The brain renin-angiotensin system is involved in learning and memory, but the actual role of angiotensin II and its metabolites in this process has been difficult to comprehend. In the present study we assessed the role of the angiotensin AT1 receptors in certain behavioral effects of angiotensin II using their selective antagonist losartan and PD123319, intracerebroventricularly (icv) administrated.

Male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: 1. sham-operated; 2. Losartan; 3. PD123319. All drugs were stereotaxically icv injected. Learning and memory tests began 2 weeks after the operation, and the ability of the rats to acquire the operant task was studied by means of Y-maze task and passive avoidance task, respectively. The anxiety state was measured in elevated plus maze.

Losartan and PD123319 significantly impaired spatial memory in Y-maze task, suggesting significant effects on short-term memory. In passive avoidance task, both angiotensin II antagonist, significantly decreased step-through-latency, suggesting significant effects on long-term memory. In elevated plus maze measuring anxiety, both drugs diminished anxiety state.

Our results suggest the considerable involvement of the brain ATi angiotensin receptors in the cognition improving effects of angiotensin.

Comorbidities between psychiatric diseases and consumption of traditional substances of abuse are common. Nevertheless, there is no data regarding the use of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in the psychiatric population.

The purpose of this multicentre survey is to investigate the consumption of a wide variety of psychoactive substances in a young psychiatric sample.

Between September 2013 and November 2015, a questionnaire has been administered, in ten Italian psychiatric care facilities, to a sample of 671 psychiatric patients (48.5% men; 51.5% women), aged between 18 and 26 years (mean age: 22.24).

8.2% of the sample declared use of NPS at least once in a lifetime and 2.2% have assumed NPS in the last three months. The NPS more used were synthetic cannabinoids (4.5%), followed by methamphetamine (3.6%). The three psychiatric diagnosis with more frequent NPS consumption were bipolar disorder (23.1%), personality disorders (11.8%) and schizophrenia and related disorders (11.6%). Bipolar disorder was associated with NPS consumption (P < .001). Among the illicit drugs investigated, 31.4% of the sample was cannabis smoker and 10.7% cocaine user. Moreover, 70.6% of the sample declared alcohol use and 47.7% had binge drinking conducts. In univariate regression analysis, bipolar disorder was positive associated with binge drinking while obsessive compulsive disorder resulted negative associated.

The use of novel psychoactive substances in a young psychiatric population appears to be a frequent phenomenon, probably still underestimated. Bipolar disorder shows an association with NPS use. Therefore, careful and constant monitoring and accurate evaluations of possible clinical effects related to their use are necessary.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Dissociative and conversion disorders are reported to have a present incidence of about 85–100per 1000 by different studies, which are very few. The present research is a part of a longitudinal study of 15 years but here; only 3 years are represented, which could be briefly analyzed.

Latest reports suggest a decline in incidence of hysteria (conversion and dissociation) and this research just tries to reconfirm.

All new patients attending a private psychiatry OPD in a small township of India at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, were screened to identify cases of dissociative disorder according to ICD 10, F44.2 and F44.3 from the 1st of January 2016 to 31st of October 2016 (10 months). These screened cases, only those presenting with fits of unconsciousness and possession, were analyzed and compared with the previous years for the same period.

Out of a total of 3671 patients seen, (2122 males and 1549 females) a total of 319 presented with the above mentioned symptoms (58 males and 261 females) about 87 per 1000 of psychiatric patients.

The results, when compared with two previous years for the same period were quite similar, 2015 getting incidence of 97 per 1000 and 2014, an incidence of 89 per 1000. The inference thus is that there does not seem to be any decline of incidence and the figure would be much higher if both conversion and dissociative symptoms are included – a really serious situation.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Doing there is no consensus for a multidimensional definition of Quality of Life (QoL) in dementia, and that informant- and self-perceptions of QoL differed substantially, lately it has been proposed to analyze Overall QoL using a simple item. Our objective was to investigate Overall QoL and how this perception among people with Cognitive Impairment and Dementia is associated with other variables. Thus, obtained predictor variables of QoL will act as confirmatory indexes to corroborate the self-reported QoL in clinical setting.

