Neuroecological links of the exposome and One Health.

This NeuroView assesses the interplay among exposome, One Health, and brain capital in health and disease. Physical and social exposomes affect brain health, and green brain skills are required for environmental health strategies. Ibanez et al. address current gaps and strategies needed in research, policy, and technology, offering a road map for stakeholders.

Navigating a stable transition to the age of intelligence: A mental wealth perspective.

In the grand narrative of technological evolution, we are transitioning from the "Age of Information" to the "Age of Intelligence." Rapid advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI) are set to reshape society, revolutionize industries, and change the nature of work, challenging our traditional understanding of the dynamics of the economy and its relationship with human productivity and societal prosperity. As we brace for this transformative shift, promising advancements in healthcare, education, productivity, and more, there are concerns of large-scale job loss, mental health repercussions, and risks to social stability and democracy. This paper proposes the concept of Mental Wealth as an action framework that supports nations to proactively position themselves for a smooth transition to the Age of Intelligence while fostering economic and societal prosperity.

The influence of economic policies on social environments and mental health.

Despite increased advocacy and investments in mental health systems globally, there has been limited progress in reducing mental disorder prevalence. In this paper, we argue that meaningful advancements in population mental health necessitate addressing the fundamental sources of shared distress. Using a systems perspective, economic structures and policies are identified as the potential cause of causes of mental ill-health. Neoliberal ideologies, prioritizing economic optimization and continuous growth, contribute to the promotion of individualism, job insecurity, increasing demands on workers, parental stress, social disconnection and a broad range of manifestations well-recognized to erode mental health. We emphasize the need for mental health researchers and advocates to increasingly engage with the economic policy discourse to draw attention to mental health and well-being implications. We call for a shift towards a well-being economy to better align commercial interests with collective well-being and social prosperity. The involvement of individuals with lived mental ill-health experiences, practitioners and researchers is needed to mobilize communities for change and influence economic policies to safeguard well-being. Additionally, we call for the establishment of national mental wealth observatories to inform coordinated health, social and economic policies and realize the transition to a more sustainable well-being economy that offers promise for progress on population mental health outcomes.

Malgré une meilleure sensibilisation et des investissements accrus dans les systèmes de santé mentale à travers le monde, les progrès en matière de réduction du degré de prévalence des troubles mentaux demeurent très limités. Dans le présent document, nous estimons que, pour réaliser des avancées au niveau de la santé mentale des populations, il est impératif de s'attaquer aux sources de cette détresse collective. En adoptant une perspective systémique, force est de constater que les politiques et structures économiques constituent les causes potentielles d'une mauvaise santé mentale. Les idéologies néolibérales, qui privilégient l'optimisation économique et la croissance ininterrompue, contribuent à promouvoir l'individualisme, l'insécurité professionnelle, la pression pesant sur les travailleurs, le stress parental, l'isolement social et un large éventail de facteurs associés à une dégradation de la santé mentale. Nous insistons sur la nécessité de faire appel à des chercheurs et défenseurs actifs dans ce domaine, afin de jouer un rôle dans la politique économique en attirant l'attention sur les implications pour le bien-être et la santé mentale. Nous plaidons pour une transition vers une économie du bien-être visant à rapprocher les intérêts commerciaux de la prospérité sociale et collective. L'intervention de personnes ayant été confrontées à des troubles mentaux, de praticiens et de chercheurs est nécessaire pour mobiliser les communautés en faveur d'un changement et influencer les politiques économiques pour préserver le bien-être. Par ailleurs, nous militons pour la création d'observatoires nationaux de la santé mentale qui serviront à orienter des politiques économiques, sociales et sanitaires coordonnées, mais aussi à favoriser l'évolution vers une économie du bien-être plus durable, laissant entrevoir une amélioration de la santé mentale au sein de la population.

A pesar del aumento de la promoción y las inversiones en sistemas de salud mental en todo el mundo, los avances en la reducción de la prevalencia de los trastornos mentales han sido limitados. En este documento, sostenemos que para lograr avances significativos en la salud mental de la población es necesario abordar las fuentes fundamentales de la angustia compartida. Mediante una perspectiva sistémica, las estructuras y políticas económicas se identifican como la posible causa de los problemas de salud mental. Las ideologías neoliberales, que priorizan la optimización económica y el crecimiento continuo, contribuyen al fomento del individualismo, la inseguridad laboral, el aumento de las exigencias a los trabajadores, el estrés parental, la desconexión social y una gran variedad de manifestaciones bien reconocidas que perjudican la salud mental. Insistimos en la necesidad de que los investigadores y los defensores de la salud mental se impliquen cada vez más en el discurso de la política económica para atraer la atención sobre las implicaciones para la salud mental y el bienestar. Pedimos un cambio hacia una economía del bienestar para alinear mejor los intereses comerciales con el bienestar colectivo y la prosperidad social. Para movilizar a las comunidades en favor del cambio e influir en las políticas económicas con el fin de salvaguardar el bienestar, es necesaria la participación de personas que han padecido enfermedades mentales, profesionales e investigadores. Además, pedimos la creación de observatorios nacionales de bienestar mental que sirvan de base a las políticas sanitarias, sociales y económicas coordinadas y permitan la transición a una economía del bienestar más sostenible, que ofrezca perspectivas de progreso en los resultados de salud mental de la población.

