Publications by authors named "Josep A Ramos-Quiroga"

Article Synopsis
  • This study investigated sex differences in patients experiencing their first episode of mania (FEM) or psychosis (FEP) to develop targeted treatment approaches.
  • A total of 113 patients were assessed across various clinical and neuropsychological domains, revealing that women generally outperformed men in verbal memory and emotional intelligence, while men excelled in working memory.
  • Findings suggest significant interactions between sex and conditions, indicating a need for treatment strategies that consider these differences in cognitive performance and emotional capabilities.
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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition that persists into adulthood in the majority of individuals. While the gut-microbiome seems to be relevant for ADHD, the few publications on gut-microbial alterations in ADHD are inconsistent, in the investigated phenotypes, sequencing method/region, preprocessing, statistical approaches, and findings. To identify gut-microbiome alterations in adult ADHD, robust across studies and statistical approaches, we harmonized bioinformatic pipelines and analyses of raw 16S rRNA sequencing data from four adult ADHD case-control studies (N=312, N=305).

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Aim: To analyze the clinical, neurocognitive, and functional impact of prolactin levels according to sex in patients with a First Episode Psychosis (FEP).

Methods: We measured prolactin levels in 221 non-affective FEP patients treated with antipsychotics (AP) and 224 healthy controls, at baseline and 2-year follow-up. We examined whether the relationships between clinical and functional variables were mediated by prolactin, controlling for antipsychotic use, according to sex.

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Emotional intelligence (EI) and neurocognition (NC) impairments are common in first-episode psychosis (FEP), yet their evolution over time remains unclear. This study identified patient profiles in EI and NC performance in FEP. 98 adult FEP patients and 128 healthy controls (HCs) were tested on clinical, functional, EI, and NC variables at baseline and two-year follow-up (FUP).

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Background: The demand for urgent psychiatric care is increasing, but in Spain there are no clear recommendations for emergency departments (ED) on how to optimize care for patients with psychiatric emergencies. We aimed to provide expert consensus recommendations on the requirements for general hospitals´ emergency departments to treat patients with urgent psychiatric symptoms.

Methods: We used a modified Delphi technique.

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Background: Treatment of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is complex and therefore including patients in the therapeutic process is needed. Patient-Centered Care (PCC) and Shared Decision-Making (SDM) have been associated with greater satisfaction, self-control, and less substance use. However, correlates of SDM have not been investigated in this population.

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Substance use disorder (SUD) is a global health problem with a significant impact on individuals and society. The presentation of SUD is diverse, involving various substances, ages at onset, comorbid conditions, and disease trajectories. Current treatments for SUD struggle to address this heterogeneity, resulting in high relapse rates.

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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are strongly associated with educational attainment (EA), but little is known about their genetic relationship with school performance and whether these links are explained, in part, by the genetic liability of EA. Here, we aim to dissect the polygenic contribution of ADHD and ASD to school performance, early manifestation of psychopathology and other psychiatric disorders and related traits by their relationship with EA. To do so, we tested the association of polygenic scores for EA, ADHD and ASD with school performance, assessed whether the contribution of the genetic liability of ADHD and ASD to school performance is influenced by the genetic liability of EA, and evaluated the role of EA in the genetic overlap between ADHD and ASD with early manifestation of psychopathology and other psychiatric disorders and related traits in a sample of 4,278 school-age children.

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Objectives: Long-acting injectable buprenorphine (LAIB) has demonstrated a good profile for opioid use disorder (OUD) management. However, there is scarce information on LAIB in OUD patients with comorbid mental disorders (dual disorder patients).

Methods: We present a case report on OUD patients with a comorbid mental disorder who have received LAIB for at least 3 months.

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Article Synopsis
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) affects about 1% of people and has a strong genetic component, but previous studies have not fully explained its genetic causes or biological mechanisms.
  • A large genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyzed data from over 53,000 OCD cases and over 2 million control participants, identifying 30 significant genetic markers related to OCD and suggesting a 6.7% heritability from SNPs.
  • The research also found 249 candidate risk genes linked to OCD, particularly in specific brain regions, and showed genetic correlations with various psychiatric disorders, laying the groundwork for further studies and potential treatments.
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Depression is common in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but preventive behavioural interventions are lacking. This randomised controlled, pilot phase-IIa trial aimed to study a physical exercise intervention (EI) and bright light therapy (BLT)-both implemented and monitored in an individual, naturalistic setting via a mobile health (m-health) system-for feasibility of trial design and interventions, and to estimate their effects on depressive symptoms in young people with ADHD. Two hundred seven participants aged 14-45 years were randomised to 10-week add-on intervention of either BLT (10,000 lx; daily 30-min sessions) (n = 70), EI (aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities 3 days/ week) (n = 69), or treatment-as-usual (TAU) (n = 68), of whom 165 (80%) were retained (BLT: n = 54; EI: n = 52; TAU: n = 59).

