Florian Schmiedek, Ulf Kroehne, Frank Goldhammer, John J Prindle, Ulman Lindenberger, Johanna Klinger-König, Hans J Grabe, Steffi G Riedel-Heller, Alexander Pabst, Fabian Streit, Lea Zillich, Luca Kleineidam, Michael Wagner, Marcella Rietschel, Dan Rujescu, Börge Schmidt, Nako Investigators, Klaus Berger
{"title":"General cognitive ability assessment in the German National Cohort (NAKO) - The block-adaptive number series task.","authors":"Florian Schmiedek, Ulf Kroehne, Frank Goldhammer, John J Prindle, Ulman Lindenberger, Johanna Klinger-König, Hans J Grabe, Steffi G Riedel-Heller, Alexander Pabst, Fabian Streit, Lea Zillich, Luca Kleineidam, Michael Wagner, Marcella Rietschel, Dan Rujescu, Börge Schmidt, Nako Investigators, Klaus Berger","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2021.2011407","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2021.2011407","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b>Objectives.</b> Evaluate the block-adaptive number series task of reasoning, as a time-efficient proxy of general cognitive ability in the Level-2 sample of the German National Cohort (NAKO), a population-based mega cohort.<b>Methods.</b> The number series task consisted of two blocks of three items each, administered as part of the touchscreen-based assessment. Based on performance on the first three items, a second block of appropriate difficulty was automatically administered. Scoring of performance was based on the Rasch model. Relations of performance scores to age, sex, education, study centre, language proficiency, and scores on other cognitive tasks were examined.<b>Results.</b> Except for one very difficult item, the data of the remaining 14 items showed sufficient fit to the Rasch model (Infit: 0.89-1.04; Outfit: 0.80-1.08). The resulting performance scores (<i>N</i> = 21,056) had a distribution that was truncated at very high levels of ability. The reliability of the performance estimates was satisfactory. Relations to age, sex, education, and the executive function factor of the other cognitive tasks in the NAKO supported the validity.<b>Conclusions.</b> The number series task provides a valid proxy of general cognitive ability for the Level-2 sample of the NAKO, based on a highly time-efficient assessment procedure.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"924-935"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39931268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Angelika Erhardt, Götz Gelbrich, Johanna Klinger-König, Fabian Streit, Luca Kleineidam, Steffi G Riedel-Heller, Börge Schmidt, Florian Schmiedek, Michael Wagner, Hans J Grabe, Marcella Rietschel, Klaus Berger, Jürgen Deckert
{"title":"Generalised anxiety and panic symptoms in the German National Cohort (NAKO).","authors":"Angelika Erhardt, Götz Gelbrich, Johanna Klinger-König, Fabian Streit, Luca Kleineidam, Steffi G Riedel-Heller, Börge Schmidt, Florian Schmiedek, Michael Wagner, Hans J Grabe, Marcella Rietschel, Klaus Berger, Jürgen Deckert","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2021.2011409","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2021.2011409","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Anxiety disorders (AD) are common in the general population, leading to high emotional distress and disability. The German National Cohort (NAKO) is a population-based mega-cohort study, examining participants in 16 German regions. The present study includes data of the first 101,667 participants and investigates the frequency and severity of generalised anxiety symptoms and panic attacks (PA).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The Generalised Anxiety Disorder Symptoms Scale (GAD-7) and the first part of the Patient Health Questionnaire Panic Disorder (PHQ-PD) were filled out by NAKO participants (93,002). We examined the correlation of GAD-7 and PHQ-PD with demographic variables, stress (PHQ-Stress), depression (PHQ-9) and childhood trauma (CTS).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The total proportion of prior lifetime diagnoses of AD in the NAKO cohort reached 7.8%. Panic attacks were reported by 6.0% and possible/probable current GAD symptoms in 5.2% of the examined participants. Higher anxiety severity was associated with female sex, lower education level, German as a foreign language and younger age as well as high perceived stress and depression.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Clinically relevant GAD symptoms as well as panic attacks are frequent in the NAKO and are associated with sociodemographic factors, and high anxiety symptoms are accompanied by pronounced stress and depression levels.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"881-896"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39787820","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
N M von Werthern, K F Ahrens, R J Neumann, B Kollmann, T M Kranz, K Lieb, O Tüscher, A Reif, C J Fiebach, M M Plichta
{"title":"Loneliness during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany: Impact of social factors and polygenic risk scores on interpersonal differences in loneliness and mental health.","authors":"N M von Werthern, K F Ahrens, R J Neumann, B Kollmann, T M Kranz, K Lieb, O Tüscher, A Reif, C J Fiebach, M M Plichta","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2226201","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2226201","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The outbreak of Covid-19 negatively affected mental health and increased loneliness. The subjective feeling of loneliness is influenced by genetic and social factors and has a negative impact on mental health.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>From March 2020 to June 2021 loneliness was investigated in <i>N</i> = 517 individuals using monthly acquired questionnaire data and Latent Growth Curve Analysis. Associations of social factors and polygenic risk scores (PRSs, <i>n</i> = 361) with class membership were investigated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Three classes (\"average\", 40%; \"not lonely\", 38%; \"elevated loneliness\", 22%) were identified, that differ significantly regarding loneliness, mental dysfunction, and response to the lockdown phases. Individuals with a high PRS for neuroticism are more likely to belong to the \"elevated loneliness\" class, living with another person is a protective factor.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>As the \"elevated loneliness\" class was at the highest risk of mental dysfunction, our findings underscore the importance of identifying those individuals to implement counteractive measures.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"838-848"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9882867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Homa Seyedmirzaei, Mahsa Faramarzpour, Amene Saghazadeh, Antônio L Teixeira, Nima Rezaei
