Associations of High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein and Interleukin-6 with Depression in a Sample of Italian Adolescents During COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: Many studies highlighted the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of depression, although not for every patient nor for every symptom. It is widely shared that stressors can increase inflammation and lead to depressive symptoms. Little is known about the symptom-specificity of the inflammation-depression link in adolescence, which we aimed to explore.

Depressive risk among Italian socioeconomically disadvantaged children and adolescents during COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional online survey.

Background: Children and adolescents and low-income individuals are considered particularly vulnerable for mental health implications during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Depression is a frequent negative emotional response during an epidemic outbreak and is also prone importantly to environmental risk like stressors derived from income inequality. We aimed to assess depressive symptomatology in a sample of Italian low-income minors during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sex Differences in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Focus on High Functioning Children and Adolescents.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has historically been studied, known, and diagnosed in males. Females tend to remain unidentified, especially those with average intelligence abilities. This sex/gender difference might be partially explained by biological risk factors, but it is probably also bound to methodological issues.

Vitamin D Deficiency in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Vitamin D plays a role in central nervous system (CNS) development. Recent literature focused on vitamin D status in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but with inconsistent results. Our case-control study is aimed at evaluating serum 25-hydroxyl-vitamin D (25(OH)D) concentration in children with ASD (ASD group, = 54) compared to children affected by other neurological and psychiatric disorders (non-ASD group, = 36).

Glucose Metabolism, Thyroid Function, and Prolactin Level in Adolescent Patients With First Episode of Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders.

Schizophrenia and affective spectrum disorders (ASD) typically begin in adolescence or early adulthood. The pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these disorders are still not fully understood, and recent studies have suggested an involvement of dysfunctions in cardiometabolic and neuroendocrine systems at the onset of both disorders. In this context, we aimed to assess thyroid function, prolactin level, glucose metabolism, and lipid profile in drug naive adolescents, comparing patients with first episode of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) and patients with ASD.

Validation of the Transition Readiness and Appropriateness Measure (TRAM) for the Managing the Link and Strengthening Transition from Child to Adult Mental Healthcare in Europe (MILESTONE) study.

Objective: Young people moving from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) to adult mental health services (AMHS) are faced with significant challenges. To improve this state of affairs, there needs to be a recognition of the problem and initiatives and an urgent requirement for appropriate tools for measuring readiness and outcomes at the transfer boundary (16-18 years of age in Europe). The objective of this study was to develop and validate the Transition Readiness and Appropriateness Measure (TRAM) for assessing a young person's readiness for transition, and their outcomes at the transfer boundary.

Traumatic experiences in childhood and adolescence: a meta-analysis of prospective studies assessing risk for psychosis.

Evidence of the association between traumatic experiences and psychosis are uncertain with respect to temporal order, clinical outcomes and the role of the age and genetic liability. The aim of the present meta-analysis was to explore the temporal relationship between the development of psychosis and traumatic exposure using prospective studies and to examine the role of moderation factors on overall effect sizes. Studies were identified by searching Embase-Ovid, PsycINFO (EBSCO), Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science databases, and yielded an initial total of 9016 papers, leaving finally 23 after the screening process.

Correlation of Health-Related Quality of Life in Clinically Stable Outpatients with Schizophrenia.

Background: Generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scales are increasingly being used to assess the effects of new treatments in schizophrenia. The objective of this study is to better understand the usefulness of generic and condition specific HRQoL scales in schizophrenia by analyzing their correlates.

Methods: Data formed part of the Pattern study, an international observational study among 1379 outpatients with schizophrenia.

Early onset first-episode psychosis during treatment with thalidomide for refractory ulcerative colitis: a case report.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease and schizophrenia spectrum disorders are complex and multifactorial conditions characterized by great variability of age at onset, clinical presentation, and longitudinal course. Several lines of evidence suggested different connections among immunological dysregulation, gastrointestinal inflammation, and psychosis, but to date many controversial issues still exist in this field.

Case Presentation: We present the case of a 14-year-old Caucasian boy with refractory ulcerative colitis, admitted to the Child Neuropsychiatry Unit of the Polyclinic Hospital of Bari in the course of his first-episode psychosis.

Sex-Gender Comparisons in Comorbidities of Children and Adolescents With High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Over the last few years, new studies focused their attention on the gender-related features in high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFA), often leading to controversial results. Another interesting aspect of these subtype of patients is linked to the complexity of clinical presentation, where besides core symptoms, other co-occurrence disorders may complicate the diagnostic evaluation. Therefore, we retrospectively studied 159 HFA patients, male and female, investigating their comorbidities and to find any gender difference.

Cognitive, emotional, and behavioral profile in children and adolescents with chronic pain associated with rheumatic diseases: A case-control study.

Background: The prevalence of chronic pain is about 30% in children and adolescents which suffer from severe emotional distress. The aim of this observational study is to investigate cognitive, emotional and behavioral consequences of benign chronic pain in children and adolescents suffering of reumathologic diseases.

Materials And Methods: A total of 49 participants, chronic pain participants (CPPs) and controls (CGPs), affected by rheumatic diseases, were enrolled.

Hyperprolactinemia and insulin resistance in drug naive patients with early onset first episode psychosis.

