We need reproducible health behaviour change interventions to help adults with severe mental illness
It is with great pleasure we read the health behaviour change intervention developed by Bonfioli et al. (2017) that aimed to increase the time improve physical activity and dietary fiber consumption in adults with severe mental illness. In their trials, the authors found that seven one-hour health education group sessions combined with weekly group of walking sessions significantly increased the number of participants with health behaviours (HB) corresponding to the World Health Organization recommendations. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 22, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: P. Bernard, S. St Amour, C. Kingsbury, A.J. Romain Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Decreased blood flow in the right insula and middle temporal gyrus predicts negative formal thought disorder in schizophrenia
Formal thought disorder (FTD) causes severe disturbances of language and communication, and affects 50% –80% of people with schizophrenia (Roche et al., 2015). It is part of the disorganization syndrome that has been found to distinguish patients with schizophrenia from patients with psychotic bipolar disorder, and may, thus, inform differential diagnosis (Palaniyappan et al., 2018). The breakdown o f effective communication in FTD is associated with structural and functional alterations of the fronto-temporal language network (Cavelti et al., 2018; Horn et al., 2009; Kircher et al., 2008; Palaniyappan et al., 2015; Stri...
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Stephanie Winkelbeiner, Marialuisa Cavelti, Andrea Federspiel, Katharina Kunzelmann, Thomas Dierks, Werner Strik, Helge Horn, Philipp Homan Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Social aversive conditioning in youth at clinical high risk for psychosis and with psychosis: An ERP study
Social cognition and emotion processing are compromised in schizophrenia. Disruptions in these domains may also be present during the psychosis-risk state. Aversive conditioning is an established translational research paradigm to investigate affective reactivity and learning. Using an aversive conditioning ERP paradigm with social cues, we examined whether psychosis patients and at-risk youths differentially respond to aversively conditioned faces. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Anna J. Watters, Petra E. Rupert, Daniel H. Wolf, Monica E. Calkins, Ruben C. Gur, Raquel E. Gur, Bruce I. Turetsky Source Type: research
The impact of intrinsic motivation on session attendance and reliable cognitive improvement in cognitive remediation in schizophrenia
This study explored the impact of task-specific intrinsic motivation on attendance and reliable cognitive improvement in a controlled trial comparing CR with a computer game (CG) playing control. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: S.D. Bryce, S.J. Lee, J.L. Ponsford, R.J. Lawrence, E.J. Tan, S.L. Rossell Source Type: research
Efficacy of esketamine in the treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia – A case series
Primary negative symptoms are thought to be intrinsic to schizophrenia and represent a major independent factor determining disability in schizophrenia subjects; as an aggravating factor, these symptoms are poorly responsive to antipsychotics (Strassnig et al., 2015). (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Marcel V. Nunes, Marcelo P.M. Adelino, Elias Ajub, Lucas C. Quarantini, Acioly L.T. Lacerda Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Low plasma concentrations of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor subunits as a possible biomarker for psychosis
N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) has been largely implicated in the neurobiology of schizophrenia and other psychosis. Aiming to evaluate their potential as peripheral biomarkers for psychosis, we quantified the plasma concentrations of NR1 and NR2 NMDAR subunits of first-episode psychosis patients in their first contact with mental health services due to psychotic symptoms, compared with siblings and matched community-based controls. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: C.M. Loureiro, R. Shuhama, H.A. Fachim, P.R. Menezes, C.M. Del-Ben, P. Louzada-Junior Source Type: research
Combination therapy of electroconvulsive therapy and aripiprazole for dopamine supersensitivity psychosis
Approximately 30% of schizophrenia patients meet the criteria of treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) (Peuskens, 1999), but some TRS patients are resistant even to clozapine. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has shown particular effectiveness on catatonic and clozapine-refractory symptoms (Zervas et al., 2011; Lehman et al., 2004). (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Nobuhisa Kanahara, Makihiko Hirabayashi, Takashi Mamada, Masahiko Nishimoto, Masaomi Iyo Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Gender differences in childhood trauma in first episode psychosis: Association with symptom severity over two years
Early life adversity is associated with increased risk for psychosis onset and poor clinical outcome. Male compared to female patients often show a more severe course of psychotic illness. The aim of the present study was to investigate gender differences in childhood trauma (CT) and their impact on symptomatic and functional outcome following psychosis onset.The study included 210 patients (144 men, 66 women) diagnosed with a first-episode of psychosis (FEP). Early adversity was assessed with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Marita Pruessner, Suzanne King, Nadia Vracotas, Sherezad Abadi, Srividya Iyer, Ashok K. Malla, Jai Shah, Ridha Joober Source Type: research
A positive take on schizophrenia negative symptom scales: Converting scores between the SANS, NSA and SDS
To provide quantitative conversions between commonly used scales for the assessment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Adrian Preda, Dana D. Nguyen, Juan R. Bustillo, Aysenil Belger, Daniel S. O'Leary, Sarah McEwen, Shichun Ling, Lawrence Faziola, Daniel H. Mathalon, Judith M. Ford, Steven G. Potkin, FBIRN, Theo G.M. van Erp Source Type: research
Service utilization and suicide among people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders
To compare individuals with and without schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or psychotic disorder not otherwise specified) who die by suicide. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Juveria Zaheer, Binu Jacob, Claire de Oliveira, David Rudoler, Ari Juda, Paul Kurdyak Source Type: research
Negative symptom dimensions differentially impact on functioning in individuals at-risk for psychosis
There is a growing interest in studying negative symptoms in individuals with at-risk mental state (ARMS) for psychosis. Negative symptoms are a core feature of schizophrenia and related psychoses. It is recognized that negative symptoms are prevalent in the prodromal phase of illness and predate the onset of attenuated positive symptoms (Yung and McGorry, 1996; Hafner et al., 2003; Lencz et al., 2004; Lyne et al., 2014). Previous research has suggested that more severe negative symptoms at baseline may predict transition from ARMS to full-blown psychosis (Demjaha et al., 2012; Piskulic et al., 2012; Nelson et al., 2013; V...
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: W.C. Chang, H.C. Lee, S.I. Chan, S.Y. Chiu, H.M. Lee, K.W. Chan, M.C. Wong, K.L. Chan, W.S. Yeung, L.W. Choy, S.Y. Chong, M.W. Siu, T.L. Lo, W.C. Yan, M.K. Ng, L.T. Poon, P.F. Pang, W.C. Lam, Y.C. Wong, W.S. Chung, Y.M. Mo, S.Y. Lui, L.M. Hui, E.Y.H. Chen Source Type: research
Treating auditory hallucinations with transcranial direct current stimulation in a double-blind, randomized trial
This study used tDCS as a treatment method for these hallucinations in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study with a relatively large sample size. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sanne Koops, Jan Dirk Blom, Ouarda Bouachmir, Margot I. Slot, Bas Neggers, Iris E. Sommer Source Type: research
Clinical evaluation of functional capacity in treatment resistant schizophrenia patients: Comparison and differences with non-resistant schizophrenia patients
Treatment resistant schizophrenia (TRS) is defined by poor or non-response to conventional antipsychotic agents. Functional capacity is defined as the baseline potential of a patient to function in the community, irrespective of actual achievements gained, and has never been studied in TRS. Here, we screened 182 patients with psychotic symptoms and separated them in TRS (n = 28) and non-TRS (n = 32) ones, to evaluate whether they exhibited differential extents and predictive clinical variables of functional capacity. (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Felice Iasevoli, Luigi D'Ambrosio, Danilo Notar Francesco, Eugenio Razzino, Elisabetta Filomena Buonaguro, Sara Giordano, Thomas L. Patterson, Andrea de Bartolomeis Source Type: research
Response to the editorial on antipsychotics and mortality in a nationwide cohort of 29,823 patients with schizophrenia
Dr. Nasrallah asked a few questions in the Editorial on our article (Nasrallah, 2018). Here are our answers: (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jari Tiihonen Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research
Altered selection during language processing in individuals at high risk for psychosis
Performance in the executive function (EF) domain has been linked to symptoms and functional outcomes in psychosis. Studies have found that UHR populations have difficulty with verbal fluency, which involves multiple facets of EF. Two potentially implicated EF facets were examined to explore whether these could be dissociated in UHR populations: selection among alternatives (measured by selection costs) and retrieval from semantic memory retrieval (measured by retrieval costs). (Source: Schizophrenia Research)
Source: Schizophrenia Research - June 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: T. Vargas, H. Snyder, M. Banich, R. Newberry, Stewart A. Shankman, Gregory P. Strauss, V.A. Mittal Source Type: research