{"title":"Post-COVID-19 depression and serum interleukin 6 levels: A systematic review and meta-analysis of COVID-19 convalescents with and without depression.","authors":"Homa Seyedmirzaei, Mahsa Faramarzpour, Amene Saghazadeh, Antônio L Teixeira, Nima Rezaei","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2242928","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2242928","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Depression is among the psychiatric sequelae of COVID-19, affecting more than 20% of the convalescents. Its underlying pathophysiology remains unclear. Interleukin 6 (IL-6), a pro-inflammatory cytokine, plays a critical role in the COVID-19-associated cytokine storm, has been implicated in depressive disorders, and may thus be involved in post-COVID-19 depression.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science were systematically searched for relevant studies assessing peripheral IL-6 levels in convalescents who developed depression after COVID-19 vs. convalescents who did not.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Five studies were included in our systematic review, and four entered the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed that post-COVID people with <i>de novo</i> depression did not have statistically significant differences in IL-6 levels compared to those without depression (standardised mean difference (SMD) = 0.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -0.35, 0.54, p-value = 0.68).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Although convalescents with depression did not have significantly higher IL-6 levels than convalescents without depression, the results should be interpreted considering the limited sample size and the low power of the included studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"811-821"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10005201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maria Gałuszko-Węgielnik, Katarzyna Jakuszkowiak-Wojten, Alina Wilkowska, Wiesław Jerzy Cubała
{"title":"Short term ketamine treatment in patient with bipolar disorder with comorbidity with borderline personality disorder: Focus on impulsivity.","authors":"Maria Gałuszko-Węgielnik, Katarzyna Jakuszkowiak-Wojten, Alina Wilkowska, Wiesław Jerzy Cubała","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2227901","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2227901","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and bipolar disorder (BD) often co-occur and frequently do not respond adequately to traditional antidepressant treatments. Ketamine has shown rapid antidepressant and anti-suicidal effects. However, there is limited literature on the safety and tolerance of using ketamine to treat patients with comorbid BD and BPD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This case presents a female patient diagnosed with both Bipolar Disorder (BD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) who received intravenous ketamine treatment to alleviate acute depressive symptoms.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Initially, ketamine ameliorated depressed symptoms. However, as the ketamine treatment continued, the patient showed an increase in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSIs) and impulsive conduct with a aggravation of dissociative symptoms. As a result, intravenous ketamine was discontinued, and the patient received the medication, which proved helpful.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Although ketamine presents antidepressant properties, reports on its impact on emotional dysregulation and impulsive conduct are unclear and not alike to its antidepressant effect. Therefore, there is a need for more studies investigating the effectiveness and safety of this rapid-acting medicine in this patient population.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"849-853"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9901915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael J Spoelma, Anastasia Serafimovska, Gordon Parker
{"title":"Differentiating melancholic and non-melancholic depression via biological markers: A review.","authors":"Michael J Spoelma, Anastasia Serafimovska, Gordon Parker","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2219725","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2219725","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Melancholia is a severe form of depression that is typified by greater genetic and biological influence, distinct symptomatology, and preferential response to physical treatment. This paper sought to broadly overview potential biomarkers of melancholia to benefit differential diagnosis, clinical responses and treatment outcomes. Given nuances in distinguishing melancholia as its own condition from other depressive disorder, we emphasised studies directly comparing melancholic to non-melancholic depression.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A comprehensive literature search was conducted. Key studies were identified and summarised qualitatively.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>105 studies in total were identified. These studies covered a wide variety of biomarkers, and largely fell into three domains: endocrinological (especially cortisol levels, particularly in response to the dexamethasone suppression test), neurological, and immunological (particularly inflammatory markers). Less extensive evidence also exists for metabolic, genetic, and cardiovascular markers.