Institut Pere Mata

Personal stigma in psychosis, encompassing perceived and internalised stigma, poses a significant barrier to recovery and well-being. This study investigates the effectiveness of Individualised Metacognitive Training (MCT+) in reducing personal stigma among individuals with recent-onset psychosis, with a focus on sex-specific outcomes and the predictive roles of self-certainty, self-esteem and quality of life (QoL). A randomised controlled trial was conducted across multiple Spanish clinical sites, comparing MCT+ with treatment as usual. Participants were assessed at baseline, post-treatment and 6-month follow-up using validated measures of stigma, cognitive insight, QoL and self-esteem. Robust linear mixed models revealed that MCT+ significantly reduced perceived stigma over time, with QoL emerging as a strong predictor of perceived stigma levels. However, no significant effects were observed for internalised stigma, although self-certainty was positively associated with its severity. Exploratory analyses suggested potential sex differences in stigma trajectories, with males showing greater improvements in internalised stigma. These findings highlight the nuanced impact of metacognitive interventions on stigma and underscore the importance of tailoring treatments to individual psychosocial and cognitive profiles. Future research should explore gender-sensitive adaptations of MCT+ and the inclusion of targeted self-stigma modules to enhance intervention efficacy.

This study explores the educational and practical impacts of a service-learning project, focusing on the collaboration between a university and vocational training schools. The project aimed to develop various initiatives related to ecological entities with focus on an innovative prototype for controlling invasive aquatic turtles, addressing need of and ecological entity from Tarragona region. Using the CDIO (Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate) educational framework, students applied theoretical engineering concepts in a hands-on, real-world context, fostering strong interdisciplinary collaboration between the academic institutions and the ecological entity requesting the prototype. The research question that guided this work was: How can a service-learning project, integrating the CDIO educational framework, enhance students’ academic learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and civic responsibility while addressing real-world ecological challenges. The methodology employed was based on the analysis of CDIO educational framework in a service-learning project. For this analysis, we analyzed the information interchanged between university and vocational training school students, the integration of the social entity needs into the projects, the students’ reflection on engaging in service-learning with the social organization and the vocational training school and the results of a student's survey. This project is part of the mechanical engineering degree program at Universitat Rovira i Virgili during the third academic year. The research instruments were projects and reflections analysis as well as student's survey. The project demonstrated how service-learning can enrich students’ academic experience, with improvements in faculty and external support over time. The aquatic turtle control prototype was designed and manufactured according to client expectations, and the students’ involvement highlighted the societal impact of engineering solutions aimed at environmental conservation. This study also illustrates how integrating service-learning with the CDIO framework enhances both academic learning and civic responsibility, demonstrating the potential of such projects to produce socially responsible engineers capable of addressing real-world problems.

Previous studies have shown mitochondrial dysfunction in schizophrenia (SZ) patients, which may be caused by mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) alterations. However, there are few studies in SZ that have analyzed mtDNA in brain samples by next-generation sequencing (NGS). To address this gap, we used mtDNA-targeted NGS and qPCR to characterize mtDNA alterations in brain samples from patients with SZ (n = 40) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 40). 35 % of SZ patients showed mtDNA alterations, a significantly higher prevalence compared to 10 % of HC. Specifically, SZ patients had a significantly higher frequency of deletions (35 vs. 5 in HC), with a mean number of deletions of 3.8 in SZ vs. 1.0 in HC. Likely pathogenic missense variants were also significantly more frequent in patients with SZ than in HC (10 vs. three HC), encompassing 14 variants in patients and three in HC. The pathogenic tRNA variant m.3243A>G was identified in one SZ patient with a high heteroplasmy level of 32.2 %. While no significant differences in mtDNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) were observed between SZ and HC, antipsychotic users had significantly higher mtDNA-CN than non-users. These findings suggest a potential role for mtDNA alterations in the pathophysiology of SZ that require further validation and functional studies.

Fibromyalgia patients experience difficulties in their daily lives that are difficult to identify and recognize due to the stigma associated with the disease. Nurses can help identify them to establish biopsychosocial coping and treatment. The main aim of this study was to explore Spanish nurses' perceptions of the illness experiences of their fibromyalgia patients. Qualitative content analysis from the etic perspective was used. Eight nurses met in focus groups to report their perceptions of the illness experiences of FM patients after led group-based problem-solving therapy in fibromyalgia patients. Four themes emerged: (1) the presence of a "specific trigger" (stressful event) for FM symptoms; (2) fulfilling expected gender roles; (3) a lack of support from the family; (4) abuse. Nurses recognize the mind-body connection after the impact of stress on patients' bodies. The expected gender roles interfere with patients' recovery because they feel frustration and guilt about not being able to fulfil them. Managing emotions and improving communication in fibromyalgia is recommended. Clinicians might also consider issues such as abuse and the absence of social-family support for the comprehensive evaluation and effective management of fibromyalgia.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) share metabolic alterations such as abnormal insulin and lipid metabolism and have some common genetic factors such as APOE genotype. Taking this into account, we hypothesized that we could identify common genetic factors involved in the development of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. We first genotyped 48 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with AD in a cohort composed of 330 patients with cognitive impairment (CI) to assess their association with plasma lipids. Second, we conducted pleiotropy-informed conjunctional false discovery rate (FDR) analysis designed to identify shared variants between AD and plasma lipid levels. Finally, we used the SNPs to be found associated with lipid parameters and AD to search for associations with lipoprotein parameters in 281 patients with cardiometabolic risk. Five SNPs were significantly associated with lower levels of cholesterol transported in remnant lipoprotein particles (RLPc) in subjects with CI; among these SNPs was the rs73572039 variant in PVRL2. Stratified QQ-plots were conducted on GWAS designed for AD and triglycerides (TG). The cross-trait analysis resulted in a total of 22 independent genomic loci associated with both AD and TG levels with a conjFDR < 0.05. Among these loci, two pleiotropic variants were located in PVRL2 (rs12978931 and rs11667640). The three SNPs in PVRL2 were significantly associated with RLPc, TG, and number of circulating VLDL and HDL particles in subjects with cardiometabolic risk. We have identified three variants in PVRL2 that predispose individuals to AD that also influence the lipid profile that confers cardiovascular risk in T2DM subjects. PVRL2 is a potential new modulating factor of atherogenic dyslipidemia.