The pros and cons of virtual networking events: online exploratory survey of psychiatrists' opinions.

We conducted an online questionnaire-based cross-sectional study to clarify psychiatrists' perspectives on virtual networking events. We compared two groups of respondents: those who had participated in virtual networking events (experienced group, n = 85) and those who had not (inexperienced group, n = 13). The experienced group had a greater level of agreement than the inexperienced group that virtual events were generally useful and helped with forming professional relationships and improving professional skills. Respondents in the experienced group considered the ease of participation and low financial burden to be advantages of virtual networking meetings and difficulties in building friendships and socialising to be disadvantages.

Correction: Electronic Health Record-Nested Reminders for Serum Lithium Level Monitoring in Patients With Mood Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/40595.].

Differences between subclinical attention-deficit/hyperactivity and autistic traits in default mode, salience, and frontoparietal network connectivities in young adult Japanese.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are associated with attentional impairments, with both commonalities and differences in the nature of their attention deficits. This study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of ADHD and ASD traits in healthy individuals, focusing on the functional connectivity (FC) of attention-related large-scale brain networks (LSBNs). The participants were 61 healthy individuals (30 men; age, 21.9 ± 1.9 years). The Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) and Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) were administered as indicators of ADHD and ASD traits, respectively. Performance in the continuous performance test (CPT) was used as a behavioural measure of sustained attentional function. Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed during the resting state (Rest) and auditory oddball task (Odd). Considering the critical role in attention processing, we focused our analyses on the default mode (DMN), frontoparietal (FPN), and salience (SN) networks. Region of interest (ROI)-to-ROI analyses (false discovery rate < 0.05) were performed to determine relationships between psychological measures with within-network FC (DMN, FPN, and SN) as well as with between-network FC (DMN-FPN, DMN-SN, and FPN-SN). ASRS scores, but not AQ scores, were correlated with less frequent commission errors and shorter reaction times in the CPT. During Odd, significant positive correlations with ASRS were demonstrated in multiple FCs within DMN, while significant positive correlations with AQ were demonstrated in multiple FCs within FPN. AQs were negatively correlated with FPN-SN FCs. During Rest, AQs were negatively and positively correlated with one FC within the SN and multiple FCs between the DMN and SN, respectively. These findings of the ROI-to-ROI analysis were only partially replicated in a split-half replication analysis, a replication analysis with open-access data sets, and a replication analysis with a structure-based atlas. The better CPT performance by individuals with subclinical ADHD traits suggests positive effects of these traits on sustained attention. Differential associations between LSBN FCs and ASD/ADHD traits corroborate the notion of differences in sustained and selective attention between clinical ADHD and ASD.

Report on the 1st and 2nd Japan Young Psychiatrists Organization Online International Networking Meetings (JOIN meetings) in 2021 and 2022.

Since 2002, the Japan Young Psychiatrists Organization (JYPO) has conducted an annual face-to-face Course for Academic Development of Psychiatrists (CADP). Since 2021, we held two international online meetings and studied whether it was possible to acquire professional and leadership skills. We found that participants were able to acquire knowledge and become acquainted with professional and leadership skills in online meetings. However, they didn't enough enable participants to get to know each other, develop friendships, or acquire professional and leadership skills. The advantages of online meetings included lower cost, avoiding infection during the pandemic, and the easy use of course materials.

Electronic Health Record-Nested Reminders for Serum Lithium Level Monitoring in Patients With Mood Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Clinical guidelines recommend regular serum lithium monitoring every 3 to 6 months. However, in the real world, only a minority of patients receive adequate monitoring. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine whether the use of the electronic health record (EHR)-nested reminder system for serum lithium monitoring can help achieve serum lithium concentrations within the therapeutic range for patients on lithium maintenance therapy. METHODS: We conducted an unblinded, single-center, EHR-nested, parallel-group, superiority randomized controlled trial comparing EHR-nested reminders with usual care in adult patients receiving lithium maintenance therapy for mood disorders. The primary outcome was the achievement of therapeutically appropriate serum lithium levels between 0.4 and 1.0 mEq/L at 18 months after enrollment. The key secondary outcomes are included as follows: the number of serum lithium level monitoring except for the first and final monitoring; exacerbation of the mood disorder during the study period, defined by hospitalization, increase in lithium dose, addition of antipsychotic drugs or mood stabilizers, or addition or increase of antidepressants; adherence defined by the proportion of days covered by lithium carbonate prescription during the study period. RESULTS: A total of 111 patients were enrolled in this study. A total of 56 patients were assigned to the reminder group, and 55 patients were assigned to the usual care group. At the follow-up, 38 (69.1%) patients in the reminder group and 33 (60.0%) patients in the usual care group achieved the primary outcome (odds ratio 2.14, 95% CI 0.82-5.58, P=.12). The median number of serum lithium monitoring was 2 in the reminder group and 0 in the usual care group (rate ratio 3.62; 95% CI 2.47-5.29, P<.001). The exacerbation of mood disorders occurred in 17 (31.5%) patients in the reminder group and in 16 (34.8%) patients in the usual care group (odds ratio 0.97, 95% CI 0.42-2.28, P=.95). CONCLUSIONS: We found insufficient evidence for an EHR-nested reminder to increase the achievement of therapeutic serum lithium concentrations. However, the number of monitoring increased with relatively simple and inexpensive intervention. The EHR-based reminders may be useful to improve quality of care for patients on lithium maintenance therapy, and they have potentials to be applied to other problems. TRIAL REGISTRATION: University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry UMIN000033633; https://tinyurl.com/5n7wtyav.

