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Postpartum depression (PPD) is a common complication following delivery, though evidence-based treatment options are limited. This study explores the feasibility and efficacy of outpatient PPD treatment with transdermal estradiol (TE). In a pilot, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, women with PPD were randomized to receive transdermal 17β-estradiol (100 mcg/day) or placebo patch. Over 6 weeks, women completed weekly ratings on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D). Primary outcome measures were treatment response (> 50% decrease from baseline BDI) and remission (BDI < 10) at 6 weeks, and secondary outcome measures included severity on all scales at weeks 3 and 6. Of 12 recruited women, 6 received TE and 6 received placebo. By week 6, 5 women receiving TE responded to treatment and 4 showed symptom remission, compared to 2 responders and 1 remitter in the placebo group. This difference was not significant (p = 0.24). In a mixed-model of BDI ratings, TE was associated with a 9.2 point decrease at 3 weeks (95%CI − 19.5 to + 1.0, p = 0.074) and a 10.5 point decrease at 6 weeks (95%CI − 21.0–0.0, p = 0.049) compared to placebo, though these differences did not survive multiple comparisons correction. Analogous effects were found for HAM-D but not EPDS scores. Interestingly, no significant difference in plasma estradiol levels existed between groups. We were unable to demonstrate a significant therapeutic benefit of TE compared with placebo in PPD. Although limited by under-recruitment and loss to follow-up, our results suggest TE is a feasible option for outpatient PPD management, with preliminary evidence (based on secondary outcomes) for efficacy. Therapeutic effects may be seen as early as 3 weeks and may not directly depend on peripheral measures of estradiol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Peritoneal free fluid can indicate an underlying disease process; however detection of minimal peritoneal free fluid in healthy children is not uncommon.Objective: To assess the significance of incidental peritoneal free fluid within healthy children by MRI and its relation to physiological changes during puberty.Materials and Methods: This prospective study was performed on 32 healthy volunteers (20 boys) between the ages of 8 years and 13 years, with consecutive follow-ups every 8-10 months for an average of 3 years. Body mass index (BMI) z-score, pubertal status, C-reactive protein and sex hormone concentrations were assessed prior to MRI studies. We reviewed a total of 120 pelvic MRI studies (61 boys) and measured the quantity of peritoneal free fluid. For statistical analysis we used linear mixed-model accounting for within-patient correlations.Results: The mean ± standard deviation volume of peritoneal free fluid was 4.7±5.7 mL in girls and 1.9±3.1 mL in boys, with a maximum volume of 25 mL and 17 mL, respectively. The prevalence of peritoneal free fluid was significantly higher in girls (91%) compared to boys (67%; P=0.0035). In 15% of the girls and 3% of the boys the fluid was greater than 10 mL. The mean volume of peritoneal free fluid in the fourth stage of puberty was higher and significantly different from the mean volume in the first stage of puberty (P=0.01).Conclusion: Among healthy pubescent children, the prevalence of peritoneal free fluid is significantly higher in girls. The volume of peritoneal free fluid can reach volumes greater than 10 mL during normal puberty, especially in the fourth stage, and can be assumed normal in the absence of active disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors discuss role of inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the lighting industry. Topics discusses include impacts of supposed advancements of light emitting diodes in the lighting industry, inferences of a report of the U.S. Department of Energy regarding energy consumption in lighting sector, discovery of LEDs by Henry Round and Oleg Vladimirovich Losev, blue light from LEDs by using compound such as gallium nitride and discovery of external quantum efficiency (EQE) in blue LEDs.

