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Research Interests:
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Chronic systemic inflammation in obesity originates from local immune responses in visceral adipose tissue. However, assessment of a broad range of inflammation-mediating cytokines and their relationship to physical activity and... more
Chronic systemic inflammation in obesity originates from local immune responses in visceral adipose tissue. However, assessment of a broad range of inflammation-mediating cytokines and their relationship to physical activity and adipometrics has scarcely been reported to date. To characterize the profile of a broad range of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and the impact of physical activity and energy expenditure in individuals with general obesity, central obesity, and non-obese subjects. A cross-sectional study comprising 117 obese patients (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30) and 83 non-obese community-based volunteers. Serum levels of interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interferon (IFN)-γ and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were measured. Physical activity and energy expenditure (MET) were assessed with actigraphy. Adipometrics comprised BMI, weight, abdominal-, waist- and hip-circumference, waist to hip rati...
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Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous molecule with neurotransmitter properties that is involved in numerous functions in the central nervous system (CNS), the vascular system and also in macrophages. Haplotypes of NOS1 and NOS3 genes have been... more
Nitric oxide (NO) is a gaseous molecule with neurotransmitter properties that is involved in numerous functions in the central nervous system (CNS), the vascular system and also in macrophages. Haplotypes of NOS1 and NOS3 genes have been shown to be associated with different psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Therefore, the detection of other characteristics of nitrinergic transmission is desirable. Because nitrinergic functioning influences serotonergic transmission, a functional marker of the serotonergic transmission, the loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP), can be assumed to be influenced by nitrinergic changes as well. In order to clarify the relationship between nitrinergic transmission and LDAEP, 95 healthy subjects (41 males, 54 females) underwent electrophysiological recording and blood drawing for genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and haplotypes of the NOS1 and NOS3 genes. Interestingly, two functional...
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The thalamus, as a composite of several functionally very different nuclei, is a major relay and filter station in the CNS and is significantly involved in information processing and gating. The aim of our study is to investigate... more
The thalamus, as a composite of several functionally very different nuclei, is a major relay and filter station in the CNS and is significantly involved in information processing and gating. The aim of our study is to investigate first-episode and chronic patients and controls to shed light on the potential pathogenetic role of the thalamus in schizophrenia and to assess the relationship between thalamic volumes and psychopathology ratings. Forty-three male right-handed chronic and 25 male right-handed first-episode schizophrenic patients treated at the psychiatric hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich and 50 male control subjects were enrolled into the study. Demographic information and current symptom profile of all schizophrenic subjects were assessed using a semistructured interview, including a variety of measures relevant to the study. Volumetry of the thalamic gray and white matter was obtained with 1.5 T MRI, using the BRAINS software application. No signif...
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Twin studies point toward a substantial heritability in individual variations in the size of the human brain. However, the etiology is largely unknown. The prion protein (gene name: PRNP) aids cellular resistance to oxidative stress and... more
Twin studies point toward a substantial heritability in individual variations in the size of the human brain. However, the etiology is largely unknown. The prion protein (gene name: PRNP) aids cellular resistance to oxidative stress and neurodegeneration and is involved in neurodevelopment. This study examines the influence of a polymorphism in the PRNP gene on brain morphology in 47 healthy males and 43 male schizophrenic patients. All subjects underwent identical MRI scanning sessions followed by segmentation in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), gray and white matter tissue, and genotyping for a biallelic polymorphism in PRNP (Met129Val). Genotype and allele frequencies did not differ between schizophrenic patients and controls but the polymorphism was associated with white matter tissue reduction (P = 0.024) and enlargement of CSF compartments (P = 0.039). These findings suggest that homozygosity for methionine at codon 129 is associated with decreased white matter tissue and larger CSF...
