Could Hypomanic Traits Explain Selective Migration? Verifying the Hypothesis by the Surveys on Sardinian Migrants.

Could hypomanic traits explain selective migration? Verifying the hypothesis by the surveys on sardinian migrants.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Clin Pract Epidemiol Ment Health. 2012; 8: 175-9
Giovanni CM, Francesca MM, Viviane K, Brasesco MV, Bhat KM, Matthias AC, Akiskal HS

A recent survey put forward the hypothesis that the emigration that occurred from Sardinia from the 1960’s to the 1980’s, selected people with a hypomanic temperament. The paper aims to verify if the people who migrated from Sardinia in that period have shown a high risk of mood disorders in the surveys carried out in their host countries, and if the results are consistent with this hypothesis.This is systematic review.In the 1970’s when examining the attitudes towards migration in Sardinian couples waiting to emigrate, Rudas found that the decision to emigrate was principally taken by males. Female showed lower self-esteem than male emigrants. A study on Sardinian immigrants in Argentina carried out in 2001-02, at the peak of the economic crisis, found a high risk of depressive disorders in women only. These results were opposite to the findings recorded ten years earlier in a survey on Sardinian immigrants in Paris, where the risk of Depressive Episode was higher in young men only.Data point to a bipolar disorder risk for young (probably hypomanic) male migrants in competitive, challenging conditions; and a different kind of depressive episodes for women in trying economic conditions. The results of the survey on Sardinian migrants are partially in agreement with the hypothesis of a selective migration of people with a hypomanic temperament. Early motivations and self-esteem seem related to the ways mood disorders are expressed, and to the vulnerability to specific triggering situations in the host country.
HubMed – depression

Attitude scale and general health questionnaire subscales predict depression?

Filed under: Depression Treatment

J Res Med Sci. 2012 Jan; 17(1): 40-4
Ebrahimi A, Afshar H, Doost HT, Mousavi SG, Moolavi H

According to Beck theory, dysfunctional attitude has a central role in emergence of depression. The aim of this study was to determine contributions of dysfunctional attitude and general health index to depression.In this case-control study, two groups of subjects participated. The first group consisted of 65 patients with major depression and dysthymic disorder, who were recruited from Noor and Navab Safavi Psychiatry Clinics in Isfahan. The control group was consisted of 65 non-patient individuals who were accompanied or relatives of the patients and was matched with them based on age, sex and education. Both groups completed 26-item Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS-26) and 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Logistic regression and correlation methods were applied for statistical analysis.Logistic regression analysis showed that by an increase of one level in categorized DAS-26 scores and one score in the physical symptoms, anxiety, social dysfunction and depression subscales of GHQ-28 the risk of depression increase by 6.8, 1.6, 1.9, 3.7, 4.78 times, respectively.Capability of dysfunctional attitude and general health subscales to predict depression supports the Beck’s cognitive diathesis stress theory of depression that dysfunctional attitude may be a predisposing risk factor for depression.
HubMed – depression

Brief environmental enrichment elicits metaplasticity of hippocampal synaptic potentiation in vivo.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Front Behav Neurosci. 2012; 6: 85
Buschler A, Manahan-Vaughan D

Long-term environmental enrichment (EE) elicits enduring effects on the adult brain, including altered synaptic plasticity. Synaptic plasticity may underlie memory formation and includes robust (>24 h) and weak (<2 h) forms of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). Most studies of the effect of EE on synaptic efficacy have examined the consequences of very prolonged EE-exposure. It is unclear whether brief exposure to EE can alter synaptic plasticity. Clarifying this issue could help develop strategies to address cognitive deficits arising from neglect in children or adults. We assessed whether short-term EE elicits alterations in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and if social context may play a role. Adult mice were exposed to EE for 14 consecutive days. We found that robust late-LTP (>24 h) and short-term depression (<2 h) at Schaffer-collateral-CA1 synapses in freely behaving mice were unaltered, whereas early-LTP (E-LTP, <2 h) was significantly enhanced by EE. Effects were transient: E-LTP returned to control levels 1 week after cessation of EE. Six weeks later, animals were re-exposed to EE for 14 days. Under these conditions, E-LTP was facilitated into L-LTP (>24 h), suggesting that metaplasticity was induced during the first EE experience and that EE-mediated modifications are cumulative. Effects were absent in mice that underwent solitary enrichment or were group-housed without EE. These data suggest that EE in naïve animals strengthens E-LTP, and also promotes L-LTP in animals that underwent EE in the past. This indicates that brief exposure to EE, particularly under social conditions can elicit lasting positive effects on synaptic strength that may have beneficial consequences for cognition that depends on synaptic plasticity.
HubMed – depression

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