The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R): Further psychometric examination and its adaptation to the DSM-5 in Iranian patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) as a self-report questionnaire evaluates six obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. The present study aimed to further evaluate the psychometric properties of a pre-existing Persian version of the OCI-R (i.e., six-factor structure, reliability and validity) and its adaptation to the DSM-5 recommendations in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Three hundred and two individuals with OCD completed the OCI-R and other measures of OCD and general psychological distress. The results showed that the Persian version of the OCI-R replicated the six-factor model of the original OCI-R. Also, the five-factor structure of the scale with deleting the hoarding subscale's items had a better fit to the data than the original six-factor OCI-R. In addition, the Persian version of the OCI-R has been found to have good reliability (e.g., internal consistency and test-retest) and convergent and discriminant validity. The findings suggest that the Persian version of the OCI-R has a six-factor structure similar to the original scale. In addition, a five-factor structure by removing the hoarding subscale's items adapted to the DSM-5 is a valid scale in Iranian OCD patients. © 2020 Elsevier Inc

The role of Tetrahydrocannabinol in inducing disrupted signaling cascades, hippocampal atrophy and memory defects

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a major psychoactive constituent of marijuana, can substantially change the function of several brain areas, leading to behavioral impairment including memory and learning dysfunction. Given the importance of hippocampus as one of the chief parts of the brain involved in memory processing, the present study seeks to investigate structural and histological alterations in hippocampus as well as behavioral defects provoked by THC treatment. Besides, using genome-wide sequencing, we adopted a pathway-based approach to discover dysregulated molecular pathways. Our results demonstrated remarkable hippocampal atrophy, and also interrupted memory function and long term potentiation (LTP) under THC exposure. We also detected several dysregulated signaling pathways involved in synaptic plasticity as well as cell-cell interaction in the hippocampus of THC-treated rats. Overall, the results indicate a potential correlation between disrupted signaling cascades, hippocampal atrophy and memory defects caused by THC treatment. © 2021 Elsevier B.V