Are bipolar disorder, major depression, and suicidality linked with Toxoplasma gondii? A seromolecular case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: The existence of predisposing effects of latent Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection in bipolar disorder (BD), major depression (MD), and even suicide attempt (SA) has long been debatable. This conjecture remains unclear because there is a lack of evidence regarding how T. gondii manipulates the brain and behavior. METHODS: We investigated the influence of T. gondii infection on BD and MD patients with or without SA compared to age-, sex-, and province-matched healthy controls (HCs) concurrently with serology and molecular-based evaluations. We prospectively assessed 147 volunteers with BD, 161 with MD, and 310 HCs. RESULTS: T. gondii seropositivity rates were 57.1% for BD, 29.2% for MD, 64.8% for SA, and 21.3% for HC. Binary logistic regression analyses revealed that T. gondii positive Immunoglobulin G (IgG) status may be a prominent tendentious agent for BD (OR = 3.52; 95% CI [2.19-5.80]; p < 0.001) and SA (OR = 17.17; 95% CI [8.12-36.28]; p < 0.001), but not for MD (OR = 1.21; 95% CI [0.74-1.99]; p = 0.45). Nevertheless, the T. gondii DNA ratios determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were linked to BD and MD. CONCLUSION: Our findings strongly support the burgeoning interest in the possibility that latent T. gondii infection may be relevant to the etiology of BD and SA, although this connection remains ambiguous.

Changes in sleep structure and sleep spindles are associated with the neuropsychiatric profile in paradoxical insomnia.

AIM: Sleep spindles have an important role in the pathophysiology and perception of sleep. We aimed to investigate the link between sleep spindles and microstructural architecture of sleep in regard to psychiatric characteristics in paradoxical insomnia. METHOD: A total of 40 participants (20 with paradoxical insomnia, 20 healthy controls) were included in the study. All participants were evaluated by somnologists and undergone a full-night polysomnography at sleep laboratory. In addition, psychiatric interview was made by the same psychiatrist, and questionnaires were performed to assess the dimensions of the personality such as the neuroticism or extroversion (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, EPQR-A); to evaluate the tendency to exaggerate somatic perceptions (Somatosensory Amplification Scale, SSAS), somatic parts of dissociation (Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire, SDQ-20), and somatization (Somatization Scale, SS); to measure participants' feelings about their health and disease anxiety (Health Anxiety Inventory, HAI-18), and the level of uncontrollable and persistent anxiety (Penn State Worry Questionnaire, PSWQ); to investigate the tendency to ruminative thinking (Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire, RTSQ), alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale, TAS-20); and to define the presence and the severity of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI). RESULTS: The duration and frequency of the sleep spindles were similar between two groups, while the density was significantly decreased in paradoxical insomnia. The duration of sleep spindles, on the other hand, showed positive correlations with the extroversion dimension scores of EPQR-A and PSWQ scores. DISCUSSION: Sleep protective mechanisms are disturbed in paradoxical insomnia as shown by the lower density of sleep spindles. In addition, fast spindle activity is associated with the personality traits, characterized by an increase in the expression of feelings and the level of anxiety.

Toxoplasma gondii infection by serological and molecular methods in schizophrenia patients with and without suicide attempts: An age-sex-matched case-control study.

INTRODUCTION: The opinion that latent Toxoplasma gondii infection is having a broadly asymptomatic projection has now been interrogated, in specific due to the echoed association between the latent infection and an elevated incidence of schizophrenia or even suicide attempts. Notwithstanding conducted studies aimed to understand this feasible link are restricted. METHODS: In the present case-control study, we focused to illuminate the relationship between the serological and molecular presence of T gondii and schizophrenia with or without the suicide attempts by comparing it with healthy individuals. A total of 237 participants (117 in schizophrenia and 120 in healthy control) were included in this study. RESULTS: Overall, latent T gondii infections were found statistically higher in 63 (53.8%) of the 117 patients with schizophrenia and in 33 (27.5%) of the 120 controls (P < .001). In schizophrenia patients, seroprevalence T gondii was again found to be statistically higher in suicide attempters (59.6%), compared with no history of suicide attempts (48.3%; P < .05). The molecular positivity rate of T gondii DNA was higher in the schizophrenia group, compared with the healthy control group (P < .05), whereas the history of suicide attempts was not statistically associated (P = .831) with T gondii DNA positivity by polymerase chain reaction. CONCLUSION: This case-control study enlightens additional demonstration to the belief that T gondii infection would be an underlying component for the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Regardless of the clarity results of this study, this supposition warrants further endorsement.

Characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 inpatients who underwent psychiatric consultations.

Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are at risk of developing many neuropsychiatric disorders, due to the effects of the disease on the brain and the psychosocial pressures of having the disease. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of patients who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of COVID-19, who underwent psychiatric consultations. The medical records of 892 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 and the 89 among them who requested psychiatric consultations were analyzed retrospectively. After the psychiatric consultations, patients were most frequently diagnosed with delirium (38.2 %), adjustment disorder (27.0 %), depressive disorder (19.1 %) and anxiety disorder (11.2 %). Patients with delirium had longer hospital stays (p < 0.001), were transferred more frequently to intensive care units (p < 0.001), and had higher mortality rates during their hospital stays (p < 0.001), than all other patients. The need for oxygen (p < 0.001) and mechanical ventilation (p < 0.001) was also significantly higher in delirium patients, as well as in patients who received other psychiatric diagnoses. Neuropsychiatric disorders develop in patients receiving inpatient treatments in COVID-19 wards, and these disorders negatively affect the prognosis of COVID-19. Our findings suggest that the presence of neuropsychiatric disorders in in-patients with COVID-19 might be associated with the negative outcomes of the disease.