To facilitate the next generation of high-power white-light-emitting diodes (white LEDs), the discovery of more efficient red-emitting phosphor materials is essential. In this regard, the hardly explored compound class of nitridoaluminates affords a new material with superior luminescence properties. Doped with Eu2+, Sr[LiAl3N4] emerged as a new high-performance narrow-band red-emitting phosphor material, which can efficiently be excited by GaN-based blue LEDs. Owing to the highly efficient red emission at λmax ~ 650 nm with a full-width at half-maximum of ~1,180 cm−1 (~50 nm) that shows only very low thermal quenching (>95% relative to the quantum efficiency at 200 °C), a prototype phosphor-converted LED (pc-LED), employing Sr[LiAl3N4]:Eu2+ as the red-emitting component, already shows an increase of 14% in luminous efficacy compared with a commercially available high colour rendering index (CRI) LED, together with an excellent colour rendition (Ra8 = 91, R9 = 57). Therefore, we predict great potential for industrial applications in high-power white pc-LEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 28–29 September 2004, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) convened scientists for a workshop on the aging female brain focused on translating into clinical practice discoveries concerning estrogens and progestogens. Workshop objectives were to examine effects of estrogen and progestogen on brain and cognitive function in relation to aging, to examine consistencies and apparent discrepancies between Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study findings and other research on cognitive function, to determine whether additional hormone interventions could be developed in this area, and to offer advice on design of clinical trials for other interventions that might ameliorate cognitive aging. Following the workshop, participants joined by other interested scientists organized into regional work groups to continue the dialogue begun in Bethesda and to propose recommendations for NIA. The resulting recommendations, referred to as the “Frontiers Proposal for Estrogen and Cognitive Aging”, acknowledge the persistence of critical gaps in our understanding of how decline in ovarian steroid secretion during reproductive aging and use of ovarian steroid hormone therapy affect normal brain function and risk for late-life neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. There is a pressing need for preclinical, human, and integrated studies on the relationship between the menopausal transition and midlife exposures to estrogens, progestogens and related compounds, and risks for age-associated cognitive disorders. Research is also needed on better predictors of adverse cognitive outcomes, valid biomarkers for risks associated with hormone therapy use, enhanced tools for monitoring brain function and disease progression, and novel forms of therapy for improving long-term cognitive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies fail to find uniform effects of age-related or induced hypogonadism on human sexual function. We examined the effects of induced hypogonadism on sexual function in healthy men and women and attempted to identify predictors of the sexual response to induced hypogonadism or hormone addback. The study design used was a double-blind, controlled, crossover (self-as-own control). The study setting was an ambulatory care clinic in a research hospital, and the participants were 20 men (average±SD age=28.5±6.2 years) and 20 women (average±SD age=33.5±8.7 years), all healthy and with no history of psychiatric illness. A multidimensional scale assessing several domains of sexual function was the main outcome measure. Participants of the study received depot leuprolide acetate (Lupron) every 4 weeks for 3 months (men) or 5 months (women). After the first month of Lupron alone, men received (in addition to Lupron) testosterone enanthate (200 mg intramuscularly) or placebo every 2 weeks for 1 month each. Women received Lupron alone for 2 months, and then, in addition to Lupron, they received estradiol and progesterone for 5 weeks each. The results of the study: in women, hypogonadism resulted in a significant decrease in global measures of sexual functioning, principally reflecting a significant decrease in the reported quality of orgasm. In men, hypogonadism resulted in significant reductions in all measured domains of sexual function. Testosterone restored sexual functioning scores in men to those seen at baseline, whereas neither estradiol nor progesterone significantly improved the reduced sexual functioning associated with hypogonadism in women. Induced hypogonadism decreased sexual function in a similar number of men and women. No predictors of response were identified except for levels of sexual function at baseline. In conclusion, our data do not support a simple deficiency model for the role of gonadal steroids in human sexual function; moreover, while variable, the role of testosterone in sexual function in men is more apparent than that of estradiol or progesterone in women.Neuropsychopharmacology (2009) 34, 565–576; doi:10.1038/npp.2008.24; published