Estimating the risk of developing bipolar disorder (BD) in children and adolescents (C&A) with depressive disorders is important to optimize prevention and early intervention efforts. We aimed to quantitatively examine the risk of developing BD from depressive disorders and identify factors which moderate this development.

In this systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO:CRD42023431301), PubMed and Web-of-Science databases were searched for longitudinal studies reporting the percentage of C&A with ICD/DSM-defined depressive disorders who developed BD during follow-up. Data extraction, random-effects meta-analysis, between-study heterogeneity analysis, quality assessment, sub-group analyses, and meta-regressions were conducted.

Thirty-nine studies were included, including 72,371 individuals (mean age=13.9 years, 57.1% females); 14.7% of C&A with a depressive disorder developed BD after 20.4–288 months: 9.5% developed BD-I (95% CI=4.7 to 18.1); 7.7% developed BD-II (95% CI=3.2% to 17.3%); 19.8% (95% CI=9.9% to 35.6%) of C&A admitted into the hospital with a depressive disorder developed BD. Studies using the DSM (21.6%, 95% CI=20.2% to 23.1%) and studies evaluating C&A with a major depressive disorder only (19.8%, 95% CI=16.8% to 23.1%) found higher rates of development of BD. Younger age at baseline, a history of hospitalization and recruitment from specialized clinics were associated with an increased risk of developing BD at follow-up. Quality of included studies was good in 76.9% of studies.

There is a substantial risk of developing BD in C&A with depressive disorders. This is particularly the case for C&A with MDD, DSM-diagnosed depressive disorders, and C&A admitted into the hospital. Research exploring additional predictors and preventive interventions is crucial.

Immersion in water is a non-pharmacological method for pain relief during childbirth. The aim was to describe the experiences, values and preferences of women regarding water immersion during childbirth identified in the evidence.

A systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative evidence was conducted. Databases were searched from 2009 to 2022 and screened for inclusion using pre-determined criteria. Studies that used qualitative methods for data collection and analysis to investigate the opinions of women or health professionals in hospital settings were included. Non-qualitative studies, mixed methods studies that did not separately report qualitative findings and studies in languages other than English or Spanish were excluded. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Qualitative Research Checklist was used to assess study quality and findings were synthesized using thematic synthesis, as described by Thomas and Harden.

The final report was reviewed by several categories of health professionals that care for mothers and infants, as well women.

Thirteen studies met inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Nine studies have been identified that reflect the experience of women in relation to immersion in water during childbirth, a study exploring the factors that determine the use of immersion during childbirth according to the point of view of both women and midwives, and three more studies on midwives’ experience with water immersion during childbirth. In the qualitative studies the following key themes emerged: Reasons identified by the women/professionals for choosing a water birth, benefits experienced in water births and barriers and facilitators of immersion in water during childbirth.

The evidence from qualitative studies indicates that women associated water birth with a sense of autonomy and control over labor, and a lower level of associated pain. Further, a water birth was considered a positive experience. From the point of view of midwives, to make water births safe, there is a need for adequate resources, as well as rigorous standardized protocols.

Certain doubts about immersion in water during birth mainly regarding the safety of the infant, warrant analysis of the data to determine whether immersion in water during childbirth is safe and effective. The aim is to describe the situation regarding the use of water immersion during childbirth in hospitals of the Spanish National Health System across Spanish Autonomous Regions and Cities.

A questionnaire was developed to assess the use of water immersion on maternity wards of National Health System hospitals. The survey was reviewed by several categories of health professionals and stakeholders. The online questionnaire was distributed via email. A database was created using the Microsoft Excel 365® computer program. Quantitative results were described through percentages and frequency distributions. In the case of free responses, a content analysis was performed, coding the responses into different categories.

Regarding the status of water birth in Spain, the availability of the option of water birth varies across hospitals of the National Health System. Forty-six hospitals in 13 autonomous regions indicated that they had birthing pools on their delivery wards. Among these hospitals, 20 percent reported having more than 10 years of experience in water births, 45 percent between five and 10 years and 35 percent less than five years. Of the 46 responses received, 78 percent of the hospitals indicated that there was a demand for information on waterbirth by pregnant women. Regarding the existence of criteria for the adequate selection of pregnant women who could opt for immersion in water during childbirth, 89 percent of the hospitals indicated that these did exist, while 11 percent indicated that they did not have agreed criteria for the selection of candidates for water birth.

