The COVID-19 Pandemic and Adolescents' Psychological Distress: A Multinational Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has continued for more than two years, and the impact of this pandemic on mental health has become one of the most important research topics in psychiatry and psychology. The aim of the present study was to assess psychological distress in adolescents across five countries (Sweden, Morocco, Serbia, Vietnam, and the United States of America) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Using nonparametric analyses we examined the impact of COVID-19 on distress, measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory, in a sample of 4670 adolescents.

Measurement properties of the life history of aggression in adolescents: Data from Morocco, Serbia, Sweden, Vietnam, and the USA.

The Life History of Aggression (LHA) is a frequently used scale for assessing trait aggression, but its psychometric properties have not been evaluated among adolescents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the LHA among high school students from Morocco, Serbia, Sweden, Vietnam, and the United States of America (USA). The total sample included 4867 adolescents, aged 15-19 years, from Morocco (n = 508), Serbia (n = 1067), Sweden (n = 1570), Vietnam (n = 1401), and the USA (n = 321).

Varenicline treatment of concurrent alcohol and nicotine dependence in schizophrenia: a randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial.

Alcohol and nicotine dependence are common in schizophrenia. Varenicline is effective in smoking cessation and has also been shown to decrease alcohol consumption in smokers. The present pilot study assessed the safety and effectiveness of varenicline for treatment of concurrent nicotine and alcohol dependence in schizophrenia.

Evaluation of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and DNA-repair genes as potential biomarkers for ethanol-induced CNS alterations.

Background: Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) lead to alterations in central nervous system (CNS) architecture along with impaired learning and memory. Previous work from our group and that of others suggests that one mechanism underlying these changes is alteration of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and DNA-repair in neural stem cells (NSCs) produced as a consequence of ethanol-induced effects on the expression of genes related to p53-signaling. This study tests the hypothesis that changes in the expression of p53-signaling genes represent biomarkers of ethanol abuse which can be identified in the peripheral blood of rat drinking models and human AUD subjects and posits that specific changes may be correlated with differences in neuropsychological measures and CNS structure.

Psychiatric symptoms in systemic lupus erythematosus: a systematic review.

Objective: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) presents with psychiatric symptoms in most patients that often remain undiagnosed and untreated. This study evaluates the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in SLE on the basis of clinical trials that fulfilled diagnostic criteria specified by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). Current hypotheses explaining the pathogenesis of psychiatric symptoms of lupus are reviewed to gain new insights into the neuroimmune pathogenesis of other psychiatric disorders.

Accuracy of self-reported medical problems in patients with alcohol dependence and co-occurring schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Background: Schizophrenia and alcohol dependence (AD) are both major risk factors for a variety of medical problems, yet little is known about the medical status of patients in whom both conditions coexist.

Objective: The objectives of this study are to assess accuracy of self-reported medical problems and to compare the accuracy reports in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and co-occurring AD compared to patients with AD only and to controls. Our hypothesis was that medical problems are under-reported in patients with co-occurring disorders, possibly due to the combination of alcohol use and symptoms of schizophrenia.

Predictors of smoking severity in patients with schizophrenia and alcohol use disorders.

The goal of the present study was to identify predictors of smoking severity in patients with schizophrenia and co-occurring alcohol use disorders (AUD). Our hypothesis was that negative symptoms of schizophrenia, severity of depression, male gender, drinking severity, and recreational drug use were associated with increased smoking. Clinical data, including demographic variables, alcohol and substance use severity, psychiatric medications, severity of depression, positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia were analyzed in a cohort of 90 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and AUD.

Medical comorbidity in patients with schizophrenia and alcohol dependence.

Background: Schizophrenia and alcohol dependence are major risk factors for a variety of medical problems, yet there has been little research on the medical status of patients in whom both conditions coexist.

Methods: We assessed the prevalence and severity of medical illness in 80 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and comorbid alcohol use disorders who entered a controlled trial of monitored naltrexone treatment, and analyzed the relationship between medical illness burden and demographic variables, alcohol and other substance use, and psychosis. Participants underwent physical examination, laboratory tests, medical record review and standardized assessments of medical illness burden, alcohol and other substance use, and psychosis.