Treatment Resistant Depression is a challenging condition with a poor outcome and limited therapeutic options. Esketamine is the enantiomer of Ketamine and has recently been approved and marketed for treating depression. Questions remain about its short- and long-term benefit, as well as its usefulness in suicide risk. Hopelessness is one of the symptoms most closely associated with suicide risk.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of this drug on hopelessness after one month of treatment with Esketamine.

The Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) was administered to patients receiving Esketamine at the Doctor Negrín University Hospital of Gran Canaria, who provided informed consent and exhibited suicidal ideations and depressive symptoms at the beginning of treatment. This scale was administered before the intranasal administration of Esketamine and after one month of treatment.

Participants (n=5) had an average age of 54,4 years (median 56). We observed variability in the results among the evaluated patients, although the overall trend was a decrease in scores. On average, the patients’ scores decreased from 14,6 to 7,4 points (with a median change from 14 to 8 points).

Hopelessness improved in the BHS after one month of treatment with Esketamine. These results could be of clinical significance. Hopelessness is associated with suicide risk, so we hypothesize that the improvement could have an impact on it. Nevertheless, we must exercise caution with these results: the sample size is small, patients were taking different medications, and they have diverse medical histories.

None Declared

Previous research established that white matter hyperintensities (WMH), a biomarker of small vessel cerebrovascular disease, are strong predictors of cognitive function in older adults and associated with clinical presentation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), particularly when distributed in posterior brain regions. Secondary prevention clinical trials, such as the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s (A4) study, target amyloid accumulation in asymptomatic amyloid positive individuals, but it is unclear the extent to which small vessel cerebrovascular disease accounts for performance on the primary cognitive outcomes in these trials. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between regional WMH volume and performance on the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite (PACC) among participants screened for participation in the A4 trial. We also determined whether the association between WMH and cognition is moderated by amyloid positivity status.

We assessed demographic, amyloid PET status, cognitive screening, and raw MRI data for participants in the A4 trial and quantitated regional (by cerebral lobe) WMH volumes from T2-weighted FLAIR in amyloid positive and amyloid negative participants at screening. Cognition was assessed using PACC scores, a z-score sum of four cognitive tests: The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test, Logical Memory Test, and Digit Symbol Substitution Test. We included 1329 amyloid positive and 329 amyloid negative individuals (981 women; mean age=71.79 years; mean education=16.58 years) at the time of the analysis. The sample included Latinx (n=50; 3%), non-Latinx (n=1590; 95.9%), or unspecified ethnicity (n=18; 1.1%) individuals who identified as American Indian/Alaskan Native (n=7; 0.4%), Asian (n=38; 2.3%), Black/African American (n=41; 2.5%), White (n=1551 ; 93.5%), or unspecified (n=21; 1.3%) race. We first examined the associations of total and regional WMH volume and amyloid positivity on PACC scores (the primary cognitive outcome measure for A4) using separate general linear models and then determined whether amyloid positivity status and regional WMH statistically interacted for those WMH regions that showed significant main effects.

Both increased WMH, in the frontal and parietal lobes particularly, and amyloid positivity were independently associated with poorer performance on the PACC, with similar magnitude. In subsequent models, WMH volume did not interact with amyloid positivity status on PACC scores.

Regionally distributed WMH are independently associated with cognitive functioning in typical participants enrolled in a secondary prevention clinical trial for AD. These effects are of similar magnitude to the effects of amyloid positivity on cognition, highlighting the extent to which small vessel cerebrovascular disease potentially drives AD-related cognitive profiles. Measures of small vessel cerebrovascular disease should be considered explicitly when evaluating outcomes in trials, both as potential effect modifiers and as possible targets for intervention or prevention. The findings from this study cannot be generalized widely, as the participants are not representative of the overall population.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms concerning mood are common in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it is unclear if they are etiologically related to AD pathophysiology or due to factors considered to be non-pathogenic, such as small vessel cerebrovascular disease. New generation clinical trials for AD often enroll participants with evidence of AD pathophysiology, indexed by amyloid PET scanning, but who are cognitively asymptomatic. We used screening data from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's (A4) study to examine the extent to which depressive symptoms are associated with amyloid pathophysiology and small vessel cerebrovascular disease, in the form of white matter hyperintensities (WMH).