The availability of the option of water birth varies in hospitals across the Spanish National System. All the hospitals that have birthing pools offer them in the first stage of labor (dilation), while 32 percent also use them in the pushing stage and 15 percent during delivery of the placenta. It would be advisable to have standardized protocols and training to ensure the possibility that all pregnant women, regardless of their place of residence, can safely opt for water immersion during childbirth with satisfactory results.

Early-onset psychosis (EOP) refers to the development of a first episode of psychosis before 18 years of age. Individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P) include adolescents and young adults, although most evidence has focused on adults. Negative symptoms are important prognostic indicators in psychosis. However, research focusing on children and adolescents is limited.

To provide meta-analytical evidence and a comprehensive review of the status and advances in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of negative symptoms in children and adolescents with EOP and at CHR-P.

PRISMA/MOOSE-compliant systematic review (PROSPERO: CRD42022360925) from inception to 18 August 2022, in any language, to identify individual studies conducted in EOP/CHR-P children and adolescents (mean age <18 years) providing findings on negative symptoms. Findings were systematically appraised. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed on the prevalence of negative symptoms, carrying out sensitivity analyses, heterogeneity analyses, publication bias assessment and quality assessment using the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale.

Of 3289 articles, 133 were included (n = 6776 EOP, mean age 15.3 years (s.d. = 1.6), males = 56.1%; n = 2138 CHR-P, mean age 16.1 years (s.d. = 1.0), males = 48.6%). There were negative symptoms in 60.8% (95% CI 46.4%–75.2%) of the children and adolescents with EOP and 79.6% (95% CI 66.3–92.9%) of those at CHR-P. Prevalence and severity of negative symptoms were associated with poor clinical, functional and intervention outcomes in both groups. Different interventions were piloted, with variable results requiring further replication.

Negative symptoms are common in children and adolescents at early stages of psychosis, particularly in those at CHR-P, and are associated with poor outcomes. Future intervention research is required so that evidence-based treatments will become available.

Schizophrenia is a complex disorder involving deficits in both cognitive and emotional processes. Specifically, a marked deficit in cognitive control has been found, which seems to increase when dealing with emotional information.

With the aim of exploring the possible common links behind cognitive and emotional deficits, two versions of the emotional Stroop task were administered.

In the cognitive-emotional task, participants had to name the ink colour (while ignoring the meaning) of emotional words. In contrast, the emotional-emotional task consisted of emotional words superimposed on emotional faces, and the participants had to indicate the emotional valence of the faces. Fifty-eight participants (29 in-patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 29 controls) took part in the study.

Patients and controls showed similar response times in the cognitive-emotional task; however, patients were significantly slower than controls in the emotional-emotional task. This result supports the idea that patients show a more pronounced impairment in conflict modulation with emotional content. Besides, no significant correlations between the tasks and positive or negative symptoms were found. This would indicate that deficits are relatively independent of the clinical status of patients. However, a significant correlation between the emotional-emotional task and cognitive symptoms was found.

These findings suggest a restricted capacity of patients with schizophrenia to deal with the attentional demands arising from emotional stimuli.

There is mixed evidence on increasing rates of psychiatric disorders and symptoms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. We evaluated pandemic-related psychopathology and psychiatry diagnoses and their determinants in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Health (ELSA-Brasil) São Paulo Research Center.

Between pre-pandemic ELSA-Brasil assessments in 2008–2010 (wave-1), 2012–2014 (wave-2), 2016–2018 (wave-3) and three pandemic assessments in 2020 (COVID-19 waves in May–July, July–September, and October–December), rates of common psychiatric symptoms, and depressive, anxiety, and common mental disorders (CMDs) were compared using the Clinical Interview Scheduled-Revised (CIS-R) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). Multivariable generalized linear models, adjusted by age, gender, educational level, and ethnicity identified variables associated with an elevated risk for mental disorders.

