Cannabis is one of the most commonly used drugs globally, although its legal status varies across regions. Public support for its decriminalization has increased, but gaps in our understanding of the health consequences of cannabis use remain, particularly related to its impact on mental health. This article provides an updated systematic review and meta-analysis (previous being Lev-Ran et al., 2014) looking at the relationship between cannabis and depression.

Literature available before March 2023 was screened for longitudinal studies that included cannabis use and depression. Cross-sectional studies and those only looking at special populations were excluded. Studies must have also controlled for depression at baseline to allow for investigation of a temporal relationship. Extracted data included cannabis measures, depression outcomes, adjusted odds ratios, and study settings. Meta-analysis employed a random effects model with multilevel meta-regression for effect size moderators.

The search yielded 1,599 titles from various databases, resulting in 22 studies for meta-analysis, including 14 from Lev-Ran et al. Eleven studies were US-based, with participants mostly under 18. Meta-analysis showed a higher risk of depression among cannabis users (OR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.13–1.46). Risk of bias assessment showed medium risk across studies with exposure measurement being a key bias area. The funnel plot and Egger’s Sandwich test did not suggest publication bias.

This study underscores the association between cannabis use and depression but also emphasizes the need for further research, especially in understanding usage patterns, heavy use definitions, and long-term effects on depression risk amidst changing cannabis trends.

Acquired epileptic aphasia or Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS) is a disorder with onset in the childhood between the ages of 2 and 8 years. The main defining psychopathological symptom of Landau-Kleffner syndrome is the acquired aphasia with epileptiform electroencephalographic abnormalities. The aphasia has both receptive and expressive features. The onset is usually subacute and the course is usually progressive with spontaneous improvements and exacerbations. The electroencephalographic abnormalities include pathological findings in the temporal and parieto-occipital brain regions.

An 11 year old girl with generalized tonic-clonic and partial seizures is referred to our child and adolescence outpatient service due to language impairment. Her first generalized seizure has been at the age of 11 months old, caused by high temperature. The presence of articulation difficulties has raised suspicion for intellectual disabilities. She has been diagnosed with Epilepsy, grand mal seizures and has had continuous treatment with sodium valproate since the age of 3 years.

We used medical history, EEG-recordings, clinical observation and psychological assessment.

Patient`s language development has been normal till the age of 3 years old. She has started using single words properly at the age of 1 year and 6 months old. Her first simple sentences have appeared at the age of 2 years old. At the age of 3 years old after severe generalized tonic-clonic seizures she has stopped talking for a month. After this month she had started vocalizing and using simple words, but she had lost her ability to form sentences. She has had some mild difficulties in understanding verbal information and following instructions. Her speech has had bad articulation and deficits in the verbal fluency. Her gross and fine motor development, her social skills and problem-solving abilities have all been intact and age-appropriate. She has worked with speech therapist for 5 years and achieved partial recovery from the acquired aphasia. She continues to have problems with the articulation – the speech is still with mild dysarthria. We used WISC-IV to assess her IQ (IQ=108).

The patient has already developed age-appropriate speech prior to the onset of the language impairment. Considered as secondary or acquired, the observed aphasia together with the medical data for her epileptic seizures allows us to diagnose the patient with Acquired epileptic aphasia or Landau-Kleffner syndrome. Later development will be presented and discussed.

None Declared

The nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) is the first choice for screening for depression in primary care and other medical settings. The PHQ-9 has been shown to be a reliable and valid measure of depression symptoms, but there is disagreement among researchers about the factor structure of this questionnaire. Recent systematic reviews have found four different factor models of the PHQ-9, with one- and two-factor models being the most common. This discrepancy may be due to linguistic, cultural and clinical differences between the populations studied. The factor structure of the Russian version of the PHQ-9 during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been examined in any study to date.

The aim of our study was to determine the factorial structure and internal consistency of the Russian version of the PHQ-9 in COVID-19 survivors.

Fourteen thousand 725 (female - 11479 (78.0%), age - 18-79 years (M - 47.09, SD - 12.70) participants completed an online survey including the PHQ-9 and an ad hoc questionnaire focusing on sociodemographic and COVID-related characteristics. McDonald’s omega coefficient was estimated to determine the internal consistency of the questionnaire. Exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) with weighted least squares mean and variance adjusted estimator and geomin rotation was performed in Mplus 7.

ESEM provided evidence for a three-factor structure of the PHQ-9, representing affective (items 2, 6, 9), anergic (items 1, 3) and somatic (items 3, 5, 7, 8) dimensions of depression. These factors fit the data well (CFI - 0.998; TLI - 0.994; RMSEA (95% CI) - 0.028 (0.024 - 0.032)), better than a single factor (CFI - 0. 955; TLI - 0. 940; RMSEA (95% CI) - 0.089 (0.087 - 0.092)) and two-factor (CFI - 0.985; TLI - 0.971; RMSEA (95% CI) - 0.062 (0.059 - 0.065)). The McDonald’s omega was 0.82.

Our study revealed a three-factor structure of the Russian version of the PHQ-9 in COVID-19 survivors. COVID-19. A high internal consistency of the Russian version of the instrument was confirmed.

None Declared

For patients with depression, the likelihood of remission decreases with each subsequent treatment failure. Per European Medicines Agency guidance, treatment resistant depression (TRD) is defined as nonresponse to ≥2 consecutive treatments at adequate dosage and duration in the current depressive episode. In ESCAPE-TRD (NCT04338321), esketamine nasal spray (NS) increased the probability of achieving remission and remaining relapsefree, compared with quetiapine extended release (QXR) in patients with TRD. Here, we report the efficacy of esketamine NS vs QXR in patient subgroups with 2 or ≥3 consecutive prior treatment failures (PTFs).

