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Research on penitentiary recidivism is an essential topic for the prevention of crime because, at the time of release, inmates with a high risk of committing crimes do not usually have the necessary tools to cope with the challenges of community life. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to identify criminal personality and psychopathological characteristics related to recidivism. The sample made up of 89 (n = 49 non-recidivists, n = 40 recidivists) inmates in a prison in Ecuador. The results showed that recidivist inmates, unlike non-recidivist inmates, present antisocial, borderline, and aggressive-sadistic personality, higher alcohol and drug dependence, and higher levels of physical aggression. From a criminal viewpoint, recidivist inmates commit more crimes against property; a larger proportion presented a history of juvenile delinquency and more disciplinary records in adult prison. Consequently, the results indicate the need to design and implement specific interventions to reduce recidivism in these offenders.

Este trabajo se propone describir las características de personalidad existentes en una muestra de reclusos y compararlas con una muestra de la población general en Ecuador. Para ello, en una sesión individual, se les administró a los participantes los siguientes instrumentos: el inventario clínico multiaxial de Millon-III (MCMI-III), la escala de impulsividad de Barratt (BIS-11) y el cuestionario de agresión de Buss y Perry (BPAQ). Los resultados mostraron que existen diferencias significativas entre los reclusos y la población general en todas las medidas. En la población reclusa predominan características autoinformadas de personalidad de tipo antisocial y paranoide, además de mayores niveles de agresividad e impulsividad que en la población general. Respecto a la presencia de psicopatología, aparecen indicadores de afectación psíquica como la ansiedad, los cuadros delirantes y la dependencia a sustancias y al alcohol.

Abstract Background Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe, chronic mental illness that remains difficult to diagnose due to the lack of specific biomarkers, relying primarily on clinical assessments. Early diagnosis and treatment are essential for improving prognosis and lowering suicide risk. This study aimed to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets by utilizing olfactory neuroepithelium (ONE) cells from patients with BD and controls. Methods Immunofluorescence of ONE cells, along with proteomic and RNA sequencing analyses, was performed to investigate cytoskeletal changes and pathways involved in cell adhesion, movement, and morphology. Additionally, potential biomarkers were investigated in blood samples to improve clinical accessibility. Results Thus, according to functional assays, ONE cells derived from BD patients exhibited decreased substrate adhesion, reduced cell migration, and morphological changes compared to control cells. In addition, proteomic and RNAseq analyses in ONE cells and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) revealed alterations in pathways such as RhoA/PAK/Integrin and Actin Cytoskeleton Signaling, as well as significant changes in inflammatory and immunological pathways. AUROC analysis identified proteins like PTK2 as potential diagnostic biomarkers, showing altered expression in both ONE cells and PBMCs. PTK2 RNA expression correlated with distinct morphological traits in BD ONE cells. Conclusions In summary, this study identified cytoskeletal alterations, reduced adhesion, and disrupted migration patterns in BD ONE cells, highlighting molecular mechanisms underlying these changes and emphasizing PTK2’s role as a potential diagnostic biomarker for BD.

Abstract Background Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by changes in mood that alternate between (hypo) mania or depression and mixed states, often associated with functional impairment and cognitive dysfunction. But little is known about biomarkers that contribute to the development and sustainment of cognitive deficits. The aim of this study was to review the association between neurocognition and biomarkers across different mood states. Method Search databases were Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed. A systematic review was carried out following the PRISMA guidelines. Risk of bias was assessed with the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale. Studies were selected that focused on the correlation between neuroimaging, physiological, genetic or peripheral biomarkers and cognition in at least two phases of BD: depression, (hypo)mania, euthymia or mixed. PROSPERO Registration No.: CRD42023410782. Results A total of 1824 references were screened, identifying 1023 published articles, of which 336 were considered eligible. Only 16 provided information on the association between biomarkers and cognition in the different affective states of BD. The included studies found: (i) Differences in levels of total cholesterol and C reactive protein depending on mood state; (ii) There is no association found between cognition and peripheral biomarkers; (iii) Neuroimaging biomarkers highlighted hypoactivation of frontal areas as distinctive of acute state of BD; (iv) A deactivation failure has been reported in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), potentially serving as a trait marker of BD. Conclusion Only a few recent articles have investigated biomarker-cognition associations in BD mood phases. Our findings underline that there appear to be central regions involved in BD that are observed in all mood states. However, there appear to be underlying mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction that may vary across different mood states in BD. This review highlights the importance of standardizing the data and the assessment of cognition, as well as the need for biomarkers to help prevent acute symptomatic phases of the disease, and the associated functional and cognitive impairment.