The serotonin transporter (5-HTT) is the site of primary action for the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Previous Western reports have demonstrated that the l allele of the 5-HTT gene-linked polymorphic-region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphism is associated with better SSRI antidepressive effects than the s allele, however, another study of a Korean population has produced a contrasting finding. The present study tested the hypothesis that the 5-HTTLPR genetic polymorphism is associated with SSRI antidepressant response by evaluating total and cluster depressive symptoms for 121 Chinese patients diagnosed with major depression. Analysis of the results reveals that patients with the l/l genotype had a significantly better response to SSRI (fluoxetine) when compared with s allele carriers, as evaluated on the basis of total (P = 0.013), core (P = 0.011), and psychic-anxiety (P = 0.005) and somaticanxiety (P = 0.002) Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-score percentage change. Our findings confirm reports that the l allele is associated with better SSRI response.

AA is related to various psychiatric disorders. Onset age of AA is an important factor in the association with different comorbid psychiatric diseases. In addition to cosmetic impact, which may bring about anxiety or depression, stress neuroendocrine immunology may play an important role in the pathogenesis of both AA and psychiatric disorders.

Serotonin systems appear to play a key role in the pathogenesis of major depression and the therapeutic mechanisms of antidepressants. The firing rate of dorsal raphe serotonergic neurons is controlled by somatodendritic 5-hydroxytryptamine 1A (HTR1A) autoreceptors, and desensitization of these receptors is implicated in the antidepressant mechanism of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. We tested whether a functional polymorphism (C-1019G) in the promoter region of the HTR1A gene and serotonin-related genetic variants are related to fluoxetine antidepressant effect. We genotyped the HTR1A C-1019G polymorphism as well as polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (SERTPR), variable-number tandem-repeat polymorphisms in intron 2 (STin2) of the serotonin transporter gene, serotonin 2A receptor (T102C), tryptophan hydroxylase (A218C), and G-protein beta3 subunit (C825T) in 224 Chinese patients from southern Taiwan with major depression, who accepted 4-week fluoxetine treatment and therapeutic evaluation. Our results demonstrated that the HTR1A À1019C/C carriers (P ¼ 0.009) and SERTPR l/l carriers (Po0.001) showed a better response to fluoxetine, while other polymorphisms were not associated with fluoxetine therapeutic response. The major limitation of this study is the lack of a placebo control. Future prospective study with placebo control may help to predict and individualize antidepressant treatment.

Evidence suggests that glycogen synthase kinase-3b (GSK3B) activity is increased significantly in the brain of patients with major depressive disorders (MDD). Inhibition of GSK3B is thought to be a key feature in the therapeutic mechanism of antidepressants. To investigate whether common genetic variants in the GSK3B gene are associated with MDD and the therapeutic response to antidepressants, four polymorphisms (rs334558 (À50 T4C), rs13321783 (IVS7 þ 9227 A4G), rs2319398 (IVS7 þ 11660 G4T) and rs6808874 (IVS11 þ 4251 T4A)) of the GSK3B gene were genotyped in 230 Chinese MDD patients and 415 controls. Among the MDD patients, 168 accepted selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) (fluoxetine or citalopram) antidepressant treatment and therapeutic evaluation for 4 weeks and 117 for 8 weeks. Significant association with MDD was not shown in the alleles and genotypes of single loci or four-locus haplotypes. However, three of the four polymorphisms investigated were significantly associated with 4-week antidepressant therapeutic effect (P ¼ 0.002-0.011). Of the four-locus haplotype analysis, the GSK3B TAGT carriers showed a poorer response to antidepressants in 4-week (Po0.0001) and 8-week (P ¼ 0.015) evaluation compared with other haplotype groups and would quite likely be the nonremitter to 8-week antidepressant treatment (P ¼ 0.006). Our findings show, for the first time, that GSK3B genetic variants play a role in the SSRI antidepressant therapeutic response and support the hypothesis that drugs regulating GSK3B activity may represent a novel treatment strategy for MDD.

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conducted for various reasons, mostly time consuming and costly. This study aimed to shorten the fit testing procedures by improving the instrumental settings, sampling system design, and data analysis protocols. Methods Experiments of fit factor measurements were divided into two parts: constant flow and cyclic flow using a breathing simulator. To simulate leakage, capillaries (10 mm in length, diameter 1.0-1.5 mm) were used to insert on N95 and N100 filtering facepieces. The ratio of total to leak flow was considered the 'true fit factor, FFt'. Flow rates ranging from 5-50 L/min were employed to study the flow dependency. The measured fit factors were determined by concurrent particle concentration measured by a Portacount and a OPS 3330. The default 1.7 m sampling tube was used to connect filtering facepiece to the aerosol instruments. In addition, the effects of breathing pattern (tidal volume: 0.5-1 L, frequency: 5-20 times/min) and lung deposition (with/without HEPA filter behind the respirator) on in-mask particle concentration during fit testing were analysed, to explore the minimal sampling time that approximated the FFt. Results The particle measurement response times for Portacount and OPS were approximately 5 and 2 s, respectively. For P100 respirators, most measured fit factors were close to the FFt. Whereas, there was an underestimation while using N95 respirator due to filter penetration. Therefore, N95-companion was necessary while testing N95 respirator. For the cyclic flow tests, the fit factor was overestimated because the sampling tube was connected onto the facepiece where filtered air was partly sampled. The higher the breathing flow rate, the more the fit factor was overestimated. On the other hand, the measured fit factor would be close to the FFt when using the highest concentration during a breathing cycle (FFmin). In theory, it could be decided in only one breathing cycle. Conclusion With improved design in instrumental setting and operating procedures, a fit test for an individual exercise would take approximately only 12 s. Therefore, the whole fit testing process could be shortened from 7.5 to about 3 min. Introduction Motorcyclists could be exposed to high PM 2.5 up to 460 mg/m 3 . The aim of this work was to develop a full faced helmet (FFH) that provides clean air and cool temperature inside the helmet to reduce particulate exposure and increase comfort for motorcyclists. Methods A commercial FFH was modified to generate cool and clean air in a way similar to the powered-air-purified-respirator, commonly used in industrial settings. Three different clean air supply locations (A: upper rear of the head, B: zygomatic side, and C: lower chin) were applied to investigate the location effect. A small wind tunnel was used to simulate the turbulence that motorcyclists might encounter while riding on the road. The operating parameters included: the supply air flow rate to the helmet (Q s ), the velocity in the wind tunnel (U 0 ) and breathing flow rate which is a combination of tidal vol...