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Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2020 Jun 30:110028. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sorbonne Université, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83 Boulevard de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France.

Objectives: Patients with autoimmune encephalitis (AE) are likely to exhibit an acute onset of severe psychiatric features, including psychosis and/or catatonia. Based on the high prevalence of catatonia in AE and our clinical experience, we hypothesized that catatonia might be a marker of severity requiring more aggressive treatment approaches.

Methods: To reach a sufficient number of cases with brain-autoimmune conditions, we pooled two samples (N = 58): the first from the French National Network of Rare Psychiatric diseases and the second from the largest Italian neuro-pediatrics center for encephalopathies. Read More

J Nerv Ment Dis 2020 Jun 29. Epub 2020 Jun 29.

Université de Paris, NeuroDiderot, Inserm.

Bipolar spectrum disorders encompass heterogeneous clinical manifestations and comorbidities. A latent class analysis (LCA) was performed in 1846 subjects who experienced an episode of abnormally elevated or irritable mood to identify homogeneous groups of subjects, based on the distribution of 11 manic and 7 psychotic symptoms. LCA identified five classes: 1) two classes with irritability and with low and high level of psychosis (respectively "irritable," 29. Read More

Rev Psiquiatr Salud Ment 2020 Jun 29. Epub 2020 Jun 29.

Departamento de Salud Mental, Parc Taulí Hospital Universitari, Sabadell, Barcelona, España; Departamento de Psiquiatría y Medicina Legal, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés, Barcelona, España; Instituto de Investigación e Innovación Parc Taulí (I3PT), Sabadell, Barcelona, España; Centro de Investigación en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM). Electronic address:

Introduction: Childhood trauma has been associated with an increased risk of psychosis, a greater severity of psychopathological symptoms, and a worse functional prognosis in patients with psychotic disorders. The current study aims to explore the relationship between childhood trauma, psychopathology and social adaptation in a sample of young people with first episode psychosis (FEP) or at-risk mental states (ARMS).

Material And Methods: The sample included 114 young people (18-35 years old, 81 FEP and 33 ARMS) who were attending an Early Intervention Service for Psychosis. Read More

Bioorg Chem 2020 Jun 16;101:104010. Epub 2020 Jun 16.

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Rajendra Institute of Technology & Sciences, Sirsa 125055, Haryana, India; Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, ISF College of Pharmacy, Ghal Kalan, GT Road, Moga 142001, Punjab, India. Electronic address:

Benzodiazepines (BZDs) represent a class of privilege scaffold in the modern era of medicinal chemistry as CNS active agents and BZD based drugs are used to treat different psychotic disorders. Inspired from the therapeutic potential of BZDs as promising CNS active agents, in the present work three different series of 1,5-benzodiazepines bearing various substitutions at position 2 and 4 of the benzodiazepine core were synthesized by condensing different substituted chalcones with o-phenylenediamine in the presence of piperidine as a base catalyst. Structural characterization of title compounds was done by using various analytical techniques such as IR, NMR, elemental analysis and mass spectral data. Read More

Psychiatry Res 2020 Jun 7;291:113177. Epub 2020 Jun 7.

Mental-health clinic №1 named after N.A. Alexeev. Zagorodnoye Shosse 2, Moscow Russia.

Research has suggested that negative symptoms in psychotic disorders may be in part fueled by deficits in metacognition or the ability to form integrated ideas about oneself and others. One limitation of this work is that it has largely come from North America and Western Europe. To further the literature, we assessed symptoms using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and Metacognition using the Metacognitive Assessment Scale - Abbreviated in a sample of outpatients with prolonged schizophrenia (n = 41), early episode psychosis (n = 37) and major depression (n = 30) gathered in Moscow, Russia. Read More

Schizophr Bull 2020 Jul 2. Epub 2020 Jul 2.

Department of Psychiatry, Smurfit Building, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.

