[Physical and Psychological Consequences of Political Imprisonment in the Soviet Zone of Occupation and the German Democratic Republic]. / Gesundheitliche Folgen politischer Haft in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik.

About 180 000 to 300 000 people were imprisoned for political reasons in the Soviet Zone of Occupation (SBZ) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Traumatic stress, like political imprisonment, can lead to long-term health impairments. Furthermore, research on political imprisonment suggests a transgenerational transfer of health impairments. The current article aims at providing an overview of physical and psychological consequences of political imprisonment in the SBZ and GDR and underlining the relevance of the study currently conducted at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Previous studies indicate increased prevalence rates for psychiatric syndromes and physical symptoms in the population of former political prisoners in the SBZ and GDR. There still is a need for a systematic assessment of possible health-related effects of political imprisonment in the SBZ/GDR on former prisoners and their offspring.

A program for volunteers accompanying older patients with cognitive dysfunction to improve the quality of emergency department care: A pilot study.

Admission to an emergency department (ED) is challenging for older patients with cognitive dysfunction (PWCD). Targeted patient-oriented approaches to improve the care for PWCD are needed. The aim of this pilot study was to design and evaluate a program for volunteers to support PWCD in the ED. Volunteers (N = 9) first received a training and during the following six months (N = 90 shifts), they accompanied PWCD (N = 112) during their stay. Results showed that the training increased volunteers' knowledge and expertise, but not shift-related self-efficacy. The most frequent strategies applied were conversations, holding hands and touching, and providing food and drinks. After six months, volunteers reported a great sense of meaningfulness and felt that they were highly appreciated by the patients. ED nurses' sceptical attitudes towards the program decreased. The program is beneficial for PWCD, appears to be meaningful for volunteers and is appreciated by ED nurses.

Gray matter volume of rostral anterior cingulate cortex predicts rapid antidepressant response to ketamine.

Ketamine was recently approved for treatment resistant depression. However, despite its therapeutic potential, about 50% of patients do not show improvement under this therapy. In this prospective two-site study, we investigated baseline brain structural predictors for rapid symptom improvement after a single subanesthetic ketamine infusion. Furthermore, given the preclinical evidence and findings from a pilot study in a clinical population that ketamine induces rapid neuroplasticity, we performed an exploratory investigation of macroscopic changes 24 h post-treatment. T1-weighted MRI brain images from 33 depressed patients were acquired before and 24 h after a single ketamine infusion and analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Additionally, we performed a region of interest (ROI)-based analysis of structures that have previously been shown to play a role in the antidepressant effects of ketamine: bilateral hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, anterior cingulate cortex, and thalamus. A whole-brain regression analysis showed that greater baseline volume of the bilateral rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) significantly predicts rapid symptom reduction. The right ACC showed the same association in the ROI analysis, while the other regions yielded no significant results. Exploratory follow-up analyses revealed no volumetric changes 24 h after treatment. This is the first study reporting an association between pretreatment gray matter volume of the bilateral rACC and the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine. Results are in line with previous investigations, which highlighted the potential of the rACC as a biomarker for response prediction to different antidepressant treatments. Ketamine-induced volumetric changes may be seen at later time points.

Antidepressant and neurocognitive effects of serial ketamine administration versus ECT in depressed patients.

BACKGROUND: While electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is considered the gold standard for acute treatment of patients with otherwise treatment-resistant depression, ketamine has recently emerged as a fast-acting treatment alternative for these patients. Efficacy and onset of action are currently among the main factors that influence clinical decision making, however, the effect of these treatments on cognitive functions should also be a crucial point, given that cognitive impairment in depression is strongly related to disease burden and functional recovery. ECT is known to induce transient cognitive impairment, while little is known about ketamine's impact on cognition. This study therefore aims to compare ECT and serial ketamine administration not only with regard to their antidepressant efficacy but also to acute neurocognitive effects. METHODS: Fifty patients suffering from depression were treated with either serial ketamine infusions or ECT. Depression severity and cognitive functions were assessed before, during, and after treatment. RESULTS: ECT and ketamine administration were equally effective, however, the antidepressant effects of ketamine occurred faster. Ketamine improved neurocognitive functioning, especially attention and executive functions, whereas ECT was related to a small overall decrease in cognitive performance. CONCLUSIONS: Due to its pro-cognitive effects and faster antidepressant effect, serial ketamine administration might be a more favorable short-term treatment option than ECT. LIMITATIONS: As this research employed a naturalistic study design, patients were not systematically randomized, there was no control group and patients received concurrent and partially changing medications during treatment. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION: Functional and Metabolic Changes in the Course of Antidepressive Treatment, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02099630, NCT02099630.

Anxiety during ketamine infusions is associated with negative treatment responses in major depressive disorder.

About 20 to 30 percent of patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) do not respond to standard treatment and are considered treatment-resistant. The N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor antagonist ketamine has demonstrated rapid antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant MDD, but it is unknown whether its acute psychological effects are related to the later antidepressant effect. Therefore, we investigated the association between antidepressant responses to ketamine and the quality of ketamine-induced psychological experiences in MDD. A total of 31 patients (M = 49.5 ±â€¯11.2 years, 16 women) were treated with three ketamine infusions per week (0.5 mg/ kg over 40 min) administered for two consecutive weeks. Depression severity was assessed using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) at baseline, after four and 24 h and at end of treatment. The 5-Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale (5D-ASC) was applied four hours after the first infusion to assess the subjective quality of acute psychological effects. Patients with a ≥ 50% MADRS reduction from baseline to end of treatment were considered as responders. After six infusions, 17 of 31 patients (55%) showed a response to ketamine treatment, while 14 patients (45%) had no response. Anxiety-related experiences induced by ketamine were significantly higher in non-responders. Percentage MADRS reduction after four hours and individual levels of ketamine-induced anxiety were predictive of a response at end of treatment. The study demonstrated the considerable impact of ketamine-induced anxiety on the antidepressant efficacy of ketamine. It underpins the importance of considering patients' subjective experiences and underlines the possibility of a phenotypic response predictor.

Functional connectivity between prefrontal cortex and subgenual cingulate predicts antidepressant effects of ketamine.

Converging evidence suggests that a single sub-anesthetic dose of ketamine can produce strong and rapid antidepressant effects in patients that do not respond to standard treatment. Despite a considerable amount of research investigating ketamine's mechanisms of action, the exact neuronal targets conveying the antidepressant effects have not been identified yet. Preclinical studies suggest that molecular changes induced by ketamine bring forward large-scale network reconfigurations that might relate to ketamine's antidepressant properties. In this prospective two-site study we measured resting state fMRI in 24 depressed patients prior to, and 24 h after a single sub-anesthetic dose of ketamine. We analyzed functional connectivity (FC) at baseline and after ketamine and focused our analysis on baseline FC and FC changes directly linked to symptom reduction in order to identify neuronal targets that predict individual clinical responses to ketamine. Our results show that FC increases after ketamine between right lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) are positively linked to treatment response. Furthermore, low baseline FC between these regions predicts treatment outcome. We conclude that PFC-sgACC connectivity may represent a promising biomarker with both predictive and explanatory power.