OBJECTIVE: Ghrelin and leptin, appetite-regulating hormones, play a role in mood regulation. Current data about the relation between leptin/ghrelin and depression are still controversial. This study aimed to investigate serum leptin and ghrelin levels in patients with depression and the effects of treatment on these levels. METHODS: Serum ghrelin and leptin levels were measured before and after treatment with antidepressant drugs and/or electroconvulsive therapy in 28 patients with depression and once in 21 healthy controls. RESULTS: Serum ghrelin levels of the patients were high in the pre-treatment. After the treatment, ghrelin levels were not different from those of the controls. We found no difference in serum levels of leptin between the patients and controls and no change with treatment. body mass index of the patients increased after the treatment especially in the drug-treated group. CONCLUSION: The present study found increased serum ghrelin levels in depressive patients and normalization with improving of depression but no alteration in leptin levels.
Antidepressive Agents ; Body Mass Index ; Depression* ; Electroconvulsive Therapy ; Ghrelin* ; Humans ; Leptin*

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to determine the involvement of the upper gastrointestinal system (GIS) in patients diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and non-inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to compare their differences. METHODS: This study included patients aged between 2 and 18 years who underwent colonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) for the first time due to the prediagnosis of IBD. In EGD, samples were taken from duodenum, antrum, corpus, and esophagus; and gastritis, duodenitis, and esophagitis were identified through histopathologic examination. The data gathered the ends of the research were compared between IBD with non-IBD groups and between CD-UC with non-IBD groups, and the presence of significant differences between groups were determined. RESULTS: In our study, 16 patients were diagnosed with CD, 13 with UC, 3 with undeterminate colitis, and 13 with non-IBD. In the histopathological examination of the groups, GIS involvement was found in 94.1% of patients diagnosed with IBD and in 38.5% of non-IBD patients. Moreover, the difference was found to be statistically significant (p=0.032). No significant difference was found between the CD and UC groups. Gastritis was mostly observed in 93.8% of CD-diagnosed patients, 76.8% of UC-diagnosed patients, 81.2% of IBD-diagnosed patients, and 38.5% of non-IBD-diagnosed patients. On the other hand, significant differences were found between CD and non-IBD groups (p=0.03), UC and non-IBD groups (p=0.047), and IBD and non-IBD groups (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: The results of the study show that gastritis was highly observed in UC- and CD-diagnosed patients than in non-IBD-diagnosed patients.
Child ; Colitis ; Colitis, Ulcerative* ; Colonoscopy ; Crohn Disease* ; Duodenitis ; Duodenum ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Esophagitis ; Esophagus ; Gastritis* ; Hand ; Humans ; Ulcer*

OBJECTIVE: Mental fatigue, cognitive disorders, and sleep disturbances seen in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may be attributed to cholinergic deficit. A functional deficiency of cholinergic neurotransmission may cause the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hypoactivity seen in CFS. Therefore, we investigated the alterations in stress hormones such as cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) in CFS patients before and after 4-week administration of galantamine hydrobromide, a selective acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, and aimed to investigate whether there are any relationships between the probable hormonal changes and cholinergic treatment. METHODS: Basal levels of cortisol and DHEAS were measured in 29 untreated CFS patients who were diagnosed according to Centers for Disease Control (CDC) criteria and in 20 healthy controls. In the patient group, four weeks after 8 mg/d galantamine hydrobromide treatment, cortisol and DHEAS levels were measured again. After the treatment 22 patients who stayed in study were divided into two subgroups as responders and nonresponders according to the reduction in their Newcastle Research Group ME/CFS Score Card (NRG) scores. RESULTS: Important findings of this study are lower pre-and post-treatment cortisol levels and in all CFS patients compared to controls (F=4.129, p=0.049; F=4.803, p=0.035, respectively); higher basal DHEAS values and higher DHEAS/cortisol molar ratios which were normalized following four weeks' treatment with 8 mg/d galantamine hydrobromide in the treatment-respondent group (F=5.382, p=0.029; F=5.722, p=0.025, respectively). CONCLUSION: The findings of the decrease in basal DHEAS levels and DHEAS/cortisol molar ratios normalizing with galantamine treatment may give some support to the cholinergic deficit hypothesis in CFS.
Acetylcholinesterase ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.) ; Dehydroepiandrosterone ; Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate ; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic ; Galantamine ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Mental Fatigue ; Molar ; Synaptic Transmission