Correlates of Impaired Timing Abilities in Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review.

This review aimed at summarizing the literature evidence on clinical, cognitive, and neurobiological correlates of impaired timing abilities in schizophrenia (SCZ). Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycInfo by looking at correlates between timing abilities and either symptom severity, cognition, and neurobiological data (imaging and electroencephalography) in individuals with SCZ, without restrictions on study design. A total of 45 articles were selected: associations were identified between impaired timing performance and positive, negative, and disorganization symptoms, as well as with executive functioning, working memory, and attention.

A tale of two constructs: combined assessment of demoralization and subjective incompetence.

Demoralization comprises multiple dimensions. Among them, Subjective Incompetence (SI) is the perception of being incapable of appropriate action in demanding circumstances. SI may be an early sign of demoralization preceding hopelessness, thus we aimed at integrating items related to Subjective Incompetence into the clinical assessment of demoralization.

Maladaptive coping styles moderate the relationship between information on cancer treatment and psychosocial symptoms: an Italian multicenter study.

Objectives: Disclosing information on diagnosis, prognosis and treatment is a delicate process in oncology, although awareness levels have over time increased in people with cancer. However, individual characteristics should be considered when communicating difficult information. We conducted a multicentric study to explore the moderating role of coping styles on the relationship between information about cancer, quality of life and psychological distress.

First episode psychoses in people over-35 years old: uncovering potential actionable targets for early intervention services.

The traditional youth-oriented design of Early Intervention Services (EIS) may lead to the exclusion of patients who have their psychotic onset later in life. A retrospective study was conducted to compare first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients who accessed treatment when aged ≤ 35 years with those ≥36+. A total of 854 patients were identified among 46,222 individuals who had access to community psychiatric services from 1991 to 2021.

Exploring weight bias and negative self-evaluation in patients with mood disorders: insights from the BodyTalk Project.

Background: Negative body image and adverse body self-evaluation represent key psychological constructs within the realm of weight bias (WB), potentially intertwined with the negative self-evaluation characteristic of depressive symptomatology. Although WB encapsulates an implicit form of self-critical assessment, its exploration among people with mood disorders (MD) has been under-investigated. Our primary goal is to comprehensively assess both explicit and implicit WB, seeking to reveal specific dimensions that could interconnect with the symptoms of MDs.

Neural stem/progenitor cells from olfactory neuroepithelium collected by nasal brushing as a cell model reflecting molecular and cellular dysfunctions in schizophrenia.

Objectives: Neural stem/progenitor cells derived from olfactory neuroepithelium (hereafter olfactory neural stem/progenitor cells, ONSPCs) are emerging as a potential tool in the exploration of psychiatric disorders. The present study intended to assess whether ONSPCs could help discern individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) from non-schizophrenic (NS) subjects by exploring specific cellular and molecular features.

Methods: ONSPCs were collected from 19 in-patients diagnosed with SZ and 31 NS individuals and propagated in basal medium.

Dimensions and predictors of clinical and personal recovery in first-episode psychoses: Results from a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: First episode psychosis (FEP) services ensure higher recovery rates compared to usual care. The aim of this study was to investigate the different dimensions of recovery and its predictors.

Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited within those admitted to the Ferrara FEP service since 2012 that at the time of analysis were still receiving psychiatric care.

Violence Against Physicians in the Workplace: Trends, Causes, Consequences, and Strategies for Intervention.

Purpose: Violence against healthcare professionals has become an emergency in many countries. Literature in this area has mainly focused on nurses while there are less studies on physicians, whose alterations in mental health and burnout have been linked to higher rates of medical errors and poorer quality of care. We summarized peer-reviewed literature and examined the epidemiology, main causes, consequences, and areas of intervention associated with workplace violence perpetrated against physicians.

Machine Learning and Non-Affective Psychosis: Identification, Differential Diagnosis, and Treatment.

Purpose Of Review: This review will cover the most relevant findings on the use of machine learning (ML) techniques in the field of non-affective psychosis, by summarizing the studies published in the last three years focusing on illness detection and treatment.

Recent Findings: Multiple ML tools that include mostly supervised approaches such as support vector machine, gradient boosting, and random forest showed promising results by applying these algorithms to various sources of data: socio-demographic information, EEG, language, digital content, blood biomarkers, neuroimaging, and electronic health records. However, the overall performance, in the binary classification case, varied from 0.

