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Influence of light exposure during early life on the age of onset of bipolar disorder

Bauer M, Glenn T, Alda M, Andreassen OA, Angelopoulos E, Ardau R, et al.

J Psychiatr Res, 2015 May;64:1-8.
PMID: 25862378 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.03.013

Environmental conditions early in life may imprint the circadian system and influence response to environmental signals later in life. We previously determined that a large springtime increase in solar insolation at the onset location was associated with a younger age of onset of bipolar disorder, especially with a family history of mood disorders. This study investigated whether the hours of daylight at the birth location affected this association.
The detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic violence against women

Noman AHM, Griffiths MD, Pervin S, Ismail MN

J Psychiatr Res, 2021 02;134:111-112.
PMID: 33383493 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.12.057
Reelin (RELN) DNA methylation in the peripheral blood of schizophrenia

Nabil Fikri RM, Norlelawati AT, Nour El-Huda AR, Hanisah MN, Kartini A, Norsidah K, et al.

J Psychiatr Res, 2017 05;88:28-37.
PMID: 28086126 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2016.12.020

The epigenetic changes of RELN that are involved in the development of dopaminergic neurons may fit the developmental theory of schizophrenia. However, evidence regarding the association of RELN DNA methylation with schizophrenia is far from sufficient, as studies have only been conducted on a few limited brain samples. As DNA methylation in the peripheral blood may mirror the changes taking place in the brain, the use of peripheral blood for a DNA methylation study in schizophrenia is feasible due to the scarcity of brain samples. Therefore, the aim of our study was to examine the relationship of DNA methylation levels of RELN promoters with schizophrenia using genomic DNA derived from the peripheral blood of patients with the disorder. The case control studies consisted of 110 schizophrenia participants and 122 healthy controls who had been recruited from the same district. After bisufhite conversion, the methylation levels of the DNA samples were calculated based on their differences of the Cq values assayed using the highly sensitive real-time MethyLight TaqMan® procedure. A significantly higher level of methylation of the RELN promoter was found in patients with schizophrenia compared to controls (p = 0.005) and also in males compared with females (p = 0.004). Subsequently, the RELN expression of the methylated group was 25 fold less than that of the non-methylated group. Based upon the assumption of parallel methylation changes in the brain and peripheral blood, we concluded that RELN DNA methylation might contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. However, the definite effects of methylation on RELN function during development and also in adult life still require further elaboration.
Association between solar insolation and a history of suicide attempts in bipolar I disorder

Bauer M, Glenn T, Alda M, Andreassen OA, Angelopoulos E, Ardau R, et al.

J Psychiatr Res, 2019 06;113:1-9.
PMID: 30878786 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.03.001

In many international studies, rates of completed suicide and suicide attempts have a seasonal pattern that peaks in spring or summer. This exploratory study investigated the association between solar insolation and a history of suicide attempt in patients with bipolar I disorder. Solar insolation is the amount of electromagnetic energy from the Sun striking a surface area on Earth. Data were collected previously from 5536 patients with bipolar I disorder at 50 collection sites in 32 countries at a wide range of latitudes in both hemispheres. Suicide related data were available for 3365 patients from 310 onset locations in 51 countries. 1047 (31.1%) had a history of suicide attempt. There was a significant inverse association between a history of suicide attempt and the ratio of mean winter solar insolation/mean summer solar insolation. This ratio is smallest near the poles where the winter insolation is very small compared to the summer insolation. This ratio is largest near the equator where there is relatively little variation in the insolation over the year. Other variables in the model that were positively associated with suicide attempt were being female, a history of alcohol or substance abuse, and being in a younger birth cohort. Living in a country with a state-sponsored religion decreased the association. (All estimated coefficients p 
Fulltext Letter to the Editor: The economic and mental health costs of COVID-19 to immigrants

Mia MA, Griffiths MD

J Psychiatr Res, 2020 09;128:23-24.
PMID: 32512405 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2020.06.003
Improving the diagnostic accuracy for major depressive disorder using machine learning algorithms integrating clinical and near-infrared spectroscopy data

Ho CS, Chan YL, Tan TW, Tay GW, Tang TB

J Psychiatr Res, 2022 Jan 12;147:194-202.
PMID: 35063738 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.01.026

BACKGROUND: Given that major depressive disorder (MDD) is both biologically and clinically heterogeneous, a diagnostic system integrating neurobiological markers and clinical characteristics would allow for better diagnostic accuracy and, consequently, treatment efficacy.
OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to evaluate the discriminative and predictive ability of unimodal, bimodal, and multimodal approaches in a total of seven machine learning (ML) models-clinical, demographic, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), combinations of two unimodal models, as well as a combination of all three-for MDD.
METHODS: We recruited 65 adults with MDD and 68 matched healthy controls, who provided both sociodemographic and clinical information, and completed the HAM-D questionnaire. They were also subject to fNIRS measurement when participating in the verbal fluency task. Using the nested cross validation procedure, the classification performance of each ML model was evaluated based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), balanced accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.
RESULTS: The multimodal ML model was able to distinguish between depressed patients and healthy controls with the highest balanced accuracy of 87.98 ± 8.84% (AUC = 0.92; 95% CI (0.84-0.99) when compared with the uni- and bi-modal models.
CONCLUSIONS: Our multimodal ML model demonstrated the highest diagnostic accuracy for MDD. This reinforces the biological and clinical heterogeneity of MDD and highlights the potential of this model to improve MDD diagnosis rates. Furthermore, this model is cost-effective and clinically applicable enough to be established as a robust diagnostic system for MDD based on patients' biosignatures.
Fulltext Behavioural responses and anxiety symptoms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan: A large scale cross-sectional study

