Elevated concentrations of CSF corticotropin-releasing factor-like immunoreactivity in depressed patients

The possibility that hypersecretion of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) contributes to the hyperactivity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis observed in patients with major depression was investigated by measuring the concentration of this peptide in cerebrospinal fluid of normal healthy volunteers and in drug-free patients with DSM-III diagnoses of major depression, schizophrenia, or dementia. When compared to the controls and the other diagnostic groups, the patients with major depression showed significantly increased cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of CRF-like immunoreactivity; in 11 of the 23 depressed patients this immunoreactivity was greater than the highest value in the normal controls. These findings are concordant with the hypothesis that CRF hypersecretion is, at least in part, responsible for the hyperactivity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis characteristic of major depression.     

Association of dhurrin levels and post-flowering non-senescence with resistance to stalk rot pathogens in Sorghum bicolor

European Journal of Plant Pathology - Aflatoxin contamination is common in several crops, including maize, in warm agricultural areas. For over 40 years, there have been many efforts to...