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Frontiers in Psychology 2023The growth of the prison population and the high recidivism rates of inmates represent a major public safety problem.
BACKGROUND
The growth of the prison population and the high recidivism rates of inmates represent a major public safety problem.
OBJECTIVE
This systematic review explored executive functions in inmates convicted of violent behavior compared with inmates convicted of non-violent behavior and healthy controls (HCs).
METHODS
Systematic searches were carried out using five databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Embase) until March 6th, 2023. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, two reviewers independently performed the screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment of the 8 studies included. The protocol of this study was registered in Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO), under registration number CRD42021252043.
RESULTS
Consistently, inmates convicted of violent behavior exhibited a greater alteration in inhibition than inmates convicted of non-violent behavior (four out of four studies) and HCs (two out of two studies). In addition, inmates convicted of violent behavior showed greater impairments in cognitive flexibility (two out of three studies) and working memory (two out of three studies) than HCs. Although with limited evidence (only one study), they also showed worse performance in set shifting and planning than HCs.
CONCLUSION
This study provides evidence of alterations in inhibition in inmates convicted of violent behavior compared to inmates convicted of non-violent behavior and HCs. Even though inmates convicted of violent behavior showed greater impairments in planning and set shifting than HCs, these findings were supported in only one study. In general, more robust evidence is needed to confirm alterations in inmates convicted due to violent behavior. These findings highlight the importance of designing and promoting specific cognitive interventions that contribute to the reintegration of inmates into society.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021252043, identifier CRD42021252043.
PubMed: 37663323
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1066474 -
BJPsych Open Aug 2023The ability to communicate is integral to all human relationships. Previous research has specifically highlighted communication within families as both a risk and... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The ability to communicate is integral to all human relationships. Previous research has specifically highlighted communication within families as both a risk and protective factor for anxiety disorders and/or depression. Yet, there is limited understanding about whether communication is amenable to intervention in the context of adolescent psychopathology, and whether doing so improves outcomes.
AIMS
The aim of this systematic review was to determine in which contexts and for whom does addressing communication in families appear to work, not work and why?
METHOD
We pre-registered our systematic review with PROSPERO (identifier CRD42022298719), followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidance and assessed study quality with the Risk of Bias 2 tool.
RESULTS
Seven randomised controlled trials were identified from a systematic search of the literature. There was significant heterogeneity in the features of communication that were measured across these studies. There were mixed findings regarding whether family-focused interventions led to improvements in communication. Although there was limited evidence that family-focused interventions led to improvements in communication relative to interventions without a family-focused component, we discuss these findings in the context of the significant limitations in the studies reviewed.
CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that further research is required to assess the efficacy of family-focused interventions for improving communication in the context of anxiety and depression in those aged 14-24 years.
PubMed: 37641851
DOI: 10.1192/bjo.2023.545 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Oct 2023Event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically the Mismatch Response (MMR), holds promise for investigating auditory maturation in children. It has the potential to... (Review)
Review
Event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically the Mismatch Response (MMR), holds promise for investigating auditory maturation in children. It has the potential to predict language development and distinguish between language-impaired and typically developing groups. However, summarizing the MMR's developmental trajectory in typically developing children remains challenging despite numerous studies. This pioneering meta-analysis outlines changes in MMR amplitude among typically developing children, while offering methodological best-practices. Our search identified 51 articles for methodology analysis and 21 for meta-analysis, involving 0-8-year-old participants from 2000 to 2022. Risk of Bias assessment and methodology analysis revealed shortcomings in control condition usage and reporting of study confounders. The meta-analysis results were inconsistent, indicating large effect sizes in some conditions and no effect sizes in others. Subgroup analysis revealed the main effects of age and brain region, as well as an interaction of age and time-window of the MMR. Future research requires a specific protocol, larger samples, and replication studies to deepen the understanding of the auditory discrimination maturation process in children.
