Efficacy of Lurasidone in First-Episode Psychosis: Patient Phenotypes, Dosage, and Recommendations from an Expert Panel.

Introduction: For patients with psychosis, early, intensive therapeutic intervention is thought to improve long-term outcomes. Furthermore, patients with a first-episode psychosis (FEP) who experience a good early response to antipsychotic medication show a clinical and functional benefit over the longer term if they continue low-dose antipsychotic treatment. Lurasidone is an atypical antipsychotic agent which is approved in Europe for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults and adolescents (13-17 years).

Substance use disorders and cooperative research on addictions: Spanish approach as a model.

Substance use disorders (SUD), also named addiction when it is severe, is a chronic brain disorder with serious impact on individual who suffer, the public health and with high burden of disease. They are multitude of mechanisms/factors involved in addiction: from individual characteristics of the person (from genetic to impacts of stress, sex, and age) to social and environmental situation (availability and accessibility of substances, cultural and legal aspects, socio-economical situation) and type of substance of use (pharmacological characteristics) Then, research on Addiction must include different, complementary, and translational perspectives. In this review, we explore the neurobiological, psychosocial, and epidemiological knowledge of substance addiction, and the main role played by pharmacology in the research in this field.

Electronic interventions in primary care to address substance use: A systematic review.

The present systematic review aims to identify electronic interventions for addressing substance use and understand their effectiveness in primary care settings. A systematic search was carried out in the Web of Science, PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Cochrane Library. The search included the keywords "electronic intervention", "substance use", "primary care" and synonyms.

Clinical features of individuals with laboratory values suggestive of advanced liver fibrosis when first treated for alcohol use disorder.

Background: Effective screening for alcohol-associated liver disease is relevant in the context of chronic, excessive alcohol consumption. Patients with alcohol-associated liver disease are often not diagnosed until their liver disease is decompensated. We analyzed the prevalence and associations of Fibrosis-4 index (FIB-4) values suggestive of advanced liver fibrosis in patients referred for their first treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD).

An International, Multidisciplinary Consensus Set of Patient-Centered Outcome Measures for Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders.

In 1990, the United States' Institute of Medicine promoted the principles of outcomes monitoring in the alcohol and other drugs treatment field to improve the evidence synthesis and quality of research. While various national outcome measures have been developed and employed, no global consensus on standard measurement has been agreed for addiction. It is thus timely to build an international consensus.

Meta-analysis of the effects of adjuvant drugs in co-occurring bipolar and substance use disorder.

Background: Individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) often have co-occurring substance use disorders (SUDs), which substantially impoverish the course of illness. Despite the importance of this dual diagnosis, the evidence of the efficacy and safety of adjuvant treatments is mostly unknown.

Objective: To perform a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of adjuvant drugs in patients with co-occurring BD and SUD.

Long-Acting Buprenorphine Formulations as a New Strategy for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder.

Long-acting buprenorphine formulations have been recently marketed for the Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT) of opioid use disorder (OUD) associated with medical, social, and psychological support. Their duration of action ranges from one week up to 6 months. The non-medical use of opioids is increasing with a parallel rise in lethal overdoses.

A systematic review of digital interventions for smoking cessation in patients with serious mental illness.

Tobacco smoking is highly prevalent among patients with serious mental illness (SMI), with known deleterious consequences. Smoking cessation is therefore a prioritary public health challenge in SMI. In recent years, several smoking cessation digital interventions have been developed for non-clinical populations.

Associations of hypomagnesemia in patients seeking a first treatment of alcohol use disorder.

Introduction: Hypomagnesemia (hypoMg) has not yet been extensively studied in alcohol use disorder (AUD) . We hypothesize that chronic, excessive alcohol consumption favors oxidative stress and pro-inflammatory alterations that may be exacerbated by hypoMg. The objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence and associations of hypoMg in AUD.

Pharmacological effects of methylone and MDMA in humans.

Methylone is one of the most common synthetic cathinones popularized as a substitute for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, midomafetamine) owing to its similar effects among users. Both psychostimulants exhibit similar chemistry (i.e.

Key implementation factors in telemedicine-delivered medications for opioid use disorder: a scoping review informed by normalisation process theory.

Telemedicine could improve access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Telemedicine-delivered MOUD (TMOUD) has expanded substantially in response to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on in-person clinical contact, yet this expansion has not happened consistently across all health systems and countries. This Review aims to understand key factors in TMOUD implementation that might explain variations in uptake.

