Dear Colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the first issue of 2022.
In the first highlighted article of this issue, Racine and colleagues outline the problems associated with the assessment of symptom change in autistic adults and the shortcomings of rating scales in clinical practice. By addressing the difficulties related to examining symptom change authors contribute to bridging a research gap and thus provide the first steps for increasing the quality of treatments for autistic adults.
In a study conducted by Erden et al., authors investigate the link between anti-parietal cell antibodies (APCA), vitamin B12, and homocysteine levels in children between 30 to 80 months of age diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While results show no significant association between vitamin B12 and APCA levels, findings reveal lower levels of homocysteine and vitamin B12 in children with ASD compared to healthy controls.
Valotassiou et al. investigate the patterns of apathy perfusion in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and healthy controls using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) combined with an automated Brodmann areas analysis. In a sample of one-hundred and forty-one patients in total, both significant differences and overlaps were found in the neural circuits underlying apathy between patients with AD and FTD. These results are crucial as they elucidate the potential of individual treatment for patients with neurodegenerative disease in accordance with the respective apathy-related neuropathology.
In an analytical cross-sectional study, Ardani et al. explored the relationship between the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and affective temperament in pregnant woman. The sample consisted of pregnant woman suffering from compromised glucose tolerance and healthy controls. Remarkably, findings not only show higher irritable and anxious temperaments in the GDM group, but also highlight that anxious temperament significantly predicts GDM. These results add to previous literature which suggests to consider individual psychological characteristics as risk factors for the development of pregnancy-related complications.
In a review on the association between delirium and the use of macrolide antibiotics, Pejčić found that patients treated with drugs such as azithromycin, clarithromycin, telithromycin and erythromycin portrayed symptoms of delirium. Importantly, given the positive link of aforementioned drugs with delirium, clinicians must devote special attention to such treatment processes in order to ensure patient’s well-being and increased treatment satisfaction.
Milosavljević et al. explore the side-effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on the fertility in men and women. The literature analysis illustrates that SSRIs can decrease the number of sperm in male individuals and negatively impact the likelihood of conceiving in women. Interestingly, administration of SSRIs in women with depression and/or anxiety did not interfere with in vitro fertilisation.
Uytun et al. examined the differences in the mother-infant/toddler relationship between adolescent and adult mothers. The authors found that adolescent mothers tend to engage in under-involved relationships with their children. This suggests that young mothers would likely benefit from intervention and education programs, which could in turn help reduce the psychopathological issues that are found to arise in infants/toddlers of adolescent mothers.
Using their novel complex hierarchical model of temperament and character, Fountoulakis et al. probed sex differences in maturation and ageing in human personality. Amongst other findings, differences were revealed in higher level modules concerning the self-environment interaction (SEI), indicating higher scores for men which are exemplifying traits such as low neuroticism, novelty seeking and reward dependence. Women, however, show significantly higher values for the modules emotional creativity (EC), intrapersonal emotion (IE), and externalised interpersonal emotion (EIE). Authors conclude that while differences in the modules between the sexes are prominent in some aspects, the stages of development that progress throughout life illustrate similar trajectories for men and women.
In an attempt to further investigate neurobiological properties of panic disorders, Masdrakis et al. examined differences in the pituitary-adrenal axis hormones between early versus late-onset panic disorder. Researchers found that ehydroepiandrosterone sulphate and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) plasma levels are positively associated with early-onset panic disorder. Findings support the notion that early-onset PD differs from late-onset PD in the biological properties of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
In a case-control study, Güloğlu et al. examined the effects of affective temperament on pain, life quality, disability and depressive disorder in patients suffering from Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS). This study illuminates how differences in temperament, such as increased depressive, cyclothymic and anxious scores compared to the control group, negatively affect the life quality MPS patients.
Due to the lack of studies validating the Bipolar Depression Rating Scale (BDRS) in assessing symptoms of bipolar disorder (BD) for patients in a mixed/manic or depressive phase, Khosravani et al. recruited a large sample of three-hundred and one female patients suffering from BD. Analyses revealed a three-structure model with appropriate temporal stability and internal consistency reliability. This study supports the validation of the BDRS in identifying symptoms of female BD patients in depressed or mixed/manic phases.
As patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder suffer from functional-cognitive issues where first-line evidence treatments fail to achieve lasting positive effects, Varinelli and colleagues reviewed various studies with successful intervention outcomes to outline possible treatment-augmentation strategies. An additional online expert-survey then revealed five possible treatments to address the functional-cognitive issues experienced by OCD patients.
I hope you find this issue insightful.