Research Interests: Schizophrenia, Polymorphism, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Adolescent, Amyloid, and 19 moreCerebrospinal Fluid, Brain, Humans, Neuroimage, Male, Individual variation, Human Brain, Middle Aged, Prions, Atrophy, White matter, Adult, Methionine, Twin Study, Codon, Reference Values, Right Handed, Allele Frequency, and Prion Protein
Ethanol has central serotonergic effects that may be of pathogenetic importance in a subgroup of alcohol-dependent patients with a central serotonergic hypofunction. Recent results indicate that pronounced amplitude increases of auditory... more
Ethanol has central serotonergic effects that may be of pathogenetic importance in a subgroup of alcohol-dependent patients with a central serotonergic hypofunction. Recent results indicate that pronounced amplitude increases of auditory evoked responses (tangential dipoles, N1/P2 component) with increasing stimulus intensity (loudness) may be an indicator of such a low serotonergic neurotransmission. Because of its serotonin-agonistic effects, ethanol can be expected to decrease this intensity dependence. Twenty-eight alcoholic patients were studied both in the intoxication phase and after 1 week of withdrawal. A reduced intensity dependence of the tangential dipole activity was observed in the intoxicated state. Correspondingly, a reduction of this parameter was found in 14 healthy subjects after an ethanol load (1 g/kg, p.o.).
Research Interests: Psychiatry, Electroencephalography, Serotonin, Brain Mapping, Brain, and 17 moreHumans, Alcoholism, Female, Male, Ethanol, Transferrin, Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin, Aged, Middle Aged, Arousal, Serotonin Receptors, Alcohol dependence, Adult, Biological markers, Auditory evoked Potentials, Reference Values, and Healthy Subjects
Mild depressive syndromes are highly prevalent among primary-care patients. Evidence-based treatment recommendations need to be derived directly from this diagnostically heterogeneous group. The primary aim was to assess the efficacy of... more
Mild depressive syndromes are highly prevalent among primary-care patients. Evidence-based treatment recommendations need to be derived directly from this diagnostically heterogeneous group. The primary aim was to assess the efficacy of sertraline and cognitive-behavioural group therapy for treatment of depressed primary-care patients, the secondary aim was to evaluate if receiving treatment according to free choice is associated with a better outcome than randomization to a particular treatment. We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, single-centre, 10-wk trial with five arms: sertraline (flexible dosages up to 200 mg/d) (n = 83); placebo (n = 83); manual-guided cognitive-behavioural group therapy (one individual session and nine group sessions per 90 min) (n = 61); guided self-help group (control condition, n = 59); and treatment with sertraline or cognitive-behavioural group therapy according to patients' choice (n = 82). From 1099 consecutively screened adult patients...
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Event-related potentials (ERPs) can serve as markers for cognitive processing stages. Identification of those ERPs altered in schizophrenia offer information about cognitive dysfunction. Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were elicited... more
Event-related potentials (ERPs) can serve as markers for cognitive processing stages. Identification of those ERPs altered in schizophrenia offer information about cognitive dysfunction. Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were elicited within an oddball paradigm in 35 schizophrenic patients and compared with 35 healthy controls. N100 and P200, as well as N200, frontal P300 and parietal P300 subcomponents, were separated using dipole
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Background: The aim of the study was to investigate abnormalities of P300 subcomponents in schizophrenic patients as well as relationships between these subcomponents and positive versus negative schizophrenic symptoms.Methods: Nineteen... more
Background: The aim of the study was to investigate abnormalities of P300 subcomponents in schizophrenic patients as well as relationships between these subcomponents and positive versus negative schizophrenic symptoms.Methods: Nineteen schizophrenic patients and 19 healthy controls were tested with an auditory event-related potential oddball paradigm designed to elicit the P300. The P300 data were analyzed by separating P300 subcomponents with
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The mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event related potential component elicited by changes in duration, frequency or intensity of the stimuli during repetitive series of equal standard stimuli. In the present study we compared duration and... more
The mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event related potential component elicited by changes in duration, frequency or intensity of the stimuli during repetitive series of equal standard stimuli. In the present study we compared duration and frequency MMN using dipole source analysis concerning both the test-retest reliability of MMN-amplitudes and the locations of the potential sources. Furthermore, the influence of
Research Interests: Cognitive Science, Electrophysiology, Visual attention, Visual perception, Electroencephalography, and 16 moreBrain Mapping, Source Code Analysis, Brain, Evoked Potentials, Humans, Source Localization, Artifacts, Clinical Sciences, Mismatch Negativity, Middle Aged, Adult, Reproducibility of Results, Auditory Cortex, Visual Evoked Potentials, Healthy Subjects, and Neurosciences
