Telomere shortening in late-life depression: A potential marker of depression severity.

OBJECTIVES: Telomeres are structures at the extremity of chromosomes that prevents genomic instability, and its shortening seems to be a hallmark of cellular aging. Past studies have shown contradictory results of telomere length (TL) in major depression, and are a few studies in late-life depression (LLD). This explores the association between TL as a molecular marker of aging and diagnosis of LLD, the severity of depressive symptoms, and cognitive performance in older adults. METHODS/DESIGN: We included 78 older adults (45 with LLD and 33 nondepressed controls, according to DSM-V criteria), aged 60-90 years. TL was measured in leukocytes by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction, determining the relative ratio (T/S) between the telomere region copy number (T) and a single copy gene (S), using a relative standard curve. RESULTS: TL was significantly shorter in the LLD compared with control participants (p = .039). Comparing groups through the severity of depressive symptoms, we found a negative correlation with the severity of depressive symptoms (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-21, r = -0.325, p = .004) and medical burden (r = -0.271, p = .038). There was no significant correlation between TL and cognitive performance (Mattis Dementia Rating Scale, r = 0.152, p = .21). CONCLUSIONS: We found that older adults with LLD have shorter telomere than healthy controls, especially those with a more severe depressive episode. Our findings suggest that shorter TL can be a marker of the severity of depressive episodes in older adults and indicate that these individuals may be at higher risk of age-associated adverse outcomes linked to depression.

Influência do lazer no desempenho acadêmico em estudantes de Medicina / Influence of leisure time on academic performance of medical students

Estudos prévios sugerem que o tempo de lazer diminui progressivamente durante o curso médico, e que a reduçäo de qualidade de vida pode se refletir na reduçäo do desempenho curricular. Näo há relatos de associaçäo entre a quantidade de lazer e a performance acadêmica. Para avaliar essa associaçäo, foi realizdo estudo de corte transversal controlado, onde se aferiram as horas semanais de lazer e o escore de desempenho acadêmico de 77 estudantes da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Observou-se ausência de associaçäo entre lazer e desempenho (risco relativo de 1,1 e P=0,9553). Houve uma discreta correlaçäo positiva entre a valorizaçäo do conceito e as horas semanais de lazer (r=-0,23 +/-0,22). Estes resultados permitem concluir que näo foi observada associaçäo entre horas semanais de lazer e desempenho