The prevalence of sexual compulsivity and its correlates among adults living with HIV/AIDS attending antiretroviral therapy clinic in Gambella town, Southwest Ethiopia, 2020

Introduction Sexual compulsivity is a concealed psychiatric disease marked by intrusive thoughts followed by ritualized sexual acts. In Ethiopia, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS has recently increased. Furthermore, sexual compulsivity among adults living with HIV/AIDS receives less attention, particularly in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of sexual compulsivity and its correlates among adults living with HIV/AIDS attending ART clinic in Gambella town, Southwest Ethiopia, 2020. Method A hospital-based study employing cross-sectional design and simple random sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data were collected by using interview technique. A 10 item Sexual Compulsivity Scale (SCS) questionnaire was used to assess sexual compulsivity. The translated version of the questionnaire was used for data collection. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was conducted to determine factors associated with the outcome variable at p-value < 0.05 with a 95% confidence interval. Result Out of 300 respondents, 27% (24.3, 29.2) of them were scored above the mean score of the Sexual Compulsivity Scale. Age less than 31 years old, widowed, involving in risky sexual behaviors, current substance use, not received any skill training about safer sex behaviors, and not attending support group discussion on HIV prevention were significantly associated with sexual compulsivity. Conclusion Almost one fourth of the respondents have high score for Sexual Compulsivity Scale score. Therefore, there is a need of routine sexual behavior screening program and collaboration with mental health workers for addressing the problem. Furthermore, the emphasis should be given on the identified high-risk categories.

Neuronal cell-type and circuit basis for visual predictive processing

Bayesian Brain theory suggests brain utilises predictive processing framework to interpret the noisy world. Predictive processing is essential to perception, action, cognition and psychiatric disease, but underlying neural circuit mechanisms remain undelineated. Here we show the neuronal cell-type and circuit basis for visual predictive processing in awake, head-fixed mice during self-initiated running. Preceding running, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)-expressing inhibitory interneurons (INs) in primary visual cortex (V1) are robustly activated in absence of structured visual stimuli. This pre-running activation is mediated via distal top-down projections from frontal, parietal and retrosplenial areas known for motion planning, but not local excitatory inputs associated with the bottom-up pathway. Somatostatin (SST) INs show pre-running suppression and post-running activation, indicating a VIP-SST motif. Differential VIP-SST peri-running dynamics anisotropically suppress neighbouring pyramidal (Pyr) neurons, preadapting Pyr neurons to the incoming running. Our data delineate key neuron types and circuit elements of predictive processing brain employs in action and perception.

Envisioning Post-pandemic Digital Neurological, Psychiatric and Mental Health Care

The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic placed a dramatic burden on managed healthcare and perhaps nowhere as evident as in neurological and psychiatric disease care. This said, the duration of the pandemic mandated adaptability of the entire care system and the oft-vaunted benefits of telehealth and telemedicine were subjected to deep scrutiny at scale. Positive experiences were reported by both patients and providers from routine check-ups, to use of cognitive behavioral therapy associated with mental disorders, and management of complex diseases such as multiple sclerosis and other neurological and psychiatric conditions. Integration into standard care looks likely in the post pandemic era with many healthcare systems moving to expand reimbursement categories and develop equitable incentive models for developers and providers. In this commentary we share perspective on how the future of care may evolve through hybrid delivery models, and the advent of new therapeutic approaches which can address pain points identified during the pandemic.

Altered resting-state functional connectivity of the frontal-striatal circuit in elderly with apathy

Apathy is defined as reduction of goal-directed behaviors and a common nuisance syndrome of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disease. The underlying mechanism of apathy implicates changes of the front-striatal circuit, but its precise alteration is unclear for apathy in healthy aged people. The aim of our study is to investigate how the frontal-striatal circuit is changed in elderly with apathy using resting-state functional MRI. Eighteen subjects with apathy (7 female, 63.7 ± 3.0 years) and eighteen subjects without apathy (10 female, 64.8 ± 3.0 years) who underwent neuropsychological assessment and MRI measurement were recruited. We compared functional connectivity with/within the striatum between the apathy and non-apathy groups. The seed-to-voxel group analysis for functional connectivity between the striatum and other brain regions showed that the connectivity was decreased between the ventral rostral putamen and the right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/supplementary motor area in the apathy group compared to the non-apathy group while the connectivity was increased between the dorsal caudate and the left sensorimotor area. Moreover, the ROI-to-ROI analysis within the striatum indicated reduction of functional connectivity between the ventral regions and dorsal regions of the striatum in the apathy group. Our findings suggest that the changes in functional connectivity balance among different frontal-striatum circuits contribute to apathy in elderly.

