Many scientists agree that the genes involved in the aetiology and pathogenesis of psychiatric diseases could serve as biomarkers - biological indicators of the health status. Genetic markers may inform about general predispositions of a person to develop certain diseases, while other biochemical factors, such as concentrations of substances in body fluids, reflect the actual condition of the organism. Researchers involved in studies on schizophrenia are interested in the gene and protein of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) due to the role of this neurotrophin in the process of neurogenesis, synaptogenesis and its influence on the functioning of dopaminergic neurons. Among patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, the BDNF gene polymorphisms and methylation in the promoter sequences were studied. The neurotrophin was also assayed in the blood of patients, also taking into account the effect of pharmacotherapy on the BDNF concentration, and post-mortem in the brains of the patients. The results of current studies are contradictory. The only systematically confirmed observation is the lowered concentration of BDNF in the serum of patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls. It seems that so far our knowledge about the BDNF gene expression and the functions of the protein is not sufficient to include BDNF analysis in the clinical assessment of patients with schizophrenia.

Anxiety disorders are a social problem due to their prevalence and consequences. It is crucial to explore the influence of anxiety on cognitive processes. In this study we recorded EEG activity from 73 subjects (35 patients, 38 controls, matched for age and education) during performance of the Continuous Attention Task. We used low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) for evaluation of mechanisms of impaired cognitive performance in anxiety disorders. Analysis showed that patients with anxiety disorders committed more errors than the controls, had a short latency of P300 and higher amplitude of ERPs at all steps of stimulus processing. Furthermore, we showed that there was a relationship between the scores of Hamilton Anxiety Scale and Beck Depression Inventory, and amplitudes and latencies of ERPs. The results of LORETA analysis showed that enhanced neural responses were found within circuits mediating visual information processing, sustained attention and anxiety. Also, we found higher current density within areas playing an important role in the brain fear network -anterior cingulate and anterior part of insula. Electrophysiological neuroimaging showed greater recruitment of cognitive resources in anxiety disorders, evidenced by higher current density and activation of greater number of brain areas. Despite the strategy employed to compensate for cognitive problems, the anxiety patients did not achieve the same performance as controls. Present study demonstrates that anxiety disorders influence processing of neutral stimuli and this influence is observable at both behavioral and electrophysiological level. The data suggests instability of neural systems responsible for information selection, working memory, engagement and focusing of attention.

The Italian mental health care is based on Law 180 (it. Legge 180), also called Legge Basaglia, from the name of the author of the reform, Franco Basaglia. It was adopted on May 13th 1978. The new legislation resulted from the actions of a strong anti-psychiatric movement and it brought about a major change in the organization of psychiatric care. The reform and its consequences were widely studied by the researchers, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The authors point out many successes of the reform, especially in its beginning. They seek the sources of its failure in a faulty and incomplete implementation. Legge Basaglia completely changed the structure of mental health care in Italy, finally bringing psychiatry back to medicine and the general hospitals, as well as promoting community-based psychiatry. Deinstitutionalization in Italy was not related to an increase in compulsory psychiatric hospitalizations, suicide attempts by the mentally ill, nor did it raise the number of crimes committed by them. It also did not cause common trans-institutionalization, with the transfer of patients to the private sector, as predicted by its opponents.

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Psychiatric reform in Italy consisted of the implementation of legislative changes derived from anti-institutional experiments conducted by Franco Basaglia and his group in the 60's and 70's of the 20th century. The activity of Basaglia's group was an integral part of the European reform movement of that time, which profited from the economic, cultural and political prosperity for changes in psychiatry. Italian antipsychiatry has led to the most radical experiment in deinstitutionalization in history. It involved the whole public sector of psychiatry and across a quarter-century resulted in a grand social debate on the situation of the mentally ill and the need for systemic change of their treatment and care. Inspired mainly by phenomenological analysis, Basaglia opted for close emphatic contact with the mentally ill. While the British, French and American anti-psychiatrists contested the psychiatric care system as such, the Italian radicals made an approach to disassemble it from the inside and successfully gained social support for the process of deinstitutionalization. Basaglia promoted his ideas across Europe, including the World Health Organization (WHO) forum.