Associations between serum lipids and major depressive disorder: results from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA).

Background: Several studies have suggested an association between lipids or lipoproteins and depression, but findings are contradictory. However, previous studies did not always take into consideration potentially mediating factors or heterogeneity of symptoms, which may clarify contradicting findings.

Method: We compared levels of serum total, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and triglyceride between 761 subjects with current major depressive disorder (MDD) (Composite International Diagnostic Interview, based on the DSM-IV), 1,071 subjects with remitted MDD, and 629 controls, aged 18 to 65 years.

Association of n-3 long-chain PUFA and fish intake with depressive symptoms and low dispositional optimism in older subjects with a history of myocardial infarction.

Individuals with CHD are at increased risk of poor mental well-being. Dietary intake of EPA and DHA, the main n-3 fatty acids from fish, may be beneficial to mental well-being. We examined the association of EPA+DHA and fish intake with mental well-being in 644 participants, aged 60-80 years, with a history of myocardial infarction.

Low respiratory function increases the risk of depressive symptoms in later life in men.

Objective: To assess the risk of depressive symptoms with respect to respiratory function in middle-aged men. Chronic lung diseases are associated with a high prevalence of depression, but the association of poor respiratory function with depressive symptoms has not been established in prospective population-based cohort studies.

Methods: In a prospective, population-based cohort study with up to 30 years of follow-up, we included 1205 men aged 50 to 69 years from Finland (n = 663) and Italy (n = 542).

Apolipoprotein E genotype modifies the association between midlife lung function and cognitive function in old age.

Background/aims: Because poor lung function may be a risk factor for cognitive decline, we aimed to test the association of respiratory function with cognitive function and dementia later in life, as well as potential effect modification by APOE epsilon4 carrier status.

Methods: In a prospective population-based cohort study, forced vital capacity and forced expiratory flow were measured around 1965 in 857 men aged 45-64 years (394 from Finland, 208 from The Netherlands, and 255 from Italy). The Mini-Mental State Examination scores around 1990, 1995 and 2000 were analyzed using multilevel regression models and the Clinical Dementia Rating score around 1990 using multinomial logistic regression analyses.

Basal hypercortisolism and trauma in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures.

Purpose: Several studies have indicated that psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are associated with psychological trauma, but only a few studies have examined the associations with neurobiologic stress systems, such as the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and its end-product cortisol. We tested several relevant HPA-axis functions in patients with PNES and related them to trauma history.

Methods: Cortisol awakening curve, basal diurnal cortisol, and negative cortisol feedback (using a 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test) were examined in 18 patients with PNES and 19 matched healthy controls (HCs) using saliva cortisol sampling on two consecutive days at 19 time points.

The importance of childhood trauma and childhood life events for chronicity of depression in adults.

Background: Childhood trauma is linked to adult depression and might be a risk factor for a more chronic course of depression. However, the link between childhood trauma and chronicity of depression has not been investigated using a large and representative sample in which other depression characteristics, such as severity, age at onset, and comorbid psychopathology, were taken into account.

Method: Baseline data, collected during 2004 through 2007, were drawn from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA).

Effects of childhood trauma on HPA-axis reactivity in women free of lifetime psychopathology.

Exposure to childhood trauma may induce persistent changes in Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA)-axis functioning even in the absence of current psychopathology. Because previous studies did not systematically exclude subjects with lifetime psychiatric morbidity, prevalent psychopathology may have confounded the association. In this study we investigated whether women exposed to childhood trauma, but without a history of psychiatric disorders, show alterations in HPA-axis functioning.

The influence of psychiatric comorbidity on the dexamethasone/CRH test in major depression.

Background: The outcome of the dexamethasone/corticotropin-releasing-hormone (DEX/CRH) test in depressed patients is heterogeneous. The present study investigated whether comorbidity of anxiety or somatoform disorders might be an explaining factor for this finding.

Methods: The DEX/CRH test was administered in 36 pure major depressive outpatients, 18 major depressive outpatients with a comorbid anxiety and/or somatoform disorder, and 43 healthy controls.

Differential effects of cross-sex hormonal treatment on plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) in healthy male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals.

Objective: Sex hormone administration affects plasma levels of the endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA). We investigated the effects of cross-sex hormone treatment (CHT) on plasma ADMA concentration in an open-label study in 40 male-to-female (M-F) and 14 female-to-male (F-M) transsexuals.

Methods: M-F received (1) cyproterone acetate (CA) 50mg bid (n=10), (2) CA 50mg bid+ethinyl estradiol (EE) 50 microg bid (n=15), or (3) CA 50mg bid+transdermal estradiol (tE(2)) patches daily delivering 100 microg 17beta-estradiol (n=15).

Potential side effects of androgen deprivation treatment in sex offenders.

Testosterone is an important hormone involved in sexual arousal, and, indeed, a profound reduction of testosterone levels may be helpful in controlling sexual impulses in sex offenders. Earlier thought of as a sex hormone only, testosterone has been increasingly shown to have manifold actions in the adult male. Normal adult levels of androgens are required for the health of bones, a large number of metabolic functions, mood, erythropoiesis, sebaceous gland activity of the skin, and several other functions.

Autonomous prolactin secretion in two male-to-female transgender patients using conventional oestrogen dosages.

