy decision making involves a complex array of both cognitive and affective determinants. This work extends our knowledge of colorectal cancer screening decision making by evaluating the effects of these multiple determinants on screening behavior in an African American sample. Future work exploring the interplay of affect and cognitions as influences on colonoscopy decision making and how health care experiences may moderate this effect is needed to develop effective intervention approaches and reduce screening disparities.     

Opposing relationships of childhood threat and deprivation with stria terminalis white matter

While stress may be a potential mechanism by which childhood threat and deprivation influence mental health, few studies have considered specific stress‐related white matter pathways, such as the stria terminalis (ST) and medial forebrain bundle (MFB). Our goal was to examine the relationships between childhood adversity and ST and MFB structural integrity and whether these pathways may provide a link between childhood adversity and affective symptoms and disorders. Participants were young adults (n = 100) with a full distribution of maltreatment history and affective symptom severity. Threat was determined by measures of childhood abuse and repeated traumatic events. Socioeconomic deprivation (SED) was determined by a measure of childhood socioeconomic status (parental education). Participants underwent diffusion spectrum imaging. Human Connectome Project data was used to perform ST and MFB tractography; these tracts were used as ROIs to extract generalized fractional anisotropy (gFA) from each participant. Childhood threat was associated with ST gFA, such that greater threat was associated with less ST gFA. SED was also associated with ST gFA, however, conversely to threat, greater SED was associated with greater ST gFA. Additionally, threat was negatively associated with MFB gFA, and MFB gFA was negatively associated with post‐traumatic stress symptoms. Our results suggest that childhood threat and deprivation have opposing influences on ST structural integrity, providing new evidence that the context of childhood adversity may have an important influence on its neurobiological effects, even on the same structure. Further, the MFB may provide a novel link between childhood threat and affective symptoms.     

The Radiologist and Depression

Clinical depression affects physicians, including radiologists. Medical professionals, including radiologists, may be more comfortable treating a patient than being one, and psychiatric issues may be regarded as taboo for discussion, so the issue of clinical depression in the specialty and subspecialty has not received widespread attention. Specifically, a review of the national and international literature in PubMed, Scopus, and Google reveals few publications dedicated to the issue of clinical depression in radiology; although statistically, they must exist. The purpose of this report is to define the terms and describe the manifestations and scope of the issues related to clinical depression, with special attention given to risk factors unique to radiologists, such as working in low ambient light or near different fields of magnetic strength. By the end of the article, it is the authors’ hope that the reading radiologist will be aware of, and open to, the possibility of clinical depression in a colleague or within his or herself because clinical depression is common and it is important to get help.     

Time course of attentional modulations on automatic emotional processing

In a previous study using event-related potentials (ERPs) [S. Doallo, S. Rodríguez Holguín, F. Cadaveira, Attentional load affects automatic emotional processing: evidence from event-related potentials, Neuroreport 17 (2006) 1797-1801], we reported that differential responses to unattended peripheral affective pictures, as reflected by N1-P2 modulations at posterior regions, are modulated by attentional load at fixation. Here, new analyses of these data were performed to evaluate whether a sustained, broadly distributed, negative shift in the unattended pictures ERP waveforms, which displayed larger amplitudes for emotional stimuli, reflects an additional differential response to the emotional content. Under low-load conditions, unpleasant (versus neutral) pictures elicited greater negativities in the 80-140 ms latency range over frontocentral sites and more centroparietally distributed from 200 to 280 ms. These findings provide further evidence of the time course of emotional processing at unattended locations and its modulation by attentional load.     

Pharmacotherapy and nutritional supplements for seasonal affective disorders: a systematic review

Introduction: A seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a subtype of unipolar and bipolar major depressive disorders. It is characterized by its annual recurrence of depressive episodes at a particular season, mostly seen in winter and is responsible for 10–20% of the prevalence of major depressive disorders. Some pathophysiological hypotheses, such as the phase delay and the monoamine depletion hypotheses, have been postulated but the exact cause has not been fully unraveled yet. Studies on treatment for SAD in the last decade are lacking. To tackle this chronic disease, attention needs to be drawn to the gaps in this research field.

Areas covered: In this systematic review, the authors give a broad overview of the pharmacological therapy available for SAD. Also, nutritional substances fitting well with the postulated hypotheses are reviewed for the treatment and prevention of SAD. There is a specific focus on the quality of the currently performed studies.

Expert opinion: Light therapy and fluoxetine are the only proven and effective acute treatment options for SAD, while bupropion is the only registered drug for prevention of SAD. This area of research is in dire need of valid large-scale and sufficiently reproducible randomized control trials.     

Childhood abuse history and attention bias in adults

Attention biases toward unpleasant information are evident among children and adults with a history of abuse and have been identified as a potential pathway through which abused children develop psychopathology. Identifying whether a history of childhood abuse affects the time course of attention biases in adults is critical, as this may provide intervention targets. The present study examined the time course of attention bias during an emotion-word Stroop task using event-related potentials (ERPs) in a sample of adults with a range of child abuse histories using a categorical approach (comparing adults with or without a history of moderate-to-severe childhood abuse) and a dimensional approach (analyzing the range from no abuse to severe abuse in a continuous manner). Although behavioral performance did not vary as a function of abuse history, adults with a history of moderate-to-severe childhood abuse showed ERP evidence of early reduced processing of emotional stimuli (smaller N200) and later reduced processing of emotional and nonemotional stimuli (smaller P300), followed by later increased processing of unpleasant stimuli (larger slow wave [SW]). Results suggest that early disengagement from emotional stimuli may help individuals with moderate-to-severe abuse histories to achieve normal behavioral performance on the emotion-word Stroop task. Additionally, regardless of analytic approach, adults with elevated levels of childhood abuse exhibited prolonged engagement (larger SW) specifically with unpleasant stimuli. Present results demonstrate attention bias patterns in adults with a history of childhood abuse and clarify the time course of attention bias. Results are discussed in the context of potential treatment implications.