In 2117 participants (mean age 62.3 years, 58.2% females), rates of CMDs and depressive disorders did not significantly change over time, oscillating from 23.5% to 21.1%, and 3.3% to 2.8%, respectively; whereas rate of anxiety disorders significantly decreased (2008–2010: 13.8%; 2016–2018: 9.8%; 2020: 8%). There was a decrease along three wave-COVID assessments for depression [β = −0.37, 99.5% confidence interval (CI) −0.50 to −0.23], anxiety (β = −0.37, 99.5% CI −0.48 to −0.26), and stress (β = −0.48, 99.5% CI −0.64 to −0.33) symptoms (all ps < 0.001). Younger age, female sex, lower educational level, non-white ethnicity, and previous psychiatric disorders were associated with increased odds for psychiatric disorders, whereas self-evaluated good health and good quality of relationships with decreased risk.

No consistent evidence of pandemic-related worsening psychopathology in our cohort was found. Indeed, psychiatric symptoms slightly decreased along 2020. Risk factors representing socioeconomic disadvantages were associated with increased odds of psychiatric disorders.

The aim of this study was to assess body shape trajectories in childhood and midlife in relation to subsequent risk of breast cancer (BC) in a Mediterranean cohort.

The ‘Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra’ (SUN) Project is a dynamic prospective cohort study of university graduates initiated in 1999. With a group-based modelling approach, we assessed body shape trajectories from age 5 to 40 years. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) for BC after the age of 40 years according to the body shape trajectory.

City of Pamplona, in the North of Spain.

6498 women with a mean age of 40 years (sd 9).

We identified four distinct body shape trajectories (‘childhood lean-midlife increase’ (19·9 %), ‘childhood medium-midlife stable’ (53 %), ‘childhood heavy-midlife stable’ (21 %) and ‘childhood heavy-midlife increase’ (6·1 %)). Among 54 978 women-years of follow-up, we confirmed eighty-two incident cases of BC. Women in the ‘childhood lean-midlife increase’ group showed a higher risk of BC (HR = 1·84, 95 % CI 1·11, 3·04) compared with women in the ‘childhood medium-midlife stable’ category. This association was stronger for postmenopausal BC (HR = 2·42, 95 % CI 1·07, 5·48).

Our results suggest a role for lifetime adiposity in breast carcinogenesis.

The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity has developed into an epidemic public health problem worldwide. In this regard, in the last years several investigations have suggested that water intake and water balance could have important implications for both weight management and body composition. The aim of this study was to analyse the association between fluid intake, water balance and body composition in a sample of healthy young adults from Spain.

A total of 358 healthy subjects (121 males; 237 females) aged 18–39 years participated in the current study. The validated questionnaire entitled “The hydration status questionnaire” was used to assess fluid intake, elimination, and water balance. Anthropometric measurements (height, weight and waist circumference) were performed according to the recommendations of the International Standards for Anthropometric Assessment (ISAK). The estimates of total body water (TBW), fat mass (FM) and fat free mass (FFM) were acquired by bioelectrical bioimpedance analysis. Physical activity was estimated through the Short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF). Differences in anthropometric and body composition variables were assessed through the ANOVA test and considered significant at p < 0.05.

Fluid intake was correlated with body water content in females (r = 0.180, p = 0.006) and males (r = 0.266, p = 0.003). An inverse association between water consumption per weight (ml/kg) with body weight (females (f): r = -0.318, p = 0.000; males (m): r = -0.220, p = 0.015), body fat mass (f: r = -0.320, p = 0.000; m: r = -0.200, p = 0.028), and waist circumference (f: r = -0.237, p = 0.000; m: r = -0.215, p = 0.018) was found. Finally, significant differences in body water content in females according to water balance were observed (p = 0.04).

Higher fluid intake seems to be related with a better body composition, therefore the improvement of water intake and water balance could be useful in weight management and in the prevention of overweight and obesity in healthy young adults.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) is a sensory impairment, with a dramatic increase in its incidence, which is caused by genetic and environmental factors such as noise and ototoxic drugs. Recent studies correlated ARHL to elevated plasma homocysteine (Hcy) by folate deficiency, suggesting that reduction of Hcy levels by folate supplementation could potentially ameliorate ARHL.

Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), a status that contributes to ARHL, may also arise from malfunction of Hcy remethylation by betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferases (BHMTs) and methionine synthase in the methionine cycle. The expression and/or activity of these enzymes may be altered by ototoxic drugs, including paracetamol (APAP).

To determine the effect of APAP in cochlear morphology and function of control and Bhmt-/- mice, and to analyze putative preventive effects of folic acid (FA) supplementation.

Two-month-old Bhmt-/- mice (n = 47), with greater dependence on folate metabolism for Hcy remethylation, and Bhmt + / + mice (n = 42) were fed control or FA supplemented diets for 30 days. The last day APAP (250 mg/kg) or placebo were injected intraperitoneally.

Hearing was evaluated by recording auditory brainstem responses (ABR) at the beginning of the experiment and after treatments. Picrosirius red staining was used for evaluation of the cochlear lateral wall cytoarchitecture. Plasma and hepatic metabolite levels were determined by HPLC or on Spinlab 100® autoanalyzer.

Loss of Bhmt expression induced HHcy, but an impact on hearing acuity was not observed. Acute APAP administration did not induce ABR threshold shifts. However, following ototoxic treatment, changes of 5–17% in the areas of the stria vascularis and spiral ligament were detected between Bhmt-/- mice under different dietary treatments; cochlear structures of Bhmt-/- mice receiving APAP plus FA supplementation resemble those of the control group. APAP increases susceptibility to ototoxic damage in the presence of HHcy.

BHMT plays a central role in cochlear methionine metabolism. FA supplementation modulates Hcy levels, contributing to a proper remethylation status that prevents ARHL.

Previous studies have found a relationship between job-related stress and depressive symptoms in different occupational groups, and that personality may modify the risk of developing depressive symptoms. We aimed to examine the association of personality and other individual and work conditions with depressive symptoms.

A sample of 498 teachers answered a questionnaire concerning individual and work characteristics, some job-related perceptions, and the wish to change jobs. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) and personality was measured by the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI-125).

Depressive symptoms were associated with female gender, age, low job satisfaction, high job stress, the wish to change jobs, working at a public school, and with higher scores on harm avoidance and novelty seeking and lower scores on self-directedness.

Our results underline the influence of personality traits on the development of depressive symptoms independently of other individual characteristics and the occupational context.

Psychotic disorders are associated with metabolic abnormalities including alterations in glucose and lipid metabolism. A major challenge in the treatment of psychosis is to identify patients with vulnerable metabolic profiles who may be at risk of developing cardiometabolic co-morbidities. It is established that both central and peripheral metabolic organs use lipids to control energy balance and regulate peripheral insulin sensitivity. The endocannabinoid system, implicated in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, has been shown to be dysregulated in psychosis. It is currently unclear how these endocannabinoid abnormalities relate to metabolic changes in psychosis. Here we review recent research in the field of metabolic co-morbidities in psychotic disorders as well as the methods to study them and potential links to the endocannabinoid system. We also describe the bioinformatics platforms developed in the EU project METSY for the investigations of the biological etiology in patients at risk of psychosis and in first episode psychosis patients. The METSY project was established with the aim to identify and evaluate multi-modal peripheral and neuroimaging markers that may be able to predict the onset and prognosis of psychiatric and metabolic symptoms in patients at risk of developing psychosis and first episode psychosis patients. Given the intrinsic complexity and widespread role of lipid metabolism, a systems biology approach which combines molecular, structural and functional neuroimaging methods with detailed metabolic characterisation and multi-variate network analysis is essential in order to identify how lipid dysregulation may contribute to psychotic disorders. A decision support system, integrating clinical, neuropsychological and neuroimaging data, was also developed in order to aid clinical decision making in psychosis. Knowledge of common and specific mechanisms may aid the etiopathogenic understanding of psychotic and metabolic disorders, facilitate early disease detection, aid treatment selection and elucidate new targets for pharmacological treatments.