European college of neuropsychopharmacology network on the prevention of mental disorders and mental health promotion (ECNP PMD-MHP).

Prevention is the most promising way to reduce the high personal, familial, societal, clinical and economic costs of mental disorders in Europe and worldwide. A complementary approach is to go beyond the prevention of mental ill health, to promote good mental health. This manuscript highlights the first European consortium fostering cutting-edge multidisciplinary research in these two areas.

Detecting schizophrenia at the level of the individual: relative diagnostic value of whole-brain images, connectome-wide functional connectivity and graph-based metrics.

Background: Previous studies using resting-state functional neuroimaging have revealed alterations in whole-brain images, connectome-wide functional connectivity and graph-based metrics in groups of patients with schizophrenia relative to groups of healthy controls. However, it is unclear which of these measures best captures the neural correlates of this disorder at the level of the individual patient.

Methods: Here we investigated the relative diagnostic value of these measures.

Mobile App-Based Intervention for Adolescents With First-Episode Psychosis: Study Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Previous studies have shown an improvement in the access to treatment for patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP), specifically young patients, through mobile app-based interventions. The aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of a mobile app-based intervention to improve community functioning in adolescents with FEP. Mobile app-based interventions could increase quality of life and disease awareness, which improve adherence to treatment and reduce the frequency of relapses and rehospitalizations in adolescents with FEP.

Radiation Oncology Teaching Programmes as Part of the Undergraduate Degree in Medicine in Spanish Universities: the Need for an Update of the Contents and Structure.

The relevance of radiation oncology (RO) teaching in the Faculty of Medicine Degree Plan is justified by the high number of cancer patients who will require it at some point in their evolution of radiotherapy (RT). About 40 % of the population who will suffer cancer will be cured by RT alone or other related treatment modalities. Therefore, cancer education and RT teaching needs to have an in depth impact in the undergraduate medicine programmes.

Psychoeducational Group Intervention for Adolescents With Psychosis and Their Families: A Two-Year Follow-Up.

Objective: To investigate whether the beneficial effects of a structured, psychoeducational, parallel-group program for adolescents with early-onset psychosis and their families observed immediately after the intervention were maintained 2 years later.

Method: The present study examines the longitudinal efficacy of a randomized controlled trial based on a psychoeducational, problem-solving, structured group intervention for adolescents with early-onset psychosis and their families (PE) and compares it with that of a nonstructured group intervention (NS) after a 2-year follow-up. We analyzed whether the differences between PE and NS found after the intervention persisted 2 years later.

Functional remediation in bipolar disorder: 1-year follow-up of neurocognitive and functional outcome.

Background: Few randomised clinical trials have examined the efficacy of an intervention aimed at improving psychosocial functioning in bipolar disorder.

Aims: To examine changes in psychosocial functioning in a group that has been enrolled in a functional remediation programme 1 year after baseline.

Method: This was a multicentre, randomised, rater-masked clinical trial comparing three patient groups: functional remediation, psychoeducation and treatment as usual over 1-year follow-up.

Effects of functional remediation on neurocognitively impaired bipolar patients: enhancement of verbal memory.

Background: Functional remediation is a novel intervention with demonstrated efficacy at improving functional outcome in euthymic bipolar patients. However, in a previous trial no significant changes in neurocognitive measures were detected. The objective of the present analysis was to test the efficacy of this therapy in the enhancement of neuropsychological functions in a subgroup of neurocognitively impaired bipolar patients.

Neuropsychological characteristics of child and adolescent offspring of patients with bipolar disorder.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental disorder with a strong genetic component. The assessment of child and adolescent offspring of patients diagnosed with BD (BDoff) provides an opportunity to investigate vulnerability factors and the first abnormalities associated with the disorder. Previous literature in child and adolescent BDoff is scarce and controversial.

BDNF and NGF Signalling in Early Phases of Psychosis: Relationship With Inflammation and Response to Antipsychotics After 1 Year.

Previous studies have indicated systemic deregulation of the proinflammatory or anti-inflammatory balance in individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP) that persists 12 months later. To identify potential risk/protective factors and associations with symptom severity, we assessed possible changes in plasma levels of neurotrophins (brain-derived neurotrophic factor [BDNF] and nerve growth factor [NGF]) and their receptors in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Expression of the 2 forms of BDNF receptors (active TrkB-FL and inactiveTrkB-T1) in PBMCs of FEP patients changed over time, TrkB-FL expression increasing by 1 year after diagnosis, while TrkB-T1 expression decreased.

Sources of clinical distress in young people at ultra high risk of psychosis.

Background: Substantial controversy has been generated since the proposal to include "Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome" in DSM-5, based on research criteria used to identify young people at "ultra high risk" (UHR) for psychosis. The syndrome was ultimately included in the section for further research. The criteria specified that the person experienced attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS) that were sufficiently distressing to warrant clinical attention.

Towards stage specific treatments: effects of duration of illness on therapeutic response to adjunctive treatment with N-acetyl cysteine in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a chronic and often debilitating disorder in which stage of illness appears to influence course, outcome, prognosis and treatment response. Current evidence suggests roles for oxidative, neuroinflammatory, neurotrophic, apoptotic, mitochondrial and glutamatergic systems in the disorder; all targets of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC). A double blind, placebo controlled trial suggested NAC to be beneficial to those diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Predictors of schizophrenia spectrum disorders in early-onset first episodes of psychosis: a support vector machine model.

Identifying early-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) at a very early stage remains challenging. To assess the diagnostic predictive value of multiple types of data at the emergence of early-onset first-episode psychosis (FEP), various support vector machine (SVM) classifiers were developed. The data were from a 2-year, prospective, longitudinal study of 81 patients (age 9-17 years) with early-onset FEP and a stable diagnosis during follow-up and 42 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC).

Intervention for adolescents with early-onset psychosis and their families: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: The present study aims to assess the efficacy of a structured psychoeducational group intervention for adolescents with early-onset psychosis and their families. The intervention was implemented in parallel in 2 separate groups by focusing specifically on problem-solving strategies and structured psychosis-related information to manage daily life difficulties associated with the disease, to mitigate crises, and to prevent relapses.

Method: We performed a 9-month, randomized, rater-blinded clinical trial involving 55 adolescent patients with early-onset psychosis and either or both of their parents.