Mood disorders are characterized by great heterogeneity in clinical manifestation. Uncovering such heterogeneity using neuroimaging-based individual biomarkers, clinical behaviors, and genetic risks, might contribute to elucidating the etiology of these diseases and support precision medicine.

We recruited 174 drug-naïve and drug-free patients with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, as well as 404 healthy controls. T1 MRI imaging data, clinical symptoms, and neurocognitive assessments, and genetics were obtained and analyzed. We applied regional gray matter volumes (GMV) and quantile normative modeling to create maturation curves, and then calculated individual deviations to identify subtypes within the patients using hierarchical clustering. We compared the between-subtype differences in GMV deviations, clinical behaviors, cell-specific transcriptomic associations, and polygenic risk scores. We also validated the GMV deviations based subtyping analysis in a replication cohort.

Two subtypes emerged: subtype 1, characterized by increased GMV deviations in the frontal cortex, cognitive impairment, a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease, and transcriptionally associated with Alzheimer's disease pathways, oligodendrocytes, and endothelial cells; and subtype 2, displaying globally decreased GMV deviations, more severe depressive symptoms, increased genetic vulnerability to major depressive disorder and transcriptionally related to microglia and inhibitory neurons. The distinct patterns of GMV deviations in the frontal, cingulate, and primary motor cortices between subtypes were shown to be replicable.

Our current results provide vital links between MRI-derived phenotypes, spatial transcriptome, genetic vulnerability, and clinical manifestation, and uncover the heterogeneity of mood disorders in biological and behavioral terms.

Previous cross-sectional and case–control studies have proposed that decreased vitamin D levels are positively correlated with the risk of suicidality in adults. However, limited studies have examined the association between vitamin D and suicidality in adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum vitamin D and suicidality risk among early adolescents.

Data were obtained from a Chinese early adolescent cohort. In this cohort, seventh-grade students from a middle school in Anhui Province were invited to voluntarily participate in the baseline assessments and provide peripheral blood samples (in September 2019). The participants were followed up annually (in September 2020 and September 2021). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and vitamin D–related single-nucleotide polymorphisms at baseline were measured in November 2021. Traditional observational and Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to examine the relationship between serum 25(OH)D at baseline and the risk of baseline and incident suicidality (i.e., suicidal ideation [SI], plans and attempts).

Traditional observational analysis did not reveal a significant linear or non-linear association of serum 25(OH)D concentration with the risks of baseline and 2-year incident suicidality in the total sample (P > .05 for all). Sex-stratified analysis revealed a non-linear association between the 25(OH)D concentration and the risk of baseline SI in women (Poverall = .002; Pnon-linear = .001). Moreover, the risk of baseline SI in the 25(OH) insufficiency group was lower than that in the 25(OH) deficiency group in the total sample (odds ratio [OR] = 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.51–0.92, P = .012). This difference remained significant in women (OR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.40–0.87, P = .008) but not in men (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.53–1.15, P = .205). Additionally, both linear and non-linear MR analyses did not support the causal effect of serum 25(OH)D concentration on the risk of baseline, 1-year and 2-year incident suicidality (P > .05 for all).

This study could not confirm the causal effect of vitamin D on suicidality risk among Chinese early adolescents. Future studies must confirm these findings with a large sample size.

Dynamic interpersonal therapy (DIT) is a brief, structured psychodynamic psychotherapy with demonstrated efficacy in treating major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of the study was to determine whether DIT is an acceptable and efficacious treatment for MDD patients in China.

Patients were randomized to 16-week treatments with either DIT plus antidepressant medication (DIT + ADM; n = 66), general supportive therapy plus antidepressant medication (GST + ADM; n = 75) or antidepressant medication alone (ADM; n = 70). The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) administered by blind raters was the primary efficacy measure. Assessments were completed during the acute 16-week treatment and up to 12-month posttreatment.

The group × time interaction was significant for the primary outcome HAMD (F = 2.900, df1 = 10, df2 = 774.72, p = 0.001) in the acute treatment phase. Pairwise comparisons showed a benefit of DIT + ADM over ADM at weeks 12 [least-squares (LS) mean difference = −3.161, p = 0.007] and 16 (LS mean difference = −3.237, p = 0.004). Because of the unexpected high attrition during the posttreatment follow-up phase, analyses of follow-up data were considered exploratory. Differences between DIT + ADM and ADM remained significant at the 1-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up (ps range from 0.001 to 0.027). DIT + ADM had no advantage over GST + ADM during the acute treatment phase. However, at the 12-month follow-up, patients who received DIT remained less depressed.

Acute treatment with DIT or GST in combination with ADM was similarly efficacious in reducing depressive symptoms and yielded a better outcome than ADM alone. DIT may provide MDD patients with long-term benefits in symptom improvement but results must be viewed with caution.

To explore the cross-sectional and longitudinal association between vitamin D and depressive symptoms across early adolescence.

