The 6th TUMS Online Journal Club took place on July 6th, 2020

This session which was held at the request of TUMS Psychiatry Department and coordination of TUMS Appraise To Raise Group, saw the presence of Dr. Javad Alaghband Rad (Associate Professor, Psychiatry Department, School of Medicine) as Moderator of the session, Dr. Maryam Mohagheghi (Resident, Psychiatry Department, School of Medicine) as Presenter of the session and Prof. James F. Leckman (the Neison Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatry, Psychology and Pediatrics at Yale University) the first author of the article under discussion entitled “What does Immunology have to do with Brain Development and Neuropsychiatric Disorders?”.

First, Dr. Alaghband Rad, while welcoming the participants, stated that in this session, with the invaluable presence of Prof. James F. Leckman, one of the most prominent scientists in the field of Psychiatry, we will discuss the relationship between the immune system and psychiatric disorders.

He mentioned that the relationship between immunology and psychiatric disorders is an important and challenging issue, adding: "This issue is important in two ways; first, recent studies have demonstrated new findings about the role of autoimmune mechanisms in the emerging of psychiatric disorders (such as autism, schizophrenia, etc.). Dr. Alaghband Rad described that one of the topics that we are going to discuss today is PANDAS, which stands for Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections, meaning autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with pediatric streptococcal infections. The second issue is the role of the immune system in the brain development. Many studies have been conducted in this field and has provided us with a lot of information regarding the functions of the brain and the normal and abnormal development of the brain. The use of new treatments such as IVIG, from monoclonal antibodies in some types of disorders has started in certain centers in Iran. In this session, we will discuss specifically the article written by Prof. Leckman and some of these treatments.

“Prof. Leckman is a professor and pediatric psychiatrist at Yale University in the United States, and his presence in this session is very important to us” he said. Today's session will give us the opportunity to get acquainted with the new world studies in the field of psychiatry and with Prof. Leckman himself, who is one of the most experienced and well-known scientists in the field. We hope this session will open new horizons for us and that we could answer the questions and criticisms raised about some treatments. At the end of the meeting, the efforts of the Psychiatry Department were appreciated and Prof. Leckman was awarded a certificate of appreciation by TUMS.