Background: Hyperprolactinemia and glucose and lipid metabolism abnormalities are often found in patients with schizophrenia and are generally considered secondary to the use of antipsychotic drugs. More recent studies have shown these same neuroendocrine and metabolic abnormalities in antipsychotic naïve patients with first episode psychosis (FEP), rising the hypothesis that schizophrenia itself may be related to an abnormal regulation of prolactin secretion and to impaired glucose tolerance. The aim of this study was to compare prolactin levels, glycometabolism parameters and lipid profile between a sample of 31 drug-naive adolescents in the acute phase of FEP and a control group of 23 subjects at clinical high risk (CHR) of developing psychosis.

Differences in psychopathology and behavioral characteristics of patients affected by conversion motor disorder and organic dystonia.

Purpose: Typically, the diagnosis of conversion motor disorder (CMD) is achieved by the exclusion of a wide range of organic illnesses rather than by applying positive criteria. New diagnostic criteria are highly needed in this scenario. The main aim of this study was to explore the use of behavioral features as an inclusion criterion for CMD, taking into account the relationship of the patients with physicians, and comparing the results with those from patients affected by organic dystonia (OD).

Personality disorders and somatization in functional and organic movement disorders.

Psychiatric disturbances and somatizations are both criteria which support the diagnosis of functional movement disorders. It is unclear, however, whether these factors are helpful in differentiating functional and organic movement disorders. To address this issue, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I and II psychiatric disorders, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory and the "somatization section" of the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule were administered to 31 functional movement disorder patients diagnosed, according to Fahn and Williams criteria and 31 sex- and age-matched control outpatients, with adult-onset dystonia.

Early onset first episode psychosis: dimensional structure of symptoms, clinical subtypes and related neurodevelopmental markers.

Despite the growing interest in a dimensional approach to the assessment of symptoms and clinically relevant phenomena in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, very few studies, to date, have examined the dimensional structure of symptoms in early onset first episode psychosis. In the present study, we assessed a sample of 60 children and adolescents of both sexes with first episode schizophrenia spectrum psychosis. A principal component analysis (PCA) of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was performed and the factors obtained were used to carry out a cluster analysis.

Risperidone and Cardiometabolic Risk in Children and Adolescents: Clinical and Instrumental Issues.

Purpose/background: Although second-generation antipsychotics are used to treat and manage symptoms for several psychiatric disorders, data about their adverse effects in developmental age are limited. The aim of this prospective observational study was to verify the cardiovascular and metabolic risk in a sample of antipsychotic-naive children/adolescent patients starting risperidone therapy.

Methods: Twenty-two patients, younger than 18 years, were recruited.

[ADHD and illegal conduct: a survey in Juvenile Justice Services in Puglia].

Objective: The aim of our study was to identify possible risk factors related to carrying out of illegal conducts by minors on their first offense, and any individual variables, family, economic and socio-cultural related to phenomenon also investigated.

Materials And Methods: The longitudinal study involved the acquisition of a series of biographical information, family, school, behavioral and clinical characteristics of children on their first crime recruited over a year in Puglia Region. For its purpose the study involved the use two standardized clinical scales (Youth Self-Report and Conners Adolescent Self Report Scale).

Parenting stress among parents of children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

In recent years, studies have shown that parents of children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (NDDs) experience more parenting stress than parents of typically developing children, but the relation between the type of disorders and parenting stress is far from clear. The purpose of this study was to compare the parenting stress experienced by parents of 239 children with Specific Learning Disorders (SpLD), Language Disorders (LD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and typical development (TD). Parents of children with NDDs experience more parenting stress than those of children who have TD.

A review of executive function deficits in autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Executive dysfunction has been shown to be a promising endophenotype in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This article reviewed 26 studies that examined executive function comparing ASD and/or ADHD children. In light of findings from this review, the ASD + ADHD group appears to share impairment in both flexibility and planning with the ASD group, while it shares the response inhibition deficit with the ADHD group.

Circulating anti-brain autoantibodies in schizophrenia and mood disorders.

In recent years, an inflammatory autoimmune process, autoantibodies mediated, has been porposed as having a role in the development of different psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to assay organ-specific and non organ-specific circulating autoantibodies in schizophrenia, mood disorders and healthy controls; among organ-specific autoantibodies we focused on different fluorescence patterns of anti-brain autoantibodies against rat and monkey's sections of hippocampus, hypothalamus and cerebellum. Serum samples from 50 acutelly ill patients (30 schizophrenia and 20 mood disorders) and from 20 healthy controls were collected.

Juvenile sex offenders: Personality profile, coping styles and parental care.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in juvenile sex offenders showing that this population is highly heterogeneous. The aim of the present study was to identify possible different profiles that could help understand the motivation behind offending, comparing 31 Juvenile Sexual Offenders (JSOs), 31 Juvenile Sexual Non Offenders (JSNOs) and 31 Juvenile Non Offenders (Control Group). A data collection form, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPI-A) or Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS) and the Parental Bonding Inventory (PBI) were administered to all participants.

Markers of neurodevelopmental impairments in early-onset psychosis.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the association between the clinical and neurobiological markers of neurodevelopmental impairments and early-onset schizophrenia spectrum psychosis.

Methods: A sample of 36 patients with early-onset schizophrenia spectrum psychosis was compared to a control sample of 36 patients with migraine. We assessed early childhood neurodevelopmental milestones using a modified version of the General Developmental Scale, general intellectual ability using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised or Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised for patients with speech and language abnormalities, and neurological soft signs with specific regard to subtle motor impairment.