Software defined networking (SDN) over space division multiplexing (SDM) optical networks: features, benefits and experimental demonstration.

We present results from the first demonstration of a fully integrated SDN-controlled bandwidth-flexible and programmable SDM optical network utilizing sliceable self-homodyne spatial superchannels to support dynamic bandwidth and QoT provisioning, infrastructure slicing and isolation. Results show that SDN is a suitable control plane solution for the high-capacity flexible SDM network. It is able to provision end-to-end bandwidth and QoT requests according to user requirements, considering the unique characteristics of the underlying SDM infrastructure.

How many well vs. unwell days can you expect over 10 years, once you become depressed?

OBJECTIVE: Prognostic studies of major depression have mainly focused on episode remission and relapse, and only a limited number of studies have examined long-term course of depressive symptomatology at threshold and subthreshold levels. METHOD: The Group for Longitudinal Affective Disorders Study has conducted prospective serial assessments of a cohort of heretofore untreated major depressive episodes for 10 years under naturalistic conditions. RESULTS: Of the 94 patients in the cohort, the follow-up rate was 70% of the 11,280 person-months. Around 77% of the follow-up months were spent in euthymia, 16% in subthreshold depression and 7% in major depression. Duration of the index episode before reaching recovery was the only significant predictor of the ensuing well time. CONCLUSION: On average, patients with major depression starting treatment today may expect to spend three quarters of the next decade in euthymia but the remaining one quarter in subthreshold or threshold depression.

Definitions of recovery and outcomes of major depression: results from a 10-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVE: Consensus operational definitions for symptomatic remission and recovery of a major depressive episode have been proposed but only irregularly followed. METHOD: We examined the predictive validity of different definitions of recovery in a multi-center 10-year follow-up study of an inception cohort of untreated unipolar major depressive episodes (n = 95). Time to recovery and time to recurrence after recovery were estimated by Kaplan-Meier survival analyses for alternative definitions requiring 2, 4, 6 or 12 months of remission to declare recovery. RESULTS: The median time to recovery was 3.0, 4.0, 4.0 and 12.0 months respectively. The index episode lasted longer than 24 months in 9.4%, 9.2%, 12.6% and 24.5%. The median time to subthreshold recurrence was 16.0, 32.0, 42.0 and 74.0 months. CONCLUSION: Either 4- or 6-month duration of remission defined a change point before which the episode was continuous and after which the recurrence was reasonably unlikely.

Course and outcome of depressive episodes: comparison between bipolar, unipolar and subthreshold depression.

It is pragmatically important to know the comparative prognoses of bipolar, unipolar and subthreshold depressions after they present to clinical attention. Previous studies focusing on bipolar and/or unipolar depressions have questionable generalizability because of overrepresentation of inpatients and/or refractory patients, and no study has yet focused on the length of subthreshold depression. The Group for Longitudinal Affective Disorders Study (GLADS) in Japan is conducting a prospective, serial follow-up study of broadly defined mood disorder patients, who had not received treatment for their index episode before study entry. The median time to recovery for bipolar depression was 2.0 months (95%CI: 0.9-3.1), that for unipolar depression 3.0 (2.5-3.6), and that for subthreshold depression 3.2 (0-12.3). Survival analyses revealed no statistically significant difference among the three. Neither was the total time unwell significantly different among the three: on average, these patients were symptomatic with two or more significant affective symptoms for 9.5 (8.0-10.9) months out of the initial 24 months of follow-up. The bipolar depressed patients tended to present with graver functional impairment at intake, but thereafter there was no statistically significant difference in the global functioning of these three diagnostic subgroups. In our sample, patients with depressive disorder not otherwise specified appeared to suffer both symptomatologically and functionally as much as patients with major mood disorders.

