The association of the HLA in patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and in their biological relatives.

To determine the association of the HLA in 50 patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, 48 healthy controls, 41 biological relatives without psychiatric disease, and 48 biological relatives with mood disorder, the HLA genotype at the class I and class II were determined. The subjects were interviewed by structured diagnostic criteria categorized according to DSM-IV, axis I, (SCID-IV). Significant positive association was found with HLA-B.15 in patients, family with humor disorder and without mental disorder (p=0.003) and negative association of the HLA-B.35 in relatives without psychiatric disease (p=0.03). The HLA-B.15 frequency was significantly increased in a subgroup of patients with age at onset in the early 20s, lower educational achievement, occupational disability, chronically ill, more paranoid type. These findings suggest the existence of some involvement of an immunogenetic mechanism in a subgroup of schizophrenic, schizoaffective patients, and biological relatives.

Immune and hormonal activity in adults suffering from depression.

An association between depression and altered immune and hormonal systems has been suggested by the results of many studies. In the present study we carried out immune and hormonal measurements in 40 non-medicated, ambulatory adult patients with depression determined by CID-10 criteria and compared with 34 healthy nondepressed subjects. The severity of the condition was determined with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Of 40 depressed patients, 31 had very severe and 9 severe or moderate depression, 29 (72.5%) were females and 11 (27.5%) were males (2.6:1 ratio). The results revealed a significant reduction of albumin and elevation of alpha-1, alpha-2 and beta-globulins, and soluble IL-2 receptor in patients with depression compared to the values obtained for nondepressed subjects (P<0.05). The decrease lymphocyte proliferation in response to a mitogen was significantly lower in severely or moderately depressed patients when compared to control (P<0.05). These data confirm the immunological disturbance of acute phase proteins and cellular immune response in patients with depression. Other results may be explained by a variety of interacting factors such as number of patients, age, sex, and the nature, severity and/or duration of depression. Thus, the data obtained should be interpreted with caution and the precise clinical relevance of these findings requires further investigation.

Immune and hormonal activity in adults suffering from depression

An association between depression and altered immune and hormonal systems has been suggested by the results of many studies. In the present study we carried out immune and hormonal measurements in 40 non-medicated, ambulatory adult patients with depression determined by CID-10 criteria and compared with 34 healthy nondepressed subjects. The severity of the condition was determined with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Of 40 depressed patients, 31 had very severe and 9 severe or moderate depression, 29 (72.5 percent) were females and 11 (27.5 percent) were males (2.6:1 ratio). The results revealed a significant reduction of albumin and elevation of alpha-1, alpha-2 and beta-globulins, and soluble IL-2 receptor in patients with depression compared to the values obtained for nondepressed subjects (P<0.05). The decrease lymphocyte proliferation in response to a mitogen was significantly lower in severely or moderately depressed patients when compared to control (P<0.05). These data confirm the immunological disturbance of acute phase proteins and cellular immune response in patients with depression. Other results may be explained by a variety of interacting factors such as number of patients, age, sex, and the nature, severity and/or duration of depression. Thus, the data obtained should be interpreted with caution and the precise clinical relevance of these findings requires further investigation

Influência do Episódio Depressivo Maior na Manifestaçäo da Pneumonia / Influence of depression in the outcome of pneuminia

Vários pesquisadores têm avaliado que o Episódio Depressivo Maior interfere no início, curso e progressäo de doenças reguladas imunologicamente. OBJETIVO: Analisar se o Episódio Depressivo Maior, ocorrido nos últimos seis meses, pode constituir um dos fatores de risco para o desenvolvimento da pneumonia adquirida na comunidade em pacientes ambulatoriais, sem comorbidade associada. MATERIAIS E MÉTODOS:O grupo caso foi composto de 13 pacientes(9 feminino e 4 masculino), entre 18 a59 anos, acometidos por Resultadpneumonia, que frequentavam o Ambulatório de Pneumologia do Hospital das Clínicas (UEL). A partir do grupo-caso, foi selecionado o grupo-controle, no Hemocentro do Hospital Universitário (UEL), que deveria ser semelhante quanto ao sexo, idade, raça, estado civil e condiçöes sócio-econômicas. Em ambos os grupos, foram aplicados questionários baseados nos critérios diagnósticos do DSM-IV (Diagnosis Statistics Manual - 4ª ed.) para depressäo. RESULTADO: A idade média do grupo-casofoi de 44,23 anos e do grupo-controle, 40,53. Depressäo foi diagnosticada em 26,92 por cento das pessoas. Nos pacientes-caso, 46,15 por cento apresentaram um ou mais episódios de depressäo, enquanto qque nos pacientes-controle, apenas 7,69 por cento. CONCLUSAO: No presente estudo verificou-se que o Episódio Depressivo Maior pode influenciar na suscetibilidade a infecçäo por pneuminia adquirida na comunidade, sem comorbidade, em pacientes ambulatoriais. Espera-se que, no futuro, a detecçäo da depressäo precoce da depressäo pelo clínico, seu correto tratamento c/ou encaminhamento adequado ao especialista possam, desta forma, reduzir as complicaçöes imunológicas decorrentes da depressäo

Estado nutricional das crianças de 0 a 6 anos na Unidade Básica de Saúde do Jardim Uniäo da Vitória - Londrina, PR / Nutritional status of children from 0 to 6 years old in the Jardim Uniäo da Vitória, Health Basic Unit - Londrina, PR

Com o objetivo de determinar o estado nutricional das crianças de 0 a 6 anos do Jardim Uniäo da Vitória, Zona Sul de Londrina, analisou-se uma amostra de 241 crianças entre 0 a 6 anos de idade atendidas na Unidade Básica de Saúde Orlando Cestari, localizada no Jardim Uniäo da Vitória. Os dados antropométricos (peso e altura) e outros obtidos através de um questionário contendo informaçöes sobre o nível de escolaridade, renda familiar, realizaçäo de pré-natal pelas mäes, uso de drogas e tabaco na gravidez, baixo peso ao nascer, ocorrência de hospitalizaçäo por infecçäo nos últimos 12 meses, foram analisados estatisticamente pelo Teste do Qui- quadrado ou Teste Exato de Fisher. Os resultos obtidos demonstraram que 33 por cento das crianças apresentam desnutriçäo. Os fatores associados na determinaçäo da desnutriçäo da populaçäo estudada foram o baixo peso ao nascer em menores de 12 meses e maior número de hospitalizaçöes por infecçäo