The A4 study randomizes cognitively healthy older adults with evidence of amyloid pathophysiology on PET scanning. We used screening data, which included amyloid status (positive, negative) by visual read, amyloid PET standard uptake value ratio (SUVR) in cortical regions, and MRI data acquired in a subset (n=1,197, mean age 71.6 +/- 4.8 years, 57% women) to quantitate total WMH volume. Depressive symptoms were evaluated with the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale, which we used both as a continuous variable and to define 'depressed' and 'non-depressed' groups, based on a cut score of > 5. We examined whether 1) depressive symptoms and proportion of depressed individuals differed between amyloid positive and negative groups, 2) there is a relationship between amyloid SUVR and depressive symptoms that differs as a function of amyloid positivity status, and 3) there is a relationship between WMH volume and depressive symptoms that differs as a function of amyloid positivity status.

Although depressive symptom severity did not differ between groups (t=0.14, p=0.88), a greater proportion of individuals were classified as depressed in the amyloid negative group than the amyloid positive group (3.5% vs. 1.9%, X2=4.60, p=0.032). Increased amyloid SUVR was associated with increased GDS scores among amyloid positive individuals (r=0.117, p=0.002) but not among amyloid negative individuals (r=0.006, p=0.68, Positivity Status x SUVR interaction on GDS: ß=0.817, p=0.029). Increased WMH was associated with higher GDS scores (ß=0.105, p=0.017) but not differentially in amyloid positive and negative participants (Positivity Status x WMH interaction on GDS: ß=-0.010, p=0.243).

These analyses have several implications. First, individuals who are screened to participate in a clinical trial but do not have evidence of amyloidosis may be misattributing concerns about underlying AD pathophysiology to depressive symptoms. Second, the severity of AD pathophysiology, indexed by amyloid PET SUVR, may drive a small increase in depressive symptomatology among individuals over visual diagnostic thresholds. Third, small vessel cerebrovascular changes are additionally associated with depressive symptoms but in a manner that is independent of AD pathophysiology. Overall, depressive symptoms and depression are likely multiply determined among prospective clinical trial participants for preclinical AD.

The prevalence of the optic canal anatomical variants across the sphenoid sinus varies widely among different ethnic groups. This study aimed to analyse the anatomical variants of the optic canal and their relationship to sphenoid sinus pneumatisation in a Hispanic population.

A review of 320 sphenoid sinuses by high-resolution computed tomography was performed. DeLano's classification of the optic canal, presence of dehiscence, septa insertion, sphenoid sinus pneumatisation and presence of Onodi cells were established.

Dehiscence of the optic canal was observed in 4.7 per cent (n = 15) of the analysed sinuses. Type 4 and 3 optic canals were significantly more frequent among postsellar sphenoid sinuses than other patterns of sphenoid sinus pneumatisation (p = 0.002 and p = 0.018). A type 4 optic canal has a higher tendency to present inserted septum than other optic canal types (p = 0.014).

This study described the optic canal variants in a Hispanic population, which complements existing literature addressing other ethnicities.

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.

Clozapine is an atypical dibenzodiazepine antipsychotic used for resistant schizophrenia. Myocarditis and cardiomyopathy are rarely reported complications of clozapine treatment. The incidence of clozapine-related myocarditis has been variably reported at between 0.03% and 0.19% Myocarditis is a potentially life-threatening complication of clozapine.

We reported a case of a 30-year-old female patient who developed reversible myocarditis a few weeks after we began the treatment with clozapine for chronic resistant schizophrenia (as specified in DSM-IVTR), characterized by severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction that resulted in congestive heart failure.

After the immediate discontinuation of the clozapine, along with aggressive supportive care, resulted in almost complete recovery to baseline.