This longitudinal study included 1607 early adolescents [mean (s.d.) age, 12.49 years; 972 (60.5%) males] from the Chinese Early Adolescents Cohort, recruited from a middle school in Anhui Province and followed up annually (2019–2021). Serum 25(OH)D levels were measured in both 2019 and 2021. Self-reports on depression were assessed at each of three time points from 2019 to 2021.

In the whole sample, higher baseline serum 25(OH)D levels were linked with a lower risk of cumulative incident depression within two-year follow-ups (adjusted RR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.94–0.99) and the increasing trajectory of depression symptoms across the three waves (adjusted RR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95–0.99). Baseline vitamin D deficiency (VDD) (adjusted RR = 1.50, 95% CI 1.10–2.05) were associated with an increased risk for the increasing trajectory of depression symptoms across the three waves. Remitted VDD was positively related to one dichotomous depression symptoms across three waves (adjusted OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.15–4.01). The above-mentioned significant association was also found in males. Additionally, baseline VDD (adjusted OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.04–2.44) and persistent VDD (adjusted OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.02–2.60) were linked to an increased risk of having two dichotomous depression symptoms only in males.

Our results highlight a prospective association between baseline vitamin D and depression risk in early adolescents. Additionally, a male-specific association between vitamin D and depression risk was observed. Our findings support a potential beneficial effect of vitamin D supplementation in reducing depression risk in early adolescents.

Despite increasing knowledge on the neuroimaging patterns of eating disorder (ED) symptoms in non-clinical populations, studies using whole-brain machine learning to identify connectome-based neuromarkers of ED symptomatology are absent. This study examined the association of connectivity within and between large-scale functional networks with specific symptomatic behaviors and cognitions using connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM).

CPM with ten-fold cross-validation was carried out to probe functional networks that were predictive of ED-associated symptomatology, including body image concerns, binge eating, and compensatory behaviors, within the discovery sample of 660 participants. The predictive ability of the identified networks was validated using an independent sample of 821 participants.

The connectivity predictive of body image concerns was identified within and between networks implicated in cognitive control (frontoparietal and medial frontal), reward sensitivity (subcortical), and visual perception (visual). Crucially, the set of connections in the positive network related to body image concerns identified in one sample was generalized to predict body image concerns in an independent sample, suggesting the replicability of this effect.

These findings point to the feasibility of using the functional connectome to predict ED symptomatology in the general population and provide the first evidence that functional interplay among distributed networks predicts body shape/weight concerns.

Food pantries play a critical role in combating food insecurity. The objective of the present work was to systematically review and synthesize scientific evidence regarding the effectiveness of food pantry-based interventions in the USA.

Keyword/reference search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library and CINAHL for peer-reviewed articles published until May 2018 that met the following criteria. Setting: food pantry and/or food bank in the USA; study design: randomized controlled trial (RCT) or pre–post study; outcomes: diet-related outcomes (e.g. nutrition knowledge, food choice, food security, diet quality); study subjects: food pantry/bank clients.

Fourteen articles evaluating twelve distinct interventions identified from the keyword/reference search met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. Five were RCT and the remaining seven were pre–post studies. All studies found that food pantry-based interventions were effective in improving participants’ diet-related outcomes. In particular, the nutrition education interventions and the client-choice intervention enhanced participants’ nutrition knowledge, cooking skills, food security status and fresh produce intake. The food display intervention helped pantry clients select healthier food items. The diabetes management intervention reduced participants’ glycaemic level.

Food pantry-based interventions were found to be effective in improving participants’ diet-related outcomes. Interventions were modest in scale and usually short in follow-up duration. Future studies are warranted to address the challenges of conducting interventions in food pantries, such as shortage in personnel and resources, to ensure intervention sustainability and long-term effectiveness.

The duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) has been widely studied. However, for individuals with attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS), it is unclear whether the duration of untreated prodromal symptoms (DUPrS) also has a negative effect on the progression of psychosis. Our aim was to identify demographic and clinical factors contributing to the DUPrS in a large sample of individuals with APS, and to evaluate the association between DUPrS and the conversion to psychosis.

A sample of 391 individuals with APS, who were identified through a structured interview for prodromal syndromes, were included in this study, of whom a total of 334 patients had completed at least a 1-year clinical follow-up. A total of 57 individuals had converted to psychosis.

The average DUPrS was 4.8 months for the whole sample. Individuals with a longer DUPrS were likely to be men, non-local residents, with abnormal thought symptoms, a higher severity level of negative symptoms, the lower severity level of general symptoms, and lower level of general function before the onset of attenuated positive symptoms. A DUPrS of less than 2 months, or more than 6 months, lowered the risk for conversion to psychosis.

Our data suggested that the association between the DUPrS and outcome in individuals with APS were likely to be different, which is either long or short DUPrS was not related to future psychosis onset. Individuals with APS were more likely to have a group of features associated with a longer DUPrS.