We conducted a cross-sectional survey where 106 participants with Cognitive Impairment (CI) and Dementia completed a face to face interview including diagnosis of dementia (DSM-III-R / DSM-IV), sociodemographic information, health perception and a list of chronic medical conditions, depressive symptoms (GDS-15) and functional ability (Barthel Index). Quality of life was measured with the self-assessment of overall QoL item from WHOQOL-BREF.

Mean age was 78.7 y.o. (SD: 7.1, range 55-91); 64.8% were female and 50% had primary school or more. Ordinal Logistic Regression analysis showed four factors correlated with a better QoL: (1) patients rating their health as good or more than good, (2) patients considering themselves healthy, (3) patients reporting not having depression, and (4) patients having less depressive symptoms (lower GDS scores).

A single-item global rating of patient QoL could prove useful in assessing QoL of most mild-to-moderate-stage CI and dementia patients. Affective states should be considered when assessing QoL in patients with CI and dementia; consistently, negative mood have a detrimental impact on QoL.

The objective of this study was to examine the sleep patterns of medical students and its associations with significant health behaviours.

Sleep was assessed with a self-response questionnaire covering a wide range of sleep-wake habits and difficulties. A factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed with seventeen items of the questionnaire and four factors were extracted: Sleep Disturbance, Sleep Timing, Insufficient Sleep and Dreams/Nightmares. The questionnaire also included questions on coffee use, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake and physical exercise. The sample consisted of 212 females (M age=20.32 years, SD=1.26) and 128 males (M age=20.19 years, SD=1.23) third year medical students.

Habitual alcohol intake was reported by 6.5% of the students (males=14.8% vs females=1.4%; p=.000) and regular physical exercise by 37.9% (males=47.7% vs females=32.1%; p=.004); The mean number of coffee cups used per day was 2.16±1.16 (males M=2.18±1.35 vs females M=2.13±1.03; NS) and the mean number of cigarettes smoked per day was 3.69±5.71 (males M=4.41+6.55 vs females M=3.25±5.10; NS). Students who regularly practice physical exercise reported less Sleep Disturbance (p=.004). Habitual alcohol intake was significantly associated with Sleep Timing (p=.051) and Insufficient Sleep (p=.007). Significant correlations were also found between cigarette smoking and Sleep Timing (p=.000), Dreams/nightmares (p=.023) and Insufficient Sleep (p=.001). Coffee use was correlated only with Sleep Timing (p=.000).

In this sample of healthy young adults habitual alcohol intake and cigarette smoking was associated with Insufficient Sleep and regular physical exercise was associated with less Sleep Disturbance.

Complaining of psychiatric symptoms is more common among individuals suffering from tinnitus. The aim of this study is to determine the psychiatric diagnosis and symptoms of patients with chronic tinnitus.

Four hundred patients with chronic tinnitus were enrolled from the registry of Otorhinolaringology Research Center of Rasoul general hospital, Tehran, Iran. The study instruments were Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R, axis I psychiatric disorders, Tinnitus Handicap Index (THI) and Symptom Check List-90-Revised.

The life-time and current psychiatric disorders among patients with chronic tinnitus were 60% and 55% respectively. Depressive and anxiety disorders were the most common type. Females with severe THI were 75.6% versus 63.9% in men.

The comorbidity of chronic tinnitus with depressive and anxiety disorders is more common. This may have treatment implication to alleviate the stress and dysfunction resulted from chronic tinnitus.

Ultra-pure ethyl-EPA, a semi-synthetic, ethyl ester of eicosapentaenoic acid, is associated with clinical improvement in motor functioning in Huntington's disease. The aim was to determine the extent to which it might reduce the rate of progress of cerebral atrophy.

High-resolution MRIs were acquired at baseline, six months and one year in 30 patients with stage I or II Huntington's disease who took part in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 2 g daily ethyl-EPA. For each subject and each pair of T1 images, the two-timepoint percentage brain volume change was estimated in a double-blind fashion using SIENA (Structural Image Evaluation, using Normalisation, of Atrophy), Version 2.5, part of FSL (version 4.0, http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl).

Figure 1 shows areas of significant group-level reduction in brain atrophy between patients receiving ethyl-EPA and those receiving placebo (red-yellow: the colour bar shows the p-value under the null hypothesis of no change). Significant changes are observed at the head of the caudate and the posterior section of the thalamus.