Polymorphisms in MicroRNA Genes Associated with Schizophrenia Susceptibility but Not with Effectiveness of MECT

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a common and complex psychiatric disease associated with hereditary and environmental risk factors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are small, noncoding RNA molecules that endogenously regulate gene expression. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in related miRNA genes are associated with susceptibility of the disorder. We wonder if the SNPs have influence on the effectiveness of modified electroconvulsive therapy (MECT) for SCZ. rs1625579 within miR-137, rs6577555 within miR-34, and rs2296616 within miR-107 were sequenced in 150 cases and 150 controls to check the potential association between the SNPs and SCZ. Our results showed that allele G in rs1625579 ( p = 0.005 , adjusted OR = 1.379 , 95 % CI = 1.108 − 1.634 ), allele A in rs6577555 ( p = 0.014 , adjusted OR = 1.246 , 95 % CI = 1.045 − 1.463 ), allele G in rs2296616 ( p < 0.001 , adjusted OR = 1.646 , 95 % CI = 1.374 − 1.879 ) are positively associated with the disorder risk. MECT courses did significantly decrease the level of the miRNAs, except for the variant of rs2296616 with the AA genotype. Schizophrenic phenotypes assessed by the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) were improved after MECT, and there was no significant relevance observed between the effectiveness of MECT and the variants of these loci. Thus, our findings indicate that polymorphisms within the loci may be involved in the pathogenesis of SCZ, and MECT is effective and unbiased for patients harboring different genotypes of the loci.

Frequency and Correlation of Depression in Melasma Patients

Background: Melasma is hyper-pigmentation of skin, usually seen in young female adults, and previous studies have established substantial psychosocial burden associated with this disease. Aim: To measure the frequency of depression in melasma patients and its correlation with severity of melasma Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Place and duration of study: Dermatology OPD, HIT Hospital Taxila from 1st January 2021 to 31st August 2021 Methods: One hundred consecutive patients of melasma diagnosed by a skin specialist were enrolled. Elderly patients aged >60 years, those with previous psychiatric disease or chronic illnesses and on long term streroids were not included. After getting written informed consent, enrolled patients were screened for depression using Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) Results: There were 17 males and 83 females. The mean age was 41.5±8.14 years. On MASI scale for assessing severity of melasma, 38 patients scored mild, 51 scored moderate and 11 scored severe. Using Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) in patients with melasma, 18 patients didn’t have depression, 38 had mild depression, 31 had moderate depression, 6 had moderately severe depression and 7 had severe depression. Conclusion: The frequency of depression is quite high in patients suffering from melasma. It indicates a need for prompt diagnosis, appropriate intervention at correct time to ensure patient’s compliance to therapy to improve his disease outcome. Keywords: Depression, Melasma, Frequency

Distinct trans-placental effects of maternal immune activation by TLR3 and TLR7 agonists: implications for schizophrenia risk

Exposure to infection in utero predisposes towards psychiatric diseases such as autism, depression and schizophrenia in later life. The mechanisms involved are typically studied by administering mimetics of double-stranded (ds) virus or bacterial infection to pregnant rats or mice. The effect of single-stranded (ss) virus mimetics has been largely ignored, despite evidence linking prenatal ss virus exposure with psychiatric disease. Understanding the effects of gestational ss virus exposure has become even more important with recent events. In this study, in pregnant mice, we compare directly the effects, on the maternal blood, placenta and the embryonic brain, of maternal administration of ds-virus mimetic poly I:C (to activate Toll-like receptor 3, TLR3) and ss-virus mimetic resiquimod (to activate TLR7/8). We find that, 4 h after the administration, both poly I:C and resiquimod elevated the levels of IL-6, TNFα, and chemokines including CCL2 and CCL5, in maternal plasma. Both agents also increased placental mRNA levels of IL-6 and IL-10, but only resiquimod increased placental TNFα mRNA. In foetal brain, poly I:C produced no detectable immune-response-related increases, whereas pronounced increases in cytokine (e.g. Il-6, Tnfα) and chemokine (e.g. Ccl2, Ccl5) expression were observed with maternal resiquimod administration. The data show substantial differences between the effect of maternal exposure to a TLR7/8 activator as compared to a TLR3 activator. There are significant implications for future modelling of diseases where maternal ss virus exposure contributes to environmental disease risk in offspring.