The present review focuses on the current knowledge of the neurochemical processes and neuronal structures involved in the generation of P300. The increasing knowledge in this area facilitates the physiological interpretation of P300... more
The present review focuses on the current knowledge of the neurochemical processes and neuronal structures involved in the generation of P300. The increasing knowledge in this area facilitates the physiological interpretation of P300 findings as well as the link between P300 research and other research findings in biological psychiatry. Concerning the question of neurochemical substrates, the glutamatergic, GABAergic, cholinergic, noradrenergic,
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Research Interests: Psychiatry, Humans, Major Depressive Disorder, Female, Male, and 4 moreYoung Adult, Leptin, Middle Aged, and Adult
Previous MRI studies have shown differences in corpus callosum size between schizophrenic patients and controls. The corpus callosum (CC), as the main interhemispheric fiber tract, plays an important role in interhemispheric integration... more
Previous MRI studies have shown differences in corpus callosum size between schizophrenic patients and controls. The corpus callosum (CC), as the main interhemispheric fiber tract, plays an important role in interhemispheric integration and communication. Though MRI studies suggest smaller CC in schizophrenia, there are still conflicting findings. Using in vivo magnetic resonance imaging, it was investigated whether the midsagittal area
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Rationale: A serotonergic dysfunction is supposed to play a pathogenetic role in depression, but there is a considerable number of non-responders in the acute treatment of depression with serotonergic agents like SSRI. Thus, an indicator... more
Rationale: A serotonergic dysfunction is supposed to play a pathogenetic role in depression, but there is a considerable number of non-responders in the acute treatment of depression with serotonergic agents like SSRI. Thus, an indicator of central serotonergic activity could lead to a more specific pharmacological treatment of depression. In animal and human data there is a growing amount of
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Summary Both ventricular enlargement and reduced P3 amplitudes are consistent findings in schizophrenic patients, suggesting that the two measures reflect a common underlying pathophysiological process in schizophrenia. Investigating 14... more
Summary Both ventricular enlargement and reduced P3 amplitudes are consistent findings in schizophrenic patients, suggesting that the two measures reflect a common underlying pathophysiological process in schizophrenia. Investigating 14 stabilized schizophrenic outpatients, a relationship between the size of the lateral ventricles as well as of the third ventricle on CT scans and the auditory event-related P3 amplitude was, however, not found.
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A variety of studies have demonstrated that motor disorders, parkinsonism and extrapyramidal motor symptoms (EPMS) are common in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Several studies have reported an association of EPMS with severity,... more
A variety of studies have demonstrated that motor disorders, parkinsonism and extrapyramidal motor symptoms (EPMS) are common in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Several studies have reported an association of EPMS with severity, progression and poor prognosis of AD. The majority of these studies used clinical assessments for the rating of EPMS. In this study, kinematic handwriting analysis was used
Research Interests: Cognitive Science, Schizophrenia, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Adolescent, Handwriting, and 25 moreBiological Sciences, Biological Psychiatry, Humans, Movement, Female, Male, Biological, Depressive Disorder, Clinical Sciences, Mini Mental State Examination, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Motor Function, Basal ganglia, Clinical Assessment, Motor Performance, Kinematic Analysis, Reference Values, Psychomotor Disorders, Alzheimer Disease, Healthy Subjects, Neurosciences, Cognition disorders, and Biomechanical Phenomena
Focusing on recent publications from the 1990s, this article qualitatively reviews the comparative efficacy of the combination of pharmaco- and psychotherapy (COMBI) vs either modality alone. There is only a weak empirical basis... more
Focusing on recent publications from the 1990s, this article qualitatively reviews the comparative efficacy of the combination of pharmaco- and psychotherapy (COMBI) vs either modality alone. There is only a weak empirical basis recommending the routine use of both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy in acute treatment of Major Depressive Disorders (MDD). Concerning long-term treatment of MDD patients, the methodologically sophisticated study from Frank et al. shows that a COMBI is superior to interpersonal psychotherapy but not superior to medication alone. However, certain subgroups of patients might benefit substantially from COMBI compared to both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy alone: 1) acute and long-term treatment of more severe forms of chronic depression, and 2) long-term treatment of older MDD patients. Compared to psychotherapy alone, severely depressed MDD patients profit more and faster when treated with combined psycho-pharmacotherapy.