ESCAPETRD was a phase IIIb trial comparing the efficacy of esketamine NS with QXR in patients with TRD. Patients (N = 676) were randomised 1:1 to esketamine NS (n = 336; 56/84 mg; twice weekly, weekly, or every 2 weeks [wks]) or QXR (n = 340; 150–300 mg daily, both in combination with an ongoing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor/serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. Randomisation was stratified by age (18-64 years; 65–74 years) and PTFs (2; ≥3).

The primary endpoint of remission (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale total score ≤10) at Wk8 and the secondary endpoint of remaining relapse-free through Wk32 after remission at Wk8, were analysed in PTF patient subgroups and compared between study arms, with treatment discontinuation considered as a negative outcome. The effect on time to remission was assessed using hazard ratios (HR) from a Cox regression model.

Of the randomised patients, 415 (61.4%; esketamine NS: 204, QXR: 211) had experienced 2 PTFs and 261 (38.6%; esketamine NS: 132, QXR: 129) had experienced ≥3.

Of patients with 2 PTFs, 54/204 (26.5%) esketamine NS-treated patients and 46/211 (21.8%) Q-XR-treated patients achieved remission at Wk8 (p = 0.267). Of patients with ≥3 PTFs, 37/132 (28.0%) and 14/129 (10.9%) patients achieved remission at Wk8 in esketamine NS and Q-XR arms, respectively (p < 0.001). Of patients with 2 and ≥3 PTFs, 49/204 (24.0%) and 24/132 (18.2%) of esketamine NS-treated patients and 38/211 (18.0%) and 10/129 (7.8%) of Q-XR-treated patients achieved remission at Wk8 without relapse to Wk32 (p = 0.133 and p = 0.013), respectively.

Esketamine NS significantly improved time to remission, with a greater effect in the ≥3 PTF subgroup (2 PTFs: HR = 1.547 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.210–1.976]; p < 0.001 vs ≥3 PTFs: HR = 2.066 [95% CI 1.469–2.907]; p < 0.001).

Esketamine NS demonstrated a significantly superior remission rate versus QXR at Wk8 in patients with ≥3 PTFs, and significantly shorter time to remission versus Q-XR in both subgroups.

The article is devoted to the study of adaptation to the covid-19 pandemic conditions in Russian men and women in the first part of 2020. Respondents assessed the degree of potential danger of various types of social threats caused by the pandemic, as well as the level of their adaptation to changed living conditions during the first lockdown.

The purpose of this study was to identify key differences in adaptation to pandemic conditions in groups of men and women.

The author’s methodology was developed to assess the level of adaptation to COVID-19. The questionnaire included 6 scales on different aspects of life during the lockdown (for example, physical and emotional state, communication, employment during the pandemic, etc.). The sample was N = 80 (residents of Russia age 18-37).

Men significantly higher estimated the potential danger of an epidemic threat to themselves than women. The level of adaptation to conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic also differed in two gender groups according to t-test on the scale “Employment in a pandemic”: men were better adapted to work or study in conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic than women.

This can be interpreted from the point of view of the stereotype existing in Russian culture which postulates the performance of household duties and child care is more perceived as a woman’s responsibility. The adaptation of women to remote work during the lockdown was forced to be combined with an increased workload in the family and household sphere.

No significant relationships.

Traditional categorical classifications of personality disorders (PD) have been criticized for insufficient structural and cross-cultural validity. In the DSM-5 Section III, alternative model of the PDs (AMPD), the maladaptive personality traits are divided into five domains: negative affect, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition and psychoticism. The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form (PID-5-BF) is a 25-item self-report questionnaire that measures the severity of each of these five domains. To date, no questionnaires assessing pathological personality traits following the AMPD have been validated in Russia.

This study aimed to investigate the factor structure of the Russian version of PID-5-BF.

Five hundred and 86 (female - 505 (86,2%), age - 18–77 years (M - 28.2, SD - 11.5)) consecutive inpatients with non-psychotic mental disorders were assessed with the Russian language version of the PID-5-BF. Exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) with Robust Diagonally Weighted Least Squares method of extraction and Robust Equamax rotation was performed in Factor v 11.04.02.

The results of the ESEM analysis showed good fit of the five-factor model (CFI - 0.982; TLI - 0.971; RMSEA (95% CI) - 0.036 (0.01-0.05). Most of the items had the highest factor loadings on their mother domains. However, two items showed weak loadings on their designated factors (<0.4), and attention seeking item had a primary load to (low) detachment instead of antagonism.

The PID-5-BF was found to be a valid and reliable tool for the evaluation of the AMPD trait domain

No significant relationships.

Although much of society believes that the sexual aggressor is unknown to the victim, this is not supported by the literature. In most cases, the rapist is a known, former or current intimate partner of the victim or even a family member.

189 persons accused of perpetrators of sexual crimes and who were subject to forensic psychiatric evaluation for the period from January 2010 to December 2019 in the territory of Central Northern Bulgaria were examined.

The current research uses sociological methods to gather information - interviews, observations, research of forensic and medical documents,

In the study group, 62% of the victims were known to the perpetrator of the sexual crime, 11% were part of the nuclear family and 8% were members of the extended family of the perpetrator.

Our data supports data from previous studies

No significant relationships.