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The aim of this study was to evaluate which clinical variables might influence the antiobsessional response to proserotonergic drugs in a sample of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). One hundred fifty-nine patients with DSM-IV OCD underwent a 12-week standardized treatment with fluvoxamine, clomipramine, citalopram, or paroxetine. According to treatment response, defined as a reduction of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale total score >35%, patients were divided into two groups. Ninety patients (56.6%) responded to treatment and 69 (43.4%) did not. Responders had a significantly higher frequency of positive family history for OCD (FH-OCD) in their first-degree relatives, whereas nonresponders had an earlier onset and a higher frequency of "poor insight" subtype and somatic obsessions. The predictive value of all these variables was tested by a stepwise logistic regression analysis that confirmed poor insight and FH-OCD to be the best predictors of poor and good drug treatment response, respectively. These preliminary findings need additional investigations toward a better definition of the genetic and biological heterogeneity of patients with OCD, and they underlie the importance of collecting the insight score and family history for psychiatric disorders in the pretreatment assessment.

Tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) are key components of the tumor macroenvironment. Cancer‐ and host cell‐derived signals generally drive the functions of TAMs towards an M2‐like polarized, tumor‐propelling mode; however, when appropriately re‐educated. TAMs also have the potential to elicit tumor destructive reactions. Here, we discuss recent advances regarding the immunobiology of TAMs and highlight open questions including the mechanisms of their accumulation (recruitment versus proliferation), their diversity and how to best therapeutically target these cells.

SUMMARY Hypoxia is a universal driver of aggressive tumor behavior, but the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood. Using a phosphoproteomics screen, we now show that active Akt accumulates in the mitochondria during hypoxia and phosphorylates pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1) on Thr346 to inactivate the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. In turn, this pathway switches tumor metabolism towards glycolysis, antagonizes apoptosis and autophagy, dampens oxidative stress, and maintains tumor cell proliferation in the face of severe hypoxia. Mitochondrial Akt-PDK1 signaling correlates with unfavorable prognostic markers and shorter survival in glioma patients and may provide an “actionable” therapeutic target in cancer.

The potential superior benefits of adaptive deep brain stimulation (aDBS) approaches compared to classical, constantparameters\ud DBS were already proven by scientific evidence from different research groups. aDBS provides better symptoms control in Parkinson’s disease patients by adapting the stimulation parameters to the patient’s clinical state estimated through the analysis of subthalamic neuronal oscillations (ie,\ud local field potentials) in the beta band (13-30 Hz)

Low-frequency rTMS of the left OFC produced significant but time-limited improvement in OCD patients compared to sham treatment.

Through electrodes implanted for deep brain stimulation in three patients (5 sides) with Parkinson's disease, we recorded the electrical activity from the human basal ganglia before, during and after voluntary contralateral finger movements, before and after L-DOPA. We analysed the movement-related spectral changes in the electroencephalographic signal from the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and from the internal globus pallidus (GPi). Before, during and after voluntary movements, signals arising from the human basal ganglia contained two main frequencies: a high beta (around 26 Hz), and a low beta (around 18 Hz). The high beta (around 26 Hz) power decreased in the STN and GPi, whereas the low beta (around 18 Hz) power decrease was consistently found only in the GPi. Both frequencies changed their power with a specific temporal modulation related to the different movement phases. L-DOPA specifically and selectively influenced the spectral power changes in these two signal bands.

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