Relapse prevention is crucial in patients with schizophrenia, as repeated episodes can worsen psychopathology and functionality. There is strong evidence of antipsychotics efficacy in preventing relapse; however, non-compliance rates in patients with schizophrenia are very high. Long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) are an important treatment option but remain underutilized.

Aripiprazole once-monthly is a long-acting intramuscular injectable formulation of aripiprazole indicated for the maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in adult patients stabilized on oral aripiprazole.

If one injection start regimen is adopted, on the day of initiation, an injection of 400mg Aripiprazole once monthly should be administered accompanied by 10mg to 20mg of oral aripiprazole per day for the successive 14 days New treatment regimen: On the day it begins, inject 400 mg Aripiprazole twice at different sites and provide one 20 mg dose of oral aripiprazole

The main aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of Aripiprazole long-acting injectable (ALAI) in stable patients with schizophrenia.The initial dose was administered according to the new regimen (Two injection Start).

The secondary objective is to compare hospitalizations and emergency interventions during 24 months before (retrospective) and after (prospective) switching to ALAI.

The study included 15 patients diagnosed with stable schizophrenia (DSM 5 criteria) who underwent treatment with ALAI. The beginning dosage was administered using the new regimen (Two Injection Start).

Over an 24-month follow-up period, the Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia scale (CGI-SCH), treatment adherence, concomitant medication, hospitalizations, emergency assists, and reported side effects were evaluated every three months.

Mean initial scores were 4.24 (±0.83) on GCI-SCH.

After 24 months, the mean scores varied from baseline by -1.21±0.74 (P<0.01) on the ICG-SCH.

The percentage of patients who remained admission-free at the end of the 24 months was 73%.

The treatment adherence rate for ALAI after 24 months was 66%.

The most frequent side effect with an incidence of 20% was transient mild insomnia. None of the patients who started ALAI after the 2-injection start regimen experienced severe adverse effects or severe adverse effects.

There were 20 hospital admissions during the 24-month period prior to the switch to ALI, which fell to 5 hospital admissions 24 months following the switch.

Similarly, there were 38 emergency assists during the 24-month period before the switch to ALI, which dropped to 9 emergency assists 24 months after the switch.

We found of Aripiprazole long-acting injectable (The starting dose was administered following the new regimen (Two injection Start)) is effective, safe, and well tolerated in clinical practice conditions

None Declared

Extremely preterm newborns - EPTN (born ≤28 weeks gestational age) are at increased risk of developing autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Demographic and perinatal risk factors associated with ASD risk in EPTN are understudied.

(i) In EPTN and born at full-term healthy controls (HC), to characterize the emergence of ASD traits and autistic symptom load at age 18 months; (ii) in EPTN, to identify the influence of perinatal characteristics such as sex and gestational age on autistic symptom load at corrected-age 18 months.

Observational, longitudinal, prospective, 18-month follow-up study. We recruited a cohort of n=113 EPTN and n=47 HC (the PremTEA cohort); n=57 EPTN and n=42 HC successfully completed the 18-month follow-up visit. We assessed autistic symptom load & risk at 18 months using the M-CHAT-R/F questionnaire. For all EPTN and HC, we collected demographic and perinatal data. Using GLMs, we assessed, in EPTN, the association between demographic/perinatal variables and 18-month autistic symptom levels.

At 18 months, EPTN children showed higher autistic symptom levels than HC (M-CHAT-R/F score, mean (SD) [range] = 2.21 (3.23) [0-12] in EPTN vs. 0.33 (0.57) [0-2] in HC; d=.873, p=.001. In EPTN, we identified differences by gestational age and sex in autistic symptom levels at 18 months (aR2=0.517, p=.006). In particular, female EPTNs born with lower gestational age showed higher autistic symptom load at age 18 months.

Our findings support the need for early screening of ASD symptomatology in EPTN infants, particularly in higher-risk subgroups, such as female patients born with lower gestational ages.

