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Aim: Early detection and intervention (EDI) is a main challenge in psychosis research. The Chilean schizophrenia (SZ) national program has universal support and treatment by law for all SZ patients, but this does not yet extend to earlier stages of illness. Therefore, we have piloted an ultra‐high risk (UHR) program to demonstrate the utility and feasibility of this public health approach in Chile. Methods: We introduce "The University of Chile High‐risk Intervention Program," which is the first national EDI program for UHR youths. Longitudinal follow‐up included clinical and cognitive assessments, and monitoring of physiological sensory and cognitive indices, through electroencephalographic techniques. Results: We recruited 27 UHR youths over 2 years. About 92.6% met criteria for attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS). Mean Scale of Psychosis‐Risk Symptoms (SOPS) ratings in the cohort were 6.9 (SD 4.6) for positive, 9.1 (SD 8.3) for negative, 5.4 (SD 5.3) for disorganized and 6.3 (SD 4.1) for general symptoms. About 14.8% met criteria for comorbid anxiety disorders and 44.4% for mood disorders. Most participants received cognitive behavioural therapy (62.9%) and were prescribed low dose antipsychotics (85.2%). The transition rate to psychosis was 22% within 2 years. Conclusions: We describe our experience in establishing the first EDI program for UHR subjects in Chile. Our cohort is similar in profile and risk to those identified in higher‐income countries. We will extend our work to further optimize psychosocial and preventive interventions, to promote its inclusion in the Chilean SZ national program and to establish a South American collaboration network for SZ research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression is considered to have the highest disability burden of all conditions. Although treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is a key contributor to that burden, there is little understanding of the best treatment approaches for it and specifically the effectiveness of available augmentation approaches.AimsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to search and quantify the evidence of psychological and pharmacological augmentation interventions for TRD.Method: Participants with TRD (defined as insufficient response to at least two antidepressants) were randomised to at least one augmentation treatment in the trial. Pre-post analysis assessed treatment effectiveness, providing an effect size (ES) independent of comparator interventions.Results: Of 28 trials, 3 investigated psychological treatments and 25 examined pharmacological interventions. Pre-post analyses demonstrated N-methyl-d-aspartate-targeting drugs to have the highest ES (ES = 1.48, 95% CI 1.25-1.71). Other than aripiprazole (four studies, ES = 1.33, 95% CI 1.23-1.44) and lithium (three studies, ES = 1.00, 95% CI 0.81-1.20), treatments were each investigated in less than three studies. Overall, pharmacological (ES = 1.19, 95% CI 1.80-1.30) and psychological (ES = 1.43, 95% CI 0.50-2.36) therapies yielded higher ESs than pill placebo (ES = 0.78, 95% CI 0.66-0.91) and psychological control (ES = 0.94, 95% CI 0.36-1.52).Conclusions: Despite being used widely in clinical practice, the evidence for augmentation treatments in TRD is sparse. Although pre-post meta-analyses are limited by the absence of direct comparison, this work finds promising evidence across treatment modalities.Declaration of interestIn the past 3 years, A.H.Y. received honoraria for speaking from AstraZeneca, Lundbeck, Eli Lilly and Sunovion; honoraria for consulting from Allergan, Livanova and Lundbeck, Sunovion and Janssen; and research grant support from Janssen. In the past 3 years, A.J.C. received honoraria for speaking from AstraZeneca and Lundbeck; honoraria for consulting with Allergan, Janssen, Livanova, Lundbeck and Sandoz; support for conference attendance from Janssen; and research grant support from Lundbeck. B.B. has recently been (soon to be) on the speakers/advisory board for Hexal, Lilly, Lundbeck, Mundipharma, Pfizer, and Servier. No other conflicts of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Neurocognitive impairment has been found in bipolar patients. Hypercortisolemia is one possible cause but there has been no agreement on this. Previous sampling methods assessed only acute cortisol levels, whereas the association between cortisol and psychopathology might be better understood by investigating chronic levels. Fingernails are a novel method for measuring chronic cortisol concentration (CCC). Here, we measured CCC in euthymic bipolar disorder I (BD-I) patients and healthy controls using fingernails to investigate whether differences in CCC influenced neurocognitive performance. We also investigated whether differences in clinical illness variables influenced CCC in euthymic BD-I patients. Methods: A previous study demonstrated neurocognitive impairment in euthymic BD-I patients. The current study included a portion of this sample: 40 BD-I versus 42 matched controls who provided fingernail samples. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in CCC between controls and BD-I (P = .09). Logistic regression analyses revealed that euthymic bipolar I subjects with more than five years of current euthymia had decreased odds of having higher fingernail cortisol concentration (>71.2 pg/mg) compared to those with less than 1.5 years (P = .04). There was no association between CCC and cognitive impairment in all domains before and after adjustment for age and sex. Conclusions: The current evidence suggests CCC is not a trait biomarker in euthymic BD-I (BD-I). Longer periods of stability in affective disorders are associated with lower CCC. Fingernail cortisol does not seem to be implicated in neurocognitive impairment and BD-I. Future studies may investigate CCC in different illness phases of BD-I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]