Effectiveness of Omega-3 Fatty Acids Versus Placebo in Subjects at Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis: The PURPOSE Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background And Hypotheses: In the past 2 decades, substantial effort has been put into research on therapeutic options for people at ultra-high risk (UHR) for developing a first episode of psychosis (FEP), focusing on omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in preventing transition to psychosis. Despite an initial positive finding, subsequent studies failed to find a beneficial effect. The current study aimed to further investigate the effect of omega-3 PUFAs in UHR, to determine whether this line of research is worth pursuing.

Assessment of Psychotic Risk in a Sample of Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder Compared to a Group of "Clinical High Risk" Patients: A Preliminary Study.

Unlabelled: 1.

Background: Autism spectrum disorder and psychotic risk show several overlapping symptoms, so differential diagnosis is often difficult. In addition, there is a high rate of comorbidity between the two conditions, which further complicates the work of clinicians.

Universal school-based intervention targeting depressive symptoms in adolescents: A cluster randomized trial.

We investigated the effects of three different interventions on depressive symptoms in adolescents. As a secondary aim, we explored the mediating role of social isolation, anxiety, sleep quality, and cognitive function of the intervention effect on depressive symptoms. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial, in which schools were randomly assigned to 1.

"My Life during the Lockdown": Emotional Experiences of European Adolescents during the COVID-19 Crisis.

This study investigates, using an online self-report questionnaire, adolescents' emotional reactions during the lockdown in a sample of 2105 secondary school students (aged 14-19) in Italy, Romania, and Croatia. We used a self-reported online questionnaire (answers on a 5-point scale or binary), composed of 73 questions investigating the opinions, feelings, and emotions of teenagers, along with sociodemographic information and measures of the exposure to lockdown. The survey was conducted online through a web platform in Italy (between 27 April and 15 June 2020), Romania, and Croatia (3 June and 2 July 2020).

Developmental vulnerability to psychosis: Selective aggregation of basic self-disturbance in early onset schizophrenia.

Trait-like anomalies of subjective experience (aka, Basic Self-disturbance or Self-disorder, SD) have been empirically identified as schizophrenia-specific markers of vulnerability in several clinical and genetic high-risk populations. However, such specificity is still to be tested in developmental years, where emerging psychopathology is less crystallized and diagnostic boundaries more blurred. Thus, the current study explores the distribution of SD in adolescent help-seekers (age range 14 to 18) and tests the specificity of SD with respect to the severity of their diagnostic staging (Early Onset schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis [EOP], ultra high-risk [UHR] and clinical help-seeking controls [CHSC]).

Impairment in Social Functioning differentiates youth meeting Ultra-High Risk for psychosis criteria from other mental health help-seekers: A validation of the Italian version of the Global Functioning: Social and Global Functioning: Role scales.

Social and occupational impairments are present in the schizophrenia prodrome, and poor social functioning predicts transition to psychosis in Ultra-High Risk (UHR) individuals. We aimed to: 1) validate the Italian version of the Global Functioning: Social (GF: S) and Global Functioning: Role (GF: S) scales; 2) evaluate their association with UHR criteria. Participants were 12-21-years-old (age, mean=15.

Secondary school teachers and mental health competence: Italy-United Kingdom comparison.

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences between teachers' knowledge about early psychosis among three different Italian cities and a UK sample.

Methods: The sample consisted of 556 secondary school teachers from three different cities in Italy (Milan, Rome and Lamezia Terme) and London (UK). The research was based on the Knowledge and Experience of Social Emotional Difficulties Among Young People Questionnaire.

Twelve-month psychosis-predictive value of the ultra-high risk criteria in children and adolescents.

Objective: The validity of current ultra-high risk (UHR) criteria is under-examined in help-seeking minors, particularly, in children below the age of 12 years. Thus, the present study investigated predictors of one-year outcome in children and adolescents (CAD) with UHR status.

Method: Thirty-five children and adolescents (age 9-17 years) meeting UHR criteria according to the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes were followed-up for 12 months.

PTSD prevalence and associated risk factors after a fire disaster that broke out in a paediatric hospital: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Several studies have shown a higher risk of psychological problems in health care workers exposed to serious occupational stressors.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the presence of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and possible risk factors in a sample of 32 workers who were at the same time rescuers and victims of a fire that broke out in the neonatal intensive care unit of a large paediatric hospital.

Methods: Immediately and six months after the event, the subjects underwent a study protocol aimed at the diagnostic assessment of PTSD, investigated via the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R).

[Subtypes of psychotic-like experiences in a community sample of young adults: socio-demographic correlates and substance use].

Aim: This study aimed to investigate if particular psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) subtypes were more likely to be associated with a series of socio-demographic variables, with alcohol abuse and with cannabis or illicit drug use. The idea is to further characterize different PLEs subtypes in order to discloud their individual nature.

Methods: A cross-sectional design was conducted on a sample of 997 university students aged between 19 and 26 years, which belonged to 4 faculties of 2 different universities.

[Challenges in the early detection of psychosis in children and adolescents].

The early detection and treatment of persons at-risk for psychosis is currently regarded a promising strategy in fighting the devastating consequences of psychotic disorders. The two current at-risk approaches, i.e.

Psychotic experience subtypes, poor mental health status and help-seeking behaviour in a community sample of young adults.

Background: Different subtypes of psychotic experiences (PEs) have been identified in clinical and non-clinical samples. Researchers have considered these PEs to either be variations of personality or expressions of vulnerability to psychotic disorder. This study aimed to determine which particular subtypes of PEs were more likely to be associated with poor mental health status and help-seeking behaviour in a non-clinical sample of young adults.

Evaluation of secondary school teachers' knowledge about psychosis: a contribution to early detection.

Aims: We sought to evaluate secondary school teachers' knowledge about psychosis and their level of interest in this topic given the key role they may be able to play in the early detection of psychosis.

Methods: A questionnaire survey of 268 secondary school teachers from eight secondary schools within the Azienda Sanitaria Locale Rome/E and Rome/A catchment areas (two of the five city health districts) in Rome. Teachers were asked to complete the Italian version Esperienza e Conoscenza delle Difficoltò Sociali ed Emotive dei Giovani of the Knowledge and Experience of Social Emotional Difficulties among Young people self-report questionnaire that investigates the diagnosis, age of onset, aetiology, prognosis and treatment of psychosis.