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Definitive conclusions were predominantly limited due to substantial heterogeneity in how included studies defined melancholia. Furthermore, this heterogeneity could be responsible for the between- and within-group variability observed in the candidate biomarkers that were examined. Therefore, clarifying these definitional parameters may help identify underlying patterns in biomarker expression to improve diagnostic and therapeutic precision for the depressive disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"761-810"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9993995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Association between programmed death-1 pathway and major depression.","authors":"Kuan-Wei Huang, Tiao-Lai Huang","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2209876","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2209876","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Major depression (MD) may be associated with inflammation and immunity. PD-1 (programmed death-1), PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1) and PD-L2 (programmed death-ligand 2) are among the inhibitory immune mediators on the PD-1 pathway. However, previous data regarding the association between MD and PD-1 pathway were still scarce; therefore, we investigated the association of PD-1 pathway with MD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>During a period of 2 years, patients with MD and healthy controls were recruited from a medical centre in this study. The diagnosis of MD was established according to the DSM-5 criteria. The severity of MD was assessed with 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. PD-1, PD-L1 and PD-L2 were detected in peripheral blood from MD patients after 4 weeks of treatment with antidepressant drugs.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 54 patients with MD and 38 healthy controls were recruited. According to the analyses, there is a significantly higher PD-L2 level in MD than in healthy controls and lower PD-1 level after age and BMI adjustment. Besides, moderately positive correlation between HAM-D scores and PD-L2 level was found.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>It was found that PD-1 pathway might play an important role in MD. We need a large sample to prove these results in the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"822-828"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9459205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Multiple genes encoding mitochondrial ribosomes are downregulated in brain and blood samples of individuals with schizophrenia.","authors":"Gideon Bartal, Assif Yitzhaky, Aviv Segev, Libi Hertzberg","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2211653","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2211653","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Schizophrenia is a chronic, debilitating mental disorder whose pathophysiology is complex and not fully understood. Numerous studies suggest mitochondrial dysfunction may contribute to the development of schizophrenia. While mitochondrial ribosomes (mitoribosomes) are essential for proper mitochondrial functioning, their gene expression levels have not been studied yet in schizophrenia.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We performed a systematic meta-analysis of the expression of 81 mitoribosomes subunits encoding genes, integrating ten brain samples datasets of patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls (overall 422 samples, 211 schizophrenia, and 211 controls). We also performed a meta-analysis of their expression in blood, integrating two blood sample datasets (overall 90 samples, 53 schizophrenia, and 37 controls).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Multiple mitoribosomes subunits were significantly downregulated in brain samples (18 genes) and in blood samples (11 genes) of individuals with schizophrenia, where two showed significant downregulation in both brain and blood, MRPL4 and MRPS7.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Our results support the accumulating evidence of impaired mitochondrial activity in schizophrenia. While further research is needed to validate mitoribosomes' role as biomarkers, this direction has the potential to promote patients' stratification and personalised treatment for schizophrenia.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"829-837"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9544898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aurélie Lacroix, Nicolas Ramoz, Murielle Girard, Brigitte Plansont, Daphnée Poupon, Philip Gorwood, Philippe Nubukpo
{"title":"BDNF CpG methylation and serum levels covary during alcohol withdrawal in patients with alcohol use disorder: A pilot study.","authors":"Aurélie Lacroix, Nicolas Ramoz, Murielle Girard, Brigitte Plansont, Daphnée Poupon, Philip Gorwood, Philippe Nubukpo","doi":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2242924","DOIUrl":"10.1080/15622975.2023.2242924","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels vary in various conditions including alcohol use disorder (AUD). We aimed to identify drivers of these variations.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Twelve patients with AUD were assessed at hospitalisation for alcohol withdrawal and four months later. We looked for associations between the change in serum BDNF levels and (1) length of abstinence, (2) anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety Scale) and depression (Beck-Depression Inventory), (3) one functional BDNF genotype (rs6265) and (4) methylation levels of 12 CpG sites within the BDNF gene (located in exons I, IV and IX).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>While abstinence remained, serum BDNF level increased. This increase correlated with the variation of methylation levels of the <i>BDNF</i> gene, and more specifically of exon I. We found no significant effect of length of abstinence, rs6265, depression or anxiety on serum BDNF level.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Epigenetic regulation of the <i>BDNF</i> gene may be involved in variations of BDNF blood level associated with alcohol abstinence.</p>","PeriodicalId":49358,"journal":{"name":"World Journal of Biological Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":"854-859"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10330708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}