Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment

Background: Intentional methanol intoxication (IMI) is an emerging public health issue in Asian countries, but few data are available in the literature on underlying psychiatric comorbidities in these suicide attempters. Patients and methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review on patients with methanol intoxication (MI) treated at Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, Taiwan during 2000-2016. Of the 56 cases of documented MI, 16 were IMI. Baseline demographic, clinical, laboratory, psychiatric diagnoses, and mortality data were collected and analyzed...

Background: A genome-wide association study using megadata identified 17 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in candidate genes for major depressive disorder (MDD). These MDD susceptibility polymorphisms may affect white matter (WM) integrity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between WM alterations and 17 SNPs in candidate genes for MDD in the first depressive episode of drug-naive MDD patients using a tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) method. Methods: Thirty-five drug-naive MDD patients with a first depressive episode and 47 age-and sex-matched healthy subjects underwent diffusion tensor imaging scans and genotyping...

Background: Given that the therapeutic effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been debated for a long time, it is necessary to clarify the mechanism underlying the effect of HBO on acute TBI. Methods: This study investigated the effect of HBO therapy on neuronal apoptosis induced by acute TBI using the mouse model of TBI. The number of apoptotic cells and expression of apoptosis-associated factors (including caspase 3, pAkt/Akt, pGSK3β/GSK3β, and β-catenin) in pericontusional cortices of mice exposed to sham, TBI, and TBI + HBO treatment were measured and analyzed using TUNEL assay, quantitative reverse-transcription PCR, and Western blot...

Background: In recent years, there has been substantial research evaluating the relationship between arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase-activating protein ( ALOX5AP ) polymorphisms and ischemic stroke (IS). The objective of this study was to systematically review and analyze the existing evidence. Methods: A comprehensive search of major electronic databases for studies published between 1990 and 2018 was carried out. Data were synthesized as OR and 95% CI using fixed-effects and random-effects models...

Purpose: This research article assesses the cardiovascular impact of long-term injectable antipsychotic therapy on patients diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. In our study, we attempted to quantify the potential causes of cardiovascular damage, assess cardiovascular parameters, and correlate them with the time elapsed from the onset of the psychosis until the initiation of injectable antipsychotic therapy, as well as the duration of long-acting therapy, and finally, to compare two of the most utilized long-acting injectable (LAI) medications (olanzapine vs risperidone)...

Background: Alcohol dependence displays a wide variety of clinical phenotypes. Various typology classifications of alcoholism include age of onset of alcohol abuse as one of the major phenotypic features. Serotonergic changes have been associated with alcoholism, while serotonin receptors type 1B (5-HT1B) play an important role in regulating serotonergic neurotransmission. The rs13212041 polymorphism modulates the expression of HTR1B gene coding for 5-HT1B receptor. This study examined the association of platelet serotonin (5-HT) and HTR1B gene with the onset of alcohol abuse in alcohol-dependent subjects...

Background: Both protective and therapeutic functions of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in brain injury have been reported, but its effects on cognitive sequelae after septic encephalopathy (SE) remain unclear. Materials and methods: This study was divided into three parts, and a septic model was built by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). First, survival analysis was performed, and IGF-1's effects on long-term cognition and depressive emotion were assessed...

Background: Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death; however, quitting is difficult and early relapse is common. Dysphoric mood during early cigarette withdrawal is associated with relapse, and with the exception of bupropion and nortriptyline, few interventions have been developed to prevent this. During early cigarette withdrawal there is an elevation in the levels of monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A), which removes monoamines excessively and induces oxidative stress and is implicated in creating sad mood...

Objective: To study the differences in immunopathogenesis based on chemokine profile in neuromyelitis optica patients positive for AQP4 antibodies or MOG antibodies. Patients and methods: We measured 52 cytokines/chemokines using ELISA in 59 serum samples, which were divided into three groups according to CBA results: HCs (n=16), AQP4+ (n=20) and MOG+ (n=23). The regression equation ( R 2 >0.98) of the standard curve was calculated according to the standard concentration and the corresponding A value...

Purpose: Recently, cognitive variables such as negative and positive self-belief and thoughts have attracted much attention because they are associated with functional outcomes and quality of life (QOL). However, it is unclear how cognitive variables affect subjective and objective QOL. This study aimed to investigate the relationship of negative and positive self-belief and thoughts with subjective and objective QOL. Participants and methods: Thirty-six people with schizophrenia participated in this study...