Abnormal functional connectivity (FC, the temporal synchronization of activation across distinct brain regions) of the default mode (DMN), salience (SN), central executive (CEN), and motor (MN) networks is well established in psychosis. However, little is known about FC in individuals, particularly adolescents, reporting subthreshold psychotic experiences (PE) and their trajectory over time. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the FC of these networks in adolescents with PE. Read More

Can J Psychiatry 2020 Jul 2:706743720935647. Epub 2020 Jul 2.

Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Objective: A variety of patient characteristics drive the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in depression. However, the extent to which each characteristic influences the receipt of ECT, and whether they are appropriate, is unknown. The aim of this study is to identify patient-level characteristics associated with receiving inpatient ECT for depression. Read More

Front Psychol 2020 12;11:1167. Epub 2020 Jun 12.

Aix Marseille Univ, LPS, Aix-en-Provence, France.

Understanding and improving the psychosocial adjustments (e.g., quality of life, depression) and treatment outcomes (e. Read More

Front Psychiatry 2020 16;11:584. Epub 2020 Jun 16.

Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.

Neuropsychopharmacology 2020 Jul 1. Epub 2020 Jul 1.

Psychosis Studies Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

There have been few studies performed to examine the pathophysiological differences between different types of psychosis, such as between delusional disorder (DD) and schizophrenia (SZ). Notably, despite the different clinical characteristics of DD and schizophrenia (SZ), antipsychotics are deemed equally effective pharmaceutical treatments for both conditions. In this context, dopamine dysregulation may be transdiagnostic of the pathophysiology of psychotic disorders such as DD and SZ. Read More

Psychopathology 2020 Jul 1:1-8. Epub 2020 Jul 1.

Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Background: The diagnostic weight of the first-rank symptoms was deemphasized in DSM-5 and a similar change is expected in ICD-11. This change was motivated by a lack of solid, empirical evidence of the diagnostic significance of first-rank symptoms for schizophrenia. Yet, it seems that Schneider's original concept of first-rank symptoms was overly simplified when it was introduced in DSM-III. Read More

Neurosurg Focus 2020 Jul;49(1):E9

1Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Although antipsychotic medications and electroconvulsive therapy can be used to manage the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia, a substantial portion (10%-30%) of patients do not clinically respond to these treatments or cannot tolerate the side effects. Recently, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has emerged as a promising safe and effective therapeutic intervention for various psychiatric disorders. Read More

Schizophr Bull 2020 Jul 1. Epub 2020 Jul 1.

Turku Bioscience Centre, University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.

Patients with schizophrenia have a lower than average life span, largely due to the increased prevalence of cardiometabolic comorbidities. There is an unmet public health need to identify individuals with psychotic disorders who have a high risk of rapid weight gain and who are at risk of developing metabolic complications. Here, we applied mass spectrometry-based lipidomics in a prospective study comprising 48 healthy controls (CTR), 44 first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients, and 22 individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, from 2 study centers (Turku, Finland and London, UK). Read More

Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract 2020 Jul 1:1-12. Epub 2020 Jul 1.

Fundación Canaria Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Canarias (FIISC), El Rosario, Spain.

Medication non-adherence in mental health problems has social and economic costs. The objective of the study was to review the cost-effectiveness of interventions to enhance medication adherence in patients with mental health problems. The update of a previous systematic review was performed. Read More

Ann Clin Transl Neurol 2020 Jun 30. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Department of Psychiatry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

Objective: We have conducted a study to clarify the association between amphetamine-related disorders (ARD) and the risk of developing dementia.

Methods: This study used a retrospective cohort design by using Taiwan's National Health Research Institute Database. A random sample of 68,300 subjects between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2015, was obtained, comprising of 17,075 patients with ARD, and 51,225 controls without ARD (1:3), matched for gender and age group. Read More

Transl Psychiatry 2020 Jun 30;10(1):209. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 264 Guangzhou Road, Nanjing, China.