None Declared

Relapse prevention is critical because psychopathology and functionality can worsen in patients with schizophrenia because the repeated episodes and we have strong evidence of antipsychotics efficacy for relapse prevention, but nonadherence rates in patients with schizophrenia are very high, even in comparison with other illness.

There is extensive clinical trial evidence for the use of paliperidone palmitate 1-month (PP1M) and paliperidone palmitate 3-month (PP3M) formulations for maintaining treatment continuity and preventing relapses and risk of hospitalizations in patients with schizophrenia. (Najarian et al. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2022; 25(3) 238-251). Paliperidone palmitate 6-month (PP6M) formulation is a presentation that provides a dosing interval of once every six months.

The principal aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of the PP6M in patients with non-acute schizophrenia on an outpatient basis

Methods: Sample: 22 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM 5 criteria) that started treatment with PP6M after being stabilized with PP1M (N:10) or PP3M (N:12) (the treatment dose was not changed in the four months before study inclusion)

Bimonthly, the following evaluations were performed during a follow-up period of 14 months:

The Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia scale (CGI-SCH)

Treatment adherence, concomitant medication, adverse events and the number of hospitalizations and emergency visits

Efficacy values: Percentage of patients who remained free of admissions at the end of 14months of follow-up.

Other evaluation criteria: Percentage of patients who never visited the emergency department at the end of 14 months of follow-up, average change from baseline visit to the final evaluation as assessed by score obtained on the following scale: GSI-SCH, treatment adherence rate and tolerability.

The percentage of patients who remained free of admission at the end of the 14 months follow-up was 90% in the total sample, 83% in the PP3M pre-treatment group and 100% in the PP1M pre-treatment group.

The percentage of patients who never visited the emergency department at the end of 14 months follow-up was: 81% in the total sample, 75% in the PP3M pre-treatment group and 90% in the PP1M pre-treatment group.

At the end of the study, a mean change of +0.12 (±0.11) on the ICG-SCH-SI scale in the total sample, +0.25 (±0.21) in the PP3M pre-treatment group and 0 in the PP1M pre-treatment group.

The treatment persistence rate at the 14 month of follow-up was 100% in the total sample.

Treatment was well tolerated, and no safety-related adverse events were collected. There were no tolerability-related withdrawals from treatment.

In our study, we found that long-term treatment with paliperidone palmitate 6-month formulation is effective and well tolerated in clinical practice conditions.

None Declared

Paliperidone Palmitate 3-month formulation (PP3M) has shown a significantly longer time to relapse compared to placebo, with similar efficacy and safety to Paliperidone Palmitate 1-month (PP1M) (Carpiniello et al. Drug Des. Devel. Ther. 2016; 10 1731–1742).

The main objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of PP3M in preventing hospital admissions and emergency room visits, in people with non-acute schizophrenia in a naturalistic psychiatric outpatient setting

Sample: 30 people with diagnosis of schizophrenia (DSM 5 criteria), who had started treatment with PP3M, after being stabilized with PP1M (the dose was not modified in the four months prior to inclusion in the study)

Quarterly basis, the following evaluations were performed during a follow-up period of 66 months:

The Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia scale (CGI-SCH)

Treatment adherence, concomitant medication and the number of hospitalizations and emergency visits

Efficacy values: Percentage of patients who remained free of admissions at the end of 66 months of follow-up.

Other evaluation criteria: Percentage of patients who never visited the emergency department at the end of 66 months of follow-up. Average change from baseline visit to the final evaluation as assessed by score obtained on the following scale: GSI-SCH, percentage of patients on antipsychotic monotherapy and treatment adherence rate.

The mean dose of PP3M was 401. 55 mg

The percentage of patients who remained free of admissions at the end of the 66 months was 83.25% and the percentage of patients who never visited the emergency department at the end of 66 months was 79.92%

Mean variations from baseline scores at 66 months were: (-0.36 ±0-37) on the GCI-SCH.

