Web-Based Psychotherapy and Exercise Interventions for Depressive and Anxiety Disorders

The last decade has seen a renewed recognition of the interconnection of the mental and physical well-being of people living with anxiety and depression disorders. Research has assessed the impact of exercise and psychological interventions as monotherapy and complementary treatments to usual care and found considerable benefits to reduce psychiatric symptoms and improve better quality of life. There is growing interest in online interventions, and online counseling can be an alternative to traditional face-to-face therapies. Questions remain on the effectiveness and best practices to deliver such interventions. The authors identify and summarize research evaluating online psychotherapy and exercise interventions in individuals with anxiety and depression disorders. They address web-based psychotherapy interventions and web-based exercise interventions for anxiety and depression disorders, followed by combined web-based intervention with psychotherapy and exercise, and discuss strategies to improve adherence to treatments.

Tandem Mass Spectrometry (MS/MS) in the Preclinical Pharmacokinetic Study of a Highly Prescribed SNRI Drug for Depression and Its Application to Oral Extended Release Solid Dosage Formulations in Rabbits

Preclinical pharmacokinetic (pK) studies in animal models during the formulation development phase give preliminary evidence and near clear picture of the pK behavior of drug and/or its dosage forms prior to clinical studies on humans and help in tailoring of the dosage form according to the expected and requisite clinical behavior. The present work reports first of its kind preclinical pK study on oral extended release (ER) solid dosage formulations of venlafaxine (VEN) in New Zealand White rabbits. The VEN is a highly prescribed and one of the safest and most effective therapeutic agents used in the treatment different types of depression disorders worldwide. The LC-MS/MS bioanalytical method developed for this purpose demonstrated enough reliability in simultaneously quantitating VEN and its equipotent metabolite O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODV) in rabbit plasma. The method described uses solid phase extraction for sample preparation followed by an ultra-fast LC-MS/MS analysis. The chromatographic separation was achieved isocratically with a predominantly polar mobile phase by employing RPLC. The triple quadrupole LC/MS/MS system operated in MRM mode used an ESI probe as an ion source in positive polarity. The validation results are within the permissible limits of US FDA recommendations and acceptance criteria for bioanalytical method validation.

Neutral and negative mood induction in executive tasks of working memory

The mood induction paradigm has been an important tool for investigating the effects of negative emotional states on working memory (WM) executive functions. Though some evidence showed that negative mood has a differential effect on verbal and visuospatial WM, other findings did not report a similar effect. To explore this issue, we examined the negative mood’s impact on verbal and visuospatial WM executive tasks based on grammatical reasoning and visuospatial rotation. Participants with no anxiety or depression disorders performed the tasks before and after negative (n = 14) or neutral (n = 13) mood induction. Participants’ mood at the beginning and the end of the session was assessed by the Present Mood States List (LEAP) and word valence rating. The analyses showed changes in the emotional state of the negative group (ps < .03) but not of the neutral group (ps > .83) in the LEAP instrument. No significant differences between groups were observed in the WM tasks (ps > .33). Performance in the visuospatial WM task improved after mood induction for both groups (p < .05), possibly due to a practice effect. In sum, our findings challenge the view that negative mood modulates WM executive functions; thus, they were discussed considering the similarities and differences between studies that found negative mood effects on WM and those that did not find. Different WM tasks tap distinct processes and components, which may underlie behavioral effects of negative mood on WM tasks.

Proteomic Insights Into Susceptibility and Resistance to Chronic-Stress-Induced Depression or Anxiety in the Rat Striatum

Chronic stress is a key factor for the onset of anxiety and depression disorders. However, the stress-induced common and unique molecular basis of the two psychiatric disorders is not fully known and still needs to be explored. Previously, we employed a chronic mild stress (CMS) procedure to induce a rat model including depression-susceptible (Dep-Sus), anxiety-susceptible (Anx-Sus), and insusceptible (Insus) cohorts. In this work, we continuously analyze the striatal proteomes of the three stressed cohorts by the use of comparative proteomics and bioinformatics approaches. Through isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based analysis, 386 abnormally expressed proteins in total were identified. These deregulated proteins are involved in various biological functions and significant pathways that are potentially connected with resistance and susceptibility to CMS-caused anxious- or depressive-like behaviors and, hence, could act as suggestive protein targets. A further parallel reaction monitoring-based independent investigation shows that alterations in Pak5, Dgkg, Scn4b, Rb1cc1, and Acin1; Ggps1, Fntb, Nudt19, Ufd1, and Ndufab1; and Dnajb12, Hbb2, Ap2s1, Ip6k1, and Stk4 were specifically connected with Dep-Sus, Anx-Sus, or Insus groups, respectively, potentially indicating that identical CMS treatment results in the different changes in the striatal protein regulations. Overall, our current proteomics study of the striatum provides an important molecular foundation and comprehensive insights into common and specific deregulations correlated with pathophysiological mechanisms that underlie resistance and susceptibility to chronic stress–induced anxiety or depression.

Anxiety and depression symptoms after COVID-19 infection: results from the COVID Symptom Study app

BackgroundMental health issues have been reported after SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, comparison to prevalence in uninfected individuals and contribution from common risk factors (eg, obesity and comorbidities) have not been examined. We identified how COVID-19 relates to mental health in the large community-based COVID Symptom Study.MethodsWe assessed anxiety and depression symptoms using two validated questionnaires in 413148 individuals between February and April 2021; 26998 had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. We adjusted for physical and mental prepandemic comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), age and sex.FindingsOverall, 26.4% of participants met screening criteria for general anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression were slightly more prevalent in previously SARS-CoV-2-positive (30.4%) vs SARS-CoV-2-negative (26.1%) individuals. This association was small compared with the effect of an unhealthy BMI and the presence of other comorbidities, and not evident in younger participants (≤40 years). Findings were robust to multiple sensitivity analyses. Association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and anxiety and depression was stronger in individuals with recent (<30 days) versus more distant (>120 days) infection, suggesting a short-term effect.InterpretationA small association was identified between SARS-CoV-2 infection and anxiety and depression symptoms. The proportion meeting criteria for self-reported anxiety and depression disorders is only slightly higher than prepandemic.