Changes of consultation-liaison psychiatry practice in Italian general hospitals: A comparative 20-year multicenter study.

Introduction: Conducted under the auspices of the Italian Society of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry (SIPC) the aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry (CLP) activity in Italy (SIPC-2-2018) over the past 20 years by comparing with data from the first Italian nation-wide study (SIPC-1-1998).

Methods: We collected data on CLP visits of 3,943 patients from 10 Italian hospitals over a period of 1 year. Data were compared with those from the SIPC-1 1998 study (4,183 participants).

Cognitive functioning as predictor and marker of response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in depressive disorders: A systematic review.

Objective: Cognitive performance in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is frequently impaired and related to functional outcomes. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) may exert its effects on MDD acting both on depressive symptoms and neurocognition. Furthermore, cognitive status could predict the therapeutic response of depressive symptoms to rTMS.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Case Series of Long-Term Follow-up.

Objectives: Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been shown to be effective for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). However, long-term (>5 years) studies on the efficacy and tolerability of this treatment have been lacking. Here, we report a long-term clinical follow-up of 5 patients with severe and long-standing TRD, who received a VNS implant.

Poor sleep quality may contribute to dysfunctional illness perception, physical and emotional distress in hospitalised patients: results of a national survey of the Italian Society of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

Distress associated with physical illness is a well-known risk factor for adverse illness course in general hospitals. Understanding the factors contributing to it should be a priority and among them dysfunctional illness perception and poor sleep quality may contribute to it. As poor sleep quality is recognised as a major risk factor for health problems, we aimed to study its association with illness perception and levels of distress during hospitalisation.

Self-Oriented Empathy and Personality Organisation Level: Insights from a Psychiatric Sample.

Objective: Empathy functioning is among the criteria to delineate psychiatric diagnosis. However, the self-oriented empathy dimension is almost neglected in the existing literature. On the basis of previous fragmented contributions, we hypothesised that an individual's level of personality organisation is explained by this facet of empathy more than the other components of empathy, both transversally and independently from the specific psychiatric diagnosis.

Prevalence and Risk Factors for QTc Prolongation in Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization.

Prolongation of corrected QT (QTc) interval increases the risk of severe ventricular arrhythmias, in particular torsades de pointes. Patients with severe mental illness (SMI) represent a vulnerable population. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of QTc prolongation in inpatients with SMI and to identify risk factors for QTc prolongation.

The screen for cognitive impairment in psychiatry in patients with borderline personality disorder.

Cognitive deficits are common in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and appear to be associated with psychopathology, functioning and outcome. The availability of a cognitive screening instrument could be of use in clinical settings in order to assess neurocognition in BPD patients. The Screen for Cognitive Impairment for Psychiatry (SCIP) proved to be reliable in different psychiatric populations, but it has not yet been validated in personality disorders.

Knowledge about risk factors for cancer and cancer risk behavior among patients with severe mental illness.

Objective: To examine knowledge about, perception of and current risk factors for cancer, among patients with severe mental illness (SMI) and to compare these variables with patients without SMI.

Methods: A series of patients affected by SMI (i.e.

Gray matter volume covariance networks are associated with altered emotional processing in bipolar disorder: a source-based morphometry study.

Widespread regional gray matter volume (GMV) alterations have been reported in bipolar disorder (BD). Structural networks, which are thought to better reflect the complex multivariate organization of the brain, and their clinical and psychological function have not been investigated yet in BD. 24 patients with BD type-I (BD-I), and 30 with BD type-II (BD-II), and 45 controls underwent MRI scan.

Mortality from cancer in people with severe mental disorders in Emilia Romagna Region, Italy.

Objective: To examine cancer-related mortality in patients with severe mental disorders (SMI) in the Emilia Romagna (ER) Region, Northern Italy, during the period 2008-2017 and compare it with the regional population.

Methods: We used the ER Regional Mental Health Registry identifying all patients aged ≥18 years who had received an ICD-9CM system diagnosis of SMI (i.e.

Aripiprazole for the treatment of delusional disorders: A systematic review.

Background: Delusional disorder is an uncommon psychotic disorder. The first-line treatments for this chronic and resistant condition are antipsychotic medications, usually associated with several side effects that can exacerbate poor adherence. Conversely, aripiprazole is a well-tolerated antipsychotic drug that is effective in the treatment of other psychotic disorders.