The percentage of patients on antipsychotic monotherapy at the end of the 66 months was 76.56%

The rate of adherence was 86.58%

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In our study, we found that paliperidone palmitate 3-month formulation was effective in reducing the number of admissions and visits to the emergency department, under conditions of daily clinical practice.

None Declared

Negative symptoms has been classically associated with cognition, psychosocial functioning and quality of life in patients with schizophrenia. But negative symptoms are not a unitary construct, encompassing two different factors: diminished expression, and motivation and pleasure. Few works have studied the relationship between these two different negative symptoms factors and cognition (neuro and social cognition), psychosocial functioning and quality of life, jointly, in patients with a first psychotic episode of schizophrenia.

The objective of the present work was to study, in a sample of patients with a first psychotic episode of schizophrenia, the relationship between the negative symptoms (diminished expression and motivation and pleasure) and neurocognition, social cognition, functioning and quality of life.

The study was carried out with 82 outpatients with a first psychotic episode of schizophrenia from two Spanish hospitals (“12 de Octubre” University Hospital, Madrid and “Virgen de la Luz” Hospital, Cuenca). The patients were assessed with the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS) for evaluating diminished expression (EXP) and motivation and pleasure (MAP) symptoms, the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) for evaluating neurocognition and social cognition, the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS), and the Quality of Life Scale (QLS).

A negative correlation was found between neurocognition and the two negative symptoms subscales: CAINS-EXP (r=-0.458, p<0.001) and CAINS-MAP (r=-0.374, p<0.001); but with social cognition only CAINS-EXP was correlated (r=-0.236, p=0.033). Also, it was found a high negative correlation between SOFAS scores and CAINS-MAP (r=-0.717, p<0.001); and a medium negative correlation with CAINS-EXP (r=-0.394, p<0.001). Finally, QLS score was high correlated with both CAINS subscales: CAINS-EXP (r=-0.681, p<0.001) and CAINS-MAP (r=-0.770, p<0.001).

This study found a relationship between negative symptoms and neurocognition, social cognition, functioning and quality of life in a sample of patients with a first psychotic episode of schizophrenia. But the two different negative symptom factors, diminished expression, and motivation and pleasure, are associated differently with psychosocial functioning, but especially with social cognition where the relationship was only found with diminished expression symptoms.

None Declared

Relapse prevention is critical because psychopathology and functionality can worsen in patients with schizophrenia because the repeated episodes and we have strong evidence of antipsychotics efficacy for relapse prevention, but nonadherence rates in patients with schizophrenia are very high, even in comparison with other illness. The literature speaks of average rates of 42% in schizophrenia. For that, long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) are considered important treatment option, but they are underutilized (Taipale et al. Schizophrenia Bulletin 2017; 44, 1381–1387) (Garcia et al. J Clin Psychopharmacol 2016; 36(4)355-371).

There is extensive clinical trial evidence for the use of paliperidone palmitate 1-month (PP1M) and paliperidone palmitate 3-month (PP3M) formulations for maintaining treatment continuity and preventing relapses and risk of hospitalizations in patients with schizophrenia. (Najarian et al. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 2022; 25(3) 238-251).

Paliperidone palmitate 6-month (PP6M) formulation is a presentation that provides a dosing interval of once every six months. It is the first and only antipsychotic to be administered twice a year.

The principal aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of the PP6M in people with non-acute schizophrenia in a naturalistic psychiatric outpatient setting

Sample: 22 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM 5 criteria) that started treatment with PP6M after being stabilized with PP1M (N:10) or PP3M (N:12) (the treatment dose was not changed in the four months before study inclusion)

The mean dose of PP6M was 822.727 mg

Bimonthly, the following evaluations were performed during a follow-up period of 4 months:

The Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia scale (CGI-SCH)

Treatment adherence, concomitant medication, adverse events and the number of hospitalizations and emergency visits

Efficacy values: Percentage of patients who remained free of admissions at the end of 4months of follow-up.