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Introduction: Negative symptoms (NS) include asociality, avolition, anhedonia, alogia, and blunted affect and are linked to poor prognosis. It has been suggested that they reflect two different factors: diminished expression (EXP) (blunted affect and alogia) and amotivation/pleasure (MAP) (anhedonia, avolition, asociality). The aim of this article was to examine potential sex differences among first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and analyze sex-related predictors of two NS symptoms factors (EXP and MAP) and functional outcome.

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Objectives: To analyse the differences between nurses with and without substance use disorders (SUDs) admitted to a specialised mental health programme.

Design: Retrospective, observational study.

Setting: Specialised mental health treatment programme for nurses in Catalonia, Spain.

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Background: Virtual reality (VR) interventions, based on cognitive behavioral therapy principles, have been proven effective as complementary tools in managing obesity and have been associated with promoting healthy behaviors and addressing body image concerns. However, they have not fully addressed certain underlying causes of obesity, such as a lack of motivation to change, low self-efficacy, and the impact of weight stigma interiorization, which often impede treatment adherence and long-term lifestyle habit changes. To tackle these concerns, this study introduces the VR self-counseling paradigm, which incorporates embodiment and body-swapping techniques, along with motivational strategies, to help people living with obesity effectively address some of the root causes of their condition.

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Pharmacotherapy is an effective treatment modality across psychiatric disorders. Nevertheless, many patients discontinue their medication at some point. Evidence-based guidance for patients, clinicians, and policymakers on rational discontinuation strategies is vital to enable the best, personalized treatment for any given patient.

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Introduction: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood neurodevelopmental disorder, with an estimated prevalence in adulthood of 2.5-3.4%.

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Bipolar disorder (BD) is a heritable mental illness with complex etiology. While the largest published genome-wide association study identified 64 BD risk loci, the causal SNPs and genes within these loci remain unknown. We applied a suite of statistical and functional fine-mapping methods to these loci, and prioritized 17 likely causal SNPs for BD.

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Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often experience challenges in emotion regulation (ER) and emotion dysregulation (ED) which can interfere with their adaptive functioning. This study aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze the evidence on ER/ED in children and/or adolescents with ASD, examining its relationship with the following variables: internalizing and externalizing symptoms, cognitive function and social skills, and the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions addressing ER difficulties. Both electronic and manual searches were conducted to identify potential studies.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the mental health of patients with substance use disorder (SUD). However, few longitudinal studies have been done which examine associations between the pandemic, SUD patients' mental health and their drug use.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine duration of abstinence according to psychiatric status among SUD outpatients followed-up for 18 months from the pandemic related lockdown.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers examined how ADHD relates genetically to various substance use disorders (SUDs) using data from large genome-wide association studies (GWAS).
  • They found strong genetic correlations between ADHD and SUDs like cannabis and opioid use disorder, as well as problematic alcohol and tobacco use, with a notable pleiotropic SNP indicating shared genetic factors.
  • The study suggests that SUDs, particularly problematic alcohol and tobacco use, have a stronger causal effect on ADHD than vice versa, highlighting complex genetic links and shared risk factors contributing to their comorbidity.
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Introduction: Recall of autobiographical events has been found to be impaired in borderline personality disorder (BPD), but few studies have examined if this impairment has brain functional correlates. This study evaluated brain functional alterations during autobiographical recall using medication-naive adolescent patients to avoid potential confounding effects of treatment.

Methods: Thirty-two adolescent female patients with BPD who were never-medicated and without psychiatric comorbidity and 33 matched healthy females underwent fMRI while they viewed individualized cue words that evoked autobiographical memories.

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Objective: : Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD) is commonly defined as the lack of response to two or more anti-depressants with different mechanisms of action. Up to 30% of patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder might be considered to present TRD. The objective of this study was to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of esketamine in patients diagnosed with TRD, who were referred to our program after exhausting all available treatments.

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