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Objectives: Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) are potential contributors to shoulder pain and can lead to local ischemia and hypoxia, thus causing pain. Color Doppler ultrasound (US) has been used to examine the vascular environment around MTrPs, but has not been used to examine blood flow impairments in patients with shoulder pain and MTrPs. The reliability of color Doppler US for measuring infraspinatus muscle blood flow also has not been established. This study aimed to investigate differences in blood flow between individuals with and without shoulder pain and the reliability of Doppler US for measuring infraspinatus muscle blood flow. Methods: Forty participants were enrolled, 20 with shoulder pain and MTrPs and 20 without. Color Doppler US examination was performed twice on each participant to measure peak systolic velocity (PSV), end‐diastolic velocity (EDV), resistive index (RI), and pulsatile index (PI) of the infraspinatus muscle. Results: The symptomatic participants had significantly higher PSV (ie, impaired blood flow) than the asymptomatic participants. There were no significant between‐group differences in EDV, RI, and PI. The results also demonstrated good‐to‐excellent intra‐rater reliability for color Doppler US measurements of PSV, EDV, RI, and PI for both groups. Conclusion: This study demonstrated differences in blood flow near MTrPs in the infraspinatus muscle between individuals with and without shoulder pain. It also established good‐to‐excellent reliability of color Doppler US in measuring infraspinatus muscle blood flow. These findings suggest color Doppler US is a useful tool to identify vascular impairments for shoulder pain associated with MTrPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent stressful life events (SLE) are a risk factor for psychosis, but limited research has explored how SLEs affect individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis. The current study investigated the longitudinal effects of SLEs on functioning and symptom severity in CHR individuals, where we hypothesized CHR would report more SLEs than healthy controls (HC), and SLEs would be associated with poorer outcomes. Methods: The study used longitudinal data from the EU-GEI High Risk study. Data from 331 CHR participants were analyzed to examine the effects of SLEs on changes in functioning, positive and negative symptoms over a 2-year follow-up. We compared the prevalence of SLEs between CHR and HCs, and between CHR who did (CHR-T) and did not (CHR-NT) transition to psychosis. Results: CHR reported 1.44 more SLEs than HC (p < 0.001), but there was no difference in SLEs between CHR-T and CHR-NT at baseline. Recent SLEs were associated with poorer functioning and more severe positive and negative symptoms in CHR individuals (all p < 0.01) but did not reveal a significant interaction with time. Conclusions: CHR individuals who had experienced recent SLEs exhibited poorer functioning and more severe symptoms. However, as the interaction between SLEs and time was not significant, this suggests SLEs did not contribute to a worsening of symptoms and functioning over the study period. SLEs could be a key risk factor to becoming CHR for psychosis, however further work is required to inform when early intervention strategies mitigating against the effects of stress are most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Evidence for case–control studies suggests that cannabis use is a risk factor for the development of psychosis. However, there have been limited prospective studies and the direction of this association remains controversial. The primary aim of the present study was to examine the association between cannabis use and the incidence of psychotic disorders in people at clinical high risk of psychosis. Secondary aims were to assess associations between cannabis use and the persistence of psychotic symptoms, and with functional outcome. Methods: Current and previous cannabis use were assessed in individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis (n = 334) and healthy controls (n = 67), using a modified version of the Cannabis Experience Questionnaire. Participants were assessed at baseline and followed up for 2 years. Transition to psychosis and persistence of psychotic symptoms were assessed using the Comprehensive Assessment of At‐Risk Mental States criteria. Level of functioning at follow up was assessed using the Global Assessment of Functioning disability scale. Results: During follow up, 16.2% of the clinical high‐risk sample developed psychosis. Of those who did not become psychotic, 51.4% had persistent symptoms and 48.6% were in remission. There was no significant association between any measure of cannabis use at baseline and either transition to psychosis, the persistence of symptoms, or functional outcome. Conclusions: These findings contrast with epidemiological data that suggest that cannabis use increases the risk of psychotic disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a global challenge. High mortality rates have been reported in some risk groups, including patients with pre-existing mental disorders. Methods: We used electronic health records to retrospectively identify people infected due to COVID-19 (between March 2020 and March 2021) in the three territories of the Basque Country. COVID-19 cases were defined as individuals who had tested positive on a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models and multilevel analyses with generalized estimated equations were used to determine factors associated with COVID-19-related mortality and hospital admission. Results: The COVID-19 mortality rate was increased for patients with psychotic disorders [odds ratio (OR) adjusted: 1.