Prevalence and Correlates of the Concurrence of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) are two common and impairing neurodevelopmental conditions with partial symptomatic overlap. The aim of this study is to systematically and meta-analytically examine the following: (i) the prevalence of an OCD diagnosis among young people with ASD, (ii) the prevalence of an ASD diagnosis among young people with OCD, and (iii) the clinical and therapeutic implications of such comorbidity. METHOD: A multistep literature search was performed from database inception until 17 November 2023. This PRISMA/MOOSE-compliant systematic review, registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023480543), identified studies reporting on the prevalence, sociodemographic, psychopathologic, prognostic, and therapeutic correlates of OCD and ASD concurrence in children and adolescents. A quantitative meta-analysis with random effects was conducted to analyse the pooled prevalence of OCD among samples with a mean age of < 18 years old with ASD and the prevalence of ASD among individuals under 18 with OCD. Sensitivity analyses were performed to investigate the effect of diagnostic criteria and different continents. Meta-regression analyses were conducted to examine the effect of gender, age, IQ, and OCD severity scores. A narrative review of the clinical and therapeutical implications of the comorbidity was provided. RESULTS: 42 studies were selected for the systematic review (SR), and 31 of them were also included in one of the meta-analyses. The pooled prevalence of OCD among ASD youth samples (n = 8916, mean age = 10.6 ± 1.6; 16.4% female) was 11.6% (95% confidence intervals [CI] = 6.9%; 18.8%), and the pooled prevalence of ASD among OCD children and adolescent samples (n = 6209, mean age = 14.1 ± 1.4; 45.7% female) was 9.5% (95% CI = 6.0%; 14.7%). Meta-regressions found a statistically higher prevalence of ASD among samples with a lower prevalence of females (ß = -4.7; 95%CI = -8.6; -0.8). Children with both OCD and ASD present higher rates of functional impairment, psychopathology, and other comorbidities, compared to youth with either of the disorders alone. CONCLUSIONS: OCD and ASD are highly concurrent conditions in youth, with symptomatic, prognostic, severity, and therapeutic implications. Future research should focus on conducting longitudinal cohort studies prospectively to determine development trajectories, along with randomized controlled trials to assess the efficacy of specific therapeutic interventions.

Regulatory challenges with biosimilars: an update from 20 countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidelines for the regulatory evaluation of biosimilars in 2009 and has provided considerable effort toward helping member states implement the evaluation principles in the guidelines into their regulatory practices. Despite this effort, a recent WHO survey (conducted in 2019-2020) has revealed four main remaining challenges: unavailable/insufficient reference products in the country; lack of resources; problems with the quality of some biosimilars (and even more with noninnovator products); and difficulties with the practice of interchangeability and naming of biosimilars. The following have been identified as opportunities/solutions for regulatory authorities to deal with the existing challenges: (1) exchange of information on products with other regulatory authorities and accepting foreign licensed and sourced reference products, hence avoiding conducting unnecessary (duplicate) bridging studies; (2) use of a "reliance" concept and/or joint review for the assessment and approval of biosimilars; (3) review and reassessment of the products already approved before the establishment of a regulatory framework for biosimilar approval; and (4) setting appropriate regulatory oversight for good pharmacovigilance, which is essential for the identification of problems with products and establishing the safety and efficacy of interchangeability of biosimilars.

The role of environmental influences in the complex relationship between borderline personality disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: review of recent findings.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the existence of possible developmental pathways from childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to adult Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) has been suggested. The existence of common genetic factors has been described but there is little evidence on the role of environmental factors in the possible transition from one disorder to another throughout life. The main goal of this work is to review the literature about the existing evidence on childhood traumas as factors that mediate the risk of developing BPD in children with ADHD. METHODS: A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Science Direct and PsychInfo databases. Criteria included studies of BPD and ADHD relationships and childhood traumas as environmental influences from epidemiological or clinical samples. RESULTS: The review only identified 4 studies that matched the search criteria. All studies retrospectively analyzed childhood traumas, and adult patients with BPD, with or without comorbid ADHD, were the most frequently mentioned. The analyzed evidence reinforces the relationship between the number of childhood traumas and higher clinical severity. Three of these analyzed studies describe an increased the risk of children with ADHD who report emotional and sexual traumatic experiences to develop BPD in adulthood. CONCLUSIONS: The experience of traumatic childhood events, especially those of an emotional type, may have a mediating effect of an increased risk of developing adult BPD in childhood ADHD patients. However, to consider them as risk factors, more studies, and especially longitudinal studies, are necessary to clarify the probable transactional process between the two disorders. Evidence from these studies may be helpful to develop early intervention programs to reduce the functional impairment associated with the two disorders.

Delayed Urinary Symptoms Induced by Ketamine.

One of the side-effects of ketamine abuse is genito-urinary damage. This report describes a case of a former ketamine user who presented with urinary symptoms associated with ketamine years after stopping consumption. This was a 26-year-old male with a history of ketamine abuse. He started treatment for alcohol dependence at age 19. He smoked marijuana daily and denied any other drug use. During the follow-up, urinary symptoms were evidenced (dysuria, frequency, urgency, incontinence, nocturia, hematuria, and suprapubic pain). Urinary symptoms started two years ago and worsened over time. The patient was referred to a urologist. A cystoscopy revealed lesions compatible with interstitial cystitis like the ones that appear in some ketamine abusers. Given the medical history, the urologist asked him about ketamine consumption and the patient declared a daily use of 50 milligrams intranasally from age 15 to age 17. Given these findings, not reported previously in the medical literature, future research should follow up patients who at some point in their life made an abusive consumption of ketamine in order to understand the pathogenesis and to be able to intervene before clinical disease manifests itself.

The regulatory framework for similar biotherapeutic products in Cuba.

Biopharmaceuticals make up a significant proportion of medicinal products used for the treatment of diseases such as cancer, arthritis, cardiac dysfunctions and AIDS. Access to therapies based on the use of these products has been limited as a result of the high marketing costs. Cuba has a biopharmaceutical industry with great potential for innovation, capable of developing new products and to produce others, like the biosimilars destined to fulfill the needs of its National Health System. The Center for State Control on the Quality of Drugs (CECMED) the Cuban NRA, is facing the challenge of regulating the approval of biosimilar products manufactured locally. Consequently, CECMED has issued a position paper establishing the basic principles for regulation of these products and a specific guideline on this was elaborated.