Profiles and the impact of affective temperaments on alcohol use disorder: a cross-sectional study.

AIMS: This study aimed to explore the profiles and impact of affective temperaments, together with social and clinical backgrounds, including affective symptoms, in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). METHODS: This study included 314 low-risk drinkers and 257 patients with AUD. To assess affective temperament, we used the short version of the temperament evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego. To evaluate depressive and mixed symptoms, the quick inventory of depressive symptomatology self-report Japanese version and 12-item questionnaire for the quantitative assessment of the depressive mixed state were used. We compared the profiles of affective temperaments as well as social and clinical backgrounds, including affective symptoms, between the two groups and further performed logistic regression analyses to explore the factors contributing to AUD. RESULTS: Our analysis showed higher cyclothymic, hyperthymic, and irritable temperament scores and lower depressive temperament scores in patients with AUD than that in nonclinical drinkers. Regarding other social and clinical backgrounds, patients with AUD were less educated and employed and more experienced depressive and mixed symptoms. Logistic regression analysis identified hyperthymic temperament as a positive contributor and depressive temperament as a negative contributor to AUD. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated potential bipolarity in patients with AUD, as manifested by a more hyperthymic temperament in contrast to less depressive temperament. Despite their self-perceived adaptive temperament profiles, patients showed poorer social outcomes and more affective symptoms. This gap may be partly explained by a lack of insight unique to AUD psychology, which potentially disturbs problem recognition.

Treatment of bipolar disorders in older adults: a review.

BACKGROUND: Old age bipolar disorder has been an orphan of psychiatric research for a long time despite the fact that bipolar disorder (BD)-I and II together may affect 0.5-1.0% of the elderly. It is also unclear whether aetiology, course of illness and treatment should differ in patients with a first manifestation in older age and patients suffering from a recurrence of a BD known for decades. This narrative review will summarize the current state of knowledge about the epidemiology, clinical features, and treatment of BD in the elderly. METHODS: We conducted a Medline literature search from 1970 to 2021 using MeSH terms "Bipolar Disorder" × "Aged" or "Geriatric" or "Elderly". Search results were complemented by additional literature retrieved from examining cross references and by hand search in text books. Varying cut-off ages have been applied to differentiate old age from adult age BD. Within old age BD, there is a reasonable agreement of distinct entities, early and late-onset BD. They differ to some extent in clinical symptoms, course of illness, and some co-morbidities. Point prevalence of BD in older adults appears slightly lower than in working-age adults, with polarity of episodes shifting towards depression. Psychopharmacological treatment needs to take into account the special aspects of somatic gerontology and the age-related change of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics. The evidence for commonly used treatments such as lithium, mood-stabilizing antiepileptics, antipsychotics, and antidepressants remains sparse. Preliminary results support a role of ECT as well as psychotherapy and psychosocial interventions in old age BD. CONCLUSIONS: There is an obvious need of further research for all treatment modalities of BD in old age. The focus should be pharmacological and psychosocial approaches, as well as their combination, and the role of physical treatment modalities such as ECT.

Unambiguous State Discrimination with Intrinsic Coherence.

We investigate the discrimination of pure-mixed (quantum filtering) and mixed-mixed states and compare their optimal success probability with the one for discriminating other pairs of pure states superposed by the vectors included in the mixed states. We prove that under the equal-fidelity condition, the pure-pure state discrimination scheme is superior to the pure-mixed (mixed-mixed) one. With respect to quantum filtering, the coherence exists only in one pure state and is detrimental to the state discrimination for lower dimensional systems; while it is the opposite for the mixed-mixed case with symmetrically distributed coherence. Making an extension to infinite-dimensional systems, we find that the coherence which is detrimental to state discrimination may become helpful and vice versa.

Increasing Quantum Correlations Based on Measurement-Induced Disturbance via a Swapping Procedure with Two-Qubit Mixed States.

In this paper, quantum correlation (QC) swapping for certain separable two-qubit mixed states is treated. A QC quantifier, measurement-induced disturbance (MID) (Luo in Phys Rev A 77:022301, 2008), is employed to characterize and quantify QCs in the relevant states. Properties of all QCs in the swapping process are revealed. Particularly, it is found that MID can be increased through QC swapping for certain separable two-qubit mixed states.

Old Age Bipolar Disorder-Epidemiology, Aetiology and Treatment.