Addictive and other mental disorders: a call for a standardized definition of dual disorders.

The persistent difficulty in conceptualizing the relationship between addictive and other mental disorders stands out among the many challenges faced by the field of Psychiatry. The different philosophies and schools of thought about, and the sheer complexity of these highly prevalent clinical conditions make progress inherently difficult, not to mention the profusion of competing and sometimes contradictory terms that unnecessarily exacerbate the challenge. The lack of a standardized term adds confusion, fuels stigma, and contributes to a "wrong door syndrome" that captures the difficulty of not only diagnosing but also treating addictive and other mental disorders in an integrated manner.

Certification program of Addiction Centres for hepatitis C virus elimination in Spain. HepCelentes Project.

Microelimination strategies for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in vulnerable populations, such as users of Addiction Centres (AC), are key for the elimination of hepatitis C. The aim of the HepCelentes project was to design a certification program for AC from the generation of a guide with the criteria to favour the prevention, diagnosis, control, and treatment of HCV in Spain. The project was structured in 4 phases: normalisation, implementation, certification, and communication.

Antidepressant Drugs and COVID-19: A Review of Basic and Clinical Evidence.

The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged the repurposing of existing drugs as a shorter development strategy in order to support clinicians with this difficult therapeutic dilemma. There is evidence to support the theory that some antidepressants can reduce concentrations of different cytokines in humans and animals and, recently, the antiviral activity of some antidepressants against SARS-CoV-2 has been reported. The aims of this narrative review are to evaluate the possible role of antidepressants in the treatment of COVID-19 infection and the possible benefits and risks of patients taking antidepressants for mental disorders and COVID-19 infection.

A rapid assessment of take-home naloxone provision during COVID-19 in Europe.

Background: In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. In the following weeks, most European countries implemented national lockdowns to mitigate viral spread. Services for people who use drugs had to quickly revise their operating procedures to rearrange service provision while adhering to lockdown requirements.

Lifetime Dual Disorder Screening and Treatment Retention: A Pilot Cohort Study.

The coexistence of a substance use disorder and another mental disorder in the same individual has been called dual disorder or dual diagnosis. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of lifetime dual disorder in individuals with alcohol or cocaine use disorder and their retention in treatment. We conducted a pilot cohort study of individuals (n = 1356) with alcohol or cocaine use disorder admitted to treatment in the public outpatient services of Barcelona (Spain) from January 2015 to August 2017 (followed-up until February 2018).

New Psychoactive Substances Consumption in Opioid-Use Disorder Patients.

(1) Background: Since the beginning of the 21st century, the large number and wide chemical variety of new psychoactive substances (NPS) that enter the market every year has become a public health problem. Given the rapidity with which the drug market is changing, many NPS are not clinically investigated and their effects and health risks are unknown. Drug testing is a very useful tool for this purpose, but, unfortunately, it is not very widespread in individuals with opioid-use disorder under detoxification treatment.

A Feasibility Study of Patients with Major Depression and Substance Use Disorders: Vortioxetine as Maintenance Treatment.

Background: Limited studies have evaluated the effectiveness of vortioxetine in real-world settings, and none of them has involved patients with dual depression (major depressive disorder [MDD] and substance use disorder [SUD]). The objective of the study was to describe the effectiveness of vortioxetine in clinical practice and determine its effect on affective symptoms, cognitive function, quality of life, and substance use in patients with MDD and SUD.

Methods: Post-authorization, retrospective, multicenter, descriptive, and observational study in 80 patients with MDD and SUD receiving a maintenance treatment with vortioxetine for six months between January 2017 and April 2021.

New Synthetic Opioids Use among Patients in Treatment for an Opioid Use Disorder in Barcelona.

Introduction: New synthetic opioids (NSO), a class of new psychoactive substances (NPS), have recently emerged and pose an upcoming global public health challenge. The effects produced by NSO are similar to those from morphine, but they present greater pharmacological potency and abuse potential. Due to the increasing number of fatal overdoses and seizures in which NSO have been detected as heroin substitutes or adulterants, individuals with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) represent a vulnerable population.

Abuse Potential of Cathinones in Humans: A Systematic Review.

: Assessing the abuse potential of new substances with central nervous system activity is essential for preventing possible risks of misuse and addiction. The same methodology is recommended for the evaluation of the abuse potential of recreational drugs. This systematic review aims to assess the pharmacological effects related to the abuse potential and pharmacokinetics of cathinones, which are evaluated in both experimental and prospective observational studies in humans.