The International Society for Bipolar Disorders Task Force report on pediatric bipolar disorder: Knowledge to date and directions for future research

Objectives: Over the past two decades, there has been tremendous growth in research regarding bipolar disorder (BD) among children and adolescents (ie, pediatric BD [PBD]). The primary purpose of this article is to distill the extant literature, dispel myths or exaggerated assertions in the field, and disseminate clinically relevant findings. Methods: An international group of experts completed a selective review of the literature, emphasizing areas of consensus, identifying limitations and gaps in the literature, and highlighting future directions to mitigate these gaps. Results: Substantial, and increasingly international, research has accumulated regarding the phenomenology, differential diagnosis, course, treatment, and neurobiology of PBD. Prior division around the role of irritability and of screening tools in diagnosis has largely abated. Gold-standard pharmacologic trials inform treatment of manic

Fluxes of phytopigments and labile organic matter to the deep ocean in the NE Atlantic Ocean

Downward fluxes of labile organic matter (phytopigments, proteins and carbohydrates) were measured between September 1996 and August 1998 at three depths 1000 m, 3000 m and 4700 m (c. 100 mab) over the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (PAP, NE Atlantic), to provide detailed information on the biochemical characteristics of organic inputs to the deep sea. Temporal changes in the carbohydrate and protein fluxes were compared to carbohydrate and protein contents of the surficial sediment on the seabed beneath the traps at 4850 m depth. Fluxes of carbohydrate, protein and phytopigments (chlorophylls-a and -b, and phaeophytins-a and -b) displayed strong seasonal variations, but limited interannual variability between the two years of measurement. Fluxes of labile organic matter were characterised by strong pulses which occurred in spring and early summer, suggesting that the deep PAP area experiences relatively predictable patterns of vertical fluxes. No major quantitative differences in organic matter fluxes were observed between traps at different depths, but highest carbohydrate fluxes (time-weighted mean 2.4 mg m?2 d?1) were observed at 4700 m, whereas highest protein fluxes were observed at 1000 m (time-weighted mean 2.1 mg m?2 d?1). Carbohydrate, protein and phytopigment fluxes were correlated significantly, suggesting that settling material was associated with primary organic matter (i.e., phytodetritus) inputs from the photic layer. The contributions of chlorophyll-a and -b, and of phaeophytin-a and -b did not change significantly with increasing depth. Nor did the ratio of total phaeopigments to total chlorophylls did change greatly with depth (0.3–0.4 at both 3000 m and 4700 m depth) suggesting that degradation rates in the sinking particles were low. Protein and carbohydrate concentrations in the sediments at 4850 m depth (collected during 6 cruises between 1996 and 1998) and vertical fluxes at 3000 m depth followed inverse temporal patterns; peak concentrations of protein in the sediment corresponded to low vertical fluxes of particulate proteins. These data suggest that there is a decoupling between pelagic input and benthic accumulation. However, bacterial secondary production and sedimentary RNA concentrations displayed temporal patterns similar to those of the vertical fluxes, suggesting that increases in the metabolism of the smallest-sized biota was associated with maxima in the organic matter supply. Our results also suggest that benthic utilisation could exceed the organic matter being supplied by the vertical fluxes