Cai G, Lin Y, Lu Y, He F, Morita K, Yamamoto T, et al.

J Psychiatr Res, 2021 Apr;136:296-305.
PMID: 33631655 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.02.008

BACKGROUND: This study explored the behavioural responses and anxiety symptoms of the general adult population in Japan during the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
METHODS: A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted between 12th and May 13, 2020. Quota sampling was used to attain equal gender and age distributions representative of the Japanese population.
RESULTS: A total of 4127 complete responses were analysed. Higher educational level (B = 0.045, p = 0.002) and household income (B = 0.04, p = 0.009) were associated with a higher increase in preventive measures when comparing before and after the state of emergency was declared. The highest reported social anxiety was a feeling of fear (65.6%), followed by embarrassment (43.8%), keeping infection a secret (41.3%), avoidance (41.3%), and stigma (25.5%). A total of 86.1% of the respondents reported moderate to severe anxiety. The partial least square-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) revealed that being female has the greatest effect (B = 0.246, p
Meta-analysis of soluble tumour necrosis factor receptors in severe mental illnesses

Goh XX, Tang PY, Tee SF

J Psychiatr Res, 2023 Sep;165:180-190.
PMID: 37515950 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.07.014

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF), as an innate immune defense molecule, functions through binding to TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1) or TNF receptor 2 (TNFR2). Peripheral levels of soluble TNFR1 (sTNFR1) and soluble TNFR2 (sTNFR2) were widely measured in severe mental illnesses (SMIs) including schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) but inconsistencies existed. Hence, the present meta-analysis was conducted to identify the overall association between plasma/serum sTNFR1 and sTNFR2 levels and SMIs. Published studies were searched using Pubmed and Scopus. Data were analysed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 2. Hedges's g effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals were pooled using fixed-effect or random-effects models. Heterogeneity, publication bias and study quality were assessed. Sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis were performed. Our findings revealed that sTNFR1 level was significantly higher in SMI, particularly in BD. The sTNFR2 level significantly elevated in SMI but with smaller effect size. These findings further support the association between altered immune system and inflammatory abnormalities in SMI, especially in patients with BD. Subgroup analysis showed that younger age of onset, longer illness duration and psychotropic medication raised both sTNFR levels, especially sTNFR1, as these factors may contribute to the activation of inflammation. Future studies were suggested to identify the causality between TNFR pathway and SCZ, BD and MDD respectively using homogenous group of each SMI, and to determine the longitudinal effect of each psychotropic medication on TNFR pathway.
The eleven-item Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST-11): Cross-cultural psychometric evaluation across 42 countries

Lee CT, Lin CY, Koós M, Nagy L, Kraus SW, Demetrovics Z, et al.

J Psychiatr Res, 2023 Sep;165:16-27.
PMID: 37453212 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.06.033

The Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) is an instrument to screen substance-use-related health risks. However, little is known whether the ASSIST could be further shortened while remaining psychometrically sound across different countries, languages, gender identities, and sexual-orientation-based groups. The study aimed to validate a shortened 11-item ASSIST (ASSIST-11). Using the International Sex Survey data, 82,243 participants (M age = 32.39 years) across 42 countries and 26 languages completed questions from the ASSIST-11 regarding gender identity, sexual orientation, and other information. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and multigroup CFA (MGCFA) evaluated the ASSIST-11's structure and tested measurement invariance across groups. Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω were used to examine the internal consistency. Cohen's d and independent t-tests were used to examine known-group validity. The ASSIST-11 was unidimensional across countries, languages, age groups, gender identities (i.e., men, women, and gender-diverse individuals), and sexual orientations (i.e., heterosexual and sexual minority individuals). Cronbach's α was 0.63 and McDonald's ω was 0.68 for the ASSIST-11. Known-group validity was supported by Cohen's d (range between 0.23 and 0.40) with significant differences (p-values<0.001). The ASSIST-11 is a modified instrument with a unidimensional factor structure across different languages, age groups, countries, gender identities, and sexual orientations. The low internal consistency of the ASSIST-11 might be acceptable as it assesses a broad concept (i.e., use of several different substances). Healthcare providers and researchers may use the ASSIST-11 to quickly assess substance-use information from general populations and evaluate the need to follow up with more detailed questions about substance use.