ABSTRACT
Objective To assess the effectiveness of repeated trans-cranial magnetic stimulation ( rTMS) in relieving post-stroke depression ( PSD). Methods PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane library, Web of Science, CNKI, WANFANG, and VIP were searched for reports of randomized, controlled trials of rTMS treatment of PSD published before June 2015. Crude standardized mean differences ( SMDs) and odds ratios with 95% confidence in-tervals ( CIs) were calculated for depression intensity and effectiveness rate after treatment using random or fixed effects models. Results Twenty-four studies involving 856 rTMS-treated patients and 802 control patients were in-cluded in the meta-analysis. The results showed that compared with the control group, PSD patients showed significant reductions in depression after rTMS treatment ( SMD=-1.36;95% CI-1.6 to-1.12;P≤0.05) . The total effective-ness rate in the treated group was 85% with a reduction in NIHSS score ( SMD=-0.82;95% CI-1.2 to-0.44;P≤0.05) . Subgroup analysis showed that neither the frequency of rTMS stimulation, the site stimulated, nor time after stroke had a significant influence on the effectiveness of rTMS. Additionally, a few studies reported adverse reactions after rTMS. Conclusion rTMS appears to be a safe and effective therapy for PSD. Further well-controlled trials may elucidate the mechanism underlying the placebo effects of the sham rTMS observed among PSD patients.
ABSTRACT
Objective To study the differences in retinoic acid receptor γ(RARγ) mRNA expression levels in blood leukocytes between antipsychotic-free and antipsychotic-naive schizophrenic patients and healthy control,especially in different genders. Methods Forty-three acute schizophrenic patients who were antipsychotic-naive or antipsychotic-free for at least three months (male = 34, female = 9) and 39 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects (male =25 ,female = 14) were included for blood leukocytes expression of RAR γ mRNA ,using real-time PCR technique. Results Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z analysis showed a significant increase of RARγ mRNA (P =0.041) level in blood leukocytes of pooled schizophrenic patients(0. 027 ± 0. 003) than in the healthy subjects (0. 020 ± 0.002). The elevation was mainly found in the female patients (0. 030 ± 0.003). Within-sex analysis showed that the female schizophrenic patients showed a trend increase (P = 0. 166) of RAR γmRNA expression compared with the male patients (0. 026 ± 0. 001) and exhibited greater RARγ mRNA expression (P = 0. 014)when compared with the female healthy subjects(0. 018 ±0.004). Conclusions The present findings showed an abnormal expression of leukocyte RARγ mRNA level in antipsychotic-free and antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia especially in the female patients. Blood RARγ markers could add to the diagnosis and individualized pharmacotherapy of schizophrenic patients ,especially the female patients.