Assessing Mental Health During an Extreme Weather Event in Southern Brazil.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate mental health factors in individuals affected by the floods in Rio Grande do Sul from May 10 to June 6, 2024.

Methods: A real-time survey was conducted with 1,552 participants. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), and Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) symptom checklist were used to assess mental health outcomes.

Subjective sleep parameters: A marker to PTSD symptoms evolution? A 4-year longitudinal study.

Disturbed sleep is a common feature after exposure to a traumatic event, especially when PTSD develops. However, although there is evidence suggesting a potential role of sleep disturbance in the progression of PTSD symptoms, the interrelationship between sleep and PTSD symptoms has yet to be determined. In order to address this knowledge gap, we have investigated the influence of initial sleep characteristics on the evolution of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms over 4 years of follow-up among individuals exposed to the Brazilian Kiss nightclub fire.

The S20 Brazilian Mental Health Report for Building a Just World and a Sustainable Planet: Part II.

This is the second part of the Brazilian S20 mental health report. The mental health working group is dedicated to leveraging scientific insights to foster innovation and propose actionable recommendations for implementation in Brazil and participating countries. In addressing the heightened mental health challenges in a post-pandemic world, strategies should encompass several key elements.

The S20 Brazilian Mental Health Report for building a just world and a sustainable planet: Part I.

This is the first part of two documents prepared by experts for the Brazilian S20 mental health report. These reports outline strategies aimed at addressing the exacerbated mental health challenges arising from a post-pandemic world. Ongoing psychiatric epidemiology research has yielded evidence linking mental health with intricate social determinants, including gender, race/ethnicity, racism, socioeconomic status, social deprivation, and employment, among others.

How are early-career dementia researchers considered and supported on a national level by dementia plans and organizations? An overview of global policy approaches.

Introduction: Despite representing an essential workforce, it is unclear how global policy efforts target early-career dementia researchers (ECDRs). Thus, this study aimed to provide an overview of policies through which ECDRs are considered and supported by dementia plans and organizations.

Methods: G20 member states were evaluated for their national dementia plan alongside policies of leading dementia organizations.

Personality dimensions, resilience, and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A one-year longitudinal study.

Background: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light a significant surge in depression across diverse populations. While a considerable body of research has linked this upswing to lockdowns and restrictive measures, it is crucial to recognize that lockdowns alone cannot fully elucidate the observed increase in mental health disorders, given the vast array of individual psychological responses.

Objective: This study aims to test e whether personality dimensions (Extroversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism) and resilience play a role in shielding individuals from developing depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, as observed in a sample of Brazilian adults.

Association between NKG2/KLR gene variants and epilepsy in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a set of neurodevelopmental disorders mainly characterized by repetitive, restrictive and stereotypical behaviors, and impaired communication skills. Several lines of evidence indicate that alterations of the immune system account for ASD development, including the presence of brain-reactive antibodies, abnormal T cell activation, altered cytokine levels in brain, cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood circulation, increased levels of circulating monocytes, and dysregulation in Natural Killer (NK) cells activity. Regarding NK cells, a lower cytotoxic activity, a higher level of activation and an increased number of these cells in individuals with ASD have been described.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of frontline healthcare workers in a highly affected region in Brazil.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs), especially in low and middle-income countries, which had to face additional political, social, and economic challenges. We thus aimed to assess the prevalence of mental health outcomes and the associated factors in HCWs treating COVID-19 patients in one of the most affected regions in Brazil.

Methods: We used the Respondent-Driven Sampling method to assess the risks of COVID-19 infection and symptoms of mental disorders in nurses, nursing technicians, and physicians who worked on the frontline in the metropolitan region of Recife.

Race-related population attributable fraction of preventable risk factors of dementia: A Latino population-based study.

Background: Risk factors for dementia have distinct frequency and impact in relation to race. Our aim was to identify differences in modifiable risk factors of dementia related to races and estimate their population attributable fraction (PAF).

Methods: An epidemiological cohort was used to estimate the prevalence of 10 modifiable risk factors for dementia among five races-White, Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous.

Primary somatosensory cortex and periaqueductal gray functional connectivity as a marker of the dysfunction of the descending pain modulatory system in fibromyalgia.

Background: Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) may aid in understanding the link between pain-modulating brain regions and the descending pain modulatory system (DPMS) in fibromyalgia (FM). This study investigated whether the differences in rs-FC of the primary somatosensory cortex in responders and non-responders to the conditioned pain modulation test (CPM-test) are related to pain, sleep quality, central sensitization, and the impact of FM on quality of life.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 33 females with FM.

