[ON SWORDS WAR - THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL].

The Iron Swords War broke out with an unprecedented attack of brutality, leaving soldiers, civilians, residents of the Israeli settlements surrounding Gaza, and participants of the Nova Festival severely traumatized. Israel was exposed to loss, bereavement, sexual abuse, kidnapping of civilians and soldiers, including children, women, and the elderly. Identification of bodies to be brought to honorable burial, while simultaneously organizing for combat and the ongoing war, resulted in physical and mental injuries.

Efficacy of oral versus long-acting antipsychotic treatment in patients with early-phase schizophrenia in Europe and Israel: a large-scale, open-label, randomised trial (EULAST).

Background: Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with periods of remission and relapse. As discontinuation of antipsychotic medication is the most important reason for relapse, long-term maintenance treatment is key. Whether intramuscular long-acting (depot) antipsychotics are more efficacious than oral medication in preventing medication discontinuation is still unresolved.

Over-Reporting of Somatic and Psychiatric PTSD Symptoms Among People Who Experienced Motor Vehicle Accidents and Did Not Seek Psychiatric Help in a Primary Care Setting.

Background: Over-reporting of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms has been observed in some cases, following a motor vehicle accident (MVA). It has been suggested, however, that these are cases of underdiagnoses in primary care settings. The current study focused on people with PTSD in primary care settings who experienced an MVA and do not seek psychiatric help.

The Influence of Substance Abuse on Inhibition Capacities and Risky Decision in a Group of Outpatient Schizophrenia Patients.

Substance abuse is common among patients with schizophrenia, is related to worse course and outcome of illness. Unfortunately, little is known about how substance abuse affects the cognitive function of schizophrenia patients, whose cognitive function is often already comprised. Neurocognitive functioning includes inhibition control and decision-making, and both schizophrenia and substance use disorder are related to impairments of inhibition control.

Social affective context reveals altered network dynamics in schizophrenia patients.

Impairments in social cognition and interactions are core psychopathologies in schizophrenia, often manifesting as an inability to appropriately relate to the intentions and feelings of others. Neuroimaging has helped to demarcate the dynamics of two distinct functional connectivity circuits underlying the social-affective processes related to mentalization (known as Theory of Mind, ToM) and somatic-affiliation (known as Embodied Simulation, ES). While evidence points to abnormal activation patterns within these networks among those suffering from schizophrenia, it is yet unclear however, if these patients exhibit this abnormal functional connectivity in the context of social-affective experiences.

Never resting region--mPFC in schizophrenia.

Reduced functional connectivity (FC) in schizophrenia has been demonstrated either in task related or 'default network' areas, but not between these networks, which interact meaningfully. We examined the role of FC between the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in determining language-lateralization during a language task, and its association with structural integrity of the corpus-callosum. Only schizophrenia patients presented increased mPFC-IFG FC during task, which additionally corresponded to decreased white-matter organization of the corpus-callosum.

Global functional connectivity deficits in schizophrenia depend on behavioral state.

Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric illness characterized by deterioration of cognitive and emotional processing. It has been hypothesized that aberrant cortical connectivity is implicated in the disease (Friston, 1998), yet previous studies of functional connectivity (FC) in schizophrenia have shown mixed results (Garrity et al., 2007; Jafri et al.

Demographic and clinical characteristics of motor vehicle accident victims in the community general health outpatient clinic: a comparison of PTSD and non-PTSD subjects.

Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are the leading cause of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the general population, often with enduring symptomatology. This study details epidemiological and clinical features that characterize PTSD among MVA victims living in a nonhospitalized community setting long after the MVA event, and includes exploration of premorbid and peritraumatic factors. MVA victims (n=60; 23 males, 37 females) identified from the registry of a community general health outpatient clinic during a 7-year period were administered an extensive structured battery of epidemiological, diagnostic and clinical ratings.

Comparison between risperidone, olanzapine, and clozapine in the management of chronic schizophrenia: a naturalistic prospective 12-week observational study.

Risperidone, olanzapine, and clozapine are three atypical antipsychotic medications commonly used in the management of chronic schizophrenia. While they offer advantages with regard to clinical efficacy and side-effect profile, few studies have compared them in a naturalistic prospective observational manner. This study therefore investigated their comparative efficacy over 12 weeks including illness characteristics and adverse effects.