

24th European Congress of Psychiatry / European Psychiatry 33S (2016) S349–S805
S509
(2014) showed that sunshine induces different responses in female
than male mice in preclinical models of depression.
Objective
To determine whetehr the sunshine induced placebo
effect exhibits gender differences in human.
Materiel and methods
Data from 9 double-blind, randomized,
placebo-controlled studies of antidepressants conducted by the
French GICIPI network were reviewed. MADRS (5) or HAM-D 17
(4) were used as the main efficacy tool. For each patient, variation
of scores (Delta MADRS/Delta HAM-D) between two consecutive
visits were correlated with the average sunshine index observed
at noon between these visits. Sunshine indexes were provided by
Météo-France. Correlations were computed with Microsoft Excel.
Results
Analysis of both genders (
n
= 52) showed no statisti-
cally significant (NS) correlation (
r
2
= 0.0064) between sunshine
and score variations. Analysis of males (n = 8) failed to demon-
strate any significant correlation in cloudy (< 1000 Joules/cm
2
),
variable (1000–2000 Joules/cm
2
) or sunny (> 2000 Joules/cm
2
)
weather. Analysis of females (
n
= 44) showed NS correlation as well
for cloudy or variable weather (
r
2
= 0.0016), but a strong correla-
tion was observed for females exposed to sunny weather:
r
2
= 0,
315,
n
= 20,
P
< 0.01. This correlation was even stronger in the sub-
population of females aged less than 50 years:
r
2
= 0.6398,
n
= 12,
P
< 0.001.
Discussion
The hypothesis underlying this correlation between
sunshine index and variations of MADRS/HAMD scales will be dis-
cussed.
Conclusion
Sunshine increases placebo effect in female patients
aged less than 50. This insufficiently known effect may be respon-
sible for failure of a number of double-blind, randomized, studies
of antidepressant compounds.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their decla-
ration of competing interest.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.1485EV501
Depressive symptomatology and
learning: Does intermediate testing or
restudying the information determine
long-term memory retrieval of novel
symbols?
V. Giannouli
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Medicine, Thessaloniki,
Greece
Introduction
There is a hypothesis in cognitive psychology that
long-term memory retrieval is improved by intermediate testing
than by restudying the information. The effect of testing has been
investigated with the use of a variety of stimuli. However, almost
all testing effect studies to date have used purely verbal materials
such as word pairs, facts and prose passages.
Objective
Here byzantinemusic symbol–word pairs were used as
to-be-learned materials to demonstrate the generalisability of the
testing effect to symbol learning in participants with and without
depressive symptoms.
Method
Fifty healthy (24 women, M age = 26.20, SD = 5.64) and
forty volunteerswith high depressive symptomatology (20women,
M age = 27.00, SD = 1.04) were examined. The participants did not
have a music education. The examination material was completely
new for them: 16 byzantine music notation stimuli, paired with a
verbal label (the ancient Greek name of the symbol). Half of the par-
ticipants underwent intermediate testing and the others restudied
the information in a balanced design.
Results
Results indicated that there were no statistically signifi-
cant differences in final memory test performance after a retention
interval of 5minutes for both groups of participants with low and
high level depressive symptomatology (
P
> 0.005). After a retention
interval of aweek, tested pairswere retained better than repeatedly
studied pairs for high and low depressive symptomatology groups
(
P
< 0.005).
Conclusions
This research suggests that the effect of testing time
on later memory retrieval can also be obtained in byzantine symbol
learning.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their decla-
ration of competing interest.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.1486EV502
Anhedonia, anxiety, and depression
components of Edinburgh postnatal
depression scale in cesarean delivery
L. Giliberti
∗
, F. Volpe , G. Soldera , G. Tesolat , R. Maione ,
G. Straface , V. Zanardo
Policlinico Abano Terme, Division of Perinatal Medicine, Abano
Terme, Italy
∗
Corresponding author.
Introduction
Previous studies have indicated that cesarean deliv-
ery might pose risk factors for post-partum depression (PPD).
However, results are conflicting and have failed to clearly distin-
guish between elective (ElCD) and emergency (EmCD) cesarean
delivery.
Objective
The rate of elective cesarean delivery is rapidly increas-
ing all over the world and it is important to identify whether the
mode of delivery has an influence on PPD. The Edinburgh Postna-
tal Depression Scale (EPDS) is a widely used instrument for PPD
screening, also capable to detect in subscales anhedonia, anxiety,
and depression factors.
Methods
A cohort of 959 Italian mothers delivering a healthy
baby at Policlinico Abano Terme, Italy, completed the EPDS 2 days
after delivery.
Results
EPDS scores were significantly higher in mothers with
a cesarean delivery compared to mothers with a vaginal delivery
(7.0
±
4.8 vs 6.1
±
4.2,
P
< 0.01), but only the women who elected to
have a caesarean section had significantly higher scores (7.1
±
3.9
vs. 6.8
±
4.1,
P
< 0.001). Additionally, the factor analysis of EPDS
indicated that anhedonia, anxiety, and depression were signifi-
cantly higher in women who elected to have a caesarean section.
Conclusions
The results of our study indicate that women who
had an ElCD have an increased risk of developing early symptoms
of post-partum depression, anxiety, and anhedonia. In particular,
this study shows that the use of EPDS subscales in the immediate
post-partum is a good tool to better understanding the spectrum of
maternal post-partum psychological problems related to delivery
mode.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their decla-
ration of competing interest.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.1487EV503
Chronotherapy for depression: A
useful adjunctive therapy?
J. Gomes
∗
, A. Sousa , H. Afonso , G. Lima
Centro Hospitalar Barreiro-Montijo, Psychiatry, Barreiro, Portugal
∗
Corresponding author.
Introduction
Since ancient times the influence of chronobiologi-
cal factors on the pathogenesis, course, and treatment of depression
has been well known. Chronotherapy is the controlled exposure to
environmental stimuli that act on biological rhythms in order to
achieve therapeutic effects in the treatment of psychiatric condi-
tions. It includes sleep deprivation, bright light therapy and sleep
phase advance.