Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit smaller regional brain volumes in commonly reported regions including the amygdala and hippocampus, regions associated with fear and memory processing. In the current study, we have conducted a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) meta-analysis using whole-brain statistical maps with neuroimaging data from the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD working group.

T1-weighted structural neuroimaging scans from 36 cohorts (PTSD n = 1309; controls n = 2198) were processed using a standardized VBM pipeline (ENIGMA-VBM tool). We meta-analyzed the resulting statistical maps for voxel-wise differences in gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) volumes between PTSD patients and controls, performed subgroup analyses considering the trauma exposure of the controls, and examined associations between regional brain volumes and clinical variables including PTSD (CAPS-4/5, PCL-5) and depression severity (BDI-II, PHQ-9).

PTSD patients exhibited smaller GM volumes across the frontal and temporal lobes, and cerebellum, with the most significant effect in the left cerebellum (Hedges’ g = 0.22, pcorrected = .001), and smaller cerebellar WM volume (peak Hedges’ g = 0.14, pcorrected = .008). We observed similar regional differences when comparing patients to trauma-exposed controls, suggesting these structural abnormalities may be specific to PTSD. Regression analyses revealed PTSD severity was negatively associated with GM volumes within the cerebellum (pcorrected = .003), while depression severity was negatively associated with GM volumes within the cerebellum and superior frontal gyrus in patients (pcorrected = .001).

PTSD patients exhibited widespread, regional differences in brain volumes where greater regional deficits appeared to reflect more severe symptoms. Our findings add to the growing literature implicating the cerebellum in PTSD psychopathology.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided strategies, such as extended use and reuse, to preserve N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFR). We aimed to assess the prevalence of N95 FFR contamination with SARS-CoV-2 among healthcare personnel (HCP) in the Emergency Department (ED).

Real-world, prospective, multicenter cohort study. N95 FFR contamination (primary outcome) was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with contamination.

Six academic medical centers.

ED HCP who practiced N95 FFR reuse and extended use during the COVID-19 pandemic between April 2021 and July 2022.

Total number of COVID-19-positive patients treated.

Two-hundred forty-five N95 FFRs were tested. Forty-four N95 FFRs (18.0%, 95% CI 13.4, 23.3) were contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The number of patients seen with COVID-19 was associated with N95 FFR contamination (adjusted odds ratio, 2.3 [95% CI 1.5, 3.6]). Wearing either surgical masks or face shields over FFRs was not associated with FFR contamination, and FFR contamination prevalence was high when using these adjuncts [face shields: 25% (16/64), surgical masks: 22% (23/107)].

Exposure to patients with known COVID-19 was independently associated with N95 FFR contamination. Face shields and overlying surgical masks were not associated with N95 FFR contamination. N95 FFR reuse and extended use should be avoided due to the increased risk of contact exposure from contaminated FFRs.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we rapidly implemented a plasma coordination center, within two months, to support transfusion for two outpatient randomized controlled trials. The center design was based on an investigational drug services model and a Food and Drug Administration-compliant database to manage blood product inventory and trial safety.

A core investigational team adapted a cloud-based platform to randomize patient assignments and track inventory distribution of control plasma and high-titer COVID-19 convalescent plasma of different blood groups from 29 donor collection centers directly to blood banks serving 26 transfusion sites.

We performed 1,351 transfusions in 16 months. The transparency of the digital inventory at each site was critical to facilitate qualification, randomization, and overnight shipments of blood group-compatible plasma for transfusions into trial participants. While inventory challenges were heightened with COVID-19 convalescent plasma, the cloud-based system, and the flexible approach of the plasma coordination center staff across the blood bank network enabled decentralized procurement and distribution of investigational products to maintain inventory thresholds and overcome local supply chain restraints at the sites.

The rapid creation of a plasma coordination center for outpatient transfusions is infrequent in the academic setting. Distributing more than 3,100 plasma units to blood banks charged with managing investigational inventory across the U.S. in a decentralized manner posed operational and regulatory challenges while providing opportunities for the plasma coordination center to contribute to research of global importance. This program can serve as a template in subsequent public health emergencies.

To examine the effectiveness of Self-Help Plus (SH+) as an intervention for alleviating stress levels and mental health problems among healthcare workers.

This was a prospective, two-arm, unblinded, parallel-designed randomised controlled trial. Participants were recruited at all levels of medical facilities within all municipal districts of Guangzhou. Eligible participants were adult healthcare workers experiencing psychological stress (10-item Perceived Stress Scale scores of ≥15) but without serious mental health problems or active suicidal ideation. A self-help psychological intervention developed by the World Health Organization in alleviating psychological stress and preventing the development of mental health problems. The primary outcome was psychological stress, assessed at the 3-month follow-up. Secondary outcomes were depression symptoms, anxiety symptoms, insomnia, positive affect (PA) and self-kindness assessed at the 3-month follow-up.