Other evaluation criteria: Percentage of patients who never visited the emergency department at the end of 4 months of follow-up, average change from baseline visit to the final evaluation as assessed by score obtained on the following scale: GSI-SCH, treatment adherence rate and tolerability.

The percentage of patients who remained free of admissions at the end of the 4 months was 100% and the percentage of patients who never visited the emergency department at the end of 4 months was 100 %

Mean variations from baseline scores at 4 months were: (-0.21 ±0.31) on the GCI-SCH.

The rate of adherence to treatment with PP6M after 4 months was 100%.

Tolerability was good. None of the patients experienced an adverse event.

In our study, we found that short-term treatment with paliperidone palmitate 6-month formulation is effective and well tolerated in clinical practice conditions

None Declared

Hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates were negatively affected by the the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We describe the incidence of HAIs, main pathogens, and multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) isolated in cancer patients before and during the pandemic.

This retrospective, comparative study included patients with HAIs. We compared 2 periods: the prepandemic period (2018, 2019, and the first 3 months of 2020) with the pandemic period (April–December 2020 and all of 2021).

Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, a tertiary-care oncology public hospital in Mexico City, Mexico.

Patients with the following HAIs were included: nosocomial pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), secondary bloodstream infection (BSI), central-line–associated bloodstream infection (CLBSI), and Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). Demographic data, clinical characteristics, pathogens isolated, and MDRO data were included.

We identified 639 HAIs: 381 (7.95 per 100 hospital discharges) in the prepandemic period and 258 (7.17 per 100 hospital discharges) in the pandemic period. Hematologic malignancy was documented in 263 (44.3%) patients; 251 (39.2%) were in cancer progression or relapse. Nosocomial pneumonia was more frequent during the pandemic period (40.3% vs 32.3%; P = .04). Total episodes of VAP were not different between the 2 periods (28.1% vs 22.1%; P = .08), but during the pandemic period, the VAP rate was higher among COVID-19 patients than non–COVID-19 patients (72.2% vs 8.8%; P < .001). Escherichia coli, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia cases were more frequent in the pandemic period. Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL)–E. coli was the only MDRO that occurred more frequently during the pandemic period.

In cancer patients, nosocomial pneumonia was more frequent during the pandemic period. We did not observe a significant impact on other HAIs. MDROs did not significantly increase during the pandemic.

Youth exposed to complex trauma (CT) show an increased risk of psychiatric morbidity, including a wide range of psychiatric disorders. However, to date, there is no specific diagnosis in the DSM-5 that capture the clinical complexity of these patients. Properly, the last version of the ICD-11 includes a diagnosis termed Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), which considers the pattern of post-traumatic stress symptoms, plus life-impairing disturbances in self-organization (emotion dysregulation, negative self-concept and interpersonal problems). Clinical research about CPTSD, especially in younger population, is still limited.

To explore the symptomatology of CPTSD in a sample of youth exposed to CT and its association with worse clinical outcomes.

187 youth aged 7 to 17 years participated in the EPI_young_stress_project (116 with current psychiatric disorder and 71 healthy controls). CT was evaluated following the TASSCV criteria. To identify CPTSD symptomatology, we performed an exploratory factor analysis including CBCL and TEIQue items. The global level of functioning was measured by CGAS.

Preliminary results pointed that youth exposed to CT showed greater internalizing (p<.001) and externalizing (p<.001) symptomatology. Regardless of their current primary diagnosis based on DSM-5, youth exposed to CT reported more CPTSD symptomatology (p<.001). Moreover, youth with CPTSD showed greater use of psychotropic drugs (p<.001), higher and longer hospitalizations (p=.002) and worse overall functioning (p<.001).

The inclusion of the CPTSD in future versions of mental disorders manuals should increase the implementation of early specific trauma interventions, which may improve victims’ lives and reduce the risk of worse clinical outcomes.

