Schizophrenia

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants are widely prescribed to pregnant women suffering with depression, although the long-term impact of these medications on exposed offspring are poorly understood. Perinatal SSRI exposure alters human offspring's neurodevelopment and increases risk for psychiatric illness in later life. Rodent studies suggest that perinatal SSRI-induced behavioral abnormalities are driven by changes in the serotonin system as well as epigenetic and transcriptomic changes in the developing hippocampus...

Ulotaront (SEP-363856) is a trace amine-associated receptor 1 (TAAR1) agonist with 5-HT1A agonist activity in Phase 3 development for the treatment of schizophrenia. The efficacy of ulotaront is not mediated by blockade of D2 or 5-HT2A receptors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the population PK of ulotaront in adult subjects using pooled data from seven Phase 1 studies, one Phase 2 acute study, and one 6-month extension study. Single and multiple (up to 7 days) oral doses (5-150 mg/day) were studied in both healthy adult subjects (with intensive serial plasma sampling) and adult patients with schizophrenia (some with intensive and some with sparse plasma sampling)...

BACKGROUND: Clozapine is the only treatment with regulatory-recognition of lowering suicidal risk, at least in schizophrenia patients. It remains uncertain whether such effects extend to other drugs for psychosis. METHODS: We searched for reports on rates of suicidal behavior during treatment with clozapine and other modern drugs for psychosis (aripiprazole, olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, and ziprasidone) versus comparison or control treatments and analyzed the contrasts by random-effect meta-analysis to obtain pooled odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs)...

Background: Bipolar disorder is highly heritable and polygenic. The polygenic risk for bipolar disorder overlaps with that of schizophrenia, and polygenic scores are normally distributed in the population. Bipolar disorder has been associated with structural brain abnormalities, but it is unknown how these are linked to genetic risk factors for psychotic disorders. Methods: We tested whether polygenic risk scores for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia predict structural brain alterations in 98 patients with bipolar disorder and 81 healthy controls...

BACKGROUND: Mental disorders are a common finding among patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms. CASE: The current case concerns a young man with an anterior communicating artery aneurysm who was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder due to his significant psychosis and mood episodes. Having undergone surgery on the unruptured intracranial aneurysm, the patient's psychiatric symptoms disappeared, and he maintained a stable mood during the 3-year postoperative period...

OBJECTIVES: This meta-analysis was designed to assess the effects of social-cognitive training (SCT) and whether study quality, treatment approach, treatment context, and sample characteristics influence these effects. METHODS: Electronic databases were searched up to 5 August 2020 using variants of keywords: 'social cognition', 'training', 'rehabilitation', 'remediation', and 'schizophrenia'. Methodological moderators were extracted through the Clinical Trials Assessment Measure and verified by authors...

Individuals with serious mental disorders (SMD) may have a higher risk of vitamin D (VIT-D) deficiency. They also experience higher mortality because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Therefore, we have conducted a comprehensive review to examine the significance of VIT-D for public health and public mental health during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This review had three specific aims, from a global perspective to (a) create a profile of VIT-D and review the epidemiology of VIT-D deficiency, (b) explore VIT-D deficiency as risk factor for SMD and COVID-19 infections and (c) examine the effectiveness of VIT-D supplementation for both conditions...

We report a rare case of pulmonary torsion after nonpulmonary thoracotomy. A 38-year-old woman with schizophrenia committed suicide by a self-infliction of sharp force into the chest and abdomen. During emergent abdominal damage control surgery, a left-sided resuscitative thoracostomy was also performed due to hemorrhagic shock. Although abnormal shadow was detected on postoperative chest roentgenogram and computed tomography, the diagnosis of pulmonary torsion was delayed. Seven days after initial surgery, pulmonary torsion was diagnosed and managed by left upper lobectomy...

The present mini-review focuses on animal models of schizophrenia that have explored the effects of cannabidiol (CBD; a non-psychoactive component of cannabis) or the pharmacological manipulation of the endocannabinoid system on behavioral and cognitive outcome measures. First, results of some relevant clinical studies in this area are summarized, and then pre-clinical work on animal models of schizophrenia based on NMDA receptor antagonism or neurodevelopmental manipulations are discussed. A brief overview is given of the theoretical framework on which these models are based, along with a concise summary of results that have been obtained...

