Body Awareness as a Protective Factor against Suicidal Orientations in College Students.

In this study, binary logistic regression and linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between interoceptive body awareness and suicidal orientation among Colombian university students. Additionally, the bootstrap technique was employed to resample and estimate the distribution of the data. The results support the idea that greater interoceptive awareness may protect against suicidal orientation by improving emotional regulation. An inverse relationship was found between interoceptive awareness and suicidal ideation. These findings align with previous literature emphasizing the importance of body awareness for emotional well-being. Further longitudinal research is needed to explore this relationship more deeply.

Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in patients with chronic mental disorders: The relevance of dual disorders.

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is higher in people with psychiatric disorders compared to the general population. In addition, patients with severe mental illness are frequently affected by substance abuse, which increases the risk of blood-borne viral infections. Epidemiological studies in samples of hospitalised individuals with chronic mental disorders and dual diagnosis (DD) are lacking. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of HCV infection in a sample of in-patients with severe mental illness. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study. All patients meeting selection criteria admitted to the Medium-Term Psychiatric Unit of the University of Salamanca Health Care Complex between 2007 and 2018 were included. The primary endpoint was the prevalence of HCV infection. The secondary endpoint comprised the characteristics influencing the occurrence of HCV infection in these patients. RESULTS: A total of 497 admissions were included and patients' last admission data were considered for analyses (n=345). The overall prevalence of HCV infection was 3.8% and reached 14.3% among DD patients, who showed a higher prevalence than those without this condition (14.3% versus 3.1%, p=0.009). HCV RNA was detected in 6 individuals at diagnosis who received DAA treatment reaching sustained virological response. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of HCV infection in our sample was higher than in the general population, especially among DD patients. Despite the multiple barriers to access healthcare by patients with chronic mental illness, efforts to include this population in screening and treatment are mandatory.

Impact on Sleep Quality, Mood, Anxiety, and Personal Satisfaction of Doctors Assigned to COVID-19 Units.

The SARS-CoV-2 health emergency has led to a restructuring of health care systems and the reassignment of medical specialists from their usual duties to attend COVID-19 patients. The aim of this paper is to describe the levels of insomnia, anxiety, depression, and the impact on quality of life of doctors who were on the frontline of COVID-19 during the first two waves of the pandemic. Self-report surveys were conducted on said physicians during both waves, with 83 and 61 responses in the first and second waves, respectively. The reported presence of insomnia was frequent (71.8%), although it decreased in the second survey. Anxiety was moderate, decreasing from 57.1% to 43.1% between measurements. Overall, depression rates decreased between the two surveys. Substance use was found to have an indirect correlation with personal and professional satisfaction. In the light of the unforeseeable evolution of the pandemic and the medium- to long-term repercussions on professionals, we believe the adaptation of health resources is crucial to meet the new unpredictable mental health needs of this group.

Anomalous self-experiences are related to general cognition deficits in schizophrenia.

Anomalous self-experiences (ASEs) are prevalent in schizophrenia, but its underpinnings are not completely understood. Given the likely complex substrate of the experience of the self, neurocognitive functions requiring coordinate cerebral activity may relate to ASEs. Moreover, cognitive deficits functioning may be involved in the link between self-experience disturbances and some aspects of social dysfunction in schizophrenia. We have assessed ASEs in 41 schizophrenia patients (11 first episodes) using the Inventory of Psychotic-Like Anomalous Self-Experiences (IPASE), and the general cognition using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS). Besides, social cognition was assessed using two complementary tools Meyer, Salovey and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) and GEOPTE (Grupo Español para la Optimización del Tratamiento de la Esquizofrenia). The results revealed that Self-awareness/presence and Somatization IPASE scores were inversely explained by motor speed in the BACS; Consciousness IPASE scores were inversely explained by problem solving performance in the BACS. These data reveal a significant relationship between certain domains of general cognition and anomalous self-experiences, that may be useful in further investigation on the substrates of ASEs.