No significant relationships.

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is one of the best described environmental risk factors for developing any psychiatric disorder, while it also confers increased odds for obesity, cardiometabolic disorders and all-cause mortality. Inflammation has been suggested to mediate the widespread clinical effects of CM. Previously, Ligthart et al. (2016) identified a polyepigenetic signature of circulating CRP levels, a measure of chronic low-grade inflammation, that has been reliably associated with a wide array of complex disorders. The study of this biomarker could dilucidate the mechanistic relationship between CM and psychiatric outcomes.

Thus, CRP-associated epigenetic modifications were explored regarding proximal exposure to CM.

Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 157 children and adolescents (7 to 17 years old). Exposure to CM was assessed following the TASSCV criteria. Genome-wide DNA methylation was assessed by means of the EPIC array. Fifty-two out of the 58 original CRP-associated CpG sites surpassed quality control and were included in the analysis. Age, sex, psychopathological status and cell type proportions were included as covariates.

DNA methylation at 12 out of 52 CpG sites (23%) was significantly associated with exposure to CM (p < .05); 8 of these associations survived correction for multiple testing (q < .05).

This is the first study to date to explore the relationship between childhood maltreatment and an epigenetic signature of chronic low-grade inflammation. Our findings underscore the presence of immune dysregulation early after exposure to CM; further studies are needed to assess the long-term clinical implications of this signature in psychiatric patients.

No significant relationships.

The main factors that are involved in a correct adherence to the therapeutic recommendations in Bipolar Disorder includes aspects related to age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic level and characteristics of the illness associated with the severity, comorbidity and adverse effects related to previous medicine.

To analyse the individual perception that the patient with Bipolar Disorder has regarding the positive and negative aspects of taking the recommended medication.

Descriptive and interpretative observational study under the qualitative paradigm of research, extracting the data through the completion of four focus groups with ten patients everyone. To complete the codification of the content of the participant’s discourses, we rely on the QRS NVivo 10 computer program.

In the participant’s discourse concerning the main barriers to pharmacological treatment, for example “It’s because we live in a society and, because of that, we don’t go without medicine; if we didn’t live in society, we wouldn’t take medicine because we wouldn’t bother anyone”. Some examples of patient’s discourse, about perceived facilitators were: “I have to take medicine for my bipolar disorder, that’s it, I have a treatment, my illness has a name”.

The main facilitators regarding the use of pharmacological treatment in Bipolar Disorder are the perceived need for treatment in the acute phase and the recognition of the illness, the shared clinical decision and the causal biological attribution in the chronic phase. About perceived barriers, social control is identified in both phases, adverse effects in the acute cases and the absence of effective treatment in the chronic state.

Interdigital 2D:4D ratio has been considered as an indicator of prenatal exposure to androgens, entailing then a smaller ratio more androgenisation. Although it has been related to systemizing and empathy dimensions in the general population, it has never been studied in parents of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs).

To analyse the relationship between the 2D:4D ratio and these psychological variables in this population.

The sample was composed by parents of both genders of people with (n = 46) or without (n = 42) ASDs. The ratio was calculated as the mean of 3 measurements of each hand evaluated by 3 different researchers. Psychological dimensions were evaluated by means of the Systemizing and Empathy Quotients (SQ and EQ, respectively).

Parents of ASDs persons showed lower scores in the EQ than controls, being these differences replicated only in men. No differences between groups for the 2D:4D ratio were found. Nevertheless, regression analyses indicated that in parents of ASDs a higher 2D:4D left ratio predicted a higher EQ. This result was also observed in men but not in women. In any case, the model was not significant in the control group.

Parents of ASDs persons showed lower EQ than controls, being this quotient predicted by the left 2D:4D ratio only in the former. When analysing in each gender, these results are only obtained in men. Among other parameters, the D2:D4 ratio (especially the left hand one) could be considered a valid indicator of the ASDs parent's idiosyncrasy.