Treatment Capacity and Clinical Outcomes for Patients With Schizophrenia Who Were Treated With Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Retrospective Cohort Study
ConclusionsIrrespective of treatment capacity, the majority of patients demonstrated clinical improvement. Incapable patients experienced less cognitive side effects when compared with capable patients, though they had fewer treatments overall. This study informs clinicians, patients, and substitute decision-makers about the outcomes and challenges of ECT in patients with schizophrenia. (Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin)
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - November 4, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Comprehensive Gene Expression Analysis Detects Global Reduction of Proteasome Subunits in Schizophrenia
ConclusionsWe detected global down-regulation of proteasome subunits in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia. We hypothesize that the down-regulation of proteasome subunits leads to proteasome dysfunction that causes accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, which has been recently detected in a subgroup of schizophrenia patients. Thus, down-regulation of proteasome subunits might define a biological subtype of schizophrenia. (Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin)
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - November 3, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Disrupted Intersubject Variability Architecture in Functional Connectomes in Schizophrenia
AbstractSchizophrenia (SCZ) is a highly heterogeneous disorder with remarkable intersubject variability in clinical presentations. Previous neuroimaging studies in SCZ have primarily focused on identifying group-averaged differences in the brain connectome between patients and healthy controls (HCs), largely neglecting the intersubject differences among patients. We acquired whole-brain resting-state functional MRI data from 121 SCZ patients and 183 HCs and examined the intersubject variability of the functional connectome (IVFC) in SCZ patients and HCs. Between-group differences were determined using permutation analysis....
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - November 2, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Sensory and Quasi-Sensory Experiences of the Deceased in Bereavement: An Interdisciplinary and Integrative Review
AbstractBereaved people often report having sensory and quasi-sensory experiences of the deceased (SED), and there is an ongoing debate over whether SED are associated with pathology, such as grief complications. Research into these experiences has been conducted in various disciplines, including psychiatry, psychology, and anthropology, without much crossover. This review brings these areas of research together, drawing on the expertise of an interdisciplinary working group formed as part of the International Consortium for Hallucination Research (ICHR). It examines existing evidence on the phenomenology, associated facto...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 25, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Cognitive Subtyping in Schizophrenia: A Latent Profile Analysis
AbstractCognitive dysfunction is a core feature of schizophrenia. The subtyping of cognitive performance in schizophrenia may aid the refinement of disease heterogeneity. The literature on cognitive subtyping in schizophrenia, however, is limited by variable methodologies and neuropsychological tasks, lack of validation, and paucity of studies examining longitudinal stability of profiles. It is also unclear if cognitive profiles represent a single linear severity continuum or unique cognitive subtypes. Cognitive performance measured with the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia was analyzed in schizophrenia patie...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 24, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Neurological Soft Signs Predict Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Patients With Schizophrenia
AbstractNeurological soft signs (NSS) are well documented in individuals with schizophrenia (SZ), yet so far, the relationship between NSS and specific symptom expression is unclear. We studied 76 SZ patients using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine associations between NSS, positive symptoms, gray matter volume (GMV), and neural activity at rest. SZ patients were hypothesis-driven stratified according to the presence or absence of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH;n = 34 without vs 42 with AVH) according to the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Structural MRI data were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry, wh...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 24, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Disparities in Intensive Care Unit Admission and Mortality Among Patients With Schizophrenia and COVID-19: A National Cohort Study
AbstractPatients with schizophrenia (SCZ) represent a vulnerable population who have been understudied in COVID-19 research. We aimed to establish whether health outcomes and care differed between patients with SCZ and patients without a diagnosis of severe mental illness. We conducted a population-based cohort study of all patients with identified COVID-19 and respiratory symptoms who were hospitalized in France between February and June 2020. Cases were patients who had a diagnosis of SCZ. Controls were patients who did not have a diagnosis of severe mental illness. The outcomes were in-hospital mortality and intensive c...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 22, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Psychotic Experiences and Schizotypy in Early Adolescence Predict Subsequent Suicidal Ideation Trajectories and Suicide Attempt Outcomes From Age 18 to 38 Years
