Postpartum psychosis in bipolar disorder: no evidence of association with personality traits, cognitive style or affective temperaments

Background: Bipolar disorder has been associated with several personality traits, cognitive styles and affective temperaments. Women who have bipolar disorder are at increased risk of experiencing postpartum psychosis, however little research has investigated these traits and temperaments in relation to postpartum psychosis. The aim of this study is to establish whether aspects of personality, cognitive style and affective temperament that have been associated with bipolar disorder also confer vulnerability to postpartum psychosis over and above their known association with bipolar disorder. Methods: Personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, schizotypy and impulsivity), cognitive styles (low self-esteem and dysfunctional attitudes) and affective temperaments (including cyclothymic and depressive temperaments) were compared between two groups of parous women with DSM-IV bipolar I disorder: i) 284 with a lifetime history of postpartum psychosis within 6 weeks of delivery (PP group), ii) 268 without any history of mood episodes with onset during pregnancy or within 6 months of delivery (no perinatal mood episode, No PME group). Results: After controlling for current mood state, and key demographic, clinical and pregnancy-related variables, there were no statistically significant differences between the PP and No PME groups on any of the personality, cognitive style or affective temperament measures. Conclusions: Personality traits, cognitive styles and affective temperaments previously shown to be associated with bipolar disorder in general were not specifically associated with the occurrence of postpartum psychosis. These factors may not be relevant for predicting risk of postpartum psychosis in women with bipolar disorder

TMS stimulation over the inferior parietal cortex disrupts prospective sense of agency

Sense of agency refers to the feeling of controlling an external event through one's own action. On one influential view, sense of agency is inferred after an action, by "retrospectively" comparing actual effects of actions against their intended effects. However, it has been recently shown that earlier processes, linked to action selection, may also contribute to sense of agency, in advance of the action itself, and independently of action effects. The inferior parietal cortex (IPC) may underpin this "prospective" contribution to agency, by monitoring signals relating to fluency of action selection in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Here, we combined transcranial stimulation (TMS) with subliminal priming of action selection to investigate the causal role of these regions in the prospective coding of agency. In a first experiment, we showed that TMS over left IPC at the time of action selection disrupts perceived control over subsequent effects of action. In a second experiment, we exploited the temporal specificity of single-pulse TMS to pinpoint the exact timing of IPC contribution to sense of agency. We replicated the reduction in perceived control at the point of action selection, while observing no effect of TMS-induced disruption of IPC at the time of action outcomes

Synchronous Melanomas Arising Within Nevus Spilus

Nevus spilus is a melanocytic cutaneous lesion consisting of a light brown background macule with numerous superimposed darker maculopapular speckles. Melanoma arising from a nevus spilus is rare, with less than 40 cases reported to date. The absolute risk for malignant transformation is not well defined, lacking a standardized management approach. We report a new case of melanoma arising from nevus spilus, with the additional peculiarity of multifocality. We offer our recommendations for the management of the condition.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio