Effects of antidepressant treatment on sexual arousal in depressed women: a preliminary FMRI study.

OBJECTIVE: There was a recent study to explore the cerebral regions associated with sexual arousal in depressed women using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The purpose of this neuroimaging study was to investigate the effects of antidepressant treatment on sexual arousal in depressed women. METHODS: SEVEN DEPRESSED WOMEN WITH SEXUAL AROUSAL DYSFUNCTION (MEAN AGE: 41.7±13.8, mean scores of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17): 35.6±7.1 and 34.9±3.1, respectively) and nine healthy women (mean age: 40.3±11.6) underwent fMRI before and after antidepressant treatment. The fMRI paradigm contrasted a 1 minute rest period viewing non-erotic film with 4 minutes of sexual stimulation viewing an erotic video film. Data were analyzed by SPM 2. The relative number of pixels activated in each period was used as an index of activation. All depressed women were treated with mirtazapine (mean dosage: 37.5 mg/day) for 8 to 10 weeks. RESULTS: Levels of brain activity during sexual arousal in depressed women significantly increased with antidepressant treatment (p<0.05) in the regions of the hypothalamus (3.0% to 11.2%), septal area (8.6% to 27.8%) and parahippocampal gyrus (5.8% to 14.6%). Self-reported sexual arousal during visual sexual stimulation also significantly increased post-treatment, and severity of depressive symptoms improved, as measured by the BDI and HAMD-17 (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results show that sexual arousal dysfunction of depressed women may improve after treatment of depression, and that this improvement is associated with increased activation of the hypothalamus, septal area, and parahippocampal gyrus during sexual arousal.

Endoscopic vitrectomy improves outcomes of Seoul-type keratoprosthesis exchange in rabbit model.

PURPOSE: To investigate the efficacy of an endoscopic vitrectomy in Seoul-type keratoprosthesis (S-Kpro) exchange procedures. METHODS: Nine S-Kpro-implanted rabbit eyes were enrolled in the S-Kpro exchange. Six eyes underwent an antecedent vitrectomy by an endoscopic system and then the S-Kpro exchange (endoscopy group). In the other three eyes, previously placed S-Kpros were removed, and a conventional vitrectomy was performed using the Eckardt keratoprosthesis, followed by an implantation of new S-Kpros (Eckardt group). All eyes were evaluated with slit lamp biomicroscopy and ultrasonography weekly to evaluate the time up to the development of the total retinal detachment (RD). RESULTS: Vitreous traction membranes were found around the prolene haptics of the fixation sites in all the S-Kpro implanted rabbits; they were excised precisely through an endoscopic view in the endoscopy group. The mean survival time up to the RD development was 9.75 +/- 4.70 weeks in the endoscopy group. In contrast, total retinal detachment or dialysis over 180 degrees developed during surgery in all three eyes in the Eckardt group. CONCLUSIONS: Antecedent endoscopic vitrectomy was safe and effective for the S-Kpro exchange in a rabbit model by removing the vitreous traction near the haptics before the exchange procedures.

The analysis of predicted capsular bag diameter using modified model of capsule measuring ring in Asians.

BACKGROUND: This study measured the capsular bag diameter (CBD) of Asian eyes using a modified capsular measuring ring (CMR) after cataract surgery, and identified preoperative predictive factors for postoperative CBD and the change of capsular bag diameter after surgery. METHODS: This prospective study followed 25 eyes undergoing cataract surgery inserted with a CMR before intraocular lens (IOL) implantation at the Department of Ophthalmology, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University, Republic of Korea. Axial length (AL), anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens thickness, corneal power and corneal size were measured preoperatively. CBD was calculated using the CMR in a dilated state at postoperative 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, and 1 year. RESULTS: AL (R = 0.713) and ACD (R = 0.402) were found to positively correlate with CBD at postoperative 1 week. AL (P < 0.001) and ACD (P = 0.046) were found to be predictors of CBD. The mean CBD gradually decreased to 11.30 +/- 1.76 mm at 1 day, 10.86 +/- 1.06 mm at 1 week, 10.23 +/- 1.43 mm at 1 month, 9.88 +/- 1.31 mm at 2 months, and 9.85 +/- 1.43 mm at 1 year. CONCLUSION: CBD size could be determined using a CMR implanted during surgery. AL and ACD were predictors of postoperative CBD. Predicting CBD in this way may assist in selecting appropriately sized IOL, which will lead to improved visual quality after cataract surgery.

Assessment of cerebrocortical areas associated with sexual arousal in depressive women using functional MR imaging.

INTRODUCTION: Mental illness is closely related with sexual dysfunction. A number of investigators have reported that depressive women have difficulties in sexual arousal. AIM: The purpose of this study was to compare the cerebrocortical regions associated with sexual arousal between the healthy and depressive women using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based on the blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) technique. METHODS: Together with nine healthy women (mean age: 40.3), seven depressive women (mean age: 41.7 years, mean Beck Depression Inventory: 35.6, mean Hamilton Rating Scale Depression-17: 34.9) underwent fMRI examinations using a 1.5T MR scanner (Signa Horizon; GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI, USA). The fMRI data were obtained from seven oblique planes using gradient-echo EPI. Sexual stimulation paradigm began with a 1-minute rest and then 4-minute stimulation using an erotic video film. The brain activation maps and their resulting quantification were analyzed by the statistical parametric mapping (SPM99) program. The number of pixels activated by each task was used as brain activity, where the significance of the differences was evaluated by using independent t-test. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: We measured brain activation areas using BOLD-based fMRI with visual sexual stimulation in healthy volunteers and depressive patients. RESULTS: Healthy women were significantly (P < 0.05) activated in the regions of middle occipital gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, hypothalamus, septal area, anterior cingulate gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, thalamus, and amygdala by erotic visual stimulation. In comparison with the healthy women, the depressive women gave lower activity, especially in the brain regions of hypothalamus (55.5:3.0), septal area (49.6:8.6), anterior cingulate gyrus (23.5:11.0), and parahippocampal gyrus (18.2:5.8). CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study performed by fMRI gives valuable information on differentiation of the activated cerebral regions associated with visually evoked sexual arousal between healthy and depressive women. In addition, these findings might be useful to understand neural mechanisms for female sexual dysfunction in depressive women.

Functional MR imaging of psychogenic amnesia: a case report.

We present here a case in which functional MR imaging (fMRI) was done for a patient who developed retrograde psychogenic amnesia for a four year period of her life history after a severe stressful event. We performed the fMRI study for a face recognition task using stimulation with three kinds of face photographs: recognizable familiar faces, unrecognizable friends' faces due to the psychogenic amnesia, and unfamiliar control faces. Different activation patterns between the recognizable faces and unrecognizable faces were found in the limbic area, and especially in the amygdala and hippocampus.