Between November 2021 and April 2022, 270 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to either SH+ (n = 135) or the control group (n = 135). The SH+ group had significantly lower stress at the 3-month follow-up (b = −1.23, 95% CI = −2.36, −0.10, p = 0.033) compared to the control group. The interaction effect indicated that the intervention effect in reducing stress differed over time (b = −0.89, 95% CI = −1.50, −0.27, p = 0.005). Analysis of the secondary outcomes suggested that SH+ led to statistically significant improvements in most of the secondary outcomes, including depression, insomnia, PA and self-kindness.

This is the first known randomised controlled trial ever conducted to improve stress and mental health problems among healthcare workers experiencing psychological stress in a low-resource setting. SH+ was found to be an effective strategy for alleviating psychological stress and reducing symptoms of common mental problems. SH+ has the potential to be scaled-up as a public health strategy to reduce the burden of mental health problems in healthcare workers exposed to high levels of stress.

Cognitive difficulties among diffuse glioma survivors are common in survivorship due to cancer treatment effects (i.e., surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiation therapy), which can diminish quality of life. Routine monitoring of cognitive symptoms in survivorship is recommended and can help address patient needs and inform clinical interventions (e.g., cognitive rehabilitation). While several patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures have been used in brain tumor populations, there has been few studies comparing the performance of these PROs in patients with diffuse glioma. In order to better understand the value of different PROs, we conducted preliminary analyses associating cognitive PROs with neuropsychological impairment in a well-characterized sample of patients with diffuse glioma.

23 glioma patients (mean aged 44.26 ± 12.24), six or more months after completing cancer treatment, underwent comprehensive psychosocial and neuropsychological assessments. The neuropsychological battery included the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test - Revised, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test - Revised, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV tests of Coding and Digit Span, Trail-Making Test, Stroop Test, FAS, Animals, Boston Naming Test, and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (copy). Completed cognitive PROs included the Functional Assessment of Cancer - Cognitive Function and Brain questionnaires (FACT-Cog; FACT-Br), the European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire for Brain Neoplasms (EORTC QLQ-BN20), and the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory, short form (MFSI-SF) Mental subscale. Based on published norms, we divided the sample into cognitively impaired and non-impaired groups (two or more primary neuropsychological test scores <= -2 z-score). We compared PRO scores between impaired and non-impaired groups using Mann-Whitney U tests. Higher medians equate to better cognitive functioning for all PROs, except for the MSFI-SF.

We found significantly worse scores in the impaired group compared to non-impaired group on the FACT-Cog subscales of perceived cognitive ability (PCA), [Non-Impaired (Mdn = 21, n = 11), Impaired (Mdn = 10, n = 12), U = 22.5, z = -2.68, = 0.007], perceived cognitive impairment (PCI), [Non-Impaired (Mdn = 59, n = 11), Impaired (Mdn = 44, n = 12), U = 32.5, z = -2.06, p=0.039]. The impaired group also trended towards worse scores on the FACT-Br additional concerns subscale [Non-Impaired (Mdn = 79.5, n = 10), Impaired (Mdn = 61, n = 12), U = 32.5, z = -1.81, p=0.07]. Group differences were not observed on the MSFI-SF [Non-Impaired (Mdn = 5, n = 11), Impaired (Mdn = 7, n = 12), U = 40.5, z = -1.57, p=0.12], or EORTC Cognitive Functioning subscale [Non-Impaired (Mdn = 83.33, n = 10), Impaired (Mdn = 75, n = 12), U = 42, z = -1.23, p=0.218].

The preliminary findings suggest that the FACT-Cog, especially the PCA and PCI correspond with neuropsychological impairment among diffuse glioma survivors better than other cognitive PROs. The FACT-Br subscale was somewhat effective. The MFSI-SF Mental and EORTC Cognitive Functioning subscales did not correspond to impairment status. The FACT-Cog is a promising instrument and future work is needed to better determine relative utility of cognitive PROs in this population.

TDuring COVID-19 pandemic, it was noticed that it was students who were mostly affected by the changes that aroused because of the pandemic. The interesting part is whether students’ well-being could be associated with their fields of study as well as coping strategies.

In this study, we aimed to assess 1) the mental health of students from nine countries with a particular focus on depression, anxiety, and stress levels and their fields of study, 2) the major coping strategies of students after one year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We conducted an anonymous online cross-sectional survey on 12th April – 1st June 2021 that was distributed among the students from Poland, Mexico, Egypt, India, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, Philippines, and Bangladesh. To measure the emotional distress, we used the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and to identify the major coping strategies of students - the Brief-COPE.

