@article{HorasvanHerckMaieretal.2020,
  author    = {Horas, Konstantin and van Herck, Ulrike and Maier, Gerrit S. and Maus, Uwe and Harrasser, Norbert and Jakob, Franz and Weissenberger, Manuel and Arnholdt, J{\"o}rg and Holzapfel, Boris M. and Rudert, Maximilian},
  title     = {Does vitamin D deficiency predict tumour malignancy in patients with bone tumours? Data from a multi-center cohort analysis},
  series = {Journal of Bone Oncology},
  volume    = {25},
  journal   = {Journal of Bone Oncology},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jbo.2020.100329},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-230314},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {Vitamin D deficiency is a global health concern that is estimated to afflict over one billion people globally. The major role of vitamin D is that of a regulator of calcium and phosphate metabolism, thus, being essential for proper bone mineralisation. Concomitantly, vitamin D is known to exert numerous extra-skeletal actions. For example, it has become evident that vitamin D has direct anti-proliferative, pro-differentiation and pro-apoptotic actions on cancer cells. Hence, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with increased cancer risk and worse prognosis in several malignancies. We have recently demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency promotes secondary cancer growth in bone. These findings were partly attributable to an increase in bone remodelling but also through direct effects of vitamin D on cancer cells. To date, very little is known about vitamin D status of patients with bone tumours in general. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess vitamin D status of patients with diverse bone tumours. Moreover, the aim was to elucidate whether or not there is an association between pre-diagnostic vitamin D status and tumour malignancy in patients with bone tumours. In a multi-center analysis, 25(OH)D, PTH and calcium levels of 225 patients that presented with various bone tumours between 2017 and 2018 were assessed. Collectively, 76\% of all patients had insufficient vitamin D levels with a total mean 25(OH)D level of 21.43 ng/ml (53.58 nmol/L). In particular, 52\% (117/225) of patients were identified as vitamin D deficient and further 24\% of patients (55/225) were vitamin D insufficient. Notably, patients diagnosed with malignant bone tumours had significantly lower 25(OH)D levels than patients diagnosed with benign bone tumours [19.3 vs. 22.75 ng/ml (48.25 vs. 56.86 nmol/L); p = 0.04). In conclusion, we found a widespread and distressing rate of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in patients with bone tumours. However, especially for patients with bone tumours sufficient vitamin D levels seem to be of great importance. Thus, we believe that 25(OH)D status should routinely be monitored in these patients. Collectively, there should be an increased awareness for physicians to assess and if necessary correct vitamin D status of patients with bone tumours in general or of those at great risk of developing bone tumours.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ZechScherfClavelDanielsetal.2021,
  author    = {Zech, Linda D. and Scherf-Clavel, Maike and Daniels, Christine and Schwab, Michael and Deckert, J{\"u}rgen and Unterecker, Stefan and Herr, Alexandra S.},
  title     = {Patients with higher vitamin D levels show stronger improvement of self-reported depressive symptoms in psychogeriatric day-care setting},
  series = {Journal of Neural Transmission},
  volume    = {128},
  journal   = {Journal of Neural Transmission},
  number    = {8},
  issn      = {1435-1463},
  doi       = {10.1007/s00702-021-02385-1},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-268525},
  pages     = {1233-1238},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Depression is a common psychiatric disorder among geriatric patients that decreases the quality of life and increases morbidity and mortality. Vitamin D as a neuro-steroid hormone might play a role in the onset and treatment of depression. In the present study, the association between depressive symptoms and vitamin D concentration in serum was evaluated. 140 patients of a psychogeriatric day-care unit were included. The geriatric depression scale (GDS) and the Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) were assessed at the beginning and end of treatment, GDS scores additionally 6 weeks after discharge from the day-care unit. Vitamin D levels were measured at the beginning of the treatment, routinely. Patients with levels below 30 µg/L were treated with 1000 IU vitamin D per day. There was no association between the severity of depressive symptoms and the concentration of vitamin D at the beginning of the treatment. Patients with higher vitamin D levels showed a stronger decline of depressive symptoms measured by the GDS during their stay in the day-care unit. We provide evidence that vitamin D serum levels might influence antidepressant therapy response in a geriatric population. Prospective studies are necessary to determine which patients may profit from add-on vitamin D therapy.},
  language  = {en}
}