Identification of adolescent patients with depression via assessment of the niacin skin flushing response.

Background: Depressive disorder (DD) affects approximately 20 % of adolescents worldwide, but it is underdiagnosed due to the lack of objective biomarkers. Niacin skin flushing response (NSFR) is an objective and noninvasive biomarker of adult depression; however, its effectiveness has not been assessed in adolescents.

Methods: This study included 198 adolescents with 50 % healthy controls (HC).

Comparison of clinical characteristics and treatment efficacy in childhood-onset schizophrenia and adolescent-onset schizophrenia in mainland China: A retrospective study.

Aim: The comparative study of childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) and adolescent-onset schizophrenia (AOS) is scarce. This study aimed to examine the differences in clinical presentations and treatment efficacy between COS and AOS and further analyse the factors affecting the efficacy of early-onset schizophrenia (EOS).

Methods: A total of 582 electronic medical records of inpatients with EOS (216 COS and 366 AOS inpatients) between 2012 and 2019 were retrospectively analysed.

Analysis of the status of drug treatment in 746 inpatients with early-onset schizophrenia in China: a retrospective study.

Background: There is limited evidence on the use of antipsychotics in patients with early-onset schizophrenia, which lags significantly behind the studies on adult patients' medication and has a large disparity from actual clinical needs. Hence, this study aims to analyse the status of the drug use and its changes for patients with early-onset schizophrenia in our ward and to provide references on clinical medications for children and adolescents with schizophrenia.

Methods: The distribution of antipsychotics on the day of discharge and their changes over time were retrospectively analysed in our inpatient department from March 2012 to July 2019.

Autism spectrum disorder as early neurodevelopmental disorder: evidence from the brain imaging abnormalities in 2-3 years old toddlers.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that occurs within the first 3 years of life, which is marked by social skills and communication deficits along with stereotyped repetitive behavior. Although great efforts have been made to clarify the underlying neuroanatomical abnormalities and brain-behavior relationships in adolescents and adults with ASD, literature is still limited in information about the neurobiology of ASD in the early age of life. Brain images of 50 toddlers with ASD and 28 age, gender, and developmental quotient matched toddlers with developmental delay (DD) (control group) between ages 2 and 3 years were captured using combined magnetic resonance-based structural imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).