Clinical and demographic features of acutely hospitalised schizophrenia patients according to Toxoplasma gondii serostatus

Background: Few data exist concerning the clinical correlates of Toxoplasma gondii infection in persons with schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia regarding the quality of life, symptoms and course of hospitalisation in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Acutely hospitalised patients (n = 67) were examined twice during their hospital stay. Schizophrenia psychopathology, quality of life, extrapyramidal symptoms and T. gondii antibody titres were assessed upon admission and at discharge. Results: Toxo-IgG (+) patients (59.7%) were older, less educated, more obese and less eager to undertake psychotherapy. Female gender and higher fertility were dominant in this group with abnormal involuntary movements more commonly observed. Lower antipsychotic drug doses and monotherapy were used more frequently for Toxo-IgG (+) patients. Lower education (OR 2.41, 95% CI 1.21-4.79) was the most important factor associated with higher likelihood of IgG seropositivity. High levels of Toxo-IgM antibodies correlated with lower quality of life (r = -0.37; p = 0.02) and more severe positive (r = 0.40; p = 0.01) and focal (r = 0.32; p = 0.04) schizophrenia symptoms. Conclusions: Toxoplasmosis is more common in older, obese women with lower education. Recent infection is linked to more severe schizophrenia symptoms. Patients with toxoplasmosis history were given less medication

Commentary: The King is Naked – a very subjective look at child and adolescent psychiatry

There is a great crisis in child-adolescent psychiatry, but we will not solve it just only by increasing the number of psychiatrists nor the number of psychiatric wards. The young patients described in Agnieszka Wlazło's editorial indeed should not end up in a psychiatry department, but that does not mean they do not need any institutional support at all. In this commentary I would like to add two simple but important remarks: we need a serious discussion of the consequences of childhood trauma and mental problems in adolescence and also a well-functioning prevention system to avoid them

Clinical and demographic features of acutely hospitalised schizophrenia patients according to Toxoplasma gondii serostatus

Background: Few data exist concerning the clinical correlates of Toxoplasma gondii infecotin in persons with schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to invesgtiate the correlaotin between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia regarding the quality of life, symptoms and course of hospitalisaotin in paetints with schizophrenia. Methods: Acutely hospitalised paetints (n = 67) were examined twice during their hospital stay. Schizophrenia psychopathology, quality of life, extrapyramidal symptoms and T. gondii anbtiody ttires were assessed upon admission and at discharge. Results: Toxo-IgG (+) paetints (59.7%) were older, less educated, more obese and less eager to undertake psychotherapy. Female gender and higher ferltiity were dominant in this group with abnormal involuntary movements more commonly observed. Lower anptisychocti drug doses and monotherapy were used more frequently for Toxo-IgG (+) paetints. Lower educaotin (OR 2.41, 95% CI 1.21-4.79) was the most important factor associated with higher likelihood of IgG seroposivtiity. High levels of Toxo-IgM anbtiodies correlated with lower quality of life (r = -0.37; p = 0.02) and more severe posivtie (r = 0.40; p = 0.01) and focal (r = 0.32; p = 0.04) schizophrenia symptoms. Conclusions: Toxoplasmosis is more common in older, obese women with lower educaotin. Recent infecotin is linked to more severe schizophrenia symptoms. Patients with toxoplasmosis history were given less medication. Grabowski J, Waszak P, Przybylak M, Bidzan L. Clinical and demographic features of acutely hospitalised schizophrenia patients according to Toxoplasma gondii serostatus. Eur J Transl Clin Med. 2023;6(1):14-24

Social Media as a Source of Knowledge about Gene Therapy for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Social media is one of the most common sources of medical information. We aimed to evaluate the information contained on websites, including social media and descriptions of fundraisers, in terms of the reliability of knowledge about SMA and gene therapy with onasemnogen abeparvovec. We used a set of available online links found using the Newspointtool. Initially, 1525 texts were included in the study, and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 112 texts were qualified for analysis using the DISCERN scale and the set of questions prepared by the authors. We observed that most of the texts had poor (48.65%) and medium (27.03%) reliability in the final reliability assessment. All the texts selected for the study were related to gene therapy, although few contained key information about it. In addition, the authors of the entries used various words and phrases that influenced the readers’ perceptions of the text. Of the analyzed sources, 68.8% had an emotional component. Social media is a poor source of information about gene therapy for SMA in Poland. The analyzed texts do not provide a full and complete description of the SMA problem. However, it is important to remember that the Internet is a changing source of information and will hopefully contain more relevant entries in the future

Knowledge of vitamin D and its supplementation among students of northern Poland

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency is a worldwide public health problem. The objective of this survey was to assess the undergraduate students’ vitamin D status and knowledge about this vitamin. Materials and methods: An online multi-choice survey was designed and launched in Northern Poland (Gdańsk region). The first part of the survey assessed diet, supplementation, UV radiation exposure (UVE) and general health of respondents. The second part was a vitamin D knowledge test (vitamin D optimal level, deficiency-related diseases). 1766 student volunteers responded to the survey: 369 male and 1397 female. Data was divided according to the respondents’ sex and university affiliation. Appropriate parametric or non-parametric statistical tests were used with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Results: Regular consumption of vitamin D-rich food was high, except for fish (only 18; 22%). High number of participants did not declare any type of supplementation (43; 44%) and only occasionally were exposed to UV (77%; 80%). The most frequently recognized disease linked to vitamin D was osteoporosis. Medical University students obtained higher test scores (4,55), however this did not correlate with healthy vitamin D habits. Conclusion: Undergraduate medical and non-medical students have unsatisfactory vitamin D status and poor understanding of its function and impact on health, which implies the need for changes in the educational program