The Brain Economy: Advancing Brain Science to Better Understand the Modern Economy.

The coming years are likely to be turbulent due to a myriad of factors or polycrisis, including an escalation in climate extremes, emerging public health threats, weak productivity, increases in global economic instability and further weakening in the integrity of global democracy. These formidable challenges are not exogenous to the economy but are in some cases generated by the system itself. They can be overcome, but only with far-reaching changes to global economics. Our current socio-economic paradigm is insufficient for addressing these complex challenges, let alone sustaining human development, well-being and happiness. To support the flourishing of the global population in the age of polycrisis, we need a novel, person-centred and collective paradigm. The brain economy leverages insights from neuroscience to provide a novel way of centralising the human contribution to the economy, how the economy in turn shapes our lives and positive feedbacks between the two. The brain economy is primarily based on Brain Capital, an economic asset integrating brain health and brain skills, the social, emotional, and the diversity of cognitive brain resources of individuals and communities. People with healthy brains are essential to navigate increasingly complex systems. Policies and investments that improve brain health and hence citizens' cognitive functions and boost brain performance can increase productivity, stimulate greater creativity and economic dynamism, utilise often underdeveloped intellectual resources, afford social cohesion, and create a more resilient, adaptable and sustainability-engaged population.

The Brain Health Diplomat's Toolkit: supporting brain health diplomacy leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Maintaining and improving brain health, one of the most critical global challenges of this century, necessitates innovative, interdisciplinary, and collaborative strategies to address the growing challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean. This paper introduces Brain Health Diplomacy (BHD) as a pioneering approach to bridge disciplinary and geographic boundaries and mobilize resources to promote equitable brain health outcomes in the region. Our framework provides a toolkit for emerging brain health leaders, equipping them with essential concepts and practical resources to apply in their professional work and collaborations. By providing case studies, we highlight the importance of culturally sensitive, region-specific interventions to address unique needs of vulnerable populations. By encouraging dialogue, ideation, and cross-sector discussions, we aspire to develop new research, policy, and programmatic avenues. The novel BHD approach has the potential to revolutionize brain health across the region and beyond, ultimately contributing to a more equitable global cognitive health landscape.

Navigating the multiple dimensions of the creativity-mental disorder link: a Convergence Mental Health perspective.

BACKGROUND: This paper discusses a paradox in mental health. It manifests as a relationship between adverse "bad" effects (suffering, clinical costs, loss of productivity) in individuals and populations and advantageous "good" aspects of mental disorders. These beneficial aspects (scientific, artistic and political accomplishments) emanate at the societal level through the frequently unprecedented creativity of people suffering from mental disorders and their relatives. Such gains can contribute to societal innovation and problem-solving. Especially in times of accelerated social-ecological change, approaches are needed that facilitate best-possible mental health care but also recognize creative ideas conducive to beneficial clinical and social-ecological innovations as soon as possible. DISCUSSION: This paper emphasizes the need to account for creativity as a crucial component in evolving mental health systems and societies. It highlights the need for wide-ranging approaches and discusses how research targeting multiple facets (e.g., brain level, cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry, neurology, socio-cultural, economic and other factors) might further our understanding of the creativity-mental disorder link and its importance for innovating mental health systems and societies. CONCLUSION: Our discussion clarifies that considerable research will be needed to obtain a better understanding of how creativity associated with mental disorders may help to create more sustainable societies on a fast-changing planet through innovative ideas. Given the current-state-of-the-art of research and healthcare management, our discussion is currently speculative. However, it provides a basis for how pros and cons might be studied in the future through transdisciplinary research and collaborations across sectors of society.

Life-Course Brain Health as a Determinant of Late-Life Mental Health: American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Expert Panel Recommendations.

This position statement of the Expert Panel on Brain Health of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) emphasizes the critical role of life course brain health in shaping mental well-being during the later stages of life. Evidence posits that maintaining optimal brain health earlier in life is crucial for preventing and managing brain aging-related disorders such as dementia/cognitive decline, depression, stroke, and anxiety. We advocate for a holistic approach that integrates medical, psychological, and social frameworks with culturally tailored interventions across the lifespan to promote brain health and overall mental well-being in aging adults across all communities. Furthermore, our statement underscores the significance of prevention, early detection, and intervention in identifying cognitive decline, mood changes, and related mental illness. Action should also be taken to understand and address the needs of communities that traditionally have unequal access to preventive health information and services. By implementing culturally relevant and tailored evidence-based practices and advancing research in geriatric psychiatry, behavioral neurology, and geroscience, we can enhance the quality of life for older adults facing the unique challenges of aging. This position statement emphasizes the intrinsic link between brain health and mental health in aging, urging healthcare professionals, policymakers, and a broader society to prioritize comprehensive strategies that safeguard and promote brain health from birth through later years across all communities. The AAGP Expert Panel has the goal of launching further activities in the coming months and years.

