The interrelation between premenstrual syndrome and major depression : results from a population-based sample

BACKGROUND: Research about the relationship between premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and major depression is limited. This study examined the relationship between moderate to severe PMS and major depression in a population-based sample of women of reproductive age. The objectives of the study were to assess the association between premenstrual syndrome and major depression, to analyse how PMS and major depression differ and to characterise the group of women who report both PMS and major depression. METHODS: Data were obtained from the Swiss Health Survey 2007. Included in the analysis was data from women under the age of 55 without hysterectomy and who answered the questions on PMS symptoms. The population-based sample consisted of 3518 women. Weighted prevalence rates were calculated and relative risk ratios for PMS, major depression and women who reported both PMS and major depression, were calculated with logistic multinominal logit regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of major depression was 11.3% in women screening positive for moderate PMS and 24.6% in women screening positive for severe PMS. Compared to women without any of these conditions, women who reported moderate to severe alcohol consumption had a lower risk for PMS. Women reporting use of antidepressants, and use of oral contraceptives had a higher risk for major depression compared to women without any of these conditions. Women reporting work dissatisfaction had a higher risk for PMS. A higher relative risk to report both PMS and major depression compared to women without PMS or major depression was related to factors such as high psychological distress, low mastery, psychotropic drug consumption, and low self-rated health. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that women who suffer from both PMS and major depression are more impaired compared to women with only one disorder. The results further indicated that PMS and major depression are different disorders that can, however, co-occur

Damaged Burials or Reliquiae Cogotenses? On the Accompanying Human Bones in Burial Pits Belonging to the Iberian Bronze Age

Social Sciences and Humanities are increasingly interested in the relationship between society and material culture, and archaeology can provide, among other contributions, its chronological depth and the variability and certain regularities in mortuary rituals. In this respect, archaeological literature frequently cites cases of a few human bones redeposited at mortuary sites, often burials of adults accompanied by some bones of an infant, but without a clear pattern being discernable. In contrast, research on the Bronze Age Cogotas I archaeological culture in the Iberian Peninsula (MBA and LBA, ca. 1800–1100 cal BC) has identified what seems to be an emerging pattern: primary burials of very young children accompanied by the bone of an adult, possibly female, who had died before, even long before, as the statistical analysis of the radiocarbon dates of the individuals involved appears to corroborate. This may therefore be a ritualised mortuary practice that included bone relics, but its explanation is not simple, due to the polysemic nature of such relics. The creation and maintenance of real or fictitious kinship ties, a special protection for dead infants, possible gender aspects, ideas about fertility and renewal, strengthening interpersonal relationships, legitimisation of emerging inequality, etc., are some of the possible components of this social practice which was until now unknown in the Iberian prehistory, but also little known in other areas in European prehistory.Les sciences sociales et humaines s’inte´ressent de plus en plus a` la relation qui existe entre la socie´te´ et la culture mate´ rielle, et l’arche´ologie peut fournir, parmi autre chose, sa profondeur chronologique et la variabilite´ et certaines re´gularite´s dans le domaine des rites mortuaires. A` cet e´gard, la litte´rature arche´ologique mentionne souvent des cas ou` quelques ossements humains sont de´pose´s dans des sites mortuaires, souvent des se´pultures d’adultes accompagne´es de quelques os de nourrisson, sans qu’un mode` le puisse toutefois eˆtre nettement discerne´. A` l’oppose´ , des recherches re´ alise´es sur la culture arche´ologique de Cogotas I de l’aˆge du bronze, dans la pe´ninsule ibe´rique (MBA et LBA, vers 1800 a` 1100 avant notre e` re), ont identifie´ un mode` le apparemment e´mergent: des se´pultures primaires d’enfants tre`s jeunes accompagne´es de l’os d’un adulte, possiblement d’une femme, de´ce´de´e pre´ce´demment, voire longtemps avant, si on en croit l’analyse statistique des datations au radiocarbone des individus implique´ s. Il pourrait donc s’agir d’une pratique mortuaire symbolique impliquant des reliques ossuaires, dont l’explication n’est cependant pas simple en raison de la nature polyse´mique desdites reliques. La cre´ation et le maintien de liens de parente´ re´els ou fictifs, une protection spe´ciale pour les nourrissons de´ce´de´ s, des aspects possiblement relie´s au genre du de´funt, des ide´es sur la fertilite´ et le renouveau, le renforcement de relations interpersonnelles, la le´gitimation d’ine´galite´ en e´mergence, voila` quelques e´ le´ments possibles de cette pratique sociale jusqu’ici inconnue dans la pre´histoire ibe´rique, mais aussi tre`s peu re´pute´e dans d’autres sphe`res de la pre´histoire europe´enne.Las ciencias sociales y las humanidades están cada vez más interesadas en la relación entre la sociedad y la cultura material, y la arqueología puede proporcionar, entre otras contribuciones, su profundidad cronológica, y la variabilidad y ciertas regularidades en los ritos funerarios. En este sentido, frecuentemente la literatura arqueológica cita casos de algunos huesos humanos que han sido redepositados en sitios mortuorios, a menudo entierros de adultos acompañados por algunos huesos de un niño, pero sin que se pueda discernir un patrón claro. En contraste, la investigación sobre la cultura arqueológica de Cogotas en la Península Ibérica (Bronce Medio y Tardío, ca. 1800–1100 cal AC) ha identificado lo que parece ser un patrón emergente: entierros primarios de niños muy pequeños acompañados hueso de un adulto, posiblemente de un una mujer, que había muerto antes, incluso mucho antes, como parece corroborar el análisis estadístico de las fechas de radiocarbono de los3763460,182Q2AHC

Beneficial soil microbiome for sustainable agricultural production

The projected increase in world population and the need to reduce the reliance on non-renewable inputs, such as synthetic agrochemicals, are challenging the current vision of agriculture. In particular, to achieve a fair and sustainable global food security, disruptive changes in crop production are unavoidable. A promising strategy proposes to exploit the metabolic capabilities of soil microbial communities, i.e., the microbiome, to conjugate stable yield with reduced impact on the agroecosystem. In this chapter, we introduce the microbiome populating the root-soil interface from an evolutionary perspective. Next, we discuss the molecular bases of plant-microbe interactions in soil and how these interactions impact plant growth, development and health. We illustrate how plant-probiotic members of the microbiome can be isolated from soil and further characterized for their biological activities, a key pre-requisite for translational applications. In addition, we focus on paradigmatic examples of soil microbes turned into inoculants for agriculture, their fate on soil, their impact on the native microbiome and the beneficial effects exerted on crop productio

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics' resources: focus on curated databases

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) provides world-class bioinformatics databases, software tools, services and training to the international life science community in academia and industry. These solutions allow life scientists to turn the exponentially growing amount of data into knowledge. Here, we provide an overview of SIB's resources and competence areas, with a strong focus on curated databases and SIB's most popular and widely used resources. In particular, SIB's Bioinformatics resource portal ExPASy features over 150 resources, including UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, ENZYME, PROSITE, neXtProt, STRING, UniCarbKB, SugarBindDB, SwissRegulon, EPD, arrayMap, Bgee, SWISS-MODEL Repository, OMA, OrthoDB and other databases, which are briefly described in this article