Social Support Questionnaire among psychiatric patients with various diagnoses and normal controls.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have pointed to the importance of social support in influencing the onset and course of a psychiatric disorder such as schizophrenia or depression. However, only a few have studied it across groups of patients with various psychiatric diagnoses employing a standardized assessment procedure. METHOD: We administered the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ); a measure of social support recommended by two recent reviews on the subject, to 1,369 psychiatric outpatients visiting the 23 psychiatric hospitals and clinics all over Japan and to 178 healthy controls recruited from among employees at a general hospital. RESULTS: The original two-factor structure of the SSQ was confirmed and internal consistency reliability for the Number and Satisfaction subscales was satisfactory, with Cronbach's alphas above 0.85. When the SSQ scores were compared between psychiatric patients and healthy controls, it was found that the psychiatric patients in general reported significantly lower Number as well as Satisfaction scores than the healthy controls. When individual diagnostic categories were considered, almost all the diagnostic groups reported significantly lower Number scores, but only the patients with anxiety disorder, mood disorder, schizophrenia, and V codes reported significantly lower Satisfaction scores than the healthy controls. Compared with patients with other diagnoses, the schizophrenic patients stood out as reporting significantly lower Number and Satisfaction scores. CONCLUSION: The findings demonstrated the internal consistency reliability, factor validity, and construct validity of the SSQ among psychiatric as well as normal populations, and exemplified the feasibility of applying the SSQ as a standard measure of social support among psychiatric patients.

Childhood parental loss and alcohol dependence among Japanese men: a case-control study. Group for Longitudinal Affective Disorders Study (GLADS).

There have been many studies in the literature examining childhood parental loss as a risk factor for adult psychiatric disorders such as depression, schizophrenia or anxiety disorders. However, with regard to alcohol dependence, only a limited number of such studies exists, and these have reported inconsistent findings. The present paper aims to examine the relationship between early parental loss and subsequent development of alcohol dependence among Japanese men. We directly interviewed 75 men with alcohol dependence (according to DSM-III-R), who were visiting 23 psychiatric hospitals and clinics all over Japan, and 52 healthy controls without any lifetime psychiatric diagnosis, drawn from a general population. When stratified for sex and age, there was no statistically significant difference between the patients and the controls in the rates of maternal or paternal death or separation before the age of 16 years. These findings and the review of the literature suggest that the relationship between childhood parental loss and alcohol dependence is not a straightforward one.

Primary obsessional slowness: long-term findings.

Cases of slowness among patients who spent large amounts of time to perform daily activities were first reported in 1974, and described as primary obsessional slowness (POS). It was observed that it was neither obsessive thoughts nor compulsions that directly hindered their daily activities. However, in more than 20 years following the original report, the diagnostic independence of POS remains controversial, some insisting that obsessional slowness can be explained as secondary. The authors experienced four cases in Japan which share the same characteristics as the original cases. Long-term observation and treatment has led us to support the diagnostic independence of POS. Slowness remained after other accompanying symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder had been successfully treated, showing that the slowness of our patients was not secondary.

Hyperbaric oxygenation prevents delayed neuronal death following transient ischaemia in the gerbil hippocampus.

The mechanism of the neuroprotective effect of hyperbaric oxygenation remains unclear although its clinical benefits have been well recognized for human ischaemic neuronal disease. The preventive effect of hyperbaric oxygenation against delayed neuronal death was investigated in the gerbil following transient forebrain ischaemia. Delayed neuronal death in the gerbil was produced by clips on both the common carotid arteries (10 min). Morphological examination was carried out after several protocols of hyperbaric oxygenation, modified from the protocols for human ischaemic neuronal disease. Neurons in the hippocampal CA1 were well preserved in the gerbils treated with hyperbaric oxygenation, more so than in the gerbils with no hyperbaric oxygenation. Moreover, more neurons were preserved in the CA1 treated with hyperbaric oxygenation within 6 h of the ischaemia, than when the hyperbaric oxygenation was started 24 h after the ischaemia. The induction of heat shock proteins (HSP72 and HSP27) became weaker in the gerbils with hyperbaric oxygenation than in those without hyperbaric oxygenation, as seen immunohistochemically. We also observed an increase in dense bodies, that were shown to be lysosomes and myelinoid structures in the cytoplasm of the neurons ultrastructurally, in the hippocampus with hyperbaric oxygenation. However, no oxygen toxicity to the neurons was detected, up to at least two atmospheres absolute. This experimental system was useful to investigate the preventive mechanism of hyperbaric oxygenation against delayed neuronal death in the gerbil, and to determine the clinical indications and the most effective protocol for hyperbaric oxygenation for ischaemic neuronal damage in the human brain.