Integrating Clinical Neuropsychology and Psychotic Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Analysis of Cognitive Dynamics, Interventions, and Underlying Mechanisms.

: The study aims to provide a comprehensive neuropsychological analysis of psychotic spectrum disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. It focuses on the critical aspects of cognitive impairments, diagnostic tools, intervention efficacy, and the roles of genetic and environmental factors in these disorders. The paper emphasizes the diagnostic significance of neuropsychological tests in identifying cognitive deficiencies and their predictive value in the early management of psychosis.

Clinical implementation of preemptive pharmacogenomics in psychiatry.

Background: Pharmacogenomics (PGx) holds promise to revolutionize modern healthcare. Although there are several prospective clinical studies in oncology and cardiology, demonstrating a beneficial effect of PGx-guided treatment in reducing adverse drug reactions, there are very few such studies in psychiatry, none of which spans across all main psychiatric indications, namely schizophrenia, major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. In this study we aim to investigate the clinical effectiveness of PGx-guided treatment (occurrence of adverse drug reactions, hospitalisations and re-admissions, polypharmacy) and perform a cost analysis of the intervention.

A 12-gene pharmacogenetic panel to prevent adverse drug reactions: an open-label, multicentre, controlled, cluster-randomised crossover implementation study.

Background: The benefit of pharmacogenetic testing before starting drug therapy has been well documented for several single gene-drug combinations. However, the clinical utility of a pre-emptive genotyping strategy using a pharmacogenetic panel has not been rigorously assessed.

Methods: We conducted an open-label, multicentre, controlled, cluster-randomised, crossover implementation study of a 12-gene pharmacogenetic panel in 18 hospitals, nine community health centres, and 28 community pharmacies in seven European countries (Austria, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and the UK).

Adverse Drug Reactions in Relation to Clozapine Plasma Levels: A Systematic Review.

Clozapine is the gold standard for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Serious and even life-threatening adverse effects, mostly granulocytopenia, myocarditis, and constipation, are of great clinical concern and constitute a barrier to prescribing clozapine, thus depriving many eligible patients of a lifesaving treatment option. Interestingly, clozapine presents variable pharmacokinetics affected by numerous parameters, leading to significant inter- and intra-individual variation.

Comment on Keeler et al. Ketamine as a Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: A Narrative Review. 2021, , 4158.

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) represents a difficult therapeutic challenge, with up to 4% prevalence among females and increasing incidence among youth [...

Reliability, validity and psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Altman self rating mania scale.

Background: Although self-rating mania scales have been developed, a lack of such instruments validated for the Greek population is noted. This study aims to examine the validity, reliability and psychometric properties of the Altman Self Rating Mania Scale (ASRM) adapted in Greek (G-ASRM).

Methods: A sample of 86 consecutive inpatient and outpatient bipolar patients diagnosed by the DSM-5 criteria and 37 healthy controls were assessed by using the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and self-administered the G-ASRM.

Economic evaluation in psychiatric pharmacogenomics: a systematic review.

Nowadays, many relevant drug-gene associations have been discovered, but pharmacogenomics (PGx)-guided treatment needs to be cost-effective as well as clinically beneficial to be incorporated into standard health care. To address current challenges, this systematic review provides an update regarding previously published studies, which assessed the cost-effectiveness of PGx testing for the prescription of antidepressants and antipsychotics. From a total of 1159 studies initially identified by literature database querying, and after manual assessment and curation of all of them, a mere 18 studies met our inclusion criteria.

Discrepancies and similarities in the genome-informed guidance for psychiatric disorders amongst different regulatory bodies and research consortia using next generation sequencing-based clinical pharmacogenomics data.

Undoubtedly, pharmacogenomics (PGx) aims in optimizing drug treatment responses whilst also improving the patients' quality of life, either via a reduction of adverse drug reactions and/or an enhancement of drug treatment efficacy. To achieve this, PGx guidance is provided by the two major regulatory bodies in a worldwide level, specifically the U.S.

Nicotine consumption during the prodromal phase of schizophrenia - a review of the literature.

Recent research has fueled a debate concerning the role of nicotine in the emergence of schizophrenia. The three main hypotheses are: (a) the self-medication effect, (b) the causal relationship hypothesis, or (c) the shared diathesis hypothesis. To explore this role, the study of nicotine consumption during the initial prodromal phase of schizophrenia offers important opportunities.

Physiological Basis of the Couvade Syndrome and Peripartum Onset of Bipolar Disorder in a Man: A Case Report and a Brief Review of the Literature.

