***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: BACKGROUND The authors sought to examine whether levels of  dehydroepi  and rosterone are abnormal in depression . METHODS Three groups of subjects aged 20 - 64 were studied : 44 major depressives , 35 subjects with partially or completely remitted depression , matched as far as possible for age and drug treatment , and 41 normal control subjects .  Dehydroepi and rosterone and cortisol in saliva were determined from specimens taken at 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM on 4 days . RESULTS The mean age of the three groups did not differ . Dehydroepi and rosterone was lowered at 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM compared with control subjects . Values for the remitted group were intermediate . Dehydroepi and rosterone levels at 8:00 AM correlated negatively with severity of depression and were not related to drug treatment or smoking , but decreased with age ( as expected ) . Cortisol was elevated in depression in the evening . The molar cortisol/dehydroepi and rosterone ratio also differentiated those with depression from the control group . CONCLUSIONS Lowered dehydroepi and rosterone levels are an additional state abnormality in adult depression . Adrenal steroid changes are thus not limited to cortisol . Because dehydroepi and rosterone may antagonize some effects of cortisol and may have mood improving properties , these findings may have significant implication s for the pathophysiology of depression Background Puberty is a multifaceted developmental process that begins in late-childhood with a cascade of endocrine changes that ultimately lead to sexual maturation and reproductive capability . The transition through puberty is marked by an increased risk for the onset of a range of health problems , particularly those related to the control of behaviour and emotion . Early onset puberty is associated with a greater risk of cancers of the reproductive tract and cardiovascular disease . Previous studies have had method ological limitations and have tended to view puberty as a unitary process , with little distinction between adrenarche , gonadarche and linear growth . The Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study ( CATS ) aims to prospect ively examine associations between the timing and stage of the different hormonally-mediated changes , as well as the onset and course of common health and behavioural problems that emerge in the transition from childhood to adolescence . The initial focus of CATS is on adrenarche , the first hormonal process in the pubertal cascade , which begins for most children at around 8 years of age . Methods / Design CATS is a longitudinal population -based cohort study . All Grade 3 students ( 8–9 years of age ) from a stratified cluster sample of schools in Melbourne , Australia were invited to take part . In total , 1239 students and a parent/guardian were recruited to participate in the study . Measures are repeated annually and comprise student , parent and teacher question naires , and student anthropometric measurements . A saliva sample was collected from students at baseline and will be repeated at later waves , with the primary purpose of measuring hormonal indices of adrenarche and gonadarche . Discussion CATS is uniquely placed to capture biological and phenotypic indices of the pubertal process from its earliest manifestations , together with anthropometric measures and assessment of child health and development . The cohort will provide rich detail of the development , lifestyle , external circumstances and health of children during the transition from childhood through to adolescence . Baseline associations between the hormonal measures and measures of mental health and behaviour will initially be examined cross-sectionally , and then in later waves longitudinally . CATS will make a unique contribution to the underst and ing of adrenarche and puberty in children ’s health and development PURPOSE Mental and behavioral disorders increase in prevalence with the passage through puberty . Yet the first symptoms for many children emerge between seven and 11 years , before the pubertal rise in gonadal hormones . A possibility that symptom onset may be linked to the adrenarchal rise in and rogens has been little explored . METHODS The Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study recruited a stratified r and om sample of 1,239 eight-nine year olds from primary schools in Melbourne , Australia .  Saliva sample s were assayed for dehydroepi and rosterone , dehydroepi and rosterone-sulphate ( DHEA-S ) , and testosterone .  Emotional and behavioral problems were assessed through parental report on the Strengths and Difficulties Question naire . RESULTS In males , high levels of all and rogens were associated with greater total difficulties and peer problems . Higher dehydroepi and rosterone and testosterone were associated with emotional symptoms and DHEA-S with conduct problems . In females , DHEA-S was associated with peer problems . CONCLUSIONS In late childhood , and rogens are associated with emotional and behavioral problems in males , raising a possibility that the adrenarchal transition plays a contributing role . If so , the late primary school years may prove to be an important phase for preventing the onset of mental health and behavioral problems in boys Life history theorists have proposed that humans have evolved to be sensitive to specific features of early childhood environments and that exposure to different environments biases children toward development of different reproductive strategies , including differential pubertal timing . The current research provides a longitudinal test of this theory . Assessment s of family environments , based on interviews with mothers and fathers , were conducted in preschool , and children were then followed prospect ively through middle childhood .  