PubMed: 37633625
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105366 -
Psychological Medicine Dec 2023Previous meta-analyses on psychotherapy for adult depression have found a larger treatment effect in non-Western trials compared to Western trials (i.e. North America,... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Previous meta-analyses on psychotherapy for adult depression have found a larger treatment effect in non-Western trials compared to Western trials (i.e. North America, Europe, and Australia). However, factors contributing to this difference remain unclear. This study investigated different study characteristics between Western and non-Western trials and examined their association with effect size estimates. We systematically searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and Cochrane Library (01-09-2022). We included randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) that compared psychotherapy with a control condition. The validity of included RCTs was assessed by the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool (RoB 1). Effect sizes were pooled using the random-effects model. Subgroup analyses and meta-regressions were also conducted. We identified 405 eligible trials, among which 105 trials (117 comparisons, 16 304 participants) were from non-Western countries. We confirmed that non-Western trials had a larger treatment effect ( = 1.10, 95% CI 0.90-1.31) than Western trials ( = 0.57, 95% CI 0.52-0.62). Trials from non-Western countries also had more usual care controls, higher risk of bias, larger sample sizes, lower mean ages, younger adults, more group-based interventions, and other recruitment methods (e.g. systematic screening; < 0.05). The larger effect sizes found in non-Western trials were related to the presence of wait-list controls, high risk of bias, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and clinician-diagnosed depression ( < 0.05). The larger treatment effects observed in non-Western trials may result from the high heterogeneous study design and relatively low validity. Further research on long-term effects, adolescent groups, and individual-level data are still needed.
Topics: Adult; Adolescent; Humans; Depression; Developing Countries; Psychotherapy; Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Waiting Lists
PubMed: 37609800
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291723002246 -
Neuropsychology Review Jun 2024Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) form a heterogeneous, widespread group of disorders, generally characterized by progressive cognitive decline and neuropsychiatric... (Review)
Review
Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) form a heterogeneous, widespread group of disorders, generally characterized by progressive cognitive decline and neuropsychiatric disturbances. One of the abilities that seems particularly vulnerable to the impairments in neurodegenerative diseases is the capability to manage one's personal finances. Indeed, people living with neurodegenerative diseases were shown to consistently present with more problems on performance-based financial tasks than healthy individuals. While objective, performance-based tasks provide insight into the financial competence of people living with neurodegenerative diseases in a controlled, standardized setting; relatively little can be said, based on these tasks, about their degree of success in dealing with the financial demands, issues, or questions of everyday life (i.e., financial performance). The aim of this systematic review is to provide an overview of the literature examining self and informant reports of financial performance in people living with neurodegenerative diseases. In total, 22 studies were included that compared the financial performance of people living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease, or multiple sclerosis to a (cognitively) normal control group. Overall, the results indicate that people living with neurodegenerative diseases are more vulnerable to impairments in financial performance than cognitively normal individuals and that the degree of reported problems seems to be related to the severity of cognitive decline. As the majority of studies however focused on MCI or AD and made use of limited assessment methods, future research should aim to develop and adopt more comprehensive assessments to study strengths and weaknesses in financial performance of people living with different neurodegenerative diseases.
Topics: Humans; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Cognitive Dysfunction; Alzheimer Disease; Neuropsychological Tests; Parkinson Disease
PubMed: 37594689
DOI: 10.1007/s11065-023-09597-0 -
Molecular Psychiatry Aug 2023Psychotic disorders are characterized by structural and functional abnormalities in brain networks. Neuroimaging techniques map and characterize such abnormalities using... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Psychotic disorders are characterized by structural and functional abnormalities in brain networks. Neuroimaging techniques map and characterize such abnormalities using unique features (e.g., structural integrity, coactivation). However, it is unclear if a specific method, or a combination of modalities, is particularly effective in identifying differences in brain networks of someone with a psychotic disorder.
METHODS
A systematic meta-analysis evaluated machine learning classification of schizophrenia spectrum disorders in comparison to healthy control participants using various neuroimaging modalities (i.e., T1-weighted imaging (T1), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC), or some combination (multimodal)). Criteria for manuscript inclusion included whole-brain analyses and cross-validation to provide a complete picture regarding the predictive ability of large-scale brain systems in psychosis. For this meta-analysis, we searched Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, PsychInfo, Google Scholar, and Web of Science published between inception and March 13th 2023. Prediction results were averaged for studies using the same dataset, but parallel analyses were run that included studies with pooled sample across many datasets. We assessed bias through funnel plot asymmetry. A bivariate regression model determined whether differences in imaging modality, demographics, and preprocessing methods moderated classification. Separate models were run for studies with internal prediction (via cross-validation) and external prediction.
