Factorial and Diagnostic Validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) in Croatian Primary Health Care.

Factorial and Diagnostic Validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) in Croatian Primary Health Care.

J Clin Psychol Med Settings. 2013 Apr 3;
Jakši? N, Ivezi? E, Joki?-Begi? N, Surányi Z, Stojanovi?-Špehar S

The aim of this study was to examine the factorial and diagnostic validity of the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition (BDI-II) in Croatian primary health care. Data were collected using a medical outpatient sample (N = 314). Reliability measured by internal consistency proved to be high. While the Velicer MAP Test showed that extraction of only one factor is satisfactory, confirmatory factor analysis indicated the best fit for a 3-factor structure model consisting of cognitive, affective and somatic dimensions. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis demonstrated the BDI-II to have a satisfactory diagnostic validity in differentiating between healthy and depressed individuals in this setting. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity were high with an optimal cut-off score of 15/16. The implications of these findings are discussed regarding the use of the BDI-II as a screening instrument in primary health care settings. HubMed – depression

Gesundheitswesen. 2013 Apr 2;
Franz M, Weihrauch L, Schäfer R

PALME is an emotion-centred parental training for single mothers and their children based on attachment theory. It was designed for the prevention of maternal depression and its long-term effects on the mother-child relation and the infant’s development. Using the example of the PALME programme, inherent and external factors are demonstrated which can contribute to the successful transfer of prevention programmes into psychosocial care and other practice areas. HubMed – depression

Unique pharmacological actions of atypical neuroleptic quetiapine: possible role in cell cycle/fate control.

Transl Psychiatry. 2013; 3: e243
Kondo MA, Tajinda K, Colantuoni C, Hiyama H, Seshadri S, Huang B, Pou S, Furukori K, Hookway C, Jaaro-Peled H, Kano SI, Matsuoka N, Harada K, Ni K, Pevsner J, Sawa A

Quetiapine is an atypical neuroleptic with a pharmacological profile distinct from classic neuroleptics that function primarily via blockade of dopamine D2 receptors. In the United States, quetiapine is currently approved for treating patients with schizophrenia, major depression and bipolar I disorder. Despite its widespread use, its cellular effects remain elusive. To address possible mechanisms, we chronically treated mice with quetiapine, haloperidol or vehicle and examined quetiapine-specific gene expression change in the frontal cortex. Through microarray analysis, we observed that several groups of genes were differentially expressed upon exposure to quetiapine compared with haloperidol or vehicle; among them, Cdkn1a, the gene encoding p21, exhibited the greatest fold change relative to haloperidol. The quetiapine-induced downregulation of p21/Cdkn1a was confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction and in situ hybridization. Consistent with single gene-level analyses, functional group analyses also indicated that gene sets associated with cell cycle/fate were differentially regulated in the quetiapine-treated group. In cortical cell cultures treated with quetiapine, p21/Cdkn1a was significantly downregulated in oligodendrocyte precursor cells and neurons, but not in astrocytes. We propose that cell cycle-associated intervention by quetiapine in the frontal cortex may underlie a unique efficacy of quetiapine compared with typical neuroleptics. HubMed – depression