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.09–1.94), p = 0.0114] and patients with substance abuse [OR adjusted: 1.88, 95% CI (1.13–3.14, p < 0.0152)]. The mortality rate was lower for patients with affective disorders [OR adjusted: 0.80, 95% CI (0.61–0.99), p = 0.0407]. Hospital admission rates due to COVID-19 were higher in psychosis [OR adjusted: 2.90, 95% CI (2.36–3.56), p < 0.0001] and anxiety disorder groups [OR adjusted: 1.54, 95% CI (1.37–1.72), p < 0.0001]. Among admitted patients, COVID-19 mortality rate was decreased for those with affective disorders rate [OR adjusted: 0.72, 95% CI (0.55–0.95), p = 0.0194]. Conclusions: COVID-19-related mortality and hospitalizations rates were higher for patients with a pre-existing psychotic disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing concern for sustainability in the museum field has prompted researchers to provide recommended sustainability efforts for museums. Yet many do not implement efforts and the underlying causes for this are unclear. This project gathered data on Arizona museum sustainability efforts, views about sustainability, and factors that determined which efforts were implemented. Data were taken using an online survey and museum employee interviews. Results showed a disconnect between how researchers and practitioners conceptualized sustainability. Additionally, results revealed that factors that determined which efforts museums selected included challenges to implementing efforts, and ease of implementation. Museums did not implement efforts unless they were already part of everyday practice. Museums and related institutions can use these data to evaluate their sustainability practices and incorporate sustainability into museum processes. Researchers can use this information as a basis for reframing literature suggestions to incorporate practitioner viewpoints. Survey limitations impact the degree to which results can apply to all museums or related institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High-resolution structural MRI has been widely used in clinical research to detect and quantify subtle brain changes in patient populations. Findings from prospective, longitudinal studies show structural brain abnormalities as well as progressive gray matter changes over time in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis compared to healthy subjects. In recent years, research in this field has seen an increase in multicentre neuroimaging projects, such as EU-GEI, PSYSCAN, PRONIA and NAPLS. Additional sources of variance, alongside known technological and biological factors, may be introduced when MRI images are acquired and combined from different sites. It is imperative for longitudinal multicentre studies to determine the accuracy of quantitative MRI measurements and account for systematic differences both between scanners and across scanning sessions. This is particularly true within psychosis research where morphometric changes as small as 3% or less are expected. Methods: Six healthy participants were scanned on four separate occasions over a two-month period at King’s College London; twice on a GE SIGNA HDx 3T scanner used locally in the EU-GEI High Risk Study and twice on a GE MR750 3T scanner used locally in the PSYSCAN study. Both scanners implemented the ADNI-2 T1 protocol which is used globally across the EU-GEI and PSYSCAN consortia. Structural imaging data was segmented using the FreeSurfer 6.0 longitudinal pipeline. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) with a two-way mixed effects model of absolute agreement were calculated to assess intra- and inter-scanner reliability of brain morphometry. For volumetric studies, ICC values greater than 0.9 indicate ‘excellent’ reliability. Reliability analyses of key regions implicated in psychosis included gray matter volume estimates of the hippocampus, insula, lateral ventricle, orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, and average cortical thickness measurements of the whole brain, parahippocampus and superior frontal cortex. Results: Gray matter volume estimates of all structures yielded ‘excellent’ reliability for both intra-scanner (ICCs of 0.979 – 0.998) and interscanner analyses (ICCs of 0.976 – 0.999). Intra-scanner reliability for mean cortical thickness measurements was ‘excellent’ for right total cortex, resulting in an ICC of 0.901, but otherwise ‘good’ for left and total cortex, parahippocampus, superior frontal cortex (ICCs of 0.754 – 0.875). Inter-scanner reliability for mean cortical thickness estimates were most variable across the brain structures. Here, results demonstrated ‘excellent’ reliability for the parahippocampus and left total cortex (ICCs of 0.907 – 0.965), ‘good’ for total cortex (ICC of 0.835), ‘moderate’ for right total cortex, right and total superior frontal cortex (ICCs of 0.520 – 0.676), and ‘poor’ for the left superior frontal cortex which produced an ICC of 0.470. Overall, mean cortical thickness estimates of the superior frontal cortex from two different MR scanners showed the least reliability. Discussion: Results confirmed highly reliable estimates for gray matter volumes in all brain structures, both from images acquired within the same scanner and across two different scanners. However, the findings indicated increased variability of mean cortical thickness estimates, particularly between scanners, which should be considered when interpreting study findings. Multicentre structural neuroimaging within the field of psychosis is becoming more common and it must be acknowledged that combining MRI data in multicentre studies will contribute additional sources of variance and potential bias with certain brain regions affected more than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]