Does Diet Matter? The Use of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs) and Other Dietary Supplements in Inflammation-Associated Depression.

An increasingly pertinent issue in psychiatry in recent years is that of the limitations of conventional antidepressants, which are not effective in a large number of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Coupled with emerging hypotheses about the role of inflammation in depression, it would appear that it is time to look for alternative treatments for these symptoms.This review will examine an emerging area in psychiatry, that of dietary supplements and the diet in general to treat depressive symptoms, and inflammation in depression. In particular, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), probiotics and folic acid are three supplements that demonstrate the ability to target inflammation and other underlying systems in depression. While there is a definite need for more research in all these supplements to determine true efficacy, dosage and target populations, they can be used as mono- or adjunctive therapies to good effect, and show superior safety profiles when compared with more traditional alternatives.

An asymmetry of translational biological motion perception in schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Biological motion perception is served by a network of regions in the occipital, posterior temporal, and parietal lobe, overlapping areas of reduced cortical volume in schizophrenia. The atrophy in these regions is assumed to account for deficits in biological motion perception described in schizophrenia but it is unknown whether the asymmetry of atrophy found in previous studies has a perceptual correlate. Here we look for possible differences in sensitivity to leftward and rightward translation of point-light biological motion in data collected for a previous study and explore its underlying neurobiology using functional imaging. METHODS: n = 64 patients with schizophrenia and n = 64 controls performed a task requiring the detection of leftward or rightward biological motion using a standard psychophysical staircase procedure. six control subjects took part in the functional imaging experiment. RESULTS: We found a deficit of leftward but not rightward biological motion (leftward biological motion % accuracy patients = 57.9% ± 14.3; controls = 63.6% ± 11.3 p = 0.01; rightward biological motion patients = 62.7% ± 12.4; controls = 64.1% ± 11.7; p > 0.05). The deficit reflected differences in distribution of leftward and rightward accuracy bias in the two populations. Directional bias correlated with functional outcome as measured by the Role Functioning Scale in the patient group when co-varying for negative symptoms (r = -0.272, p = 0.016). Cortical regions with preferential activation for leftward or rightward translation were identified in both hemispheres suggesting the psychophysical findings could not be accounted for by selective atrophy or functional change in one hemisphere alone. CONCLUSION: The findings point to translational direction as a novel functional probe to help understand the underlying neural mechanisms of wider cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.