Li Niebuhr (drumcamera9)

Introduction Mixed-specifier mood disorders are probably a different subgroup in terms of response to treatment, socio-demographic parameters, course, and family history. Here we describe the rationale and design of a clinical trial aimed to test the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of a non-pharmacological treatment known as theta-burst stimulation (TBS) for treating the mixed depressive episodes of both bipolar (I or II), and unipolar depression. Methods The study is designed as a randomized, sham-controlled, double-blinded clinical trial evaluating TBS for the treatment of moderate or severe major depressive episodes with mixed features of patients receiving at least one first or second-line pharmacological treatment for depressive episodes without adequate response. Ninety adult (18 to 65 years old) patients will be enrolled and submitted to 6-week (comprising 5 consecutive days a week sessions for the first 3 weeks and then 2 days a week for a further 3 week) of inhibitory followed by excitatory TBS in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Participants will be assessed using clinical and neuropsychological tests before and after the intervention. The primary outcome is change in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Scale (MADRS) score over time and across groups. Cognitive parameters will also be assessed with neuropsychological tests. Results The clinical results will provide evidence about TBS as an adjunctive treatment for mixed depression treatment and neuropsychological parameters will contribute toward an improved understanding the effects of TBS in cognition. Conclusion Our results could introduce a novel therapeutic technique for mixed depressive episodes of both bipolar and unipolar disorders. Clinical trial registration , identifier NCT04123301; date of registration 10/10/2019; URL https//clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04123301?term=NCT04123301&rank=1.During the last years, an extraordinary effort has been made to identify biomarkers as potential tools for improving prevention, diagnosis, drug response and drug development in psychiatric disorders. Contrary to other diseases, mental illnesses are classified by diagnostic categories with a broad variety list of symptoms. Consequently, patients diagnosed from the same psychiatric illness present a great heterogeneity in their clinical presentation. This fact together with the incomplete knowledge of the neurochemical alterations underlying mental disorders, contribute to the limited efficacy of current pharmacological options. In this respect, the identification of biomarkers in psychiatry is becoming essential to facilitate diagnosis through the developing of markers that allow to stratify groups within the syndrome, which in turn may lead to more focused treatment options. In order to shed light on this issue, this review summarizes the concept and types of biomarkers including an operational definition for therapeutic development. Besides, the advances in this field were summarized and sorted into five categories, which include genetics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and epigenetics. While promising results were achieved, there is a lack of biomarker investigations especially related to treatment response to psychiatric conditions. This review includes a final conclusion remarking the future challenges required to reach the goal of developing valid, reliable and broadly-usable biomarkers for psychiatric disorders and their treatment. The identification of factors predicting treatment response will reduce trial-and-error switches of medications facilitating the discovery of new effective treatments, being a crucial step towards the establishment of greater personalized medicine.Internet gaming is among the most popular entertainment options, worldwide; however, a considerable proportion of gamers show symptoms of pathological gaming. Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been proposed to describe a behavioral addiction, which shares man