Identifying the specific brain pattern characterizing psychiatric disorders could lead us to precise diagnostic process, better treatment plan and outcome prediction. Structural covariance is a graph-analysis method with which disruptions in large scale brain network organization can be observed. More studies, employing this method in psychiatry, are still needed.

The current study aims to investigate how the main psychiatric disorders – schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, affect brain circuitry by means of multivariate graph theory, more specifically – structural covariance. We hypothesized that specific abnormalities in the brain circuits would be found in separate diagnostic entities.

164 subjects were included with schizophrenia-SCH (n=17), bipolar disorder-BD(n=25), major depressive disorder–MDD(n=68) and a healthy control group-HC(n=54). Each participant provided a written informed consent and the study protocol was approved by the University’s Ethics Committee. High resolution structural MRI was acquired, and preprocessing was performed using SPM 12 toolbox. The structural covariance method was applied consisting of calculation of the correlation across subjects between the different pairs of regions by using the gray matter average volume. We used the threshold statistic to binarize the covariance matrix and transform it into an adjacency matrix. This allows us to compare psychiatric disorders at a network level by calculating measures such as authorities, hubs and outdegree.

61 statistically significant regions were found for the whole sample. The matrices of the four groups were compared according to their ‘authorities’ ,‘hubs’ and ‘outdegree’ as first, second and third ranking variables, respectively. In the group comparison between HC and BD patients the top five significant regions were Planum temporale (PT), Putamen, Precuneus (PreCu), Calcarine cortex (Calc_cor) and Postcentral gyrus medial segment (PostCGms). The MDD group demonstrated the following regions with most significant difference including Precentral gyrus (PreCG), Entorhinal area (EntA), Amygdala (Amy), Anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC), Anterior insula (AI). While SCH grop was charachterized by ACC, PreCG – medial segment, PostCGms, anterior orbital gyrus, and frontal pole.

The results of our study demonstrated that schizophrenia and mood disorders have specific disturbances in brain network structural organization, affecting hubs of default mode network, salience network, motor, sensory and visual cortex, as well as limbic system. These alterations might elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms of common symptoms of the disorders under investigation including perceptual, affective and cognitive disturbances.

None Declared

Healthcare services are increasingly confronted with challenges related to old age mental disorders. The survey aimed to provide an overview of existing psychogeriatric services in Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, and North Macedonia.

After identification of psychogeriatric units across the four countries, their head physicians were asked to provide data on their clinical, teaching, and research activity, as well as staff composition. Moreover, the attitudes of head physicians to current needs and future service development were explored.

A total of 15 psychogeriatric units were identified (3 in Bulgaria, 8 in Greece, and 4 in North Macedonia). Results show wide variation regarding the location, team size and composition, service availability, numbers of patients attending, and inpatient treatment length. Most head physicians underscored the urgent need for breakthroughs in the graduate and postgraduate education in psychogeriatrics of medical and nonmedical professionals, as well as in the interconnection of their units with community primary healthcare services and long-term care facilities for seniors via telemedicine. They would welcome the development of national standards for psychogeriatric units, potentially embodying clear pointers for action. A number of head physicians advocated the development of nationwide old age mental health registries.

Regional disparities in resources and services for seniors’ mental health services were unveiled. These data may enrich the dialogue on optimizing psychogeriatric services through planning future cross-border collaborations mainly based on telemedicine services, especially in the era of the novel coronavirus pandemic, and training/education in psychogeriatrics of mental health professionals.

The vomeronasal organ is an accessory olfactory organ found in vertebrates that specialises in the chemoreception of pheromones. This study aimed to explore the existence and occurrence of the vomeronasal organ in adult humans.

A total of 966 consecutive video recordings of out-patient nasopharyngolaryngoscopies performed at the St Marina University Hospital, Varna, Bulgaria, were retrospectively reviewed.

Data analysis showed that from the evaluable cases, the organ was evident on the left side of the nasal septum in 14.93 per cent, on the right side in 21.15 per cent and bilaterally in 2.35 per cent of cases. The vomeronasal organ was present in a total of 26.83 per cent of the investigated subjects.

More research should be focused on revealing the incidence and functionality of the organ, and on its preservation in surgical manipulations that affect the nasal septum and other nearby structures.