Kinematic analysis of handwriting movements in patients with Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, depression and healthy subjects

A variety of studies have demonstrated that motor disorders, parkinsonism and extrapyramidal motor symptoms (EPMS) are common in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Several studies have reported an association of EPMS with severity, progression and poor prognosis of AD. The majority of these studies used clinical assessments for the rating of EPMS. In this study, kinematic handwriting analysis was used to quantify differences in fine hand motor function in patients with probable AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCl, as an assumed initial stage of AD) compared to depressed patients and healthy controls. Both patients with MCl and patients with probable AD exhibited loss of fine motor performance. Movements of AD patients were significantly less regular than those of healthy controls. Copyright (C) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

Free triiodothyronine (T3) is negatively associated with fasting ghrelin serum levels in a population sample of euthyroid subjects

Purpose: Ghrelin is an orexigenic peptide hormone secreted in times of stress and hunger. It is deeply involved in the regulation of metabolism and energy homeostasis, promoting energy intake and inhibiting energy expenditure on a metabolic level. In this regard, it has in many ways antagonistic effect on the thyroid hormones, which increase metabolism and thus energy expenditure. While there is reasonable evidence of a negative association between ghrelin and hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT-) axis from studies in patients with thyroid dysfunction and small intervention studies, large-scale studies in healthy subjects are lacking. Therefore, we studied the relationship between total ghrelin serum levels and serum levels of the thyroid hormones in a large sample of euthyroid subjects. Methods: Total ghrelin, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4) and free triiodothyronine (fT3) were determined after an overnight fast in 1666 subjects participating in a population-based cross-sectional study ('LIFE') including 10,000 adults. 1012 subjects were included in this analysis. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed. Results: FT3 was negatively associated with serum ghrelin; total sample: β = - 0.0001, p < 0.001; men: β = - 0.0002, p = 0.013; women: β = - 0.0001, p = 0.010, adjusted for age, BMI, alcohol consumption, serum levels of TSH and fT4 and smoking status. No associations were found between ghrelin serum levels and serum levels of fT4 or TSH. Conclusion: This is to date the largest study investigating the relationship between total serum ghrelin and thyroid hormones. The results point to a complex interaction and should initiate further research

Consequences of selection for egg weight on hatchability

International audienc

Association between self-rating depression scores and total ghrelin and adipokine serum levels in a large population-based sample

Background: Ghrelin and the adipokines leptin and adiponectin have been suggested to be involved in mood and anxiety regulation and to be altered in affective disorders. However, studies investigating the association between ghrelin, leptin and adiponectin and depressive symptomatology are scarce but might contribute to a better understanding of their involvement in mood regulation. We thus aimed investigating the association between depressive symptomatology and total ghrelin as well as leptin and adiponectin serum levels in a large population-based sample. Methods: Total serum ghrelin, adiponectin and leptin levels were determined in 1666 subjects of a population-based cross-sectional study (“LIFE”). The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms – Self Rating (IDS-SR) were administered. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between total serum ghrelin, leptin and adiponectin and the intensity of depressive symptoms. Results: In the total sample (n = 1,092), neither ghrelin nor leptin or adiponectin serum levels showed a significant association with CES-D or IDS-SR sum scores (N = 1,092) or in depressed/non-depressed subjects. Leptin serum levels showed a significantly positive association with IDS-SR sum scores in elderly men (≥60 years; β = 0.122, 95% CI: 0.009; 0.236; p = 0.035). Conclusion: Our study suggests that peripheral levels of ghrelin and adipokines in a cross-sectional study design might not be sufficient to measure their involvement in depression, suggesting that associations are more complex and multi-layered. Copyright © 2022 Wittekind, Kratzsch, Biemann, Mergl, Riedel-Heller, Witte, Villringer and Kluge

The effects of blinding on the outcomes of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for adult depression: A meta-analysis.

Background: Randomized trials with antidepressants are often run under double blind placebo-controlled conditions, whereas those with psychotherapies are mostly unblinded. This can introduce bias in favor of psychotherapy when the treatments are directly compared. In this meta-analysis, we examine this potential source of bias

Initial severity of depression and efficacy of cognitive-behavioural therapy: individual-participant data meta-analysis of pill-placebo-controlled trials

BACKGROUND: The influence of baseline severity has been examined for antidepressant medications but has not been studied properly for cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) in comparison with pill placebo. AIMS: To synthesise evidence regarding the influence of initial severity on efficacy of CBT from all randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in which CBT, in face-to-face individual or group format, was compared with pill-placebo control in adults with major depression. METHOD: A systematic review and an individual-participant data meta-analysis using mixed models that included trial effects as random effects. We used multiple imputation to handle missing data. RESULTS: We identified five RCTs, and we were given access to individual-level data (n = 509) for all five. The analyses revealed that the difference in changes in Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression between CBT and pill placebo was not influenced by baseline severity (interaction P = 0.43). Removing the non-significant interaction term from the model, the difference between CBT and pill placebo was a standardised mean difference of -0.22 (95% CI -0.42 to -0.02, P = 0.03, I2 = 0%). CONCLUSIONS: Patients suffering from major depression can expect as much benefit from CBT across the wide range of baseline severity. This finding can help inform individualised treatment decisions by patients and their clinicians.R01 MH060998 - NIMH NIH HHS; R34 MH086668 - NIMH NIH HHS; R01 AT007257 - NCCIH NIH HHS; R21 MH101567 - NIMH NIH HHS; K02 MH001697 - NIMH NIH HHS; R01 MH060713 - NIMH NIH HHS; R34 MH099311 - NIMH NIH HHS; R21 MH102646 - NIMH NIH HHS; K23 MH100259 - NIMH NIH HHS; R01 MH099021 - NIMH NIH HH

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