Acta Neuropsychiatrica

22/07/2025

🌍🧠 World Brain Day | 22 July

Brain Health for All Ages

Today, we observe World Brain Day, a global call to action to raise awareness about the importance of protecting brain health across every stage of life: from early development to healthy aging.

➡ Did you know 1 in 8 people worldwide live with a mental disorder?

These conditions are marked by significant disturbances in cognition, emotional regulation, or behavior, often impacting brain structure and function in complex ways.

From critical periods during adolescence to the need for timely diagnosis and care later in life, advancing research in neuropsychiatry plays a vital role in improving prevention, treatment, and quality of life.

🧠 Let’s advocate for brain health as a universal priority, for all ages, all communities, and all minds.

📌 Recent research highlights the evolving concept of psychosocial well-being in dementia care:

-The term is increasingly used, but definitions vary widely in scope.

- A systematic review found that it most often refers to emotional well-being, social health, subjective lived experience, and behavioral symptoms.

-To improve person-centered dementia care and research, a unified definition and standardized measurement tools are urgently needed.

🔗 Read more: https://doi.org/10.1017/neu.2025.10021

17/07/2025

A follow-up exome analysis of 270K UK participants again found no gene-level associations with affective disorders.

Even in severe cases needing specialist referral and in this large sample, rare variant effects are likely too small and spread across many genes.

Check the paper for + info on

Analysis of 470,000 exome-sequenced cases and controls fails to identify any genes impacting risk of developing affective disorder

11/07/2025

🧠 Is Internet Search a Proxy for Treatment?

🍕No, we’re not talking about pizza restaurants.

Google Trends mirrors real-world ADHD prescription patterns.

Researchers found that in Scandinavian countries (2010–2023), internet search trends correlate with ADHD prescriptions.

🔍Methylphenidate remains the most searched and prescribed medication

📈 Interest in lisdexamphetamine (Elvanse/Vyvanse) has risen sharply, especially in Norway and Denmark

💊Searches for central stimulants dominate over non-stimulants like atomoxetine

🗺️ Search trends may serve as a feasible source for identifying geographical drug preferences and can offer meaningful insights into public health actions to better inform and patients.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drug search trends: a Scandinavian perspective - Volume 37

04/07/2025

🧠 😞 Late-Life Depression (LLD)
LLD is shaped by a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors + distinct clinical and biological features.

🔥 Inflammation role
It is linked to low-grade systemic inflammation. Patients show elevated CRP & IL-6, along with signs of neuroinflammation. Immune cell senescence and comorbidities as cardiovascular/metabolic diseases may contribute to LLD emergence.

💊 Treating LLD: Beyond Mood
SSRIs and non-pharmacological (e.g., diet, exercise) therapies may work in part by targeting inflammation. Addressing the immune-brain axis could be key to managing LLD effectively.



Check the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1017/neu.2025.10019

20/06/2025

EiC Gregers Wegener had the pleasure of welcoming the Associate Editor for the Special Content Section, Prof. Gin Malhi (University of Sydney), to the beautiful summer at Aarhus University.

Prof. Malhi invites submissions of critical perspective papers, including debates, discussions on future directions in , and articles that challenge current thinking in the field.

Stay connected and contribute to our Special Content Section!
👉 Submit your paper: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/acta-neuropsychiatrica

06/06/2025

👉Follow us on LinkedIn, and connect with our professional Audience:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/acta-neuropsychiatrica/
🫶Feel free to share this post!

27/05/2025

🧠 New insights into Kabuki syndrome!

Kabuki syndrome is a rare, multisystem congenital disorder characterised by specific facial malformations and includes motor and cognitive impairment + immune dysregulation.

There are very few models of Kabuki syndrome, as Bapa mice, and currently no mechanism has been pointed out for the motor and immune deficits

Bapa mice show hyperactivity, ↑striatal TH, GFAP, IBA-1—linking dopaminergic hyperactivity & neuroinflammation.

The strain is a promising model to study motor & immune deficits.

From the Thiago B Kirsten group.



https://doi.org/10.1017/neu.2025.17

20/05/2025

🧠 Handling the Double-Edged Sword of Antipsychotics: Wielding Precision Psychiatry

Antipsychotics like aripiprazole & risperidone are widely used—not just for psychosis but also mood & behavioral disorders. Yet, adverse effects may hinder outcomes.

💡 To improve safety & effectiveness, the SUPER-Finland group explored the biological & behavioral variables that impact treatment response:
🔹 CYP2D6 phenotype
🔹 Adherence
🔹 Adverse effects
🔹 Medication attitudes

And they found that:

📢 Ultrarapid CYP2D6 metabolizers, especially among aripiprazole users, were more likely to report adverse effects & negative attitudes toward medication.

🧬 This points to a potential role of pharmacogenetics in shaping treatment experience optimizing antipsychotic therapy with personalized treatment approaches.

Check the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1017/neu.2025.11

09/05/2025

🧠 This review just published in Acta Neuropsychiatrica explores how institutionalization in residential care affects children's brain development and mental health, through an electrophysiology perspective. Authors found that:

📶EEG patterns in institutionalized minors show increased theta activity, indicating general neuronal immaturity.

📉Children also demonstrate poorer executive functioning and are at greater risk for externalizing disorders.

🔍Thus may be a valuable tool to detect at-risk children early and support the design of targeted interventions in .



Find more about brain rhythm in children in residential care institutions at: 10.1017/neu.2025.19

30/04/2025

Can ACT Help Reduce Suicidality?

This new systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on suicidality, including suicidal ideation and attempts. And the authors found that:

✅ ACT showed promising efficacy in reducing suicidal ideation, with a significant effect size
⚠️ However, all included studies were judged to have a high risk of bias, highlighting the need for more rigorous trials.

📚 These findings provide preliminary support for ACT as a therapeutic approach to suicidality.

Check more about the findings in: https://doi.org/10.1017/neu.2025.18

25/04/2025

🧠🩺 Can (PE) be addressed by assessing behavioral and metabolic changes?
A new study published in Acta Neuropsychiatrica provides evidence that neuropsychiatric symptoms in PE may be linked to immune and metabolic biomarkers.

✅Top 3 identified, with highlights to:
- Reduced sCTLA-4 / sCD80 ratio as key modulators of immune response and predictors of mood and chronic fatigue symptoms
- Vitamin D, calcium, and copper levels together with sCTLA-4 explain 70% of the variance in systolic blood pressure in PE patients

🧩These findings reinforce the notion that PE is not solely a vascular disorder, but is also characterized by:
-Activation of the immune-inflammatory response system
-Disruptions in checkpoint molecules

💡This opens new avenues for early detection and targeted interventions
👩‍⚕️Clinicians: Consider integrating immune and metabolic profiling into PE risk assessment

Check the study to find out +: https://doi.org/10.1017/neu.2025.10