Complementary and Alternative Treatments for Postpartum Depression.

Complementary and alternative treatments are commonly requested as treatment options for depression. This article provides a review of evidence for complementary and alternative therapies (doula support, saffron, yoga, aromatherapy, placentophagy, mindfulness, probiotics and wake therapy) in the treatment of postpartum depression. The included studies, mainly randomized control trials, focus on the efficacy of these interventions as compared to standard pharmacotherapy and or no treatment.

Therapeutic Role of a Cysteine Precursor, OTC, in Ischemic Stroke Is Mediated by Improved Proteostasis in Mice.

Oxidative stress aggravates brain injury following ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). We previously showed that ubiquilin-1 (Ubqln1), a ubiquitin-like protein, improves proteostasis and protects brains against oxidative stress and I/R-induced brain injury. Here, we demonstrate that a small molecule compound, L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (OTC) that functions as a precursor of cysteine, upregulated Ubqln1 and protected cells against oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced cell death in neuronal cultures. Further, the administration of OTC either at 1 h prior to ischemia or 3 h after the reperfusion significantly reduced brain infarct injury and improved behavioral outcomes in a stroke model. Administration of OTC also increased glutathione (GSH) level and decreased superoxide production, oxidized protein, and neuroinflammation levels in the penumbral cortex after I/R in the stroke mice. Furthermore, I/R reduced both Ubqln1 and the glutathione S-transferase protein levels, whereas OTC treatment restored both protein levels, which was associated with reduced ubiquitin-conjugated protein level. Interestingly, in the Ubqln1 knockout (KO) mice, OTC treatment showed reduced neuroprotection and increased ubiquitin-conjugated protein level when compared to the similarly treated non-KO mice following I/R, suggesting that OTC-medicated neuroprotection is, at least partially, Ubqln1-dependent. Thus, OTC is a potential therapeutic agent for stroke and possibly for other neurological disorders and its neuroprotection involves enhanced proteostasis.