AbstractSubclinical risk markers for schizophrenia predict suicidality, but little is known about the nature of the relationship. Suicidal ideation is often considered homogenous, but distinguishing passive from active ideation (ie, thoughts of death vs thoughts of killing oneself) and different temporal patterns may further the understanding of risk factors. We tested whether schizotypy and psychotic experiences (PEs) in early adolescence predict subsequent growth trajectories of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt outcomes. Participants were 1037 members of the population-representative Dunedin Study cohort. PE was mea...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 21, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Large-Scale Evidence for an Association Between Peripheral Inflammation and White Matter Free Water in Schizophrenia and Healthy Individuals
ConclusionsWe report widespread deregulation of cytokines in schizophrenia and identify inflammation as a putative mechanism underlying increases in brain FW levels. (Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin)
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 21, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Erratum to: Baseline Cortical Thickness Reductions in Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: Brain Regions Associated with Conversion to Psychosis Versus Non-Conversion as Assessed at One-Year Follow-up in the Shanghai-At-Risk-for-Psychosis (SHARP) Study
Erratum to “Baseline Cortical Thickness Reductions in Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: Brain Regions Associated with Conversion to Psychosis Versus Non-Conversion as Assessed at One-Year Follow-up in the Shanghai-At-Risk-for-Psychosis (SHARP) Study” by del Re et al. Schizophr Bull. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbaa 127 (Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin)
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 19, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
BDNF and JNK Signaling Modulate Cortical Interneuron and Perineuronal Net Development: Implications for Schizophrenia-Linked 16p11.2 Duplication Syndrome
AbstractSchizophrenia (SZ) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by the interaction of genetic and environmental risk factors. One of the strongest genetic risk variants is duplication (DUP) of chr.16p11.2. SZ is characterized by cortical gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA)ergic interneuron dysfunction and disruption to surrounding extracellular matrix structures, perineuronal nets (PNNs). Developmental maturation of GABAergic interneurons, and also the resulting closure of the critical period of cortical plasticity, is regulated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), although the mechanisms involved are unknown. Here,...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 17, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Pandemic Struggles of the Mad Professor
Remember me? I am the lecturer in cardiovascular physiology, who has schizoaffective disorder. I am fortunate that I do not have a key frontline job, because I cannot begin to imagine the stress of such a position over the last 6 months. I have a stable job, which so far the pandemic has not threatened. I have not had to find alternative means to occupy myself, while on furlough and surviving on only 80% of my normal salary. Yes, I feel lucky and blessed to have an understanding and sympathetic line manager and a good General Practitioner (GP). Yet, I have not been without my struggles during the lockdown and beyond. (Sour...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 15, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Symptom Remission and Brain Cortical Networks at First Clinical Presentation of Psychosis: The OPTiMiSE Study
AbstractIndividuals with psychoses have brain alterations, particularly in frontal and temporal cortices, that may be particularly prominent, already at illness onset, in those more likely to have poorer symptom remission following treatment with the first antipsychotic. The identification of strong neuroanatomical markers of symptom remission could thus facilitate stratification and individualized treatment of patients with schizophrenia. We used magnetic resonance imaging at baseline to examine brain regional and network correlates of subsequent symptomatic remission in 167 medication-na ïve or minimally treated patient...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 15, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Sensorimotor and Activity Psychosis-Risk (SMAP-R) Scale: An Exploration of Scale Structure With Replication and Validation
ConclusionThe SMAP-R scale demonstrated good internal, discriminant, predictive, and convergent validity, and subscales mapped on to conceptually relevant sensorimotor circuits. Features of the scale may facilitate widespread incorporation of sensorimotor screening into psychosis-risk research and practice. (Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin)
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 13, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
Predictors of Treatment-Resistant and Clozapine-Resistant Schizophrenia: A 12-Year Follow-up Study of First-Episode Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders
This study aimed to explore the development of TRS and CR-TRS among patients with FES over 12 years of follow-up. Of the 1234 patients with FES, 15% developed TRS. A total of 450 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were included in a nested case-control study (157 TRS and 293 non-TRS). Younger age of onset, poorer premorbid social adjustment during adulthood, longer duration of first episode, a greater number of relapses, and a higher antipsychotic dose in the first 24 months were associated with earlier TRS. CR-TRS patients, constituting 25% of TRS patients, had a poorer premorbid social adjustment in ...
Source: Schizophrenia Bulletin - October 12, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research
