Objective: The aim of the current study is to determine whether serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and interleukin-2 (IL-2) can be biological indicators for the diagnosis of schizophrenia in patients with depressive symptoms.Method: Forty-seven patients (11 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, 16 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and comorbid depression and 20 patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder) and 20 healthy subjects were enrolled. The Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale, the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were used for assessment. The serum BDNF and IL-2 levels of all the subjects were studied.Results: Decreased levels of serum BDNF and increased levels of serum IL-2 were found in the patients diagnosed with either schizophrenia, schizophrenia with depression, or major depressive disorder (p= 0.049,p= 0.010;p= 0.001 andp= 0.044;p= 0.027,p= 0.003; respectively) compared with control group. There were no significant differences between the patient groups in their serum BDNF and IL-2 levels.Conclusions: The present study suggests that neurotrophic factors and immune system changes are involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia with or without depressive symptomatology. However, the data do not clarify whether depressive symptoms in schizophrenia occur as a dimension of schizophrenia or as symptoms of major depression that is comorbid with schizophrenia.

This study aims to investigate if there is a differential outcome of serotonergic and noradrenergic antidepressant treatment and if menopausal status has an impact on antidepressant response in depressed women. Data of the 111 depressed women who were included and completed the previous four open-label studies where patients were evaluated six times during a 10-week period, were pooled in the current study. Each of the reboxetine, sertraline and venlafaxine groups consisted of 37 depressed women. Patients were also divided into two subgroups of age, determining the 44 years as the cut-off point representing the menopausal status. No significant difference was observed in the percent change of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 (HDRS) and remission rates among treatment groups. Percent changes in Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness scale (CGI-S) and response rates were in favour of venlafaxine group at week 10. Individual HDRS items 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 demonstrated significant improvement in the sertraline group, whereas HDRS item 7 demonstrated significant improvement in the venlafaxine group. An early reduction in anxiety subscale was observed in the venlafaxine group. Menopausal status had no impact on the outcome measures. These results suggest that noradrenergic and serotonergic activity do not differ from each other in treating depressed women. However, serotonergic activity appears to be more prominent in some particular symptoms such as feelings of guilt, suicidal ideation and sleep. Also, menopause does not appear to affect antidepressants' benefit in depressed women.

Objective: This study investigates differences in personality characteristics, including perfectionism, ruminative thinking style, and self-compassion, between individuals who have undergone rhinoplasty and a control group without any history of cosmetic surgery. Methods: The study included 33 adult patients who underwent rhinoplasty between 2021 and 2023 at Bursa Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine Hospital and 33 adult patients who visited our centre for other complaints as a control group. The rhinoplasty group consisted of primary surgical patients with functional and cosmetic concerns, excluding those who sought revision surgery or had only functional problems. The control group consisted of individuals with no prior cosmetic surgery history and no expectations of aesthetic interventions. Psychiatric analysis was performed using Frost multidimensional perfectionism scale, ruminative thinking style questionnaire, and self-compassion scale. Results: This research revealed that individuals who had rhinoplasty scored higher in perfectionism 109.3 (±23.3) and ruminative thinking 87.9 (±22) compared to those who did not undergo surgery 94.15 (±22.2) and 77.7 (±23), respectively. Additionally, the rhinoplasty group had lower self-compassion scores, 80.4 (±17.3), than the control group, 86.1 (±11.2). Statistically significant differences were observed in perfectionism between the groups (p = 0.009). In rhinoplasty patients, a notably positive correlation was found between perfectionism and ruminative thinking scores (r = 0.482; p = 0.005), while a moderately significant negative correlation was observed between self-compassion and ruminative thinking scores (r = − 0.465; p = 0.006). Conclusion: Individuals who undergo rhinoplasty generally show increased levels of perfectionism and are more prone to ruminative thinking. They also demonstrate reduced self-compassion compared to non-surgical control groups. Cosmetic surgeons should be aware of these psychological trends and consider using appropriate scales during pre-surgery consultations and follow-up visits. Adopting this informed approach can improve the surgeon–patient relationship and help overcome communication challenges. Level of Evidence III: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.