Continuing lack of evidence for the psychotic subtyping of PTSD

Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Psychiat, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Dept Psychiat, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Speech Illusions in People at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis Linked to Clinical Outcome

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Around 20% of people at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis later develop a psychotic disorder, but it is difficult to predict who this will be. We assessed the incidence of hearing speech (termed speech illusions [SIs]) in noise in CHR participants and examined whether this was associated with adverse clinical outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: At baseline, 344 CHR participants and 67 healthy controls were presented with a computerized white noise task and asked whether they heard speech, and whether speech was neutral, affective, or whether they were uncertain about its valence. After 2 years, we assessed whether participants transitioned to psychosis, or remitted from the CHR state, and their functioning. STUDY RESULTS: CHR participants had a lower sensitivity to the task. Logistic regression revealed that a bias towards hearing targets in stimuli was associated with remission status (OR = 0.21, P = 042). Conversely, hearing SIs with uncertain valence at baseline was associated with reduced likelihood of remission (OR = 7.72. P = .007). When we assessed only participants who did not take antipsychotic medication at baseline, the association between hearing SIs with uncertain valence at baseline and remission likelihood remained (OR = 7.61, P = .043) and this variable was additionally associated with a greater likelihood of transition to psychosis (OR = 5.34, P = .029). CONCLUSIONS: In CHR individuals, a tendency to hear speech in noise, and uncertainty about the affective valence of this speech, is associated with adverse outcomes. This task could be used in a battery of cognitive markers to stratify CHR participants according to subsequent outcomes

Inter-relation between brain-derived neurotrophic factor and antioxidant enzymes in bipolar disorder

Objectives: Accumulating evidence indicates that oxidative stress and neurotrophins have a bidirectional relationship. In this post hoc, exploratory analysis, we investigated the association between plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels and activities of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) and healthy controls. Methods: We measured plasma levels of BDNF and activities of GPx and SOD in individuals with BD (n=59) and healthy controls (n=26). Information related to current and past psychiatric/medical history, as well as to metabolic comorbidities, was also reported. Results: There were negative correlations between BDNF, GPx (r=-.449, P=.001) and GPx/SOD ratio (r=-.503, P<.001), and a positive correlation between BDNF and SOD (r=.254, P=.020). There was a moderating effect of body mass index (BMI) on the association between BDNF and GPx/SOD rate ratio [(RR)=1.002, P=.034]interactions between impaired glucose metabolism (IGM), GPx (RR=1.016, P=.033), and GPx/SOD ratio (RR=1.026, P=.002) were also observed. These results were significant in models that included age, gender, alcohol, tobacco and medication use. Conclusions: There was a robust and independent correlation between peripheral BDNF and antioxidant enzyme activities in individuals with BD, which was moderated by metabolic comorbidities. These results reinforce the concept that these systems are associated and further extend knowledge of the putative effect of metabolic comorbidities in the pathophysiological substrates of BD.Univ Fed Sao Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Psychiat, Res Grp Behav Neurosci Bipolar Disorder GP TB, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Toronto, Univ Hlth Network, MDPU, 399 Bathurst St,MP 9-325, Toronto, ON M5T 2S8, CanadaUniv Tubingen, Clin Psychiat & Psychotherapy, Dept Psychiat, Tubingen, GermanyVila Maria Outpatient Clin, Sao Paulo, BrazilISCMSP, Dept Psychiat, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo UNIFESP, Dept Psychiat, Res Grp Behav Neurosci Bipolar Disorder GP TB, Sao Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Exploring the Acquisition of Social Communication Skills in Children with Autism: Preliminary Findings from Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), Parent Training, and Video Modeling

Social communication skills, especially eye contact and joint attention, are frequently impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and predict functional outcomes. Applied behavior analysis is one of the most common evidence-based treatments for ASD, but it is not accessible to most families in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) as it is an expensive and intensive treatment and needs to be delivered by highly specialized professionals. Parental training has emerged as an effective alternative. This is an exploratory study to assess a parental intervention group via video modeling to acquire eye contact and joint attention. Four graded measures of eye contact and joint attention (full physical prompt, partial physical prompt, gestural prompt, and independent) were assessed in 34 children with ASD and intellectual disability (ID). There was a progressive reduction in the level of prompting required over time to acquire eye contact and joint attention, as well as a positive correlation between the time of exposure to the intervention and the acquisition of abilities. This kind of parent training using video modeling to teach eye contact and joint attention skills to children with ASD and ID is a low-cost intervention that can be applied in low-resource settings

Brain tumor in a patient with attenuated psychosis syndrome

Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Program Intervent Risk Mental States PRISMA, Dept Psychiat, BR-04039032 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Program Intervent Risk Mental States PRISMA, Dept Psychiat, BR-04039032 São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc