Craniocerebral injuries are serious traumatic situations

Aim of this study is to present cases of deppresive disorders after mild craniocerebral injuries in amateur athletes

10 cases are presented. Range of age between 20 and 40 years old. All of them reported depressive disorders during the post traumatic period after mild craniocerebral injuries mainly during amateur athletic activities

All of them they receive appropriate neurological, psychiatric, psycological and rehabilitation support and treatment. They managed to have a good outcome after 12 months follow up.

The development of depressive disorders after such traumatic events remains a strong predictor of a variety of difunctions (social, personal, work etc). The emergence of depressive disorders in many cases remains unexplored and poorly understood. The effect into the the overall health remains a very important factor to investigate. The combination and collaboration of the various medical disciplines is essential in order to help young people.

No significant relationships.

Handwriting disorder is considered to be one of the major public health problems among school-aged children worldwide. All the scales in the literature use handwriting tasks but it could be interesting to investigate a more accurate assessment of handwriting difficulties before the development and acquisition of handwriting as such.

The objective of our study is to examine the validity of a prescriptural task consisting of copying a line of cycloid loops in the diagnosis of handwriting disorders.

35 children with handwriting disabilities and 331 typically developing right-handed children in primary school, aged 6-11 years old, were included in the study. They performed a copy of a line of cycloid loops, in an ecological setting, with a paper sheet put on the table. The kinematic measures were recorded with a digital pen. A Receiver Operating Characteristic method (ROC curve) was used to determine whether the loops line copy may be a sensitive test to diagnose handwriting disorders.

Six kinematic variables recorded during the prescriptural task were found to be relevant markers of handwriting disorders with a sensibility between 0.743 and 0.880: strokes number, total and effective drawing time, in-air pauses times, loops number, number of peaks velocity.

The graphomotor task of copying a line of cycloid loops showed a good sensitivity to diagnose handwriting disorders and appeared to be a good predictor test, more particularly with the variables reflecting the strokes temporal organization.Drawing loops is a rapid graphomotor task, useful for exploring prerequisites of handwriting in screening for handwriting disorders.

Wishplash cervical spine injuries are serious traumatic situations

Aim of this study is to present cases of deppresive disorders after wishplash cervical spine injuries in young females

4 cases are presented. Range of age between 20 and 30 years old. All of them reported depressive disorders during the post traumatic period after wishplash cervical spine injuries mainly due to road traffic accidents.

All of them they receive appropriate neurological, psychiatric, psycological and rehabilitation support and treatment. They managed to have a good outcome after 12 months follow up.

The development of depressive disorders after such traumatic events remains a strong predictor of a variety of difunctions (social, personal, work etc). The emergence of depressive disorders in many cases remains unexplored and poorly understood. The effect into the the overall health remains a very important factor to investigate. The combination and collaboration of the various medical disciplines is essential in order to help young people.

No significant relationships.

Anxious-depressive disorders are common among children with epilepsy. A recent Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Scott et al., 2020) reported that the overall pooled prevalence of anxiety disorders is 18.9% while of depressive disorders is 13.5%. COVID-19 pandemic has centralized the attention of governors and careers on the health emergency. As a result, the trajectory of the psychological care needs of this at risk population may have been neglected.

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence rate of depressive and anxiety symptoms among children with epilepsy during COVID-19 pandemic. Children were hospitalized in- and out-patients under a neurological and psychological follow up program in an Italian Children Hospital.

We conducted a cross-sectional study among 38 hospitalized children and adolescents with epilepsy (21F; 17M, mean age: 14,5; range: 11-18) during COVID-19 pandemic. We performed face-to face interviews and assessed depressive and anxiety symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD-7) questionnaire during scheduled follow up checks.

Preliminary results showed a rate of mild-to-severe anxious depressive symptoms by 49.9% and 60.5% respectively. In detail: 21.1% mild, 15.7% moderate and 13.1% of severe anxiety, meanwhile 23.7% mild, 26.3% moderate and 10.5% of severe depression. The prevalence of comorbid depressive and anxiety symptoms was 39.5% among the entire sample.

Depressive and anxiety rates among hospitalized children with epilepsy during COVID-19 outbreak are very high. Pediatric services should deserve special attention to those patients’ mental health. Regular screening protocols and empowerment interventions in Hospital should be promoted.

No significant relationships.

In spite of the long history of antipsychotic treatment there are still no clear criteria, which can be robust support for drug decision-making.

To determine the important hallmarks of patient’s current state, life span and history of illness defining the doctor’s decision about the type of antipsychotic to be chosen.

The data from the case charts of 275 patients with episodic schizophrenia and rather benign course of the disease were analyzed.

The group included: male 62%, mean age 33 (SD 11), education 10 years 23%, 13 years 27%, 16 years 29%, disability - 51%, number of hospitalizations due to psychotic episodes in the past 7 (SD 6). The symptoms of the current episode varied from patient to patient: delusions and hallucinations, symptoms of disorganization, negative symptoms of different severity were registered Atypical antipsychotics were more often than typical prescribed to the patients with developmental problems: traumatic obstetric complications (p=0,009), poor somatic health in the childhood (p= 0,02), cognitive dysfunction during school years (p=0,04), and quality of first remission – presence of residual symptoms in the first remission (p=0.005). Good compliance in the past was one more important factor for choosing a atypical antipsychotic for a patient (p=0.05). It appeared that the most important for the decision-making was the specific features of the patient’s development and early period of the disease, but not the specific signs of current psychotic state.

Doctor’s decision upon the type of antipsychotics in this category of patients is most probably based on other than current clinical symptoms signs.

Digital solutions and interventions for mental health have increasingly been taking place in many societies in the last several decades. There are significant differences among countries due to economical and organizational situations. On the other hand, despite digital gap, there is a significant increase in the use of telepsychiatry and e-mental health applications with the Covid-19 pandemic throughout the world. Experiences of this pandemic times make many opportunities and challenges more apparent in this field. Safety and security, legislation, regulations, good practice standards, evidence based data, ethics and education are several of main areas of needs. EPA with the Council of National Psychiatric Associations (NPAs) is one of the crucial organizations in Europe which may play an important role to work on these challenges and opportunities. EPA-Council of NPAs consists of 44 associations represent psychiatrists (and other mental health workers in some) from 40 European countries. NPAs are crucial organisations in contact with local and national mental health stakeholders; competent in national, local, authentic and cultural issues and sensitivities; and could serve as crucial junctions for Europewide policies and their widespread implementations. Some reflections on challenges and opportunities from the Council of NPAs will be presented, based on a rapid survey and personal communications with presidents and official representatives of NPAs for future perspectives.

No significant relationships.

It is common knowledge that depressive disorders are prevalent in cardiac patients. The fact of a prospective heart surgery can have a negative effect on depressive manifestations in cardiac patients.

To describe representation and structure of depression in preoperative cardiac surgery patients and its correlation with the patients’ personal time perspective

We used the Beck Depression Inventory to estimate the level and structure of depression in 60 cardiac surgery patients of both sexes and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory to identify the patients’ personal time perspective.

We revealed depression of various manifestations in 53.4% of preoperative cardiac patients; 3.3% of them had severe depression, 11.7% – moderate depression, 8.3% – mild depression, 30.0% – minimal depression. The patients’ average level of depression was certainly higher than the standard one (t=3.295; р=.000). According to degree, the structure of depressive manifestations included asthenia, irritability, sleeping disorders, low sex drive, weight loss, pessimism, tearfulness, difficulty working, and difficulty taking decision. Two patients showed suicidal thoughts. We revealed a positive correlation between the depression level and a Negative-Past time perspective (r=.39) and a negative correlation with the Positive Past time perspective (r=-.27).

We identified depressive manifestations in every second preoperative cardiac patient. Every sixth one has moderate or severe depression, which calls for special attention. Research in personal time perspective has good prospects for psychological interventions.

No significant relationships.

One of the defining features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are deficits in social interaction and communication. Although their etiology is poorly understood, several lines of evidence from studies on humans and rodents suggest that two nonapeptides – oxytocin and vasopressin – might play a pivotal role in their development.

To evaluate if single nucleotide polimorphisms in OXTR and AVPR1A genes are linked to the severity of symptoms in autism spectrum disorder.

The study was conducted on the group of 40 Caucasian males with average age of 14,22 (SD: 1,71) years. ADOS-2 examination was utilized for confirmation of ASD diagnosis as well as evaluation of symptoms severity in each patient. The genotyping of preselected SNPs for each gene (rs10877969; rs7294536; rs2254298; rs53576) was conducted.

“CC” genotype at rs7294536 (p=0,033) was significantly associated with higher outcomes of ADOS-2 especially in terms of social affect. In case of oxytocin receptor gene, frequency of “AA”/”AG” genotype at rs2254298 equaled 100% and of “AA”/”AG” genotype at rs53576 equaled 85% of the study group (expected “A” allele frequency in neurotypical European population was respectively 11% and 35% according to 1000Genomes database). For rs10877969 prevalence of “CC”/”CT” genotype equaled 95% while expected frequency of “C” allele in neurotypical European population was 13%.

Overrepresentation of minor alleles at rs2254298, rs53576 and rs10877969 in patients with ASD might indicate their link to development of ASD. Furthermore, significant association between minor allele at rs7294536 and symptoms severity suggest potential role of arginine-vasopressin receptor deficiency in clinical picture of ASD.

No significant relationships.

ECT is an effective treatment for depression. Beyond its therapeutic effect on mood it has a unique impact on psychomotor and cognitive symptoms.Its mechanism of action remains still unclear. To investigate this, we set out to study the brain’s response to ECT from a large-scale brain-network perspective.

The aim of this study was to investigate changes in resting-state functional connectivity following ECT at the whole brain, between-network and within-network level, in patients with a depressive episode.

Resting-state FMRI data were collected from 17 patients with depression before and after an ECT course. Using a group independent component analysis approach, we focused on four networks that are known to be affected in depression: the salience network (SN), default mode network (DMN), cognitive executive network (CEN) and a subcortical network (SCN). Clinical measures including mood, cognition and psychomotor symptoms were assessed.

ECT increased connectivity of the left CEN with the left angular gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus. An increase in left CEN within network connectivity was observed. Both the right CEN and the SCN showed increased connectivity with the precuneus. Furthermore, the anterior DMN showed increased connectivity with the left amygdala. Finally, improvement of psychomotor retardation was positively correlated with an increase of within-posterior DMN connectivity.

We demonstrate that ECT induces a significant increase of connectivity at both the whole brain and within-network level. Furthermore, we provide first evidence on the association between an increase of within posterior DMN connectivity and an improvement of psychomotor retardation, a core symptom of depression.

No significant relationships.

No significant relationships.

The 2019 Coronavirus disease epidemic is a public health emergency of international concern and poses a challenge to psychological resilience.

To study the psychological repercussions in terms of anxiety and depression of the Coronavirus pandemic on the Tunisian population.

This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study. We used an online questionnaire on Facebook, on June 2020. The heteroquestionnaire included epidemiological data and two scales: the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI Form Y-1) to evaluate the anxiety level at the time of the study, and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ 9) to detect a characterized depressive episode.

We included 121 participants. They had an average age of 36.52 years with a sex ratio (M/F) of 0.41. The mean STAI score was 43.12 while the PHQ score was 7.46, indicating that 30.8% of the participants suffered from depression. Both scores were correlated to female sex (p=0.01 for STAI and p=0.02 for PHQ), a history of anxiety (p<0.001) and depressive disorders (p<0.001) and to poor sleep quality (p<0.001). The STAI score was also associated with a family history of high blood pressure (p=0.004), while the PHQ score was correlated to a family history of diabetes (p=0.02), a widowed or divorced marital status (p<0.001) and to a single lifestyle (p=0.03). Furthermore, the two scores (STAI-Y and PHQ 9) were also associated (p<0.001; r=0.67).

The psychological impact of Coronavirus epidemic seems not negligible requiring psychological interventions to improve the mental health of vulnerable groups.

During the 1st wave of CoViD-19 pandemic there was a drastic reduction in total number of accesses, with more serious cases and a exorbitant increase in crowding, due to access block.

evaluate population who went to ED for (1) mental disorders requesting a psychiatric visit and for (2) intossication and substance abuse, between the first and second wave of the coronavirus pandemic

We enrolled all patients who went at our ED from May 1 to October 20, 2020 and during the same period of 2019. We analized: vital parameters, age, sex, exit severity codes, hospitalization rate, Crowding input factors (number of access, waiting time, priority time to doc), Crowding throughput factors (LOS: Length Of ED Stay), Crowding output factors (percentage of access block; Total Access Block Time).

The results are shown in table 1

We would like to thank all employees of the IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation for their extraordinary efforts during the pandemic.

It is known that the peripartum period is a high-risk period of recurrence in bipolar disorder (BD). However, data on correlations between reproductive life events, such as age at menarche and peripartum period, are mixed in BD.

The aims of this retrospective study are to investigate the lifetime rate of peripartum mood episodes, the clinical correlates and the relationship between age at menarche and peripartum episode in a sample of women with BD.

The study focused on comparisons between women with vs. without peripartum mood episodes (n = 292). Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics between women with vs without BD peripartum episode were examined through descriptive statistics.Adjusted logistic regression analysis was run to examine the association between variables.

In our sample, 30% had at least one BD peripartum episode. Women with peripartum episode had significantly earlier age at menarche, earlier onset of BD and longer duration of untreated disorder compared to women without peripartum episode. After adjustment, the late menarche (>15 years) was associated with lower probability of BD episodes during the peripartum period compared to normal menarche (12-14 years).

Peripartum mood episodes are common in BD and are correlated with early onset of BD and long duration of untreated disorder. Moreover, age at menarche may be related to the risk of peripartum mood episodes. The results deserve to be deepened in further studies.

Major depressive disorder is highly prevalent worldwide and has been affecting an increasing number of people each year. Current first line antidepressants show merely 37% remission, and physicians are forced to use a trial-and-error approach when choosing a single antidepressant out of dozens of available medications.

We sought to identify a method of testing that would provide patient-specific information on whether a patient will respond to a medication using in vitro modeling.

Patient-derived lymphoblastoid cell lines from the STAR*D study were used to rapidly generate cortical neurons and screen them for bupropion effects, for which the donor patients showed remission or non-remission.

We provide evidence for biomarkers specific for bupropion response, including synaptic connectivity and morphology changes as well as specific gene expression alterations.

These biomarkers support the concept of personalized antidepressant treatment based on in vitro platforms and could be utilized as predictors to patient response in the clinic.

This work was funded by Genetika+ Ltd, Jerusalem, Israel. YA, DK, EN, DL and TCS are employees of Genetika+ Ltd and received salary and/or stock options for the submitted work.

Psychiatry is facing major challenges during times of a pandemic as illustrated by the current COVID-19 pandemic. The challenges involve its actual and perceived role within the medical system, in particular how psychiatric hospitals can maintain their core mission of attending to the mentally ill while at the same time providing relief to general medicine. Although psychiatric disorders are the top leading causes of global burden of disease, we can witness mental health care being de-emphasized in the wake of the massive onslaught of the pandemic: psychiatric wards are being downsized, clinics closed, psychiatric support systems discontinued etc. in order to make room for emergency care. While nobody can deny the need to act decisively and swiftly and ramp up intensive care readiness, we believe that there is no need to do this at the expense of psychiatric care. Using the pandemic COVID-19 contingency plan developed at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University Hospital of LMU Munich as a case in point, we demonstrate how a psychiatric hospital can share in the acute care of a health care system facing an acute and highly infectious pandemic like COVID-19 and at the same time provide for the mentally ill, with or without a COVID-19 infection, and develop mid and long-term plans for coping with the aftermath of the pandemic.

