GDNF and miRNA-29a as biomarkers in the first episode of psychosis: uncovering associations with psychosocial factors.

Aim: Schizophrenia involves complex interactions between biological and environmental factors, including childhood trauma, cognitive impairments, and premorbid adjustment. Predicting its severity and progression remains challenging. Biomarkers like glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and miRNA-29a may bridge biological and environmental aspects. The goal was to explore the connections between miRNAs and neural proteins and cognitive functioning, childhood trauma, and premorbid adjustment in the first episode of psychosis (FEP). Method: This study included 19 FEP patients who underwent clinical evaluation with: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Premorbid Adjustment Scale (PAS), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA). Multiplex assays for plasma proteins were conducted with Luminex xMAP technology. Additionally, miRNA levels were quantitatively determined through RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, and RT-qPCR on a 7500 Fast Real-Time PCR System. Results: Among miRNAs, only miR-29a-3p exhibited a significant correlation with PAS-C scores (r = -0.513, p = 0.025) and cognitive improvement (r = -0.505, p = 0.033). Among the analyzed proteins, only GDNF showed correlations with MoCA scores at the baseline and after 3 months (r = 0.533, p = 0.0189 and r = 0.598, p = 0.007), cognitive improvement (r = 0.511, p = 0.025), and CTQ subtests. MIF concentrations correlated with the PAS-C subscale (r = -0.5670, p = 0.011). Conclusion: GDNF and miR-29a-3p are promising as biomarkers for understanding and addressing cognitive deficits in psychosis. This study links miRNA and MIF to premorbid adjustment and reveals GDNF's unique role in connection with childhood trauma.

Questionnaire for the Perception of Psychotherapy Process by the Psychotherapist (QPPP) - a preliminary presentation of a research tool. / Kwestionariusz postrzegania procesu psychoterapii przez psychoterapeute (KPPP) ­ wstepna prezentacja narzedzia.

OBJECTIVES: The emotional reactions of therapist in the treatment process constitute the core of therapeutic work, but they are poorly represented in research area. The article presents the results of work on the creation of a new tool the Questionnaire for the Perception of Psychotherapy Process by the Psychotherapist (QPPP). METHODS: The Questionnaire containing 267 statements assessing cognitive, affective and behavioural reactions of psychotherapists in interaction with a specific patient was uploaded on the website. The link to the website, together with a request to complete the questionnaire, was sent to the members of the Psychotherapeutic Societies. The study involved 159 therapists, working mainly psychodynamically (91.95%). The analysis of basic descriptive statistics of test items and exploratory factor analysis by principal components method with varimax rotation were used. RESULTS: The work resulted in creating a tool consisting of 75 items grouped into 6 scales: Positive cooperation with the patient, Therapist burdened with commitment, Therapist in the centre of negative interest, Therapist with no room for intervention, The overwhelmed/overloaded therapist, The helpless/disengaged therapist. High alpha-Cronbach reliability of all distinguished factors was demonstrated at the level from 0.79 to 0.94. The data analysis also made it possible to create initial sten standards for therapists working in the psychodynamic approach. CONCLUSIONS: A tool was developed to assess emotions of therapist in relation to client. QPPP contains generally understandable terminology, independent of the therapist's dominant modality. The questionnaire can have many practical applications - both scientific and clinical.

[Contemporary place of the electroconvulsive therapy. Part 2. Clinical aspect]. / Obecne miejsce terapil elektrowstrzasowej Czesc 2. Aspekt kliniczny.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an important method of biological treatment in serious psychic disturbances. Similarly to drug therapy it is marked by a determined schematics of applying including the list of indications, contraindications, procedures of the performance, as well as the list of adverse invents. Applying defined schemas allows for minimizing the risk and influences the final effectiveness of therapy.

[Transcranial magnetic stimulation in psychiatric therapy]. / Przezczaszkowa stymulacja magnetyczna w terapii psychiatrycznej.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is one of new techniques of the physical treatment in psychiatry. Its advantage is painlessness, so as lack of invasiveness and evoking a convulsive effect. The technique of TMS was introduced into the clinical practice in 1985--originally as a diagnostic method in neurology. Later TMS became a valuable tool in the basic research in neurophysiology and neuropsychology, so as in clinical examinations. In 1994 the first papers on TMS application in therapy of depression and schizophrenia were published. The research on the therapeutic TMS effectiveness encounters certain problems and restrictions: difficulties in determining a place of the stimulation, lack of the possibility of the selection of optimal parameters for the stimulation, problem in guarantying optimal conditions for the double-blind study, etc. During the last two decades TMS was applied in therapy of mood disorders and psychoses more on the principle of consuetude, than confirmations of the evident effectiveness. However recently a group of European experts presented the study, in which they regarded TMS as the effective method in therapy of depression and schizophrenia--presenting conditions to the optimal stimulation.

[Resilience and responses to the experience of trauma--a fascinating but difficult study area]. / Sprezystosc (resilience) i odpowiedzi na doswiadczenia urazowe--fascynujacy i trudny obszar badan.

The notion of resilience, which attempts to explain the phenomenon of positive adaptation (coping) of people exposed to adversities or traumatic events, is becoming a significant area of research in Poland. It is a complex and multidimensional notion, on the borderline between genetics, neurophysiology, anthropology of culture, sociology, medicine, political science, developmental psychology and psychiatry. The phenomenon of resilience is interactive (as it combines the experience of trauma with adaptation to it), it is difficult to measure and it raises serious methodological concerns. They tend to be so significant that some researchers consider resilience to be a construct of dubious scientific value. Such a view seems to be overly critical, however it indicates the magnitude of methodological difficulties. This article discusses some of them: problems with definitions and terminology, measurement difficulties associated with the interactive nature of resilience, the need to search for complex interactions between biological, psychological, social and environmental factors (rather than overly simplistic focus on individual factors which support good adaptation). The methodological issues have been divided into the following research areas: the nature of traumatic experiences, response to trauma, factors which impact the reporting of the reaction to trauma, developmental problems.

[Contemporary place of the electroconvulsive therapy Part 1. The historical context arnd the biological basis]. / Obecne miejsce terapii elektrowstrzasowej Czesc 1. Kontekst historyczny i podstawy biologiczne.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a former physical therapy method in psychiatry which is applicable up till today in relation to its high effectiveness and the safety. Centuries of applying nonconvulsive methods of the electric stimulation preceded introducing this method into the clinical practice. ECT is arousing a lot of controversies; populous myths are connected with its applying--that demands explanations. Numerous biological mechanisms explaining the clinical efficacy of ECT action are well-known.

[Revealing new contexts of violence in therapeutic work with families (from label to description)]. / Odslanianie nowych kontekstów przemocy w pracy terapeutycznej z rodzina--od etykiety do opisu.

The authors present numerous contexts which create and support the phenomenon of violence. They describe family psychotherapy as a tool which reveals a variety of factors in the ethology and creation of aggressive behaviors. They also present the possibilities and limitations of family therapy as a method of changing violent behaviors in and outside family.