Data regarding older age bipolar disorder (OABD) are sparse. Two major groups are classified as patients with first occurrence of mania in old age, the so called "late onset" patients (LOBD), and the elder patients with a long-standing clinical history, the so called "early onset" patients (EOBD). The aim of the present literature review is to provide more information on specific issues concerning OABD, such as epidemiology, aetiology and treatments outcomes. We conducted a Medline literature search from 1970-2021 using the MeSH terms "bipolar disorder" and "aged" or "geriatric" or "elderly". The additional literature was retrieved by examining cross references and by a hand search in textbooks. With sparse data on the treatment of OABD, current guidelines concluded that first-line treatment of OABD should be similar to that for working-age bipolar disorder, with specific attention to side effects, somatic comorbidities and specific risks of OABD. With constant monitoring and awareness of the possible toxic drug interactions, lithium is a safe drug for OABD patients, both in mania and maintenance. Lamotrigine and lurasidone could be considered in bipolar depression. Mood stabilizers, rather than second generation antipsychotics, are the treatment of choice for maintenance. If medication fails, electroconvulsive therapy is recommended for mania, mixed states and depression, and can also be offered for continuation and maintenance treatment. Preliminary results also support a role of psychotherapy and psychosocial interventions in old age BD. The recommended treatments for OABD include lithium and antiepileptics such as valproic acid and lamotrigine, and lurasidone for bipolar depression, although the evidence is still weak. Combined psychosocial and pharmacological treatments also appear to be a treatment of choice for OABD. More research is needed on the optimal pharmacological and psychosocial approaches to OABD, as well as their combination and ranking in an evidence-based therapy algorithm.

MRI Monitoring of the Mixed State of Admixtures Consisting of Moisturizing Cream and Steroid Ointment during the Mixing Process by a Revolution/Rotation-Type Hybrid Mixer.

The admixture of a steroid ointment and a moisturizing cream is frequently prescribed to patients suffering from atopic dermatitis. For the mixing operation, a revolution/rotation-type hybrid mixer is widely used in pharmacy. The purpose of this study was to monitor the mixed state of the admixtures during the mixing process of the hybrid mixer. The key technology used in this study was magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Two different commercial mometasone furoate-containing ointments were used as a test steroid ointment. After layering the moisturizing cream and the steroid ointment in an ointment bottle, the sample was mixed for a predetermined period using the hybrid mixer. According to MRI transverse relaxation time (T2) mapping for nondestructive monitoring, it was confirmed that the Flumeta® ointment-containing admixture became homogeneous by mixing for 60 s or more. As for the mometasone furoate ointment 0.1%-containing admixture, the mixed state, after becoming homogeneous, was separated into two layers again by the prolonged mixing process. From the 1H-NMR spectra of the phase-separated layers, re-separation was caused by removing aqueous components from the bottom of the samples. MRI is a powerful tool for monitoring the mixed state of the admixture during the mixing process. We believe that our findings offer profound insights into the clinical practice of the mixing operation using a hybrid mixer.

Practitioner Review: The effects of atypical antipsychotics and mood stabilisers in the treatment of depressive symptoms in paediatric bipolar disorder.

BACKGROUND: The management of depressive and mixed symptoms in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD) remains a matter of debate. The goal of this review is, thus, to systematically examine the impact of atypical antipsychotics (AAPs) and mood stabilisers in the treatment of bipolar depression and/or mixed states. METHODS: A literature search was conducted for studies assessing the efficacy of pharmacological treatments for bipolar disorder type I, type II and not otherwise specified with a recent depressive, mixed or manic episode (with depressive symptoms) following DSM-IV criteria in children and adolescents as either acute or maintenance treatment. The databases searched were PubMed/Medline, Google Scholar and Tripdatabase, as well as ClinicalTrials.gov. The search was limited to clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and open-label trials published in the English language between the years 2000 and 2015. Sixty clinical studies were found assessing the efficacy of mood stabilisers and AAPs in paediatric BD. Fifteen studies were not included in the primary analysis because they did not assess depressive symptomology/include scores on rating scales of depressive symptoms (Online Supplementary Material). RESULTS: There is sufficient evidence for a Grade A recommendation of the use of olanzapine plus fluoxetine at reducing depressive symptoms in bipolar depression and of quetiapine at high doses for depressive symptoms occurring during mixed episodes. Importantly, even though monotherapy with aripiprazole, risperidone, valproate and lithium was effective at controlling mania, these drugs were not effective at reducing depressive symptoms (level A evidence for nonrecommendation). CONCLUSIONS: These results mostly overlap with the approved treatments for bipolar depression in adults.

Blood homocysteine concentration and mood disorders with mixed features among patients with alcohol use disorder.

BACKGROUND: Blood homocysteine concentration (BHC) is higher in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). Previous studies have found a relationship between depressive symptoms severity and BHC in AUD patients and recently some authors have found high BHC among patients with bipolar disorder, both during manic and depressive episodes and in euthymic state. However, BHC in patients with mixed mood episode has not yet been investigated. The aim of this study was to evaluate the BHC of patients with AUD and mixed mood episode. METHODS: A sample of AUD outpatients was assessed by Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI Plus): those with a DSM-IV-TR mood disorder with mixed features were included in the MIXED group (n = 45), whereas those without mood episode were gathered in the NO MOOD group (n = 23). Two subgroups, MIXMANIA and MIXDEPRESSION, were formed according to the prevalence of manic or depressive symptoms, assessed by Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HDRS). The Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) was used to appraise the AUD. BHC was determined by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography. RESULTS: The MIXED group showed greater severity of both depressive (26.35 ± 9.96 vs. 4.77 ± 0.92; p < 0.001) and manic (22.35 ± 3.30 vs. 6.14 ± 1.12; p < 0.001) symptoms, and higher BHC (28.80 ± 11.47 vs. 10.83 ± 2.81; p < 0.001), than the NO MOOD group. BHC was strongly correlated to the HDRS, YMRS and AUDIT scores, just as HDRS was to YMRS, and AUDIT was to both HDRS and YMRS, in the MIXED group only (p < 0.001). The MIXDEPRESSION subgroup showed higher BHC than the MIXMANIA subgroup (Mdn = 42.96, IQR = 10.44 vs. Mdn = 19.77, IQR = 5.93; p < 0.001). A linear regression model conducted on the MIXED group found a significant predictive value for BHC of both HDRS (ß = 0.560, t = 2.43, p = 0.026) and AUDIT (ß = 0.348, t = 2.17, p = 0.044). CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms seem to be mainly implicated in the BHC elevation among patients with both mixed features mood disorder and AUD.

