Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder"

As an important micro-ecological factor in human body, intestinal flora is closely related to the occurrence and development of major depressive disorder. The purpose of our study is to investigate a microbiome probe of depression. This study is a 6-months open trial that will enroll approximately 30 patients in major depressive disorders and 10 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We will comparing gut bacteria community structures of pre- treatment, those of 1 month and 6 months after treatment to remission. With the microbiome change in a preliminary analysis of pre-and post-treatment, we will reveal the diversity before and after the depression treatment.

The investigators aim to characterize fecal microbial biomarkers as well as blood cytokine levels in MDD patients vs. healthy controls. 40 MDD patients will be recruited for this study, as well as 20 healthy age-matched participants (as a control group). Following signing of informed consent, stool and blood (20 ml) samples will be collected from all participants, for microbial composition assessment, and blood measures of inflammation and protein expression. According to clinical assessment of the diagnosed MDD patients, the psychiatrist will recommend SSRI or ECT treatment, and the patients will be divided accordingly to treatment group. Clinical status will be assessed by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) scored by a psychiatrist at the starting point (before treatment), after 4 weeks of treatment (as ECT-group patients receive 8-12 treatments on average). A lowering in the HAM-D score will be considered clinical improvement which may be attributed to treatment. The investigators expect a treatment success rate of over 50% for ECT according to past experience. Blood and stool samples will be collected from MDD patients after 4 weeks of treatment, repeating inflammatory, protein expression and microbial measurements and comparing them to initial results. Additional data recorded will include age, BMI, ethnicity, previous medication use, and number of ECT treatments or current medication.

In this proposal, the investigators aim to explore the clinical subtypes and biological markers to personalize the use antidepressants in MDD. By stratifying the subjects with (versus without) remission and treatment response, the biological markers are expected to have important prediction effects in future clinical practice.

Pain of the sacrococcygeal region is called coccygodynia This painful clinical picture, which causes a decrease in the quality of life, also causes disability. Coccycodynia has been associated with hysteria, neurosis, and depression. In some studies, it has been reported that it should be evaluated in somatization in coccygodynia. There are a few studies examining the relationship between coccygodynia and psychiatric disorders.There is no study in the literature examining coccygodynia and sleep. There may be a relationship between pelvic floor muscle spasm in the etiology of coccygodynia and sleep quality. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the relationship between disability severity and anxiety, depression and sleep quality in patients with coccygodynia.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how depression and/or anxiety could effect the prognosis of the patients post-ACS after PCI.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) raise serotonin (5-HT) in the synaptic cleft and are the current first line of pharmacological antidepressive treatment. Yet, there is a missing link between this first molecular step in their mechanism of action and observed clinical improvement. We have determined to establish a framework combining genuine molecular and functional imaging, i.e. hybrid pharmaco-PET/MR imaging, of the human serotonergic system in order to predict antidepressant treatment response. Objectives: To predict antidepressant treatment response from data obtained using hybrid PET/MR with acute pharmacological challenge. To discriminate healthy from depressed subjects using this paradigm. To establish models connecting regional changes in occupancy of serotonin transporters (5-HTT) following citalopram infusion, with changes in brain activation and connectivity of major resting-state hub networks. Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over mono-center study. Materials and methods: 40 major depressed (MDD) and 40 healthy subjects will undergo 2 PET/MR scans on a 3T SIEMENS mMR Biograph scanner: 1. challenge with citalopram 8mg 2. placebo (saline). After structural imaging, functional MRI will be continuously acquired. [11C]DASB will be applied using a bolus + constant infusion paradigm to probe 5-HTT binding potentials and monitor 5-HTT occupancy with drug challenge, applied after 70min, in a single session. Scanning will be terminated 80min after challenge. MDD patients will receive subsequent escitalopram treatment with repeated evaluation of response for 3 months.

Integrating mental health treatments into the primary care delivered at Community Based Outpatient Clinics(CBOCs) that are geographically accessible to rural Veterans is a major priority for the Department of Veterans Affairs. However, there is no scientific evidence that integrating mental health and primary care is clinically effective at smaller CBOCs that have limited mental health staffing. The goal of this proposed project is to implement a "blended" combination of integrated care models that have been adapted for smaller CBOCs using telemedicine technologies, and evaluate the acceptability and effectiveness of the blended, telemedicine-based, integrated care model. If clinical outcomes are improved compared to usual care, findings will be used to justify and facilitate the implementation of this telemedicine-based integrated care model at smaller CBOCs in order to increase rural Veterans' access to effective mental health treatments.

The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between brain structure and depression in adults aged 60 or older. This relationship is determined using magnetic resonance imaging technology (MRI), a scanner with a magnet that is used to create images of the brain.

The investigators plan to use optical brain imaging technology to observe patients with current major depression before, during, and after repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) clinical treatment. Clinical treatment involves 20-30 rTMS sessions over the course of 4-6 weeks. Our primary hypotheses are as follows: Primary Hypothesis: In patients with a positive response to rTMS, the investigators will observe an increase in the strength of connectivity as measured by fMRI among brain regions in the cognitive control network after 4 weeks of treatment. Secondary Hypothesis: Brain activation measured by functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy(fNIRS) in the dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during rTMS will increase as the number of treatments increase. Detection of this increase in brain activity at the beginning of the treatment help researchers and physicians assess treatment response.

People report feeling sad and low (depression) or worried (anxiety) appear more likely to subsequently suffer a heart attack, or angina. However it is not known whether depression or anxiety actually causes heart disease. If these mental health problems and heart disease were cause and effect this has important implications for world health. Previous research on this topic has had several limitations. First, most studies have studied heart disease as if it were one thing. There is a need for studies which distinguish different types of heart disease (e.g. different types of heart attack, angina) which may be linked to mental health problems in different ways. Second, it is not clear whether symptoms of heart disease come before the depression or anxiety or the other way round? Much of the available research cannot look at this in detail because they rely on data from occasional snapshots of study populations rather than a continuous record. The investigators propose to use the linkage of the national registry of coronary events to general practice records in the GPRD, which will allow us to address these limitations. The investigators research will help us understand better whether mental health problems cause the onset of different types of coronary disease.