Treatment with ethyl-EPA is associated with significant reduction in brain atrophy in Huntington's disease, particularly in the caudate and thalamus. No other drug tested in Huntington's disease has shown this effect (fx).

Depression is one of the most common mental health problem and it grows greater every year around the world.

The main aims were to analyze the possibility of using functional and structural neuroimaging methods in diagnosis of different depression types and to find the predictors of pharmacological resistance.

46 patients with depression syndrome were distributed into 3 groups: 1) Neurotic Depression (Diagnosis: Adjustment disorders) - ND group; 2) Endogenous Depression (Diagnosis: Recurrent Depression, Bipolar Affective Disorder - current depressive episode, Schizoaffective disorder, depressive type) - PD group, 3) Depression due to organic pathology (Diagnosis: Organic depressive disorder, Organic mixed affective disorder) - OD group. Controls were 18 years old- and gender-matched healthy participants. We used several methods of functional (positron-emission tomography, functional magnetic resonance imaging) and structural (voxel-based morphometry, diffusion-tensor imaging) neuroimaging.

We found several functional and structural abnormalities in limbic structures within all three groups. Some of them were the same, some were different. Also we found several functional and structural predictors of pharmacological resistance.

We found several functional and structural abnormalities in all three depressive groups. Almost all of them were parts of so-called frontal-subcortical circuits, dysfunction of which, according to the present knowledge, could play crucial role in depression pathogenesis.

Summarizing our own results and analyzing the data of our colleagues, we complement a theory of depression pathogenesis and propose an original point of view for neurobiological basis of different types of depressive disorders and its pharmacological resistance.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Pharmacological therapy for anorexia nervosa is not enough successful. Mild to moderate anorexia nervosa is very prevalent in Iran. We wondered whether combination of antidepressants with appetizers (to block multiple neurotransmitters) could reverse the disease course.

Twenty seven patients with mild (8), moderate (12) and severe anorexia nervosa (7) were treated with escalating doses of three drugs (Olanzapine, Citalopram and Vitamin B6 in combination). The initial doses were 2.5 mg at night, 10 mg at noon and 40 mg TID and the increments were 2.5, 10 and 40 mg every 4 days, respectively. All patients were studied by way of the MCMI-III and clinical interview at admission and 6 weeks later. Additional behavior and cognitive therapy were used in compliant cases.

Almost all patients responded (overall response rate of 100%) and complete response of around 67%. Five and two partial responses were among the severe and moderate group. Weight gain was between 3–16% of primary body weights with a mean of 9% at 6 weeks. Depression and anxiety scores were reduced substantially studied by way of the MCMI-III and clinical interview. Maximal tolerated doses were 12.5, 40 and 360 mg respectively and most could be maintained with 5, 20 and 240 mg.

This combination regimen is extremely effective, well tolerated and without major side effects. Scheduled escalation increases compliance. High dose VitB6 has been used by us in the content of many psychological and auto immune disorders with much success. Longer follow up and larger studies are recommended.

Developing empirically sound measures for social cognition is a key step in improving the factors that contribute to deficits in social functioning in schizophrenia. Investigating the psychometric properties and acceptability of social cognitive instruments may contribute to identification of a reliable and valid instrument for schizophrenia patients.

To investigate the psychometric properties and acceptability of a dynamic social cognition scale (DSCB) compared to three common social cognition instruments in schizophrenia.

41 patients with schizophrenia were evaluated to assess acceptability, internal consistency and validity of five social cognition measures: DSCB, Emotion Recognition-40 (ER-40), Facial Emotion Identification Task (FEIT), Tone Matching Task and MSCEIT. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to identify variables which perform well as social cognition determinants.

The DSCB and FEIT showed good acceptability, evidenced by shorter administration time, completion and patient preference for the DSCB. Good levels of internal consistency were found for the DSCB (α = 0.851), ER-40 (α = 0.803), and FEIT (α = 0.782). Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated sufficient to good model fit. The DSCB and the ER-40 demonstrated a good model fit. The correlations for the DSCB were significant for the ER-40 (r = 0.512) and FEIT (r = 0.500).

Findings suggest that DSCB is the preferred instrument to evaluate social cognition, due to its dynamic nature and short administration time. Further research is needed to develop and improve these measurements. Additionally, the DSCB, FEIT and ER-40 show adequate to good reliability and validity.