We conducted a cross-trait meta-analysis of genome-wide association study on schizophrenia (SCZ) (n = 65,967), bipolar disorder (BD) (n = 41,653), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (n = 46,350), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n = 55,374), and depression (DEP) (n = 688,809). After the meta-analysis, the number of genomic loci increased from 14 to 19 in ADHD, from 3 to 10 in ASD, from 45 to 57 in DEP, from 8 to 54 in BD, and from 64 to 87 in SCZ. We observed significant enrichment of overlapping genes among different disorders and identified a panel of cross-disorder genes. Read More

Mol Psychiatry 2020 Jul 1. Epub 2020 Jul 1.

Department of Functional Brain Imaging Research, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan.

Depression is one of the common psychiatric disorders in old age. Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been identified as a risk factor or prodrome for neurodegenerative dementias, suggesting neuropathological overlaps and a continuum between MDD and neurodegenerative disorders. In this study, we examined tau and amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulations in the brains of MDD and healthy controls using positron emission tomography (PET) to explore pathological substrates of this illness. Read More

BMC Psychiatry 2020 Jun 30;20(1):339. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Department of Psychiatry, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona, Spain.

Background: Determining the mental capacity of psychiatric patients for making healthcare related decisions is crucial in clinical practice. This meta-review of review articles comprehensively examines the current evidence on the capacity of patients with a mental illness to make medical care decisions.

Methods: Systematic review of review articles following PRISMA recommendations. Read More

Am J Psychiatry 2020 Jul;177(7):639-640

Department of Psychiatry, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC (Rasetti); Lieber Institute for Brain Development and Maltz Research Laboratories, Baltimore (Chen, Weinberger); Department of Neurology, Department of Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore (Weinberger).

Turk Psikiyatri Derg 2019 ;30(4):290-294

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), typically associated with the triad of gait disturbance, dementia and urinary incontinence, rarely presents with symptoms of mania, depression or psychosis and psychiatric disorders may complicate the diagnosis. Few cases of NPH and psychiatric disease comorbidity have been reported so far. In most of these cases, NPH was associated with depression and psychotic symptoms. Read More

Psychiatry Res 2020 Jun 24;291:113254. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Servicio de Psiquiatría, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre (i+12), Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Madrid, Spain. Electronic address:

Psychotic symptoms have been related to other coronavirus infections. We conducted a single-centre retrospective and observational study to describe new-onset psychotic episodes in COVID-19 patients. Ten patients infected by the novel coronavirus with psychotic symptoms and no previous history of psychosis were identified by the emergency and liaison psychiatry departments. Read More

Br J Neurosurg 2020 Jun 30:1-5. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Departement of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dr. Soetomo General Academic Hospital, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia.

Orthopedic trauma patients have the risk to experience mental disorders, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental disorders. However, studies that analyze the relationship between mental disorders in orthopedic trauma patients, especially post-operative brachial plexus injury (BPI), are still difficult to find. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between disability and pain to post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety in patient with postoperative BPI. Read More

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2020 Jun 29. Epub 2020 Jun 29.

Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders defined by a deficit in social interactions and the presence of restricted and stereotypical behaviors or interests. The etiologies of autism remain mostly unknown. Many genetic and environmental factors have been suspected. Read More

Front Psychol 2020 12;11:1236. Epub 2020 Jun 12.

Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Department of Developmental Psychiatry, Psychotic and Geriatric Disorders, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland.

Introduction: Globally, vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies, affecting nearly half the world's population. The objective of this survey was to assess and compare the knowledge about vitamin D and the perceived state of health in Emirati and international tourist female students in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that took place in universities in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Read More

Front Psychiatry 2020 11;11:548. Epub 2020 Jun 11.

Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are heterogenous neurodevelopmental disorders that overlap in symptom presentation. The purpose of this study was to specify overlapping symptom domains and to identify symptoms that can reliably differentiate adults with ASD (n = 53), SZ (n = 39), and typical development (TD; n = 40). All participants regardless of diagnosis were administered gold-standard diagnostic assessments of ASD and SZ characteristics including the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Read More

Soa Chongsonyon Chongsin Uihak 2019 Jul;30(3):127-131

Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.

