COVID-19 and its consequences on mental health (Review).

As one year is approaching since the beginning of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is important to acknowledge the detrimental effect that it is having on mental health at the individual, societal and public health levels. The current review presents the direct and indirect psychological impact of COVID-19 on the general public, as well as on vulnerable groups, including the elderly, the young, healthcare professionals, people with pre-existing mental health issues, those infected by COVID-19, homeless people and refugees. Important findings are discussed in the present review, including the social stigma in older people associated with portraying COVID-19 as the disease of the elderly, and the limited psychological impact of COVID-19 in the severely mentally ill, alongside the response of the mental healthcare systems globally to this unparalleled public health crisis.

Association between happiness and psychopathology in an elderly regional rural population in Crete.

Research has shown that socio-demographic profile and psychopathology symptoms are related to levels of happiness in old age. The aims of this cross-sectional study were: 1) to investigate the effect of recent stressful life events and socio-demographic factors on psychopathological symptoms in elderly residents in mountain regions of Crete, Greece and 2) to explore the mechanism which underlies the relationship between socio-demographic factors and psychopathological symptoms, with levels of happiness in old age. To this end, we used the nine psychopathology dimensions of symptoms as defined in the Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90), while the Holmes and Rahe stress inventory was administered to quantify the stressful life events.

Effects of olanzapine on cytokine profile and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in drug-naive subjects with first-episode psychosis.

Immunological abnormalities have been implicated in schizophrenia. On the other hand, antipsychotics may exert immunomodulatory effects, by triggering pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory agents through complex homeostatic mechanisms, which seem to be implicated in medication responsiveness and in the presence or not of adverse effects. There is evidence that olanzapine, a second generation antipsychotic, may increase synapse formation and neurogenesis through alterations in the levels of cytokines and neurotrophic factors.

Frequent COL4 mutations in familial microhematuria accompanied by later-onset Alport nephropathy due to focal segmental glomerulosclerosis.

Familial microscopic hematuria (FMH) is associated with a genetically heterogeneous group of conditions including the collagen-IV nephropathies, the heritable C3/CFHR5 nephropathy and the glomerulopathy with fibronectin deposits. The clinical course varies widely, ranging from isolated benign familial hematuria to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) later in life. We investigated 24 families using next generation sequencing (NGS) for 5 genes: COL4A3, COL4A4, COL4A5, CFHR5 and FN1.

Performance of Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) clones on different host-plants and their host preference.

The performance of eighteen clones of Myzus persicae (Sulzer) on pepper and tobacco plants at 20 degrees C and L16:D8 and the choice of young adult apterae between tobacco and pepper leaf-discs were examined. The clones were collected from weeds and peach in two tobacco-growing regions: Katerini, northern Greece and Karditsa, central Greece (only from weeds) and from Lehonia, central eastern Greece where tobacco is not cultivated. All clones did well on both hosts.