We gathered 7219 responses from students studying five major studies: medical studies (N=2821), social sciences (N=1471), technical sciences (N=891), artistic/humanistic studies (N=1094), sciences (N=942). The greatest intensity of depression (M=18.29±13.83; moderate intensity), anxiety (M=13.13±11.37; moderate intensity ), and stress (M=17.86±12.94; mild intensity) was observed among sciences students. Medical students presented the lowest intensity of all three components - depression (M=13.31±12.45; mild intensity), anxiety (M=10.37±10.57; moderate intensity), and stress (M=13.65±11.94; mild intensity). Students of all fields primarily used acceptance and self-distraction as their coping mechanisms, while the least commonly used were self-blame, denial, and substance use. The group of coping mechanisms the most frequently used was ‘emotional focus’. Medical students statistically less often used avoidant coping strategies compared to other fields of study. Substance use was only one coping mechanism that did not statistically differ between students of different fields of study. Behavioral disengagement presented the highest correlation with depression (r=0.54), anxiety (r=0.48), and stress (r=0.47) while religion presented the lowest positive correlation with depression (r=0.07), anxiety (r=0.14), and stress (r=0.11).

1) The greatest intensity of depression, anxiety, and stress was observed among sciences students, while the lowest intensity of those components was found among students studying medicine.

2) Not using avoidant coping strategies might be associated with lower intensity of all DASS components among students.

3) Behavioral disengagement might be strongly associated with greater intensity of depression, anxiety, and stress among students.

4) There was no coping mechanism that provided the alleviation of emotional distress in all the fields of studies of students.

None Declared

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a source of marked disability, morbidity, and premature death. There is a paucity of research on personalized psychosocial interventions for BD, especially in lowresource settings. A previously published pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a Culturally adapted PsychoEducation (CaPE) intervention for BD in Pakistan reported higher patient satisfaction, enhanced medication adherence, knowledge and attitudes towards BD, and improvement in mood symptom scores and health-related quality of life measures compared to treatment-as-usual (TAU).

This protocol describes a larger multicentre RCT to confirm the clinical and cost-effectiveness of CaPE in Pakistan.

A multicentre individual, parallel arm, RCT of CaPE in 300Pakistani adults with BD. Participants over the age of 18, with adiagnosis of bipolar I and II and who are currently euthymic, will berecruited from seven sites including Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi,Peshawar, Hyderabad and Quetta. Time to recurrence will be the primaryoutcome assessed using Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation(LIFE). Secondary measures will include mood symptomatology, qualityof life and functioning, adherence to psychotropic medications, andknowledge and attitudes towards BD.

Full ethics approval has been received from National Bioethics Committee (NBC) of Pakistan and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, Canada. The study has completed sixty-five screening across the seven centres, of which forty-eight participants have been randomised.

A successful trial will lead to rapid implementation of CaPE in clinical practice, not only in Pakistan, but also in other low-resource settings including those in high-income countries, to improve clinical outcomes, social and occupational functioning, and quality of life in South Asian and other minority patients with BD.

None Declared

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental illnesses worldwide and is strongly associated with suicidality. Commonly used treatments for MDD with suicidality include crisis intervention, oral antidepressants (although risk of suicidal behavior is high among non-responders and during the first 10-14 days of the treatment) benzodiazepines and lithium. Although several interventions addressing suicidality exist, only few studies have characterized in detail patients with MDD and suicidality, including treatment, clinical course and outcomes. Patient Characteristics, Validity of Clinical Diagnoses and Outcomes Associated with Suicidality in Inpatients with Symptoms of Depression (OASIS-D)-study is an investigator-initiated trial funded by Janssen-Cilag GmbH.

For population 1 out of 3 OASIS-D populations, to assess the sub-population of patients with suicidality and its correlates in hospitalized individuals with MDD.

The ongoing OASIS-D study consecutively examines hospitalized patients at 8 German psychiatric university hospitals treated as part of routine clinical care. A sub-group of patients with persistent suicidality after >48 hours post-hospitalization are assessed in detail and a sub-group of those are followed for 6 months to assess course and treatment of suicidality associated with MDD. The present analysis focuses on a preplanned interim analysis of the overall hospitalized population with MDD.

Of 2,049 inpatients (age=42.5±15.9 years, females=53.2%), 68.0% had severe MDD without psychosis and 21.2% had moderately severe MDD, with 16.7% having treatment-resistant MDD. Most inpatients referred themselves (49.4%), followed by referrals by outpatient care providers (14.6%), inpatient care providers (9.0%), family/friends (8.5%), and ambulance (6.8%). Of these admissions, 43.1% represented a psychiatric emergency, with suicidality being the reason in 35.9%. Altogether, 72.4% had at least current passive suicidal ideation (SI, lifetime=87.2%), including passive SI (25.1%), active SI without plan (15.5%), active SI with plan (14.2%), and active SI with plan+intent (14.1%), while 11.5% had attempted suicide ≤2 weeks before admission (lifetime=28.7%). Drug-induced mental and behavioral disorders (19.6%) were the most frequent comorbid disorders, followed by personality disorders (8.2%). Upon admission, 64.5% were receiving psychiatric medications, including antidepressants (46.7%), second-generation antipsychotics (23.0%), anxiolytics (11.4%) antiepileptics (6.0%), and lithium (2.8%). Altogether, 9.8% reported nonadherence to medications within 6 months of admission.

In adults admitted for MDD, suicidality was common, representing a psychiatric emergency in 35.9% of patients. Usual-care treatments and outcomes of suicidality in hospitalized adults with MDD require further study.

None Declared