Schizophrenia

Cognitive deficits are a central feature of schizophrenia whose etiology is not fully understood. Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) is a potentially neurotropic infectious agent that can generate persistent infections with immunomodulatory effects. Previous studies have found an association between EBV antibodies and cognitive functioning in different populations, but there has been limited investigation in schizophrenia. In this study, 84 individuals with schizophrenia were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB)...

BACKGROUND: Research in the field of psychosis broadly suggests that symptoms, neurocognitive deficits, social cognition, cognitive biases, and attachment experiences influence each other. However, little is known if any of these constructions play a more central role than others as they interact. METHOD: To clarify this issue, we conducted a "network" analysis to explore the interplay among a set of variables related to attachment, cognition domains, and psychotic symptoms in a small sample of outpatients with stabilised schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (n = 25)...

AIMS: To evaluate the effects of mindfulness-based intervention on psychotic symptoms, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and rehospitalization. DESIGN: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, CINAHL, National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan, and Airiti Library were searched from their earliest available date up to April 2019...

The structural complexity of the thalamus, due to its mixed composition of gray and white matter, make it challenging to disjoint and quantify each tissue contribution to the thalamic anatomy. This work promotes the use of partial-volume-based over probabilistic-based tissue segmentation approaches to better capture thalamic gray matter differences between patients at different stages of psychosis (early and chronic) and healthy controls. The study was performed on a cohort of 23 patients with schizophrenia, 41 with early psychosis and 69 age and sex-matched healthy subjects...

Recent studies suggest that the tetracycline antibiotic minocycline, or its cousins, hold therapeutic potential for affective and psychotic disorders. This is proposed on the basis of a direct effect on microglia-mediated frontocortical synaptic pruning (FSP) during adolescence, perhaps in genetically susceptible individuals harboring risk alleles in the complement component cascade that is involved in this normal process of CNS circuit refinement. In reviewing this field, it is argued that minocycline is actually probing and modulating a deeply evolved and intricate system wherein psychosocial stimuli sculpt the circuitry of the "social brain" underlying adult behavior and personality...

BACKGROUND: Some psychiatric disorders have been associated with increased risk of miscarriage. However, there is a lack of studies considering a broader spectrum of psychiatric disorders to clarify the role of common as opposed to independent mechanisms. AIMS: To examine the risk of miscarriage among women diagnosed with psychiatric conditions. METHOD: We studied registered pregnancies in Norway between 2010 and 2016 (n = 593 009). The birth registry captures pregnancies ending in gestational week 12 or later, and the patient and general practitioner databases were used to identify miscarriages and induced abortions before 12 gestational weeks...

Memantine is used in Alzheimer's disease treatment as a non-competitive modern-affinity strong voltage-dependent N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist. The fundamental role of these receptors is to bind glutamate: the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, believed to play a crucial role in neuronal plasticity and learning mechanisms. Glutamate transmission plays an important role in all internal CNS structures and maintains the physiological state of the brain. Excessive glutamate transmission can lead to enlarged calcium ion current which may cause neurotoxicity; however, insufficient transmission can drastically alter the information flow in neurons and the brain, potentially causing schizophrenia-like symptoms by replacing lost information with completely new stimuli...

Background: Schizophrenia is one of the chronic mental illnesses, characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, and cognitive decline. It frequently leads to a lifetime of impairment and disability that span the entire lifespan of the patients. Several epidemiologic studies have shown that schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) contribute significantly to years lived with disability. Additionally, substance use disorders have been reported to co-occur commonly among patients with SSD (a comorbidity also known as dual diagnosis), attracting notable attention over the past few decades...

The cerebral cortex is composed of multiple cortical areas that exert a wide variety of brain functions. Although human brain neurons are genetically and areally mosaic, the three-dimensional structural differences between neurons in different brain areas or between the neurons of different individuals have not been delineated. Here we report a nanometer-scale geometric analysis of brain tissues of the superior temporal gyrus of schizophrenia and control cases. The results of the analysis and a comparison with results for the anterior cingulate cortex indicated that (1) neuron structures are significantly dissimilar between brain areas and that (2) the dissimilarity varies from case to case...

Neurodevelopmental abnormalities in neural connectivity have been long implicated in the etiology of schizophrenia (SCZ); however, it remains unclear whether these neural connectivity patterns are associated with genetic risk for SCZ in unaffected individuals (i.e., an absence of clinical features of SCZ or a family history of SCZ). We examine whether polygenic risk scores (PRS) for SCZ are associated with functional neural connectivity in adolescents and young adults without SCZ, whether this association is moderated by sex and age, and if similar associations are observed for genetically related neuropsychiatric PRS...