Oestrogen-induced prolactinomas have been reported in male-to-female (MTF) transgender patients after excessive oestrogen self-administration. Here, two prolactinoma cases after 14 years (case 1) and 30 years (case 2) of relatively low-dose oestrogen treatment are reported. Both resolved after treatment with dopamine agonists.

Serum cholesterol, apolipoprotein E genotype and depressive symptoms in elderly European men: the FINE study.

Background: Cohort and case-control studies found that lower serum total cholesterol is associated with depression. It is, however, unclear whether low cholesterol or its lipoprotein fractions are causally related to depression. Using a Mendelian randomization design, the potential association between apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype (affecting lifetime cholesterol levels) and depressive symptoms was studied.

Cardiovascular risk profile and subsequent disability and mental well-being: the Zutphen Elderly Study.

Objectives: It is insufficiently known whether "classic" cardiovascular risk factors are associated with subsequent functional disability and mental well-being in elderly men.

Design: A population-based cohort study with 15 years of follow-up from 1985 onward.

Setting: The Zutphen Study started as the Dutch contribution to the Seven Countries Study.

Effects of sex steroids on the neurotransmitter-specific aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan in transsexual subjects.

Background/aims: Phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan are essential aromatic amino acids and precursors of dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine and serotonin. The aim of this study was to assess whether sex steroids affect plasma levels of these aromatic amino acids.

Methods: 15 male-to-female (M-F) transsexuals were treated with 100 microg/day ethinyl estradiol and 100 mg/day cyproterone acetate, and 14 female-to-male (F-M) transsexuals were treated with testosterone esters 250 mg i.

Long-term treatment of transsexuals with cross-sex hormones: extensive personal experience.

Context: Transsexuals receive cross-sex hormone treatment. Its short-term use appears reasonably safe. Little is known about its long-term use.

Lifestyle and dietary correlates of dispositional optimism in men: The Zutphen Elderly Study.

Objective: Dispositional optimism has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, but the underlying mechanisms are still largely unknown. We therefore studied whether dispositional optimism was associated with healthy lifestyle and dietary habits.

Methods: In 773 (87.

Review of studies of androgen treatment of female-to-male transsexuals: effects and risks of administration of androgens to females.

Introduction: Testosterone supplementation in ovariectomized or elderly women may improve their sense of well-being and libido, muscle mass and strength, and bone mineral density. Naturally, androgens may have virilizing effects in women. It is often believed that androgens have deleterious effects on cardiovascular risks.

Serum markers of brain-cell damage and C-reactive protein are unaffected by electroconvulsive therapy.

The effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on serum levels of the acute-phase reactant C-reactive protein (CRP) and intracellular enzymes such as alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and creatine kinase (CK), have received little attention. If brain cells are damaged, CK-BB, LDH and AST levels are expected to show (minor) elevations. We measured serum levels of prolactin, AST, ALT, LDH, ALP, CK and CRP before and 5 min, 30 min, 4 h, 1 day, 2 days, and 3 days after ECT in 15 consecutive patients (eight women and seven men; mean 53.

Effect of testosterone administration on serum and urine kallikrein concentrations in female-to-male transsexuals.

Background: Concentrations of human tissue kallikreins (hKs), a group of 15 secreted serine proteases found in many tissues, are modulated by steroid hormones in cancer cell lines. To gain insight into in vivo kallikrein regulation we measured kallikrein concentrations in serum and urinary tissue in female-to-male transsexuals before and after testosterone administration.

Methods: We collected blood and urine samples before treatment and after 4 and 12 months from 28 female-to-male transsexuals who received 250 mg of testosterone esters intramuscularly every 2 weeks.

Psychotic symptoms in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting and heart valve operation.

Objective: Delirium on internal medicine and surgical wards of the general hospital is associated with several predisposing and precipitating factors as well as adverse outcomes. Whether psychosis, the symptom of delirium that may be recognized most promptly, is similarly associated with these factors and outcomes is largely unknown.

Methods: Eight thousand one hundred and thirty-nine consecutive patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting and/or heart valve operation were screened for preoperative predisposing factors and postoperative psychotic symptoms between January 1999 and July 2004.

Serum and urine tissue kallikrein concentrations in male-to-female transsexuals treated with antiandrogens and estrogens.

Background: The expression of human tissue kallikrein genes is regulated by steroid hormones, but most studies have been conducted with cancer cell lines. Our purpose was to examine serum and urinary tissue kallikrein concentration changes in male-to-female transsexuals before and after treatment with antiandrogens and estrogens.

Methods: Thirty-five male-to-female transsexuals receiving cyproterone acetate and estrogens (orally or transdermally) were included in this study.

Dispositional optimism and the risk of cardiovascular death: the Zutphen Elderly Study.

Background: Dispositional optimism, defined in terms of life engagement and generalized positive outcome expectancies for one's future, may be related to lower cardiovascular mortality. We aimed to determine whether dispositional optimism is a stable trait over time and whether it is independently related to lower cardiovascular mortality in elderly men.

Methods: In a cohort study with a follow-up of 15 years, we included 545 (61.

Dispositional optimism and the risk of depressive symptoms during 15 years of follow-up: the Zutphen Elderly Study.

Objective: It is unclear whether the personality trait of dispositional optimism, defined in terms of generalized positive outcome expectancies, life engagement, and a future orientation, has a protective effect on the development of depression in community-dwelling elderly men.

Methods: We included 464 men aged 64 to 84 years (mean 70.8; SD 4.