The Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and Clinical Global Impression scale (CGI) were completed

at baseline, after each month of treatment and after the first week of run-out phase. Additional assessment tools comprised sleep diaries, the Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire (LSEQ) and actigraphic recordings.

Results: Subjective sleep time increased by 61.5 +/- 72.3 min in the group with low BDI and 60.0 +/- 59.4 min in the group with increased BDI at the end of the treatment phase. The significant improvements were also observed in the AIS, CGI, LSEQ and SDS. During the run-out phase the improvement was sustained in patients with PF-04929113 in vitro low BDI, while AIS scores, sleep latency and total sleep time deteriorated in patients with increased BDI.

Conclusions: Patients with subthreshold GSK3326595 cell line depression, even if the depressive symptoms do not fulfill the time criteria for depressive episode, show marked worsening of insomnia after discontinuation of sleep promoting medication. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”
“New treatments for adults with acute lymphoblastic T-cell leukemia (T-ALL) are urgently

needed, as the current rate of overall remission in these patients is only about 40 percent. We recently showed the potential therapeutic benefit of the pegylated-human-arginase I (peg-Arg I) in T-ALL However, the mechanisms by which peg-Arg I induces an anti-T-ALL effect remained unknown. Our results show the induction of T-ALL cell apoptosis by peg-Arg I, which associated with a global arrest in protein synthesis and with the phosphorylation of the eukaryotic-translation-initiation factor 2 alpha (eIF2 alpha). Inhibition of eIF2 alpha phosphorylation in T-ALL cells prevented the apoptosis induced by peg-Arg I, whereas the expression of a phosphominnetic SDHB eIF2 alpha

form increased the sensibility of T-ALL cells to peg-Arg I. Phosphorylation of eIF2 alpha by peg-Arg I was mediated through kinases PERK and GCN2 and down-regulation of phosphatase GADD34. GCN2 and decreased GADD34 promoted T-ALL cell apoptosis after treatment with peg-Arg I, whereas PERK had an unexpected anti-apoptotic role. Additional results showed that phospho-eIF2 alpha signaling further increased the anti-leukemic effects induced by peg-Arg I in T-ALL-bearing mice. These results suggest the central role of phospho-eIF2 alpha in the anti-T-ALL effects induced by peg-Arg I and support its study as a therapeutic target. Leukemia (2013) 27, 569-577; doi:10.1038/leu.2012.247″
“Background: Cross-sectional studies have associated poor insight in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with increased OCD symptom severity, earlier age of onset, comorbid depression, and treatment response. The goal of this current study was to examine the relationship between dimensions of OCD symptomatology and insight in a large clinical cohort of Brazilian patients with OCD.