Search

AbstractBackground:Depression can occur in patients with or without trait anxiety. Although it is assumed that assessment of defenses can be useful in planning biological treatment, no studies have confirmed this hypothesis. In this study we focus on the relation between trait anxiety and defensive functioning, and on the combined influence of these personality characteristics on response to antidepressants among inpatients with a major depressive episode. Methods:Major depressive episode was diagnosed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) and the severity of the depression was measured with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). The level of trait anxiety was assessed using a questionnaire with 34 questions pertaining to trait anxiety. The Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ 88) was used to assess defensive functioning followed by a weighted overall defensive functioning score (ODF). Partial correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Results:The final sample included 85 patients. A significant negative effect of trait anxiety by ODF (p: 0.000) was found on the outcome score, i.e. the combination of a high score on trait anxiety and a low score on the ODF resulted in a significantly higher final score on the HAM-D. Conclusions:The most important finding in this study is that the combination of a high level of trait anxiety and immature defensive functioning evidently had a negative effect on antidepressant treatment outcome.Copyright © 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an immune‐mediated disease that particularly affects the kidneys, causing lupus nephritis. In experimental mouse models, lupus nephritis can be mimicked by inducing a chimeric state through the injection of parental T cells in offspring. In humans, pregnancy‐induced chimerism may play a role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases such as SLE, but it is likely that only certain chimeric cells have pathogenic potential. In this study, we investigated whether the distribution of chimeric cells is different in the kidneys of women with SLE from that in normal kidneys, and we examined the phenotype of chimeric cells in women with SLE.The presence of chimeric cells was investigated by in situ hybridization targeting the Y chromosome in 57 renal biopsy samples from 49 women with lupus nephritis. Fifty‐one kidney autopsy specimens without histomorphologic lesions served as controls. Double‐staining for the Y chromosome in combination with CD3 and CD34 markers was performed in 5 kidney specimens with lupus nephritis to identify the phenotype of the chimeric cells.Y chromosome–positive cells were found in 27 of 49 patients with lupus nephritis and in 13 of 51 normal controls (P < 0.01). Both CD3+ and CD34+ chimeric cells were identified in lupus nephritis kidney specimens.Chimeric cells are present significantly more often in kidneys with lupus nephritis than in normal kidneys, and some of these chimeric cells are T cells. This finding is interesting in light of experimental models demonstrating that lupus nephritis is initiated by chimeric T cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]