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Objective The present study assessed the prevalence of depressive disorders and associated factors in a sample of elderly persons in the south of Santa Catarina. Methods A cross-sectional study based on population data was performed, evaluating 1021 elderly individuals aged between 60 and 79 years. Home interviews were carried out using the Portuguese version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), in order to collect demographic data, information on hypertension and reports of acute myocardial infarction. The disorders studied were current depressive episode, dysthymia and a comorbidity of a depressive episode and dysthymia, representing double depression. The comparison of mean age and prevalence was made with the t-test and other associations were analyzed using the Chi-squared test. Results The prevalence of depression was 26.2%, while 5.5% of the sample suffered from dysthymia and 2.7% experienced double depression. Risk factors for depression were: nine or more years of schooling [PR = 1.44 (1.17 to 1.77); p

Recent studies show that activation of the mTOR signaling pathway is required for the rapid antide- pressant actions of glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists. A relationship be- tween mTOR kinase and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathway, also known as the unfolded protein response (UPR) has been shown. We evaluate the effects of ketamine administration on the mTOR signaling pathway and proteins of UPR in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus, amygdala and nucleus accumbens, after the inhibiton of mTOR signaling in the PFC. Male adult Wistar rats received pharmacological mTOR inhibitor, rapamycin (0.2 nmol), or vehicle into the PFC and then a single dose of ketamine (15 mg/kg, i.p.). The immunocontent of mTOR, eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1), eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF2K) homologous protein (CHOP), PKR-like ER kinase (PERK) and inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) e alpha were determined in the brain. The mTOR levels were reduced in the rapamycin group treated with saline and ketamine in the PFC; p4EBP1 levels were reduced in the rapamycin group treated with ketamine in the PFC and nucleus accumbens; the levels of peEF2K were increased in the PFC in the vehicle group treated with ketamine and reduced in the rapamycin group treated with ketamine. The PERK and IRE1-alpha levels were decreased in the PFC in the rapamycin group treated with ketamine. Our results suggest that mTOR signaling inhibition by rapamycin could be involved, at least in part, with the mechanism of action of ketamine; and the ke- tamine antidepressant on ER stress pathway could be also mediated by mTOR signaling pathway in certain brain structures.

Objective: To assess the presence of anxiety disorders and quality of life in patients with insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes. Methods: Case-control study of 996 patients with type 2 diabetes and 2,145 individuals without diabetes. The sole inclusion criterion for the case group was insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes. We compared the case and control groups for sociodemographic variables, laboratory and clinical data, and presence of anxiety disorders. Quality of life was evaluated using the WHOQOL-BREF instrument, and the prevalence of anxiety disorder was evaluated by the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Results: Patients with diabetes had a higher prevalence of generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The presence of these disorders in combination with type 2 diabetes was associated with worse quality of life in the physical, social, psychological, and environmental domains. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the importance of diagnosing and treating anxiety disorders in patients with diabetes, so as to prevent more serious complications associated with these comorbidities.