Rapid hormonal changes during pregnancy as well as psycho-social stressors accompanying parenthood have often been associated with peripartum mood episodes in women with bipolar disorder or with not yet clinically expressed bipolar diathesis. Yet, little is known about the correlation of peripartum onset of bipolar disorder in men. We present the case of a man with bipolar disorder with peripartum onset and subsequent episodes following the peripartum initiation of the disease, as well as the association of the couvade syndrome, as a pathological response to a man due to hormonal shifts observed in males cohabiting with a pregnant female.

Genetic Variations Associated with Sleep Disorders in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review.

Schizophrenic patients commonly suffer from sleep disorders which are associated with acute disease severity, worsening prognoses and a poorer quality of life. Research is attempting to disentangle the complex interplay between schizophrenia and sleep disturbances by focusing not only on demographic and clinical characteristics, but also on the identification of genetic factors. Here, we performed a systematic literature review on the topic of genetic variations in sleep-disordered schizophrenic patients in an attempt to identify high quality investigations reporting scientifically sound and clinically useful data.

Complex posttraumatic stress disorder: The need to consolidate a distinct clinical syndrome or to reevaluate features of psychiatric disorders following interpersonal trauma?

Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (Complex PTSD) has been recently proposed as a distinct clinical entity in the WHO International Classification of Diseases, 11 version, due to be published, two decades after its first initiation. It is described as an enhanced version of the current definition of PTSD, with clinical features of PTSD plus three additional clusters of symptoms namely emotional dysregulation, negative self-cognitions and interpersonal hardship, thus resembling the clinical features commonly encountered in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Complex PTSD is related to complex trauma which is defined by its threatening and entrapping context, generally interpersonal in nature.

Treatment of Tardive Dystonia Induced by Antipsychotics, Old and New.

Objectives: Tardive dystonia is a serious extrapyramidal side effect emerging after long-term treatment with antipsychotics, frequently with a deteriorating course, and unsatisfactory treatment. Presently, clozapine is used for the cotreatment of tardive dystonia and psychosis, at the cost of serious side effects. Apart from clozapine, there have been case reports describing positive effects of quetiapine on dystonic symptoms.

Demographic features and premorbid personality disorder traits in relation to age of onset and sex in paranoid schizophrenia.

Personality disorders in the premorbid period of schizophrenia and particularly in relation to age of onset and sex, seem to be a rather under-researched area. In the present study, 88 patients with paranoid schizophrenia were examined, regarding demographic characteristics and premorbid personality disorder traits, in order to investigate for differences in the premorbid period of the disease, in relation to age of onset and sex. Age cutoff points were set at <30 years and ≥35 years of age for young and late onset groups, respectively.

Pulmonary embolism related to amisulpride treatment: a case report.

Venous thromboembolism has been associated with antipsychotic drugs, but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Hypotheses that have been made include body weight gain, sedation, enhanced platelet aggregation, increased levels of antiphospholipid antibodies, hyperhomocysteinemia, whereas hyperprolactinemia has recently attracted attention as a potential contributing factor. The highest risk has been demonstrated for clozapine, olanzapine, and low-potency first-generation antipsychotics; however, presently there is no data for amisulpride.

Depression in multiple sclerosis: a review of assessment and treatment approaches in adult and pediatric populations.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic demyelinating disease affecting one million people worldwide, with a significant burden of psychiatric comorbidity. Depression is the commonest psychiatric manifestation but still remains largely underdiagnosed and undertreated. The present work reviews current knowledge on diagnosis, assessment, and somatic and psychotherapeutic treatment interventions for depression in adult and pediatric populations of patients with multiple sclerosis.

Frontotemporal dementia, manifested as schizophrenia, with decreased heterochromatin on chromosome 1.

Introduction. Frontotemporal dementia is a disorder of complex etiology, with genetic components contributing to the disease. The aim of this report is to describe a young patient suffering from frontotemporal dementia, misdiagnosed as schizophrenia, related to a genetic defect on chromosome 1.

[Active and prodromal phase symptomatology of young-onset and late-onset paranoid schizophrenia].

Introduction: Young and late onset patients with paranoid schizophrenia were compared, regarding the initial prodromal and active phases of the disorder, in order to examine the influence of age of onset on the prodromal and active phase symptomatology of the disease.

Materials And Methods: We examined 88 consecutively hospitalized patients with paranoid schizophrenia. Age cutoff points were set at <30 years of age for the young, and ≥35 years of age for the late onset group.

Perfusion abnormalities in mild cognitive impairment and mild dementia in Alzheimer's disease measured by pulsed arterial spin labeling MRI.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the transitional clinical stage between cognition in normal aging and dementia, have been linked to abnormalities in brain perfusion. Pulsed arterial spin labeling (PASL) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique for evaluating brain perfusion. The present study aimed to determine regional perfusion abnormalities in 19 patients with mild dementia in AD and 24 patients with MCI as compared to 24 cognitively healthy elderly controls using PASL.