Effectiveness of psychological first aid in infectious disease pandemics: An overview of systematic reviews.

There is insufficient research on the usefulness of psychological interventions, such as psychological first aid (PFA), during outbreaks. We searched for and critically appraised systematic reviews that examined the effectiveness of PFA during infectious disease outbreaks, such as the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Systematic reviews that examined the efficacy of PFA in the severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, Ebola virus disease, and COVID-19 outbreaks were searched through PubMed on February 19, 2021. The three included systematic reviews were critically appraised and assessed using AMSTAR-2. One review's overall confidence in its findings was evaluated as "high," which suggested that PFA training had a favorable effect on healthcare personnel. Furthermore, the review also demonstrated that PFA was commonly used during outbreaks and could be delivered through multiple methods, such as a phone or video call. Although it was anticipated that PFA would improve subjective well-being, reports showed no evidence of reduced depression or insomnia. Future studies should examine additional numbers of PFA recipients and conduct quasi-experimental studies to better understand the effectiveness of PFA. Evidence on its effectiveness in infectious disease outbreaks is still lacking, along with research and evaluation methods. Quasi-experimental studies, such as comparisons with other psychological interventions, are required to better understand the effectiveness of PFA.

The Japanese version of the Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2): Psychometric evaluation and analysis of the theoretical model.

BACKGROUND: The Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale 2 (GPIUS2) is a self-administered questionnaire that evaluates problematic internet use (PIU) from a multidimensional perspective. We analysed the psychometric properties and adequacy of the theoretical model of Japanese version of the GPIUS2. METHODS: This study included 291 healthy Japanese adults (median age = 25 years; interquartile range 22-43 years; 128 women) who completed the GPIUS2 and several other questionnaires evaluating the degree of PIU, self-esteem, depression, and impulsivity. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed a similar factor structure between the original and Japanese versions of the GPIUS2, with only minor differences in item composition. Higher-order confirmatory factor analyses revealed a good overall fit for the factorial model suggested by EFA, indicating adequate construct validity. The model showed acceptable internal consistency. Partial correlation analyses between GPIUS2 and other measures, with age as a control variable, revealed good convergent validity. Finally, structural equation modelling showed a good fit to the data, supporting the cognitive-behavioural model of Caplan (2010). CONCLUSIONS: The Japanese version of the GPIUS2 has good psychometric properties and the theoretical model of the original GPIUS2 is applicable to Japanese adults.

Electronic health record nested pragmatic randomized controlled trial of a reminder system for serum lithium level monitoring in patients with mood disorder: KONOTORI study protocol.

BACKGROUND: The weaknesses of classical explanatory randomized controlled trials (RCTs) include limited generalizability, high cost, and time burden. Pragmatic RCTs nested within electronic health records (EHRs) can be useful to overcome such limitations. Serum lithium monitoring has often been underutilized in real-world practice in Japan. This trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the EHR-nested reminder system for serum lithium level monitoring in the maintenance of therapeutic lithium concentration and in the improvement of the quality of care for patients on lithium maintenance therapy. METHODS: The Kyoto Toyooka nested controlled trial of reminders (KONOTORI trial) is an EHR-nested, parallel-group, superiority, stratified, permuted block-randomized controlled trial. Screening, random allocation, reminder output, and outcome collection will be conducted automatically by the EHR-nested trial program. Patients with a mood disorder taking lithium carbonate for maintenance therapy will be randomly allocated to the two-step reminder system for serum lithium monitoring or to usual care. The primary outcome is the achievement of therapeutic serum lithium concentration between 0.4 and 1.0 mEq/L at 18 months after informed consent. DISCUSSION: The KONOTORI trial uses EHRs to enable the efficient conduct of a pragmatic trial of the reminder system for lithium monitoring. This may contribute to improved quality of care for patients on lithium maintenance therapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) Clinical Trials Registry, UMIN000033633. Registered on 3 July 2018.