Patients taking clozapine who develop dyspnoea, fatigue, chest pain or collapse should be screened for myocarditis, especially during the first weeks of treatment. Health professionals should be aware of this uncommon but serious side effect of clozapine since failure to recognize the association may result in adverse clinical outcome. Myocarditis should be suspected when cardiac dysfunction appears suddenly, and appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic strategies must be undertaken promptly.

Self-perceived health is a well-recognised predictor of later health outcomes and mortality, but its relationship to incident dementia has been scarcely explored.

To analyze self- perceived health as a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer disease (AD) in a population- based survey of the elderly (NEDICES) Study.

Participants were evaluated at baseline (1994-1995) with a standardized questionnaire that included subjective and objective (chronic disorders) health status and screening questions for depression and neurologic disorders. At follow-up (a median of 3.2 years later in 1997-1998) an analogous protocol and neurological assessment were performed.

Of 5,278 participants evaluated at baseline there were 306 prevalent dementia cases, and 161 incident dementia cases were identified among 3,891 individuals assessed at follow-up (D: 115).

Cox hazard ratio analyses showed that age, stroke and illiteracy were independent risk factors for dementia and AD. Aggregation of vascular risk factors was related to a higher risk of both dementia and AD. Good (and very good) versus less than good (fair, bad and very bad) self-perceived health was an independent risk factor for dementia (CI 95% 1.13- 2.16; p= .006) and AD (CI 95% 1.02- 2.18; p= .038) after adjusting by age, sex education and vascular risk factors.

Self-perceived health increased the risk for incident dementia and AD in the NEDICES cohort as it was previously described in the United Kindom MRC- CFA Study of dementia incidence. Global health measurements (self-perceived health, quality of life) needs farther studies as risk for dementia and AD.

Although psychiatric diagnosis is based on the clinical features and the exclusion of associated medical conditions, in this case the workup provided support to our clinical suspicion, favouring recognition of the problem and willingness to treatment by the patient.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Shared decision-making denotes a structured process that encourages full participation by patient and provider in making complex medical decisions. There has been extensive and growing interest in its application to long-term illnesses but surprisingly not in severe psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. However, the great majority of schizophrenics are capable of understanding treatment choices and making rational decisions. Although the main justification for shared decision-making is ethical, several randomized controlled trials support its effectiveness in improving the quality of decisions, but robust evidence in objective health outcomes is needed.

Of the study: to demonstrate the effectiveness, measured as treatment adherence and readmissions at 3, 6 and 12 months, of shared decision making in the choice of antipsychotic treatment at discharge.

Of the oral presentation: to present the study design; to make an interim report of the data obtained at the moment of the congress.

Randomized controlled trial, prospective, two parallel groups, not masked, comparing two interventions (shared decision making and treatment as usual). Study population: Inpatients diagnosed of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders (ICD-10/DSM-IV-R: F20 y F25) at Adult Acute Hospitalization Unit at Jerez General Hospital.

Currently in the recruiting phase with 55 patients included in the study. An interim analysis of at least half of the target sample size.

We will show the study design and decision tools employed. Conclusions in relation to the effectiveness (adherence and readmissions) and subjective perception.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

To review the available evidence, after treat the case of a 50-year-old man with addiction history whose addictive behaviour worsened after undergoing bariatric surgery, with decreased tolerance to alcohol effect and increase of the intake, as well as changes in the graduation of alcohol used (including antiseptic). As a result, a dangerous revolving door that led him to repeated admissions, including Intensive Care Unit.

The case is consistent with the literature that suggests that there is an increased risk of later alcohol-related problems after bariatric surgery. This risk is higher several years post surgery, in patients with previous history of problems related to alcohol, young, men, and Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass procedure.

The indications for bariatric surgery should thoroughly consider the history of addiction, an adequate assessment of the patient's mental status and psychoeducation about the possible psychiatric side effects, in order to develop preventive strategies.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

ECT can be a safe treatment choice in cases of PVD.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.