Association between loneliness and hippocampal responses to dynamic social stimuli in psychotic disorders.

Background: The incidence of loneliness has increased over the past several decades worldwide and is particularly common among people with serious mental illnesses. However, this public health problem has been difficult to address, in part because the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying loneliness are poorly understood.

Methods: To investigate these mechanisms, a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was conducted which accounted for known cognitive biases associated with loneliness.

Does the Etiology, Phenomenology and Motor Subtype of Delirium Differ When It Occurs in Patients With An Underlying Dementia?: A Multi-Site, International Study.

Objectives: To compare the etiology, phenomenology and motor subtype of delirium in patients with and without an underlying dementia.

Methods: A combined dataset (n = 992) was collated from two databases of older adults (>65 years) from liaison psychiatry and palliative care populations in Ireland and India. Phenomenology and severity of delirium were analysed using the Delirium Symptom Rating Scale Revised (DRS-R98) and contributory etiologies for the delirium groups were ascertained using the Delirium Etiology Checklist (DEC).

Microstructural and Microvascular Alterations in Psychotic Spectrum Disorders: A Three-Compartment Intravoxel Incoherent Imaging and Free Water Model.

Background And Hypothesis: Microvascular and inflammatory mechanisms have been hypothesized to be involved in the pathophysiology of psychotic spectrum disorders (PSDs). However, data evaluating these hypotheses remain limited.

Study Design: We applied a three-compartment intravoxel incoherent motion free water imaging (IVIM-FWI) technique that estimates the perfusion fraction (PF), free water fraction (FW), and anisotropic diffusion of tissue (FAt) to examine microvascular and microstructural changes in gray and white matter in 55 young adults with a PSD compared to 37 healthy controls (HCs).

Anxiety in a Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service: patient characteristics, management, and outcomes.

Objectives: To outline characteristics of patients with anxiety diagnoses attending a Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service (SPMHS) in Ireland, the mental health care received by those patients, mental health and obstetric outcomes for those patients, and immediate neonatal outcomes for their babies.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted of patients with antenatal anxiety diagnoses who attended the SPMHS in University Maternity Hospital Limerick, from initiation of the service to the end of its first year.

Results: Data were collected on 100 patients, 81 with a mental health diagnosis prior to attending the SPMHS, 32 with prior engagement with psychiatry, and 23 with a previous perinatal diagnosis.