Background: The results of previous studies have indicated that pain-associated diseases can result in marked functional and anatomical alterations in the brain. However, differences in spontaneous brain activity occurring in toothache (TA) patients remain unclear. Objective: This study investigated intrinsic brain activity changes in TA subjects using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) technique. Methods: A total of 18 patients with TA (eight males, and 10 females) and 18 healthy controls (HCs) who were matched for gender, age, and educational status were enrolled...

Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the frequency-dependent spontaneous neural activity in primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) method. Patients and methods: In total, 52 PACG individuals (24 males and 28 females) and 52 normal-sighted controls (NS; 24 males and 28 females) who were closely matched in age, sex, and education underwent resting-state magnetic resonance imaging scans. A repeated-measures ANOVA and post hoc two-sample t -tests were conducted to analyze the different ALFF values in two different frequency bands (slow-4, 0...

Purpose: Mixed features in a major depressive episode (MDE) predict bipolar disorder (BD). The mixed features specifier included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition (DSM-5) could be restrictive because it excludes the symptoms common to both mania/hypomania and depression, including psychomotor agitation. On the other hand, an anxious distress (ANXD) specifier has also been introduced in the DSM-5, and psychomotor agitation has been defined as a severity of ANXD...

Purpose: Mood disorders are recurrent chronic disorders with fluctuating mood states and energy, and misdiagnosis is common when based solely on clinical interviews because of overlapping symptoms. Because misdiagnosis may lead to inappropriate treatment and poor prognosis, finding an easily implemented objective tool for the discrimination of different mood disorders is very necessary and urgent. However, there has been no accepted objective tool until now. Recently, BICC1 has been identified as a candidate gene relating to major depressive disorder (MDD)...

The purpose of this review is to describe the available data for brexpiprazole in the maintenance treatment of schizophrenia. This objective was completed by searching the databases PubMed, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov to identify relevant study results presented as papers or abstracts. In summary, brexpiprazole is a new agent in the D2 partial agonist class that has a unique receptor-binding profile, based in part on high affinity for serotonin 5HT1A and 5HT2A receptors, paired with lower intrinsic activity at dopamine D2 receptors...

Background: The Depression and Somatic Symptoms Scale (DSSS), which is a free scale that includes a depression subscale (DS) and a somatic subscale (SS), was developed to evaluate depression and somatic symptoms simultaneously. This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the DSSS among patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP). Methods: Two-hundred and twenty-five patients with CLBP were enrolled. Psychiatric diagnoses were made based on the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -IV-Text Revision...

Background: Mitochondrial dysfunctions are implicated in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. We measured and examined the following selected mitochondrial parameters: citrate synthase (CS) activity, electron transport system (ETS) complex (complexes I, II, and IV) activities, and mitochondrial respiration in blood platelets. Patients and methods: The analyses were performed for 24 patients suffering from a depressive episode of bipolar affective disorder (BD), compared to 68 patients with MDD and 104 healthy controls...

Background: Depression is commonly observed among patients with gout. Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with depression in non-gout subjects. We examined the association of vitamin D levels with depression in patients with gout. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 186 gout patients at the Endocrinology Department of First Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University. Levels of serum 25-hydroxyvi-tamin D (25(OH)D) were determined using a competitive protein-binding assay...

Purpose: Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is a common form of muscular dystrophy that presents with a variety of symptoms that can affect patients' quality of life (QoL). Despite the importance of clarifying patients' subjective experience in both physical and psychosocial aspects for improved symptom management, there is lack of evidence concerning QoL of patients with DM1 in Japan. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed with 51 DM1 patients who completed questionnaires that measured health-related QoL (HRQoL), depression, and daytime sleepiness...

Background and purpose: Lipid metabolism plays an important role in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and recent evidence suggests that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the StAR-related lipid transfer domain 6 ( STARD6 ) and near the enzyme enoyl CoA hydratase domain containing 3 ( ECHDC3 ) gene are related to plasma lipid levels or lipid traits in AD. Materials and methods: To identify whether the variants in or near the STARD6 and ECHDC3 genes contribute to AD susceptibility, we carried out an association analysis of STARD6 rs10164112 and ECHDC3 rs7920721 in combination with the apolipoprotein E ( APOE ) ε4 allele in a case-control study (278 cases, 509 controls) in China...