RESULTS
93 studies were identified for quantitative review (30 T1, 9 DTI, 40 rs-FC, and 14 multimodal). As a whole, all modalities reliably differentiated those with schizophrenia spectrum disorders from controls (OR = 2.64 (95%CI = 2.33 to 2.95)). However, classification was relatively similar across modalities: no differences were seen across modalities in the classification of independent internal data, and a small advantage was seen for rs-FC studies relative to T1 studies in classification in external datasets. We found large amounts of heterogeneity across results resulting in significant signs of bias in funnel plots and Egger's tests. Results remained similar, however, when studies were restricted to those with less heterogeneity, with continued small advantages for rs-FC relative to structural measures. Notably, in all cases, no significant differences were seen between multimodal and unimodal approaches, with rs-FC and unimodal studies reporting largely overlapping classification performance. Differences in demographics and analysis or denoising were not associated with changes in classification scores.
CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study suggest that neuroimaging approaches have promise in the classification of psychosis. Interestingly, at present most modalities perform similarly in the classification of psychosis, with slight advantages for rs-FC relative to structural modalities in some specific cases. Notably, results differed substantially across studies, with suggestions of biased effect sizes, particularly highlighting the need for more studies using external prediction and large sample sizes. Adopting more rigorous and systematized standards will add significant value toward understanding and treating this critical population.
Topics: Humans; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Neuroimaging; Psychotic Disorders; Brain; Schizophrenia; Magnetic Resonance Imaging
PubMed: 37563277
DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02195-9 -
Cureus Jul 2023The mental health of preadolescents is crucial for safeguarding our future. The purpose of this study was to assess evidence-based preventive measures for reducing... (Review)
Review
The mental health of preadolescents is crucial for safeguarding our future. The purpose of this study was to assess evidence-based preventive measures for reducing disaster-related stress among preadolescents. The study design involved a systematic review of articles published before April 2023. For data sources, we conducted searches on PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane, the National Library of Medicine, and other relevant resources, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) standard flow diagram for the systematic article review. Of 1,531,932 studies identified in the database search, 23 articles met the inclusion criteria, including one conducted in India. Disaster-related stress was found to be prevalent in preadolescents, with adverse effects that are particularly pronounced in this age group compared to other children. The stress experienced during the pandemic has had a negative impact on preadolescents' psychological well-being, emphasizing the need for focused care to protect them. Various preventive approaches have been identified to alleviate the suffering of preadolescents. Among the studies reviewed, a total of seven studies demonstrated the impact of disasters on the mental health of children, providing evidence that children have been significantly affected by the pandemic. Additionally, five studies highlighted preventive interventions to mitigate the impact of disasters on children's mental health, underscoring the necessity for psychological interventions. Several studies also revealed that preadolescents are more susceptible to disaster-related stress due to their developmental stage. Consequently, preventive measures were investigated to address this stress, specifically among preadolescents. In conclusion, continuous research on disaster-related stress is essential to determine the extent of stress experienced and to identify evidence-based measures, such as positive psychology, to mitigate its consequences. This not only protects the mental health of preadolescents but also safeguards our future generations from the burdens of distress.
PubMed: 37551238
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.41497 -
Environmental Research Nov 2023Particulate matter (PM) is a major component of ambient air pollution (AAP), being widely associated with adverse health effects. Epidemiological and experimental... (Review)
Review
The influence of environmental particulate matter exposure during late gestation and early life on the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review of experimental evidences.
Particulate matter (PM) is a major component of ambient air pollution (AAP), being widely associated with adverse health effects. Epidemiological and experimental studies point towards a clear implication of AAP on the development of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. In this sense, the period of most CNS susceptibility is early life, when the CNS is maturing. In humans the last trimester of gestation is crucial for brain maturation while in rodents, due to the shorter gestational period, the brain is still immature at birth, and early postnatal development plays a significant role. The present systematic review provides an updated overview and discusses the existing literature on the relationship between early exposure to PM and neurodevelopmental outcomes in experimental studies. We included 11 studies with postnatal exposure and 9 studies with both prenatal and postnatal exposure. Consistent results between studies suggest that PM exposure could alter normal development, triggering impairments in short-term memory, sociability, and impulsive-like behavior. This is also associated with alterations in synaptic plasticity and in the immune system. Interestingly, differences have been observed between sexes, although not all studies included females. Furthermore, the developmental window of exposure seems to be crucial for effects to be observed in the future. In summary, air pollution exposure during development affects subjects in a time- and sex-dependent manner, the postnatal period being more important and being males apparently more sensitive to exposure than females. Nevertheless, additional experimental investigations should prioritize the examination of learning, impulsivity, and biochemical parameters, with particular attention provided to disparities between sexes.