online 19 March 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite observations of age-dependent sexual dimorphisms in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis activity, the role of androgens in the regulation of HPA axis activity in men has not been examined. We assessed this role by performing CRH stimulation tests in 10 men (ages 18–45 years) during gonadal suppression with leuprolide acetate and during testosterone addition to leuprolide. CRH-stimulated cortisol levels as well as peak cortisol and greatest cortisol excursion were significantly lower (p<0.05, 0.005, and 0.01, respectively) during testosterone replacement compared with the induced hypogonadal condition (leuprolide plus placebo); cortisol area under the curve was lower at a trend level (p<0.1). Paradoxically, CRH-stimulated corticotropin (ACTH) was increased significantly during testosterone replacement (p<0.05). The cortisol : ACTH ratio, a measure of adrenal sensitivity, was lower during testosterone replacement (p<0.1). A mixed effects regression model showed that testosterone but not estradiol or CBG significantly contributed to the variance of cortisol. These data demonstrate that testosterone regulates CRH-stimulated HPA axis activity in men, with the divergent effects on ACTH and cortisol suggesting a peripheral (adrenal) locus for the suppressive effects on cortisol. Our results further demonstrate that the enhanced stimulated HPA axis activity previously described in young men compared with young women cannot be ascribed to an activational upregulation of the axis by testosterone.Neuropsychopharmacology (2005) 30, 1906–1912. doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1300742; published online 20 April 2005 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary We compared the number and quality of life events reported by depressed perimenopausal women and a non-depressed comparison group. Additionally, we examined the effects of the presence of hot flushes on life event reports. All women were 44–55 years old, had irregular menses and elevated plasma gonadotropin levels. The Psychiatric Epidemiology Research Interview recorded both the frequency of occurrence and the desirability of life events experienced by the women during the six months prior to the interview. Depressed perimenopausal women (n=50) reported significantly more undesirable events [Student’s t-test (unpaired) with Bonferroni correction, t[sub 98]=3.9, p=0.001] but not more exit events (e.g., divorce, last child leaving home or death in family) (t[sub 98]=0.9, p=NS) compared to the non-depressed women (n=50). There were no effects of hot flushes on these diagnostic differences. The “empty nest” syndrome does not appear to be relevant in the development of perimenopausal depression. Nevertheless, independent of the presence of hot flushes, perimenopausal depressed women are more likely to report both negative life events and diminished self esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the effects of gender and gonadal steroids on serotonergic activity in humans are few in number and often contradictory. We examined the neuroendocrine and core temperature response to a serotonergic stimulus, m-chlorophenylpiperazine (m-CPP) (0.08 mg/kg body weight, IV), in asymptomatic female and male volunteers during induced hypogonadism (leuprolide acetate) and hormone replacement (estradiol (E2) or progesterone (P4) in women; testosterone (T) in men).Compared with the hypogonadal state, basal prolactin (PRL) secretion was significantly higher during both P4 and E2 replacement (p < .05) in women and during T replacement in men (p < .05). m-CPP stimulated PRL secretion was significantly greater only during P4 (p < .05) but not E2 (women) or T (men) replacement, compared with hypogonadism. Basal but not stimulated plasma growth hormone (GH) levels were significantly higher during P4 in women and T in men (p < .05), and no significant differences in basal or m-CPP stimulated plasma levels of ACTH or cortisol were observed. Finally, basal core temperatures were significantly higher during P4 replacement compared with either E2 replacement or the hypogonadal condition (p < .01) in women, with no differences observed in men. Comparisons of measures by gender (and matched for baseline plasma T levels) revealed that during the hypogonadal state m-CPP–stimulated GH secretion was significantly greater (p < .01) and m-CPP–stimulated ACTH (p < .05) and cortisol (p < .01) significantly less in women compared with men.Although our data are limited to those components of the central serotonergic system influenced by m-CPP administration, our findings suggest the following: the regulatory effects of gonadal steroids on serotonergic function are modest in humans during leuprolide-induced hypogonadism; menstrual cycle phase effects of serotonergic agents on PRL secretion may reflect both the effects of P4 and E2; the effects of P4 in humans may occur without E2 priming of the progesterone receptor; and gender differences in GH secretion occur independent of the presence of gonadal steroids. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]