Evolutionary medicine attempts to solve a problem with which traditional medicine has struggled historically; how do we distinguish between diseased states and "healthy" responses to disease states? Fever and diarrhea represent classic examples of evolved adaptations that increase the likelihood of survival in response to the presence of pathogens in the body. Whereas, the severe mental disorders like psychotic mania or the schizophrenias may involve true "disease" states best treated pharmacologically, most non-psychotic "disorders" that revolve around negative affects like depression or anxiety are likely adaptations that evolved to serve a function that increased inclusive fitness in our ancestral past...

Background: Emerging evidence suggests structural and functional disruptions of the thalamus in schizophrenia, but whether thalamus abnormalities are able to be used for disease identification and prediction of early treatment response in schizophrenia remains to be determined. This study aims at developing and validating a method of disease identification and prediction of treatment response by multi-dimensional thalamic features derived from magnetic resonance imaging in schizophrenia patients using radiomics approaches...

Cigarette smoking is a modifiable behaviour associated with mental health. We investigated the degree of genetic overlap between smoking behaviours and psychiatric traits and disorders, and whether genetic associations exist beyond genetic influences shared with confounding variables (cannabis and alcohol use, risk-taking and insomnia). Second, we investigated the presence of causal associations between smoking initiation and psychiatric traits and disorders. We found significant genetic correlations between smoking and psychiatric disorders and adult psychotic experiences...

OBJECTIVE: With hepatic steatosis (HS) being an established risk factor for CVD in the general population, it may also be a predictor of CVD in patients with schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to investigate if time since schizophrenia diagnosis, body mass index (BMI), sex, metabolic syndrome, alcohol use, smoking, alanine transaminase (ALT), and body fat percentage (as measured by bioelectrical impedance) were associated with HS, determined by computed tomography (CT), in a population of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia...

OBJECTIVE: Psychoses affecting people with epilepsy increase disease burden and diminish quality of life. We characterised post-ictal psychosis, which comprises about one-quarter of epilepsy-related psychoses, and has unknown causation. METHODS: We conducted a case-control cohort study including patients diagnosed with post-ictal psychosis, confirmed by psychiatric assessment, with available data regarding epilepsy, treatment, psychiatric history, psychosis profile and outcomes...

Deficits in cognitive functions are frequent in schizophrenia and are often conceptualized as stable characteristics of this disorder. However, cognitive capacities may fluctuate over the course of a day and it is unknown if such variation may be linked to the dynamic expression of psychotic symptoms. This investigation used Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to provide mobile tests of cognitive functions and positive symptoms in real time. Thirty-three individuals with schizophrenia completed five EMA assessments per day for a one-week period that included real-time assessments of cognitive performance and psychotic symptoms...

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Importance: Cannabis use and potency of cannabis have increased during the past 2 decades. If the association between cannabis use and schizophrenia is causal, this should be reflected in an increase in the proportion of cases of schizophrenia being attributable to cannabis, the population-attributable risk fraction (PARF). Objective: To determine whether the PARF for cannabis use disorder in schizophrenia has increased over time. Design, Setting, and Participants: This nationwide, register-based historical prospective cohort study included all people in Denmark born before December 31, 2000, who were alive and 16 years or older at some point from January 1, 1972, to December 31, 2016...

Second-generation antipsychotic medications are used to treat schizophrenia and a range of other psychotic disorders, although adverse effects, including cardiovascular and metabolic abnormalities and extrapyramidal symptoms, are often inevitable. Studies have shown that exercise, as an adjunct therapy, can be effective in reducing the core symptoms of schizophrenia as well as ameliorating intrinsic and antipsychotic-induced cardiometabolic abnormalities. However, it is noteworthy that exercise may need to be implemented with caution in some individuals receiving certain antipsychotic treatment regimens...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This is a comprehensive review of the literature regarding the use of Aripiprazole lauroxil for schizophrenia. This review presents the background, evidence, and indications for using aripiprazole lauroxil to treat schizophrenia in the context of current theories on the development of schizophrenia. RECENT FINDINGS: Schizophrenia is a chronic mental health disorder that currently affects approximately 3.3 million people in the United States. Its symptoms, which must be present for more than six months, are comprised of disorganized behavior and speech, a diminished capacity to comprehend reality, hearing voices unheard by others, seeing things unseen by others, delusions, decreased social commitment, and decreased motivation...

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia, including anhedonia, represent a heavy burden on patients and their relatives. These symptoms are associated with cortical hypodopamynergia and impaired striatal dopamine release in response to reward stimuli. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and monoamine oxidase type B (MAO-B) degrade dopamine and affect its neurotransmission. The study determined the association between COMT rs4680 and rs4818, MAO-B rs1799836 and rs6651806 polymorphisms, the severity of negative symptoms, and physical and social anhedonia in schizophrenia...