Many neurologic disorders manifest as psychiatric symptoms. Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis is an autoimmune disease of the brain characterized by numerous neurological and psychiatric features. Despite being rare, its prevalence is rapidly increasing and early management is critical in ensuring successful and sustainable recovery. Read More

Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2020 Jun 25. Epub 2020 Jun 25.

Center for Psychopharmacology, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, PO Box 85 Vinderen, Oslo 0319, Norway; Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Nonadherence to oral antipsychotic drugs is a major issue in clinical psychiatry giving rise to treatment failure. Further, polypharmacy is common in the treatment of psychotic disorders due to insufficient treatment effect during monotherapy. As a potential circuit problem, we hypothesized that antipsychotic polypharmacy is associated with increased risk of nonadherence. Read More

Encephale 2020 Jun 25. Epub 2020 Jun 25.

Service de neurologie, CHRU Nancy, 54000 Nancy, France; Pôle universitaire de psychiatrie du grand Nancy, CPN, 54520 Laxou, France.

Interictal psychosis (IIP) refers to psychosis that occurs in clear consciousness in persons with epilepsy (PWE) with temporal onset not during or immediately following a seizure. The pooled prevalence estimate of psychosis in PWE is 5.6%. Read More

Schizophr Res 2020 Jun 24. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Yale University School of Medicine and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, United States of America. Electronic address:

Early intervention in psychotic spectrum disorders is critical for maximizing key clinical outcomes. While there is some evidence for the utility of intervention during the prodromal phase of the illness, efficacy of interventions is difficult to assess without appropriate risk stratification. This will require biomarkers that robustly help to identify risk level and are also relatively easy to obtain. Read More

Bioinformatics 2020 Jun 27. Epub 2020 Jun 27.

Key Laboratory of Systems Biomedicine (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Centre for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Motivation: The mutations of cancers can encode the seeds of their own destruction, in the form of T cell recognizable immunogenic peptides, also known as neoantigens. It is computationally challenging however, to accurately prioritize the potential neoantigen candidates according to their ability of activating the T cell immuno-response, especially when the somatic mutations are abundant. Although a few neoantigen prioritization methods have been proposed to address this issue, advanced machine learning model that is specifically designed to tackle this problem is still lacking. Read More

Neurosci Bull 2020 Jun 27. Epub 2020 Jun 27.

Center for Behavioral Genomics, Department of Psychiatry, Institute for Genomic Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.

Research suggests that inflammation is important in the pathophysiology of mental disorders. In addition, a growing body of evidence has led to the concept of the microbiota-gut-brain axis. To understand the potential interactions, we begin by exploring the liaison between the immune system and mental disorders, then we describe the evidence that the microbiota impact the immune response in the developing brain. Read More

Trials 2020 Jun 26;21(1):583. Epub 2020 Jun 26.

Orygen, 35 Poplar Road, Parkville, Melbourne, VIC, 3052, Australia.

Background: The clinical onset of borderline personality disorder (BPD) usually occurs in young people (aged 12-25 years) and commonly leads to difficulty achieving and maintaining vocational (education and/or employment) engagement. While current psychosocial interventions lead to improvements in psychopathology, they have little effect upon functioning. Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is a client-driven model that assists individuals with severe mental illness to engage with education and/or employment appropriate to their personal goals, and that provides ongoing support to maintain this engagement. Read More

Front Psychiatry 2020 10;11:543. Epub 2020 Jun 10.

First Episode Psychosis Program, Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a disease that usually emerges during adolescence, is characterized by hormonal imbalance and ovarian dysfunction. The prevalence can vary between 5.6 to 21. Read More

J Abnorm Psychol 2020 Jun 25. Epub 2020 Jun 25.

Department of Psychology.