Psychological trauma as a transdiagnostic risk factor for mental disorder: an umbrella meta-analysis.

This umbrella review is the first to systematically examine psychological trauma as a transdiagnostic risk factor across psychiatric conditions. We searched Pubmed, Scopus, and PsycNET databases from inception until 01/05/2021 for systematic reviews/meta-analyses evaluating the association between psychological trauma and at least one diagnosed mental disorder. We re-calculated the odds ratio (OR), then classified the association as convincing, highly suggestive, suggestive, or weak, based on the number of cases and controls with and without psychological trauma, random-effects p value, the 95% confidence interval of the largest study, heterogeneity between studies, 95% prediction interval, small-study effect, and excess significance bias.

Mental health, functioning, and quality of life in employees who worked in the office vs. from home during the first wave of COVID-19 in Brazil.

Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic early in 2020, followed by a period during which governments imposed strict social distancing measures to slow transmission. However, most essential services remained open, and those working in offices faced a higher risk of infection compared to those working at home. We compare the occurrence and potential determinants of mental health outcomes, functioning, and quality of life (QoL) in a subset of a sample of Brazilian individuals who worked from home and a subset who worked in the office during the first wave of COVID-19.

Predicting treatment response using EEG in major depressive disorder: A machine-learning meta-analysis.

Selecting a course of treatment in psychiatry remains a trial-and-error process, and this long-standing clinical challenge has prompted an increased focus on predictive models of treatment response using machine learning techniques. Electroencephalography (EEG) represents a cost-effective and scalable potential measure to predict treatment response to major depressive disorder. We performed separate meta-analyses to determine the ability of models to distinguish between responders and non-responders using EEG across treatments, as well as a performed subgroup analysis of response to transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and antidepressants (Registration Number: CRD42021257477) in Major Depressive Disorder by searching PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for articles published between January 1960 and February 2022.

Long-term treatment of antipsychotics and combined therapy with other psychotropic medications inducing weight gain in patients with non-affective psychotic disorder: Evidence from GROUP, a longitudinal study.

Introduction: Antipsychotics (APs) can cause weight gain. Little is known about changes in weight when APs are combined with other psychotropics. This study examines the weight change in patients undergoing long-term treatment with APs or with AP combined with other psychotropics.

Post-traumatic stress disorder prevalence and sleep quality in fire victims and rescue workers in southern Brazil: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: This survey was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the sleep quality in victims and rescue team of the third deadliest nightclub fire in the world.

Study Design: A cross-sectional study.

Methods: Participants were victims and rescue workers exposed to a fire at a nightclub, which occurred in January 2013 in Southern Brazil.

Gender, age and geographical representation over the past 50 years of schizophrenia research.

Previous studies have suggested that subjects participating in schizophrenia research are not representative of the demographics of the global population of people with schizophrenia, particularly in terms of gender and geographical location. We here explored if this has evolved throughout the decades, examining changes in geographical location, gender and age of participants in studies of schizophrenia published in the last 50 years. We examined this using a meta-analytical approach on an existing database including over 3,000 studies collated for another project.

DRPLA: An unusual disease or an underestimated cause of ataxia in Brazil?

Background: Dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA) is a rare autosomal dominant spinocerebellar ataxia caused by pathological expansion of CAG trinucleotide repeats in the ATN1 gene. Most cases were described in patients from Japanese ancestry who presented with adult-onset progressive cerebellar ataxia associated with cognitive impairment, choreoathetosis and other movement disorders. DRPLA has been rarely described in Brazilian patients.

Corrigendum: Descriptive Study of Transgender Youth Receiving Health Care in the Gender Identity Program in Southern Brazil.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.

Resilience in severe mental disorders: correlations to clinical measures and quality of life in hospitalized patients with major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

Purpose: To evaluate resilience in severe mental disorders and correlate it with clinical measures and quality of life.

Methods: Resilience (Resilience Scale, RS) and quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire) were prospectively evaluated in a sample of 384 hospitalized patients diagnosed with severe mental disorders (depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia). Clinical outcomes were measured using the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF), Clinical Global Impression (CGI), Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS), Hamilton Scale-Depression (HAM-D), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS).

Mapping of predictors of the disengagement of the descending inhibitory pain modulation system in fibromyalgia: an exploratory study.

Background: The main symptoms of fibromyalgia comprise diffuse pain, disability, depressive symptoms, catastrophizing, sleep disruption and fatigue, associated with dysfunction of the descending pain-modulating system (DPMS).

Objectives: We aimed to identify patterns of main symptoms of fibromyalgia and neuroplasticity biomarkers (i.e.