Topics: Male; Infant, Newborn; Female; Pregnancy; Humans; Particulate Matter; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Environmental Exposure; Neurodevelopmental Disorders
PubMed: 37527744
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116792 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2023Research into the mental healthcare of emerging adults (18-25) in Canada has been limited, despite this developmental period being widely considered a vulnerable time of... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Research into the mental healthcare of emerging adults (18-25) in Canada has been limited, despite this developmental period being widely considered a vulnerable time of life. As such, we aimed to identify the greatest barriers emerging adults faced in accessing mental healthcare in Canada, particularly in relation to the Canadian healthcare system which operates on a universal funding model but is challenged by funding shortfalls and a complex relationship to the provinces.
METHODS
We systematically examined 28 pieces of literature, including academic and technical literature and publications from government organizations, focused on emerging adults and the Canadian mental healthcare system.
RESULTS
Findings demonstrated that stigma, a lack of mental health knowledge, cost, and interpersonal factors (e.g., one's parental, peer, and romantic supports demonstrating negative views toward mental healthcare may deter treatment; emerging adults demonstrating concerns that accessing mental healthcare may lead to peer rejection) acted as barriers to help-seeking in emerging adults. Additionally, a lack of national institutional cohesion and a lack of policy pertaining to emerging adult healthcare acted as barriers to adequate mental healthcare in this demographic.
DISCUSSION
Improving mental health education early in life shows promise at reducing many of the barriers emerging adults face in accessing mental healthcare. Further, policies directed at ensuring a cohesive national mental health system, as well as policies directly designed to care for emerging adult mental health needs, could act as the next steps toward ensuring an accessible and effective Canadian mental healthcare system that can serve as a model for other nations.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Canada; Mental Health; Health Services Accessibility; Policy; Parents
PubMed: 37501945
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1088999 -
Molecular Autism Jul 2023Septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) is a rare condition diagnosed in children with two or more of the following: hypopituitarism, midline brain abnormalities, and optic nerve... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Septo-optic dysplasia (SOD) is a rare condition diagnosed in children with two or more of the following: hypopituitarism, midline brain abnormalities, and optic nerve hypoplasia. Children with SOD experience varied visual impairment and endocrine dysfunction. Autistic-like behaviours have been reported; however, their nature and prevalence remain to be fully understood. The present systematic review aimed to explore the type and prevalence of neurodevelopmental impairments in children with SOD spectrum conditions.
METHODS
The search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, and PsycInfo. Hand-searching reference lists of included studies was conducted. All peer-reviewed, observational studies assessing behavioural and cognitive impairments or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms in children (< 18 years) with SOD, optic nerve hypoplasia, and SOD-plus were included. Studies were excluded if they did not report standardised measures of neurodevelopmental impairments or ASD outcomes.
RESULTS
From 2132 screened articles, 20 articles reporting data from a total of 479 children were included in prevalence estimates. Of 14 studies assessing cognitive-developmental outcomes, 175 of 336 (52%) children presented with intellectual disability or developmental delay. A diagnosis of ASD or clinical level of symptoms was observed in 65 of 187 (35%) children across five studies. Only five studies assessed for dysfunction across behavioural, emotional, or social domains and reported impairments in 88 of 184 (48%) of children assessed.
LIMITATIONS
Importantly, high heterogeneity among the samples in relation to their neuroanatomical, endocrine, and optic nerve involvement meant that it was not possible to statistically assess the relative contribution of these confounding factors to the specific neurodevelopmental phenotype. This was further limited by the variation in study designs and behavioural assessments used across the included studies, which may have increased the risk of information bias.
CONCLUSIONS
This systematic review suggests that the prevalence of neurodevelopmental impairments in children within the SOD spectrum may be high. Clinicians should therefore consider including formal assessments of ASD symptoms and neurodevelopmental impairments alongside routine care. There is, additionally, a need for further research to define and validate a standardised battery of tools that accurately identify neurodevelopmental impairments in SOD spectrum conditions, and for research to identify the likely causal mechanisms.
Topics: Humans; Septo-Optic Dysplasia; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Optic Nerve Hypoplasia; Hypopituitarism; Autistic Disorder
PubMed: 37491272
DOI: 10.1186/s13229-023-00559-0