Lower confidence and increased error sensitivity in OCD patients while learning under volatility.

A decoupling between confidence and action could relate to compulsive behaviour as seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The link between confidence and action in OCD has been investigated in clinical case-control studies and in the general population with discrepant findings. The generalizability of findings from highly-compulsive general population samples to clinical OCD samples has been questioned.

Efficacy of naproxen in patients with sciatica: multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

This trial assessed the efficacy of naproxen in patients with sciatica in outpatient clinics across 4 Norwegian hospitals. A total of 123 adults with radiating pain below the knee (≥4 on a 0-10 numeric rating scale) and signs consistent with nerve root involvement were included. Participants were randomized to receive either naproxen 500 mg or a placebo twice daily for 10 days.

Physical activity following pulmonary embolism and clinical correlates in selected patients: a cross-sectional study.

Background: There is limited knowledge regarding physical activity and clinical correlates among people who have suffered a pulmonary embolism (PE).

Objectives: To assess physical activity levels after PE and potential clinical correlates.

Methods: One hundred forty-five individuals free of major comorbidities were recruited at a mean of 23 months (range, 6-72) after PE diagnosis.

Development and validation of the Autonomy Scale Amsterdam.

This paper describes the development and validation of the Autonomy Scale Amsterdam (ASA). We propose that a new measure of autonomy is needed and, as such, we developed and validated an autonomy scale relevant for psychiatry. Based on literature, an expert meeting and three samples of the general population (N = 298, N = 207, N = 309) we provide evidence (a) that supports a 6-factor structure model as a better fit than alternative models with a high reliability to capture the concept of autonomy consisting of: Self-integration, Engagement with life, Goal-directedness, Self-control, External constraints and Social support, (b) for the scale's convergent and discriminant validity with constructs in autonomy's nomological network and (c) for the scale's criterion validity with well-established well-being outcomes, and (d) that the measure is not redundant with a prior measure of autonomy, the autonomy-connectedness scale, and demonstrates incremental validity in the prediction of mental health over and above an existing measure of autonomy.

Learning and metacognition under volatility in GD: Lower learning rates and distorted coupling between action and confidence.

Background And Aims: Decisions and learning processes are under metacognitive control, where confidence in one's actions guides future behaviour. Indeed, studies have shown that being more confident results in less action updating and learning, and vice versa. This coupling between action and confidence can be disrupted, as has been found in individuals with high compulsivity symptoms.

Impulsivity across severe mental disorders: a cross-sectional study of immune markers and psychopharmacotherapy.

Background: Impulsivity is a transdiagnostic feature linked to severe clinical expression and a potential target for psychopharmacological strategies. Biological underpinnings are largely unknown, but involvement of immune dysregulation has been indicated, and the effects of psychopharmacological agents vary. We investigated if impulsivity was associated with circulating immune marker levels and with a range of psychopharmacological treatment regimens in severe mental disorders.

Confidence and risky decision-making in gambling disorder.

Background And Aims: People with Gambling Disorder (GD) often make risky decisions and experience cognitive distortions about gambling. Moreover, people with GD have been shown to be overly confident in their decisions, especially when money can be won. Here we investigated if and how the act of making a risky choice with varying monetary stakes impacts confidence differently in patients with GD (n = 27) relative to healthy controls (HCs) (n = 30).

The relationship between the brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurocognitive response to physical exercise in individuals with schizophrenia.

Objective: Physical exercise can improve neurocognition in individuals with schizophrenia, presumably by facilitating neuroplasticity. There is, however, large inter-individual variation in response. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been proposed to mediate these effects.

Differences in metacognitive functioning between obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and highly compulsive individuals from the general population.

Background: Our confidence, a form of metacognition, guides our behavior. Confidence abnormalities have been found in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A first notion based on clinical case-control studies suggests lower confidence in OCD patients compared to healthy controls.

Development of a Communication Tool for Handoffs Involving Patients Cared for by Sitters: An Evidence-Based Practice Project.

Problem: Communication has been found to be central to patient safety and colleague engagement. Poor communication was identified in a Level III trauma hospital in the midwestern US between "sitters" (staff members assigned to monitor patients identified as having safety concerns) and the nurses assigned to care for those patients, including lack of a formal handoff process.

Approach: A Patient/Problem, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (PICO) statement guided an evidence-based project and identification of an intervention to improve the handoff process.

Brain volumes in alcohol use disorder: Do females and males differ? A whole-brain magnetic resonance imaging mega-analysis.