The current study examined whether subgroups of individuals with schizophrenia could be identified based on their profiles of trait positive and negative emotional experience, and whether those subgroups differed in their symptom presentation and functional outcome. Participants included 192 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (SZ) and 149 demographically matched healthy controls who completed the trait version of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, as well as symptom and functional outcome assessments. Cluster analysis determined whether patients could be separated into meaningful subgroups based on their trait emotional experience profiles, and discriminant function analysis determined whether these groups were valid and adequately separated. Read More

Tijdschr Psychiatr 2020 ;62(6):472-480

Background: From an evolutionary perspective it is remarkable that psychotic disorders, mostly occurring during fertile age and decreasing fecundity, maintain in the human population.
AIM: To argue the hypothesis that psychotic symptoms may not be viewed as an illness but as an adaptation phenomenon.
METHOD: Philosophical consideration and literature study. Read More

Eur J Endocrinol 2020 Aug;183(2):221-231

Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, Service d'Endocrinologie et des Maladies de la Reproduction, Centre de Référence des Maladies Rares de l'Hypophyse HYPO, Hôpital Bicêtre, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France.

Context: In patients treated with antipsychotics, the rare occurrence of a macroprolactinoma represents a therapeutic challenge.

Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the efficacy and psychiatric safety of dopamine agonists (DAs) prescribed for large macroprolactinomas in patients with psychosis treated with antipsychotics.

Design: This was a multicenter (France and Belgium) retrospective study. Read More

Bipolar Disord 2020 Jun 24. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

Objectives: Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) may benefit people with bipolar disorder type I and II for whom cognitive impairment is a major contributor to disability. Extensive research has demonstrated CRT to improve cognition and psychosocial functioning in people with different diagnoses, but randomised trials of evidenced therapy programmes are lacking for bipolar disorders. The Cognitive Remediation in Bipolar (CRiB) study aimed to determine whether an established CRT programme is feasible and acceptable for people with bipolar disorders. Read More

Front Psychiatry 2020 20;11:466. Epub 2020 May 20.

Day Hospital for Psychotic Disorder, Psychiatric Hospital Sveti Ivan, Zagreb, Croatia.

Objectives: Previous research on alexithymia has led to controversy over its prevalence in panic disorder. The aim of this study was to assess the difference in the prevalence of alexithymia in panic disorder and other anxiety disorders.

Design And Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study on a sample of 71 patients diagnosed with panic disorder and 113 patients diagnosed with other anxiety disorders; both groups were 18-50 years old. Read More

BMC Psychiatry 2020 Jun 24;20(1):334. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 600 Wan Ping Nan Road, Shanghai, 200030, China.

Background: Dysfunction in brain network dynamics has been found to correlate with many psychiatric disorders. However, there is limited research regarding resting electroencephalogram (EEG) brain network and its association with cognitive process for patients with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). This study aimed at using EEG microstate analysis to determine whether brain network dynamics in patients with MUD differ from those of healthy controls (HC). Read More

Rev Esp Enferm Dig 2020 Jun 24;112. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Aparato Digestivo, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL, Spain.

Introduction: the goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients with non-affective psychotic disorders and to compare it with population-based data.

Material And Methods: an observational study was performed that measured anti-HCV antibodies (HCV-RNA in case of seropositivity) in 425 serum samples from patients with non-affective psychosis. Eight patients were positive for anti-HCV (1. Read More

Psychol Med 2020 Jun 24:1-10. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Str. 8, 35039Marburg, Germany.

Background: Subclinical psychotic-like experiences (PLE), resembling key symptoms of psychotic disorders, are common throughout the general population and possibly associated with psychosis risk. There is evidence that such symptoms are also associated with structural brain changes.

Methods: In 672 healthy individuals, we assessed PLE and associated distress with the symptom-checklist-90R (SCL-90R) scales 'schizotypal signs' (STS) and 'schizophrenia nuclear symptoms' (SNS) and analysed associations with voxel- and surfaced-based brain structural parameters derived from structural magnetic resonance imaging at 3 T with CAT12. Read More

Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2020 Jun 24. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

Centre for Academic Mental Health, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.

