Publications by authors named "Blithikioti C"

Despite predictions that neuroscientific discoveries would revolutionize psychiatry, decades of research have not yet led to clinically significant advances in psychiatric care. For this reason, an increasing number of researchers are recognizing the limitations of a purely biomedical approach in psychiatric research. These researchers call for reevaluating the conceptualization of mental disorders and argue for a non-reductionist approach to mental health.

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  • - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental health condition where individuals repeatedly relive traumatic experiences, and the role of the cerebellum in this process is still under investigation.
  • - In a study with 28 chronic PTSD patients, researchers used fMRI to examine brain activity while participants listened to their own traumatic and sad memories, finding specific activation in cerebellar lobule VI during trauma recall linked to symptom severity.
  • - Results indicate that while lobule VI is particularly engaged with traumatic memories, another cerebellar area, Crus II, is also active during sad memories, suggesting its broader role in managing negative emotions.
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  • Chronic cannabis use may impact sensorimotor adaptation, a task related to cerebellar function, due to the high density of cannabinoid receptors in this part of the brain.
  • In a study, chronic users displayed lower adaptation rates compared to cannabis-naïve controls, but this difference disappeared after one month of abstinence.
  • The findings indicate that while cannabis use alters cerebellar learning initially, it may lead to changes in synaptic plasticity that equalize performance after a period of non-use.
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Psychological trauma is highly prevalent among psychiatric disorders, however, the relationship between trauma, neurobiology and psychopathology is not yet fully understood. The cerebellum has been recognized as a crucial structure for cognition and emotion, however, it has been relatively ignored in the literature of psychological trauma, as it is not considered as part of the traditional fear neuro-circuitry. The aim of this review is to investigate how psychological trauma affects the cerebellum and to make conclusive remarks on whether the cerebellum forms part of the trauma-affected brain circuitry.

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Background: Individuals with Substance Use Disorders (SUD), are vulnerable to the psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first study to assess risk factors of adverse mental health outcomes during lockdown in a SUD population.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, conducted through an online survey that was completed by 303 individuals with SUD, attended in the Addiction Unit of University of Barcelona Clínic Hospital.

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  • - The study analyzed the mid and long-term effectiveness of SBIRT programs for at-risk drinkers in emergency departments, revealing a significant reduction in risky drinking behaviors and increased referrals to treatment over a year.
  • - Participants were divided into two groups: the control group received informational leaflets, while the intervention group also got motivational counseling and referrals, leading to better outcomes for those receiving the intervention.
  • - Follow-up results indicated that two-thirds of participants remained engaged with the study, showing promise for SBIRT's impact on reducing at-risk alcohol use over time.
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Cannabis is the third most used psychoactive substance worldwide. The legal status of cannabis is changing in many Western countries, while we have very limited knowledge of the public health impact of cannabis-related harms. There is a need for a summary of the evidence of harms and risks attributed to cannabis use, in order to inform the definition of cannabis risky use.

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Background-The cerebellum has been recently suggested as an important player in the addiction brain circuit. Cannabis is one of the most used drugs worldwide, and its long-term effects on the central nervous system are not fully understood. No valid clinical evaluations of cannabis impact on the brain are available today.

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Cannabis is the most used illicit substance in the world. As many countries are moving towards decriminalization, it is crucial to determine whether and how cannabis use affects human brain and behavior. The role of the cerebellum in cognition, emotion, learning, and addiction is increasingly recognized.

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Mitochondria are a major target for aging and are instrumental in the age-dependent deterioration of the human brain, but studying mitochondria in aging human neurons has been challenging. Direct fibroblast-to-induced neuron (iN) conversion yields functional neurons that retain important signs of aging, in contrast to iPSC differentiation. Here, we analyzed mitochondrial features in iNs from individuals of different ages.

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Tyrosine kinases are important regulators of synaptic strength. Here, we describe a key component of the synaptic vesicle release machinery, Munc18-1, as a phosphorylation target for neuronal Src family kinases (SFKs). Phosphomimetic Y473D mutation of a SFK phosphorylation site previously identified by brain phospho-proteomics abolished the stimulatory effect of Munc18-1 on SNARE complex formation ("SNARE-templating") and membrane fusion Furthermore, priming but not docking of synaptic vesicles was disrupted in hippocampal -null neurons expressing Munc18-1 Synaptic transmission was temporarily restored by high-frequency stimulation, as well as by a Munc18-1 mutation that results in helix 12 extension, a critical conformational step in vesicle priming.

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