Emerging evidence suggests distinct neurobiological correlates of alcohol use disorder (AUD) between sexes, which however remain largely unexplored. This work from ENIGMA Addiction Working Group aimed to characterize the sex differences in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) correlates of AUD using a whole-brain, voxel-based, multi-tissue mega-analytic approach, thereby extending our recent surface-based region of interest findings on a nearly matching sample using a complementary methodological approach. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from 653 people with AUD and 326 controls was analyzed using voxel-based morphometry.

Does the clot burden as assessed by the Mean Bilateral Proximal Extension of the Clot score reflect mortality and adverse outcome after pulmonary embolism?

Background: Rapid diagnosis and risk stratification are important to reduce the risk of adverse clinical events and mortality in acute pulmonary embolism (PE). Although clot burden has not been consistently shown to correlate with disease outcomes, proximally located PE is generally perceived as more severe.

Purpose: To explore the ability of the Mean Bilateral Proximal Extension of the Clot (MBPEC) score to predict mortality and adverse outcome.

The Effects of Exercise Training in Patients With Persistent Dyspnea Following Pulmonary Embolism: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Persistent dyspnea, functional limitations, and reduced quality of life (QoL) are common following pulmonary embolism (PE). Rehabilitation is a potential treatment option, but the scientific evidence is limited.

Research Question: Does an exercise-based rehabilitation program improve exercise capacity in PE survivors with persistent dyspnea?

Study Design And Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted at two hospitals.

Striatal ups or downs? Neural correlates of monetary reward anticipation, cue reactivity and their interaction in alcohol use disorder and gambling disorder.

Background And Aims: Dysfunction of the striatum, a brain region part of the mesolimbic reward system, is a key characteristic of addictive disorders, but neuroimaging studies have reported conflicting findings. An integrative model of addiction points to the presence or absence of addiction-related cues as an explanation for hyper- or hypoactivation, respectively, of the striatum.

Methods: To test this model directly, we investigated striatal activation during monetary reward anticipation in the presence versus absence of addiction-related cues using functional MRI.

Goal-directed and habitual decision making under stress in gambling disorder: An fMRI study.

The development of addictive behaviors has been suggested to be related to a transition from goal-directed to habitual decision making. Stress is a factor known to prompt habitual behavior and to increase the risk for addiction and relapse. In the current study, we therefore used functional MRI to investigate the balance between goal-directed 'model-based' and habitual 'model-free' control systems and whether acute stress would differentially shift this balance in gambling disorder (GD) patients compared to healthy controls (HCs).

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are not associated with hypercoagulability in apparently healthy people.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 adenoviral vector DNA vaccines have been linked to the rare but serious thrombotic postvaccine complication vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia. This has raised concerns regarding the possibility of increased thrombotic risk after any SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Objectives: To investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 vaccines cause coagulation activation leading to a hypercoagulable state.

The role of attention in decision-making under risk in gambling disorder: An eye-tracking study.

Gambling disorder (GD) is a behavioural addiction characterized by impairments in decision-making, favouring risk- and reward-prone choices. One explanatory factor for this behaviour is a deviation in attentional processes, as increasing evidence indicates that GD patients show an attentional bias toward gambling stimuli. However, previous attentional studies have not directly investigated attention during risky decision-making.

Cortical profiles of numerous psychiatric disorders and normal development share a common pattern.

The neurobiological bases of the association between development and psychopathology remain poorly understood. Here, we identify a shared spatial pattern of cortical thickness (CT) in normative development and several psychiatric and neurological disorders. Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to CT of 68 regions in the Desikan-Killiany atlas derived from three large-scale datasets comprising a total of 41,075 neurotypical participants.

High-intensity interval training may reduce depressive symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia, putatively through improved VOmax: A randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) may improve cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and mental health. The current observer-blinded RCT investigates the sparsely studied efficiency of HIIT in reducing psychotic and non-psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia and complements previous studies by investigating whether symptom reduction following HIIT is associated with, putatively partly mediated by, increased VOmax.

Methods: Participants (outpatients meeting diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia) were randomized to HIIT ( = 43) or a comparison group performing low-intensity active video gaming (AVG) to control for social interaction ( = 39).

Effects of 10 add-on HF-rTMS treatment sessions on alcohol use and craving among detoxified inpatients with alcohol use disorder: a randomized sham-controlled clinical trial.

Background And Aims: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic disorder with high relapse rates. There are currently few clinical trials of high frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) to reduce alcohol use among AUD patients, and results are mixed. The current study tested the effect of 10 add-on sessions of HF-rTMS over the right dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC) on alcohol use and craving.

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