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Research Interests: Community-Based Mental Health Services, Suicide, International Cooperation, Self Help Groups, Humans, and 12 moreProgram Development, Europe, Major Depressive Disorder, Incidence, Risk factors, Clinical Sciences, Prevalence, World Health Organization, Risk Factors, Social Facilitation, Community Based Mental Health Services, and Neurosciences
This study tested the hypothesis that patients with depression show less and later declines into lower EEG vigilance stages (different global functional brain states) under resting conditions than healthy controls, as proposed by the... more
This study tested the hypothesis that patients with depression show less and later declines into lower EEG vigilance stages (different global functional brain states) under resting conditions than healthy controls, as proposed by the vigilance theory of affective disorders. Thirty patients with Major Depressive Disorder (19 female; mean age: 37.2 years, SD: 12.6) without psychotropic medication and 30 carefully age- and sex-matched controls (19 female; mean age: 37.3 years, SD: 12.8) without past or present mental disorders underwent a 15-min resting EEG. EEG-vigilance regulation was determined with a computer-based vigilance classification algorithm (VIGALL, Vigilance Algorithm Leipzig), allowing a classification of vigilance stages A (with substages A1, A2 and A3), B (with substages B1 and B2/3) and C. Depressive patients spent significantly more time in the highest EEG vigilance substage A1, and less time in substages A2, A3 and B2/3 than controls. In depressive patients, a significantly longer latency until the occurrence of substages A2, A3 and B2/3 was observed. No significant group differences in the percentage of B1 segments or the latency until occurrence of B1 were found. The results confirm the hypothesis that patients with depression show less (and later) declines into lower EEG vigilance stages under resting conditions than healthy controls, and support the vigilance theory of affective disorders linking a hyperstable vigilance regulation to depression.
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Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Psychometrics, Unemployment, Germany, and 22 moreHumans, Program Development, Major Depressive Disorder, Female, Male, Depressive Disorder, Social Psychiatry, Health Status, Clinical Sciences, Prevalence, Middle Aged, Major Depression, Gold Standard, International Classification of Diseases, Questionnaires, Age Factors, Reproducibility of Results, Occupational therapy services in mental health services, Indexation, Sensitivity and Specificity, Predictive value of tests, and Affective Disorder
Increased serotonergic activity is discussed as an important pathogenetic factor in schizophrenia. Further support for this hypothesis is difficult to obtain due to the lack of valid indicators of the... more
Increased serotonergic activity is discussed as an important pathogenetic factor in schizophrenia. Further support for this hypothesis is difficult to obtain due to the lack of valid indicators of the brain's serotonin system. A great deal of evidence discovered through human and animal studies suggests that a weak loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials (LDAEP) indicates high serotonergic activity and vice versa. The LDAEP is a measure of auditory cortex activity, reflecting increase or decrease of auditory evoked potential amplitudes with increasing tone loudness, which is probably modulated by the serotonergic innervation there. This is true only for the LDAEP of the primary auditory cortex, since this region is more highly innervated by serotonergic fibers than the secondary auditory cortex. The LDAEP (N1/P2 component) of 25 inpatients with schizophrenia free of medication and 25 healthy controls matched by age and gender, were recorded. Using dipole source analysis, the LDAEP of primary (tangential dipole) and this of secondary auditory cortex (radial dipole) was separately analyzed. Following a 4-week treatment with the 5-HT(2) antagonists clozapine or olanzapine, patients were once again studied. The LDAEP of the primary, but not of the secondary auditory cortex, was significantly weaker in the patients with schizophrenia than in healthy volunteers, indicating enhanced serotonergic neurotransmission. After treatment with the 5-HT(2) antagonists, the LDAEP (of the right hemisphere) tended to be increased, indicating normalization of serotonergic function in the patients with schizophrenia. These results suggest that the loudness dependence of primary auditory cortex evoked activity is well suitable to assess serotonergic dysfunction in schizophrenia.