Schizophrenia shows a genetic correlation with both anxiety disorder and neuroticism, a trait strongly associated with anxiety. However, genetic correlations do not discern causality from genetic confounding. We therefore aimed to investigate whether anxiety-related phenotypes lie on the causal pathway to schizophrenia using Mendelian randomization (MR). Read More

Transl Psychiatry 2020 Jun 23;10(1):205. Epub 2020 Jun 23.

Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute, University of California Davis Health, Sacramento, CA, USA.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is caused by a full mutation of the FMR1 gene (>200 CGG repeats and subsequent methylation), such that there is little or no FMR1 protein (FMRP) produced, leading to intellectual disability (ID). Individuals with the premutation allele (55-200 CGG repeats, generally unmethylated) have elevated FMR1 mRNA levels, a consequence of enhanced transcription, resulting in neuronal toxicity and a spectrum of premutation-associated disorders, including the neurodegenerative disorder fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). Here we described 14 patients who had both lowered FMRP and elevated FMR1 mRNA levels, representing dual mechanisms of clinical involvement, which may combine features of both FXS and FXTAS. Read More

BMC Psychiatry 2020 Jun 23;20(1):329. Epub 2020 Jun 23.

Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, SantBoi de Llobregat, Universitat de Barcelona, Dr. Antoni Pujadas, 42, Sant Boi de Llobregat, 08830, Barcelona, Spain.

Background: Working memory (WM) refers to the capacity system for temporary storage and processing of information, which is known to depend on the integrity of the prefrontal cortex. Impairment in working memory is a core cognitive deficit among individuals with psychotic disorders. The Corsi block-tapping test is a widely-used instrument to assess visuospatial working memory. Read More

Early Interv Psychiatry 2020 Jun 23. Epub 2020 Jun 23.

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Aim: We sought to examine the structure, internal consistency, convergent and criterion validity of the Youth Experience Tracker Instrument (YETI), a new brief self-report measure designed to facilitate early identification of risk for severe forms of mental illness, including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

Methods: We collected 716 YETIs from 315 individuals aged 8 to 27 with and without familial risk of severe mental illness. The YETI measures six developmental antecedents that precede and predict serious forms of mental illness: affective lability, anxiety, basic symptoms, depressive symptoms, psychotic-like experiences, and sleep. Read More

Psychiatry Res 2020 Jun 7;291:113192. Epub 2020 Jun 7.

Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Early Psychosis Section, Meibergdreef 5, 1105AZ Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address:

Schizophrenia is associated with excessive oxidative stress. Production of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in the skin is strongly associated with oxidative stress. Increased skin AGE-levels have been demonstrated at cross-sectional level in recent onset psychosis and chronic schizophrenia, indicating increased cardiovascular risk. Read More

Schizophr Bull 2020 Jun 23. Epub 2020 Jun 23.

Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Research Program, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA.

Imaging studies in psychotic disorders typically examine cross-sectional relationships between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signals and diagnosis or symptoms. We sought to examine changes in network connectivity identified using resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) corresponding to divergent functional recovery trajectories and relapse in early-stage psychosis (ESP). Prior studies have linked schizophrenia to hyperconnectivity in the default mode network (DMN). Read More

Sci Rep 2020 Jun 22;10(1):10117. Epub 2020 Jun 22.

Bio-X Institutes, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and endurance performance are characterized by a complex genetic trait with high heritability. Although research has identified many physiological and environmental correlates with CRF, the genetic architecture contributing to CRF remains unclear, especially in non-athlete population. A total of 762 Chinese young female participants were recruited and an endurance run test was used to determine CRF. Read More

Transl Psychiatry 2020 Jun 22;10(1):203. Epub 2020 Jun 22.

Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-detection (EPIC) lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

Social deficits are key hallmarks of the Clinical High Risk for Psychosis (CHR-P) state and of established psychotic disorders, and contribute to impaired social functioning, indicating a potential target for interventions. However, current treatments do not significantly ameliorate social impairments in CHR-P individuals. Given its critical role in social behaviour and cognition, the oxytocinergic (OT) system is a promising target for novel interventions in CHR-P subjects. Read More