Young Adult Brain Capital: A New Opportunity for Dementia Prevention.

The potential for future prevention of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) through healthy lifestyle change is spurring a positive brain health movement. However, most ADRD research continues to focus on mid- and later life. We lack evidence regarding risk exposure and protective factors in young adulthood, i.e., 18-39 years. Brain capital is an emerging framework that represents the combination of education, knowledge, skills, and optimal brain health that people accumulate over their lives. Building on this framework, we present a new model that focuses on optimizing brain health in young adulthood; namely, young adult brain capital. Increasing focus on younger populations is critical for developing citizens who are emotionally intelligent, resilient and can anticipate and cope with rapid changes in the world. By understanding the values that are key drivers and motivators for young adults, we can empower the next generation to become active agents in optimizing their brain health and reducing their risk for future ADRD.

Multi-feature computational framework for combined signatures of dementia in underrepresented settings.

Objective.The differential diagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains challenging in underrepresented, underdiagnosed groups, including Latinos, as advanced biomarkers are rarely available. Recent guidelines for the study of dementia highlight the critical role of biomarkers. Thus, novel cost-effective complementary approaches are required in clinical settings.Approach. We developed a novel framework based on a gradient boosting machine learning classifier, tuned by Bayesian optimization, on a multi-feature multimodal approach (combining demographic, neuropsychological, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and electroencephalography/functional MRI connectivity data) to characterize neurodegeneration using site harmonization and sequential feature selection. We assessed 54 bvFTD and 76 AD patients and 152 healthy controls (HCs) from a Latin American consortium (ReDLat).Main results. The multimodal model yielded high area under the curve classification values (bvFTD patients vs HCs: 0.93 (±0.01); AD patients vs HCs: 0.95 (±0.01); bvFTD vs AD patients: 0.92 (±0.01)). The feature selection approach successfully filtered non-informative multimodal markers (from thousands to dozens).Results. Proved robust against multimodal heterogeneity, sociodemographic variability, and missing data.Significance. The model accurately identified dementia subtypes using measures readily available in underrepresented settings, with a similar performance than advanced biomarkers. This approach, if confirmed and replicated, may potentially complement clinical assessments in developing countries.

Psilocybin in neuropsychiatry: a review of its pharmacology, safety, and efficacy.

Psilocybin is a tryptamine alkaloid found in some mushrooms, especially those of the genus Psilocybe. Psilocybin has four metabolites including the pharmacologically active primary metabolite psilocin, which readily enters the systemic circulation. The psychoactive effects of psilocin are believed to arise due to the partial agonist effects at the 5HT2A receptor. Psilocin also binds to various other receptor subtypes although the actions of psilocin at other receptors are not fully explored. Psilocybin administered at doses sufficient to cause hallucinogenic experiences has been trialed for addictive disorders, anxiety and depression. This review investigates studies of psilocybin and psilocin and assesses the potential for use of psilocybin and a treatment agent in neuropsychiatry. The potential for harm is also assessed, which may limit the use of psilocybin as a pharmacotherapy. Careful evaluation of the number needed to harm vs the number needed to treat will ultimately justify the potential clinical use of psilocybin. This field needs a responsible pathway forward.

Open innovation: the key to advancing brain health.

With the exponential growth in investment attention to brain health-solutions spanning brain wellness to mental health to neurological disorders-tech giants, payers, and biotechnology companies have been making forays into this field to identify technology solutions and pharmaceutical amplifiers. So far, their investments have had mixed results. The concept of open innovation (OI) was first coined by Henry Chesbrough to describe the paradigm by which enterprises allow free flow of ideas, products, and services from the outside to the inside and vice versa in order to remain competitive, particularly in rapidly evolving fields where there is abundant, relevant knowledge outside the traditional walls of the enterprise. In this article, we advocate for further exploration and advancement of OI in brain health.

Investing in Late-Life Brain Capital.

Within many societies and cultures around the world, older adults are too often undervalued and underappreciated. This exacerbates many key challenges that older adults may face. It also undermines the many positive aspects of late life that are of tremendous value at both an individual and societal level. We propose a new approach to elevate health and well-being in late life by optimizing late-life Brain Capital. This form of capital prioritizes brain skills and brain health in a brain economy, which the challenges and opportunities of the 21st-century demands. This approach incorporates investing in late-life Brain Capital, developing initiatives focused on building late-life Brain Capital.