Adrenal hormones  were assayed in a selected sub sample of 120 children ( 73 girls ) at age 7 , and parent and child reports of secondary sexual characteristics were collected in the full female sample of 180 girls at age 11 . Higher quality parental investment ( from both mothers and fathers ) and less father-reported Marital Conflict/Depression forecast later adrenarche . Older age at menarche in mothers , higher socioeconomic status , greater mother-based Parental Supportiveness , and lower third- grade body mass index each uniquely and significantly predicted later sexual development in daughters . Consistent with a life history perspective , quality of parental investment emerged as a central feature of the proximal family environment in relation to pubertal timing The steroid hormones , cortisol and dehydroepi and rosterone ( DHEA ) are the two main peripheral secretory products of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stress-neuroendocrine axis . The diurnal pattern of cortisol secretory activity has been well characterised . Various aspects of this pattern have been related to time of awakening , light exposure , psychological dimensions of affect , immune function and systemic health and well-being . DHEA is also an important adrenocortical steroid whose secretory activity has been related to immune function , psychological and health variables . The most pronounced feature of the diurnal cortisol cycle is a burst of secretory activity following awakening with a diurnal decline thereafter . We mapped DHEA secretory activity onto this cycle by measuring both steroids in  saliva  sample s collected at distinct time points over the diurnal cycle , synchronised to awakening . Both steroids , particularly DHEA , showed stability across days of sample collection . A main distinction between cortisol and DHEA was that although DHEA was elevated in post-awakening sample s compared with later in the day there was no evidence of an awakening stimulatory burst of DHEA secretory activity . Although DHEA in many respects paralleled cortisol secretory activity there was some dissociation ; mean levels were positively but not tightly correlated . The secretory pattern of DHEA is very stable whereas cortisol secretory activity seems more sensitive to day-to-day variability The aim of this study was to investigate associations between specific mental health problems  and pubertal stage in (pre)adolescents participating in the Dutch prospect i ve cohort study TRAILS ( first assessment : N=2230 , age 11.09±0.56 , 50.8 % girls ; second assessment : N=2149 , age 13.56±0.53 , 51.0 % girls ) . Mental health was assessed by the Youth Self-Report , pubertal ( Tanner ) stage by parent-rated drawings of secondary sex characteristics . Overall , higher Tanner stages were related to more reported tiredness , irritability , rule-breaking behaviors , and substance use ; and fewer fears and somatic complaints . Girls showed increases in social uncertainty , depressed mood , and worries ; boys a decrease in self-criticism . Increasing problems during puberty were mostly related to the process of physical maturation , whereas decreasing problems were rather related to general age-related developments . Pubertal timing was associated with different symptoms than pubertal status or age . Puberty seems to affect girls more negatively than boys BACKGROUND The evidence for a role of and rogens in human aggression is less convincing than in animals . We examined the relationship between and rogens and aggression in prepubertal boys who were diagnosed as suffering from severe aggression and antisocial behavior . METHODS  Plasma levels of testosterone ( T ) , and rostenedione ( A ) , and dehydroepi and rosterone sulphate ( DHEAS ) were measured in 15 boys with a conduct disorder ( CD ) and 25 normal control ( NC ) boys . Parents and teachers of the children rated the intensity of aggression and delinquency over the last 6 months . RESULTS CD boys had significantly higher levels of DHEAS and marginally significantly higher levels of A ; there were no differences in T. Moreover , DHEAS levels were significantly positively correlated with the intensity of aggression and delinquency as rated by both parents and teachers . CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that adrenal and rogen functioning plays an important role in the onset and maintenance , of aggression in young boys OBJECTIVE Early pubertal timing in girls is associated with psychosocial problems throughout adolescence , but it is unclear whether these problems persist into young adulthood . The authors analyzed outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood in girls in a longitudinal study . METHOD The data for this study were from the prospect i ve population -based Great Smoky Mountains Study ( N=1,420 ) , which initially recruited children at ages 9 , 11 , and 13 and followed them into young adulthood . Pubertal timing was defined on the basis of self-reported Tanner stage and age at menarche . Outcome measures included functioning related to crime , substance use , school/peer problems , family relationships , sexual behavior , and mental health in adolescence ( ages 13 to 16 ) as well as crime , substance use , education/socioeconomic status , sexual behavior , and mental health in young adulthood ( ages 19 and 21 ) . RESULTS In adolescence , early-maturing girls displayed higher levels of self-reported criminality , substance use problems , social isolation , early sexual behavior , and psychiatric problems . By young adulthood , most of these differences had attenuated . Functioning for early maturers improved in some areas ; in others , on-time and late maturers had caught up with their early-maturing peers . Nevertheless , early-maturing girls , particularly those with a history of adolescent conduct disorder , were more likely to be depressed in young adulthood compared to their counterparts . Early maturers were also more likely to have had many sexual partners . CONCLUSIONS The effects of early pubertal timing on adolescent psychosocial problems were wide ranging but diminished by young adulthood for all but a small group Dehydroepi and rosterone sulfate ( DHEAS ) , which is of almost exclusive adrenal origin , is important for the and rogen status in women and prepubertal children , and DHEAS assays are used in the investigation of hyper and rogenism . There are conflicting reports concerning a diurnal variation in serum DHEAS . Although of adrenocortical origin , serum DHEAS levels are decreased by oral contraceptives ( OCs ) . DHEAS is strongly bound to serum albumin and has a very low metabolic clearance rate . The present study was performed in order to investigate whether a diurnal variation in serum DHEAS exists and , if so , whether this diurnal variation and the decreased DHEAS levels following OC use are related to alterations in adrenocortical steroids or to changes in serum albumin . Serum concentrations of DHEAS , dehydroepi and rosterone ( DHEA ) , cortisol and albumin were determined in blood sample s taken every half hour over a 24-h period in 10 healthy women before and during use of combined OCs .  Significant and frequently synchronous diurnal variations in serum DHEAS and albumin were found before as well as during OC use . These variations were not synchronous with the diurnal variation in DHEA . OCs significantly decreased serum DHEAS and albumin levels . A multiple regression analysis showed changes in albumin to be the most decisive factor for the diurnal variation as and for OC-induced changes in DHEAS . Changes in serum DHEAS during the day and following OC use are related to alterations in its main binding protein , serum albumin , rather than to changes in adrenocortical steroid secretion 
    Output:
    
In general , studies showed that earlier timing of adrenarche was associated with greater mental health symptoms , and there is emerging support that brain development plays a role in this relationship .