No significant relationships.

Coronavirus disease 2019, is now a global pandemic that has spread rapidly causing many deaths. Most countries have opted for compulsory confinement which had repercussions on mental health and well-being.

The purpose of this study is to assess mental health consequences during the confinement period.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study of 360 Tunisians in April and May 2020. We used an anonymous E-questionnaire that included a socio-demographic fact sheet, The HAD questionnaire, and a Q-EDD questionnaire to explore eating disorders.

The subjects of our sample were mostly males with a mean age of 31. The body mass index was 25.5 (range 16.10 -46.24), 15% suffered from obesity. Half of the subjects were single and 6.7% spent the confinement time alone. 11.1% were smokers while 4.4% were alcohol users. The HAD-A and the HAD-D scores had an average of 9.1 and 8.48 respectively.A pathological threshold of anxiety and depression was found in 20% and 30% of the sample respectively.15% had an eating disorder: 76% had binge eating, 20% had bulimia and 17% had anorexia. In our study, we found an association between eating disorder and obesity, single marital status (p=0.007), living alone (p=0.001), history of depression (p=0.046), anxiety (p=0.049) and depression (p=0.038).

Reduced social interactions, decreased physical activity and increased stress are potentially harmful causes for our brain. Confining the population for several weeks has a negative impact on our physical and mental health. A crisis unit has been formed in Tunisia to help subjects overcome these psychological difficulties.

No significant relationships.

Literature showed that patients suffering from disorders belonging to the schizophrenic (SZ) and bipolar (DB) spectrum have a qualitatively similar but quantitatively different neurocognitive impairment that correlates with the outcomes. However, the majority of former studies are conducted on patients in remission phase.

This study aims to compare cognitive functions between SZ and DB in the acute phase and their possible correlations with treatment outcomes.

In a prospective longitudinal study conducted at the SPDC Ausl unit of Romagna - Cesena, 57 SZ and 82 DB took part in the study. The diagnosis was based on the SCID5 CV and SCID5 DP. Symptom severity was assessed with BPRS and HONOS both at the beginning and at the end of hospitalization. Executive functions were measured with Tower of London (ToL) and Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MCST), attention with Attentive Matrices (MA) and Stroop Test (ST), non-verbal logic skills with Colored Matrices by Raven (PM47). The statistical analyzes applied are ANOVA and logistic regression.

The cognitive tests did not reveal significant differences between SZ and DB. The logistic regression analysis showed that the scores obtained at the MCST and MA positively correlate with the efficacy of the treatment for both groups.

Cognition in DB and SZ patients was similarly impaired, supporting recent theories that placed diagnoses on a continuum of severity. Moreover, the results indicated that also in the acute phase the best predictors of the outcome were flexibility in problem solving strategies and visuospatial attention.

No significant relationships.

Medical students’ well-being is a concern that drawn interest.On March, 2020, WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic.Strict isolation measures and closing schools expected to influence the mental health of students.Online education introduced to adjust to new realities.These un-precedented circumstances create significant stress and challenges may lead to unfavorable effects on learning and the overall psychological health of students.

To explore the perception of stress and anxiety level among medical students in Saudi Arabia. To determine factors influencing perception of stress and anxiety among medical students in Saudi Arabia. To explore the association between perception of stress, anxiety and on-line learning.

An online survey will be distributed through students representatives targeting medical students from different levels. The survey will have 4 components: 1) Demographic data that will include: age, gender, level of education and region of residence. 2) Questions concerned the experience of online learning. 3) Perceived stress scale by sheldon cohen. The perceived stress scale (PSS) is a 10-question tool will be used to measure a person’s perception of stress over the past month and scored as low, moderate and high perceived stress. 4)Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) which is also a valid tool in detecting anxiety in the last two weeks by 7 items with Likert scale answers which scored as minimal, mild, moderate and severe

Currently under analysis

To be attached later

No significant relationships.

No significant relationships.