Evaluation of an adapted version of the International Trauma Questionnaire for use by people with intellectual disabilities.

Aims: The International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) is a novel assessment instrument that is aligned to the ICD-11 diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD). The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate an adapted version of the ITQ suitable for use by people with intellectual disabilities.

Methods: The ITQ-ID follows the original ITQ, using wording developed in collaboration with a focus group of people with intellectual disabilities The ITQ-ID was administered to 40 people with intellectual disabilities recruited from learning disability forensic and community settings, alongside a Trauma Information Form and the Impact of Event Scale-Intellectual Disabilities (IES-IDs).

Models of Affective Illness: Chronic Mild Stress in the Rat.

This article describes a chronic mild stress (CMS) model for predicting antidepressant response and investigating mechanisms of antidepressant action in rats. Following exposure to a variety of mild stressors for several weeks, the rats' behavior is modified in several ways that parallel symptoms of depression. Among these is a substantial reduction in consumption of a 1% sucrose solution, which models the cardinal symptom of major depression, anhedonia.

Optogenetic stimulation of transmission from prelimbic cortex to nucleus accumbens core overcomes resistance to venlafaxine in an animal model of treatment-resistant depression.

Background: Our earlier study demonstrated that repeated optogenetic stimulation of afferents from ventral hippocampus (vHIP) to the prelimbic region of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) overcame resistance to antidepressant treatment in Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. These results suggested that antidepressant resistance may result from an insufficiency of transmission from vHIP to mPFC. Here we examined whether similar effects can be elicited from major output of mPFC; the pathway from to nucleus accumbens core (NAc).

Optogenetic stimulation of medial prefrontal cortex excites GABAergic cells in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus of Wistar-Kyoto rats exposed to chronic mild stress.

Background: High frequency optogenetic stimulation (OGS) of prelimbic cortex (PLC) has been reported to exert antidepressant-like effects in the chronic mild stress model of depression in Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats, which are non-responsive to antidepressant drugs. Here we have examined the effect of OGS on activity in the PLC and in two other regions implicated in depression, the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and hippocampus (HPC).

Method: OGS was applied to the PLC of WKY rats using the same stress schedule, and the identical placement, virus infection and stimulation parameters, used in the earlier behavioural experiments.

Insufficiency of ventral hippocampus to medial prefrontal cortex transmission explains antidepressant non-response.

Background: There is extensive evidence that antidepressant drugs restore normal brain function by repairing damage to ventral hippocampus (vHPC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). While the damage is more extensive in hippocampus, the evidence of treatments, such as deep brain stimulation, suggests that functional changes in prefrontal cortex may be more critical. We hypothesized that antidepressant non-response may result from an insufficiency of transmission from vHPC to mPFC.

The Experiences of Carers of Adults With Intellectual Disabilities During the First COVID-19 Lockdown Period.

Background: The recent COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread international restrictions, severely impacting on health and social care services. For many individuals with an intellectual disability (ID) this meant reduced access to services and support for them and their carers.

Aim: The aim of this study was to gain insight into the ways parents of adults with ID coped during the first 2020 lockdown period.

Perspectives for therapy of treatment-resistant depression.

A high proportion of depressed patients fail to respond to antidepressant drug treatment. Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is a major challenge for the psychopharmacology of mood disorders. Only in the past decade have novel treatments, including deep brain stimulation (DBS) and ketamine, been discovered that provide rapid and sometimes prolonged relief to a high proportion of TRD sufferers.

The experiences of mothers of children and young people with intellectual disabilities during the first COVID-19 lockdown period.

Background: Recent COVID-19 lockdown restrictions resulted in reduced access to educational, professional and social support systems for children with intellectual disabilities and their carers.

Aim: The aim of this study was to gain insight into the ways mothers of children with intellectual disabilities coped during the first 2020 lockdown period.

Methods: Eight mothers of children with intellectual disabilities were interviewed.

AMPA receptors mediate the pro-cognitive effects of electrical and optogenetic stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex in antidepressant non-responsive Wistar-Kyoto rats.

Background: The chronic mild stress (CMS) procedure is a widely used animal model of depression, and its application in Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats has been validated as a model of antidepressant-refractory depression. While not responding to chronic treatment with antidepressant drugs, WKY rats do respond to acute deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In antidepressant-responsive strains there is evidence suggesting a role for AMPA subtype of glutamate receptor in the action mechanism of both antidepressants and DBS.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of carers of people with intellectual disabilities.

Introduction: The measures implemented to manage the COVID-19 pandemic have been shown to impair mental health. This problem is likely to be exacerbated for carers.

Method: Informal carers (mainly parents) of children and adults with intellectual disabilities, and a comparison group of parents of children without disabilities, completed an online questionnaire.

Genomic Screening of Wistar and Wistar-Kyoto Rats Exposed to Chronic Mild Stress and Deep Brain Stimulation of Prefrontal Cortex.

Stress, a major precipitant of depression, and antidepressants have major impact on synaptic integrity and plasticity in brain areas, such as hippocampus (HPC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). We have recently shown that, unlike Wistar rats, rats of the Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) strain fail to respond to chronic antidepressant treatment after exposure to chronic mild stress (CMS) procedure. However, deep brain stimulation (DBS) of PFC was effective in both strains.

Functional lateralization in the prefrontal cortex of dopaminergic modulation of memory consolidation.

There is increasing evidence of functional lateralization within the rat brain. Here, we have examined the lateralization of dopamine (DA) function in the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) in relation to memory consolidation in the novel object recognition test (NOR). Male Wistar rats received single bilateral or unilateral injections into prelimbic-PFC of agonists (SKF81297; 0.

The role of prefrontal cortex dopamine D2 and D3 receptors in the mechanism of action of venlafaxine and deep brain stimulation in animal models of treatment-responsive and treatment-resistant depression.

Aims: The Wistar-Kyoto rat has been validated as an animal model of treatment-resistant depression. Here we investigated a role of dopamine D2 and D3 receptors in the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex in the mechanism of action of deep brain stimulation in Wistar-Kyoto rats and venlafaxine in Wistar rats.

Methods: Wistar or Wistar-Kyoto rats were exposed chronically to chronic mild stress.