Potential link between caffeine consumption and pediatric depression: A case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early-onset depressive disorders can have severe consequences both from developmental and functional aspects. The etiology of depressive disorders is complex and multi-factorial, with an intricate interaction among environmental factors and genetic predisposition. While data from studies on adults suggest that caffeine is fairly safe, effects of caffeine in children, who are in period of rapid brain development, are currently unknown. Furthermore, systematic research addressing the relationship between depressive symptoms in children and caffeine consumption is lacking.</p> <p>The present study examined the effects of caffeine consumption on depressed mood in children with depression and non-depressed participants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Children and adolescents (n = 51) already enrolled in an ongoing longitudinal study, aged 9-12 years, were assessed for depressive symptoms with the Children Depressive Inventory (CDI). Psychopathological symptoms were assessed with the Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) and eating habits were assessed with the Nutrition-Behavior Inventory (NBI) <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp>. The children were compared to control children without psychopathology attending public schools in a Southern Brazilian city.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Participants with CDI scores ≥ 15 (mean = 19; S.D. = 4) also had high NBI scores (mean = 52; S.D. = 19, p < 0.001) suggestive of a relationship between depressive symptoms and environmental factors, in this case nutrition/behavior. Additional linear regression adjusted statistical analysis, considering the factors of consumption of sweets and caffeine individually, showed that caffeine, but not sweets, was associated with depressive symptoms.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These findings indicate that depressed children consume more caffeinated drinks than non-depressed children. Nonetheless while a strong association between depressive symptoms and caffeine consumption among children was found, further research should investigate whether or not this association is due to a cause and effect relationship.</p

Alternative (EGF 114299): a study of lapatinib, trastuzumab and endocrine therapy in patients who received neo-/adjuvant trastuzumab (IV) and endocrine therapy

General Poster Session: Breast Cancer - HER2/ER: abstract no. TPS661This journal suppl. is the 2012 ASCO Meeting Abstracts Part 1Open Access journalBACKGROUND: Approximately 50% of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 positive (HER2+) breast cancers are also hormone receptor-positive (HR+). For patients with HER2+/HR+ disease, combining the aromatase inhibitor (AI) letrozole with the dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor lapatinib (L) has been shown to improve outcomes vs letrozole alone. Similar results were found for the combination of trastuzumab (T; a humanized monoclonal antibody targeting HER2) and anastrozole vs anastrozole alone. Finally, the combination of L and T has been shown to improve outcomes vs L alone. METHODS: This phase III, randomized, open-label, multicenter trial (ALTERNATIVE) will enroll postmenopausal female patients with HER2+/HR+ metastatic breast cancer (MBC) who have not received prior treatment for MBC, have received neo/adjuvant T and endocrine therapy, and are not candidates for chemotherapy. Patients will be randomized 1:1:1 to 1 of 3 treatment arms: L plus T plus an AI; T plus an AI; or L plus an AI. The AI can be letrozole, anastrozole, or exemestane, to be selected by the investigator. The primary objective of ALTERNATIVE is to examine the efficacy of L/T/AI compared with T/AI alone. The primary efficacy endpoint is overall survival (OS; time from randomization until death due to any cause) for L/T/AI vs T/AI. Secondary efficacy objectives include: comparisons of OS between T/AI and L/AI as well as between T/L/AI and L/AI, comparisons of progression-free survival, overall response rate, time to response, duration of response, safety, and tolerability for all 3 treatment groups. The study is powered to detect a 42% reduction in risk of death (hazard ratio=0.70) in patients who receive L/T/AI (median 28.5 months) vs T/AI (median 20 months) using a 1-sided test for superiority with α=0.025. The required number of total events to achieve a power of 80% is 249. Secondary comparisons are not powered and will be based on the ITT population. This study is currently recruiting, with a target of 525 patients. If its objectives are reached, it will provide a valuable, chemotherapy-free treatment option for HER2+/HR+ MBC patients. Clinical trial registry number: NCT01160211.link_to_OA_fulltex