The present study supports the reliability and validity of the Portuguese language version of the PSP and further supports the original measure. The co-administration of brief cognitive assessments with measures of functioning may lead to more focused interventions, possibly improving outcomes in this group.

Objective Increases in oxidative stress have been consistently reported in younger patients with bipolar disorder (BD) in postmortem brain and blood samples studies. Changes in oxidative stress are also associated with the natural aging process. Thus, the investigation of oxidative stress across the life span of patients with BD is crucial. Methods We compared the levels of oxidative damage to proteins and lipids in plasma from 110 euthymic older patients with BD I or II (mean ± SD age: 63.9±9.7) and 75 older healthy individuals (66.0 ± 9.6). To assess protein oxidation, we measured the plasma levels of protein carbonyl (PC) and 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) using ELISA technique. To assess lipid peroxidation, we measured plasma levels of lipid hydroperoxide (LPH) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) using spectrophotometric assays. Results LPH levels were higher in patients than in the comparison healthy individuals, while there were no significant differences for PC, 3-NT and 4-HNE between the two groups. Conclusions The increased levels of an early component of the peroxidation chain, LPH, in euthymic older patients with BD support the hypothesis of a persistent effect of reactive species of oxygen in patients with BD into late life.

Strategies that can mitigate this risk profile are highly needed in the clinical setting, and these particular groups of drugs have the possibility of becoming increasingly important in treatment strategies aiming to improve both the conditions.

These results are consistent with a role for the dentate gyrus in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder and suggest that depressive episodes and elevated oxidative stress might contribute to hippocampal volume decreases. In addition, these findings provide further support for the hypothesis that peripheral lipid peroxidation markers may reflect brain alterations in bipolar disorders.

Emerging evidence is showing nutrition as a crucial factor in the high prevalence and incidence of neurodegenerative mental disorders. Preventive interventions on neuroinflammation seem to be able to interfere with neurodegeneration. Supplementation of essential nutrients, such as long-chain-polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin E and mineral elements, may minimize inflammation, enhancing antioxidative defense, and lowering the risk and incidence of age-related diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. This manuscript reviews the current evidence on the role of neuroinflammation in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative and mental disorders, and preventive strategies for food supplementation in these neuropsychiatric diseases. Dietary supplementation-based strategies have been demonstrated to be effective in subjects with mild cognitive impairment, while weaker results have been obtained in patients with advance neurodegenerative disease. Adjunctive supplementation has also been demonstrated to improve depression, this being of marked benefit considering the comorbidity between cognitive impairment/dementia and depression. Further research is needed to improve the prescriptive precision of supplementation in patients, and to better understand potential interactions with clinical and pharmacokinetic factors.