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a devastating brain disease that affects about 1% of world population. Among the top genetic associations, zinc finger protein 804A (ZNF804A) gene encodes a zinc finger protein, associated with SZ and biolar disorder (BD). Copy number variants (CNVs) of ZNF804A have been observed in patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), anxiety disorder, and BD, suggesting that ZNF804A is a dosage sensitive gene for brain development. However, its molecular functions have not been fully determined...

People with schizophrenia spectrum disorders frequently experience depression, yet depressive symptoms are often unaddressed. The authors propose that interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) may be effective for individuals with these disorders who experience depression. IPSRT is a manualized, evidence-based treatment for bipolar disorders. It combines the core elements of interpersonal psychotherapy for unipolar depression with social rhythm therapy to target disrupted social rhythms. The authors highlight evidence for the potential utility of IPSRT to treat patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and present a case example...

Duplicated Heschl's gyrus (HG) is prevalent in patients with schizophrenia and may reflect early neurodevelopmental anomalies. However, it currently remains unclear whether patients with schizotypal disorder, a prototypic disorder within the schizophrenia spectrum, exhibit a similar HG gyrification pattern. In this magnetic resonance imaging study, HG gyrification patterns were examined in 47 patients with schizotypal disorder, 111 with schizophrenia, and 88 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. HG gyrification patterns were classified as single, common stem duplication (CSD), or complete posterior duplication (CPD)...

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AIM: Long-acting injectable antipsychotic agents (LAIs) including paliperidone palmitate (PP) have shown promising results in preventing relapse and rehospitalization in schizophrenia. This study aimed to ascertain the comparative real-world effectiveness between the early and late administration of PP and oral formulations of risperidone and paliperidone (ORPs) in patients experiencing a first episode or relapse of schizophrenia. METHODS: We identified patients with schizophrenia admitted to a psychiatric ward at least once and treated with ORPs or PP using the Korea National Insurance Claims Database...

The physiological changes associated with normal aging are known to occur earlier in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ). One of the phenomena linked with normal aging is the change in patterns of epigenetic modifications. We recruited 138 individuals with SCZ spectrum disorders and extracted DNA from white blood cells. The combinations of pre-selected DNA methylation sites were utilized to estimate the 'methylation age' (DNAm age) and evaluate evidence of epigenetic age acceleration. We investigated the correlation between the epigenetic age acceleration measures and psychosis severity; furthermore, we estimated blood cell counts based on DNA methylation levels...

Alterations in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), including omega-3 and omega-6, have been implicated in the pathophysiology of psychotic disorders, but little is known about their associations with neuropsychological functioning. The present study includes 46 recent-onset psychosis patients who participated in a larger (n = 50) double blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial comparing 16 weeks of treatment with either risperidone + fish oil (FO) (EPA 740 mg and DHA 400 mg daily) or risperidone + placebo and completed neuropsychological assessments at the baseline timepoint...

Positive schizotypy has been shown to predict emergence of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, with suspiciousness/paranoia regarded a key risk factor. However, magical thinking and unusual perceptual experiences, other aspects of positive schizotypy, are associated with creativity. We investigated whether suspiciousness attenuates the relationship of magical thinking and unusual experiences with creative experience, and explored the interaction of dispositional mindfulness with positive schizotypy and creative experience...

Self-stigma in mental illness is linked to negative clinical and functional outcomes, but little is known about its correlates specifically in psychotic disorders. Here we investigated the role of clinical symptoms, cognition, and vocational status as correlates of self-stigma in 98 individuals with psychotic disorders (36 Black American, 32 White Hispanic, 11 White Non-Hispanic, 11 Asian American). A principal component analysis of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness scale yielded three components: Experiential Stigma, Stereotype Endorsement, and Stigma Resistance...

Positive modulation of cAMP signalling by phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors has recently been explored as a potential target for the reversal of cognitive and behavioural deficits implicating the corticoaccumbal circuit. Previous studies show that PDE type 1 isoform B (PDE1B) inhibition may improve memory function in rodent models; however, the contribution of PDE1B inhibition to impulsivity, attentional and motivational functions as well as its neurophysiological effects have not been investigated. To address this, we recorded single unit activity in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc) in Lister Hooded rats treated with the PDE1B inhibitor Lu AF64386 and tested in the 5-choice serial reaction time task (5-CSRTT)...