Passive exposure to electronic cigarette aerosol in pregnancy: A case study of a family.

Background: Passive exposure to the aerosols of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has been little studied. We assessed this exposure in late pregnancy in a woman and her 3-year-old child, exposed through e-cigarette use by another household member.

Methods: This prospective longitudinal case study involved a family unit consisting of an e-cigarette user, a pregnant woman who delivered an infant during the study, and the couple's older 3-year-old son.

Cognitive remediation and brain connectivity: A resting-state fMRI study in patients with schizophrenia.

Cognitive remediation is able to improve activation patterns in the frontal lobe but only few data on neuroconnectivity has been reported yet. Resting-state approach is a neuroimaging methodology with potentiality for testing neuroconnectivity in the context of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia. A resting-state fMRI data was acquired in part of the sample (n = 26 patients, n = 10 healthy controls) of a partner study (NCT02341131) testing the effects of cognitive remediation.

BDNF as a marker of response to cognitive remediation in patients with schizophrenia: A randomized and controlled trial.

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is considered to be a putative biomarker for cognitive recovery in schizophrenia. However, current evidence is still scarce for pharmacological treatments, and the use of BDNF as a biomarker has only been tested once with cognitive remediation treatment (CRT).

Methods: A randomized and controlled trial (NCT02341131) with 70 schizophrenia outpatients and 15 healthy volunteers was conducted.

Cortical thickness in regions of frontal and temporal lobes is associated with responsiveness to cognitive remediation therapy in schizophrenia.

Background: Despite the evidence for the efficacy of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) in patients with schizophrenia, comparatively little is known about the potential predictors of good treatment response. We tried to determine whether improvement in cognition following CRT is positively associated with baseline cortical thickness (CTh) or baseline clinical symptoms level or baseline cognitive performance.

Methods: The current work uses data collected in a previous study (Penadés et al.

The integration of cognitive remediation therapy into the whole psychosocial rehabilitation process: an evidence-based and person-centered approach.

Cognitive remediation therapies seem to ameliorate cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia. Interestingly, some improvement in daily functioning can also be expected as a result. However, to achieve these results it is necessary that cognitive remediation is carried out in the context of broader psychosocial rehabilitation involving the learning of other communication, social, and self-control skills.

Executive function needs to be targeted to improve social functioning with Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) in schizophrenia.

While the role of impaired cognition in accounting for functional outcome in schizophrenia is generally established, the relationship between cognitive and functional change in the context of treatments is far from clear. The current paper tries to identify which cognitive changes lead to improvements in daily functioning among persons with chronic schizophrenia who had current negative symptoms and evidenced neuropsychological impairments. In a previous work, Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) was compared with a control therapy, involving similar length of therapist contact but different targets.

Continuation/maintenance treatment with nortriptyline versus combined nortriptyline and ECT in late-life psychotic depression: a two-year randomized study.

Objective: The identification of effective continuation and maintenance strategies for elderly patients with psychotic depression is a critical issue that has not been fully explored. The aim of this study was to assess the tolerability and efficacy of continuation/maintenance electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in elderly patients with psychotic depression after acute ECT remission.

Methods: The authors used a longitudinal, randomized, single-blind design to compare by survival analysis the 2-year outcome of two subgroups of elderly patients with psychotic unipolar depression who were ECT (plus nortriptyline) remitters.

Improvement of psychosocial adjustment to HIV-1 infection through a cognitive-behavioral oriented group psychotherapy program: a pilot study.

The present study evaluated the efficacy of a group therapy program in improving psychosocial adjustment to HIV infection, and tried to identify variables predictive of greater improvement. The outcome of 47 completing patients was analyzed, comparing the measures between T1 (1 month before therapy), and T2 (first session), and between T2 and T3 (last session) using the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test for each dimension of the Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS). The therapy consisted of 16 weekly 2-hour sessions following a structured time-limited cognitive-behavioral group psychotherapy program.

[Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy in elderly psychotic unipolar depression].

Background And Objective: This study was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of continuation/maintenance electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in elderly psychotic major depressed patients after ECT remission.

Patients And Method: Using a longitudinal randomized single-blind design, we compared the two-year outcome of two subgroups of psychotic unipolar depressed elderly patients who were ECT remitters: one treated with a maintenance nortriptyline regimen (n = 13) and one treated with combined maintenance ECT plus nortriptyline (n = 6).

Results: During 2 years of maintenance treatment in elderly psychotic unipolar depressed ECT remitters, relapse/recurrence rates were significantly higher in the nortriptyline subgroup than in the combined ECT plus nortriptyline subgroup.

Prognostic value of frontal functional neuroimaging in late-onset severe major depression.

Background: There is growing evidence of a relationship between frontal neuroimaging and neuropsychological abnormalities and the physiopathology and course of late-onset major depression.

Aims: To assess acute antidepressant response in late-onset major depression in relation to baseline frontal perfusion ratios.

Method: A 99mTc HMPAO single photon emission computed tomographic brain scan was performed in medication-free patients with late-onset major depression, who were then included in a 12-week antidepressant treatment regimen.