Clinical factors associated with lithium response in bipolar disorders.

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder is a common chronic illness characterized by high levels of morbidity and all-cause mortality. Lithium is one of the gold standard mood stabilizer treatments, but the identification of good, partial and non-responders in clinical settings is inconsistent. METHODS: We used an established rating scale (the Alda scale) to classify the degree of lithium response (good response, partial response, non-response) in a large, multicentre clinically representative sample of well-characterized cases of bipolar disorders I and II. Next, we examined previously reported clinical predictors of response to determine which factors significantly differentiated between the three response groups. RESULTS: Of 754 cases, 300 received lithium, for at least 6 months, as a treatment for bipolar disorder (40%). Of these cases, 17% were classified as good response, 52% as partial response and 31% as non-response. Lifetime history of mixed episodes ( p = 0.017) and alcohol use disorders ( p = 0.015) both occurred in >20% of partial response and non-response groups but <10% of good response cases. Family history of bipolar disorder I was of borderline statistical significance, being more frequent in the good response group (38%) compared with the non-response group (18%). There was a trend ( p = 0.06) for bipolar disorder II to be associated with non-response. CONCLUSIONS: Only three factors previously identified as predictors of lithium response significantly differentiated the response groups identified in our sample. Interestingly, these factors have all been found to co-occur more often than expected by chance, and it can be hypothesized that they may represent a shared underlying factor or dimension. Further prospective studies of predictors and the performance of the Alda scale are recommended.

[Mixed depression and DSM-5: A critical review]. / Dépression mixte et DSM-5 : mise au point critique.

BACKGROUND: Mixed depression is a depressive syndrome characterized by the presence, along with the typical depressive symptoms of depression, of those of over activation and excitation. If sometimes this activation is expressed by classical hypomanic symptoms, it is often observed by means of more subtle expression: inner tension, crowded thoughts, dramatic expression suffering, and unproductive agitation. It is important to identify mixed depression because such patients are particularly at risk of suicidal behaviors, substance abuse and therapeutic resistance. Even if therapeutic strategies continue to be discussed, treatments should rely on mood stabilizers and antipsychotics instead of antidepressants as in pure depression. Even though the concept of mixed depression has been described for more than twenty years, first by Koukopoulos and then by other authors, it had been little studied, especially because it did not appear in international psychiatric classifications. The DSM-IV supported a very narrow conception of the mixed states because the criteria required simultaneous full manic and full depressive syndromes, corresponding only to some dysphoric manias. The recently published DSM-5 proposes modifications in mood and bipolar disorder classifications, and especially introduces the possibility to specify depressive and manic episodes with "mixed features". To diagnose depression with mixed features, a full depressive syndrome has to be present together most of time with three hypomanic symptoms, except symptoms that are considered as overlapping (that can be observed either in mania or in depression), i.e. agitation, irritability and distractibility. METHODS: Critical analysis of DSM criteria and review of literature. RESULTS: We first analyzed the clinical relevance of the definition of depression with mixed features which could correspond to mixed depression. The problem is that the hypomanic symptoms allowed by the manual lead to symptom associations that are rather illogical (as euphoria with depression) or improbable (as increased or excessive involvement in activities that have a high potential for painful consequences). Also, some more specific symptoms that can be observed in mixed depression are not mentioned (such as hypersensitivity to light or noise, absence of motor retardation, dramatic expressivity of suffering). The DSM-5, as did DSM-IV, refers to an understanding of mixed depression as a simple addition of depressive and manic symptoms. The classification does not take into account that the symptoms could be rather different from hypomania, as the expression of an overactive thought in a depressed mind. Secondly, we reviewed cohort studies using the DSM-5 criteria (or similar criteria with the exclusion of overlapping symptoms), and as a consequence of the poorly defined symptoms, we found that the diagnosis of mixed depression according to DSM-5 is almost impossible, either in unipolar or in bipolar depression. CONCLUSIONS: We think, with others, that the definition of the mixed depression by the DSM-5 is not clinically relevant and misses important information about the concept. Clinicians can be attentive to the identification of mixed character in depression, even if DSM-5 criteria are not fully met. Unfortunately, the DSM-5 definition could undermine research efforts for a better understanding of epidemiology, phenomenology and therapeutics of mixed depression. We propose and discuss alternative solutions for defining mixed depression, such as the absence of exclusion of "overlapping" symptoms, a more insighted phenomenology, or a dimensional approach.