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Research Interests: Schizophrenia, Laterality, Comparative Study, Movement disorders, Right Hemisphere Functions, and 13 moreHumans, Female, Male, Hemispheric Asymmetry, Middle Aged, Adult, Hand, Motor Performance, Neurodevelopmental Disorder Autism, Sensitivity and Specificity, Psychomotor Disorders, Right Handed, and Biomechanical Phenomena
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Research Interests: Psychopharmacology, Movement disorders, Handwriting, Humans, Behavior Therapy, and 15 moreFemale, Drug Resistance, Male, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Adult, SERTRALINE, Basal ganglia, Motor Performance, Kinematic Analysis, Treatment Response, Nervous System Diseases, Movement Disorder, Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors, Motor Skills, and Biomechanical Phenomena
... Verena Henkel 1 , Roland Mergl 1 , Michael Schütze 1 , Antje-Kathrin Allgaier 1 , Ralf Kohnen 1 , Ulrich Hegerl 1. ... ROC-Kurven und die Flächen unter den Kurven (AUC-Werte) wurden mit Hilfe der Statistiksoftware SPSS für Windows... more
... Verena Henkel 1 , Roland Mergl 1 , Michael Schütze 1 , Antje-Kathrin Allgaier 1 , Ralf Kohnen 1 , Ulrich Hegerl 1. ... ROC-Kurven und die Flächen unter den Kurven (AUC-Werte) wurden mit Hilfe der Statistiksoftware SPSS für Windows (Version 10.0) berechnet. ...
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Research Interests: Psychology, Community-Based Mental Health Services, Public Relations, Adolescent, Psychological Medicine, and 12 moreGermany, Humans, Major Depressive Disorder, Aged, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Adult, Public health systems and services research, Time Factors, Control Region, Suicide Attempt, and Neurosciences
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Research Interests: Cognitive Science, Psychiatry, Principal Component Analysis, Aging, Electroencephalography, and 17 moreAdolescent, Brain Mapping, Source Code Analysis, Fourier Analysis, Humans, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Male, Reaction Time, Clinical Sciences, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, Auditory evoked Potentials, Reference Values, Healthy Subjects, and Neurosciences
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Research Interests:
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The diagnosis of movement disorders and the distinction between their possible generation by drug-treatment or illness can be done more objectively by using digitized analyses of hand movements. The aim of this study was to define this... more
The diagnosis of movement disorders and the distinction between their possible generation by drug-treatment or illness can be done more objectively by using digitized analyses of hand movements. The aim of this study was to define this method, that is to identify its reliability and the influence of several covariables upon measurements, in healthy subjects. Simple writing and drawing tests were administered, using a digitizing tablet, transmitting signals to a computer for processing. The kinematic parameters identified in this way provided objective, reliable and valid measures for the dynamics and the degree of automation of hand movements. Analysis of the data showed that younger subjects write faster and with a higher degree of automation than older subjects. Other moderating variables, such as verbal intelligence and customary motor activity in everyday life (motoric practice) could be identified, whereas personality and gender were found to have little influence. There were n...