Brain correlates of speech perception in schizophrenia patients with and without auditory hallucinations.

The experience of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH, "hearing voices") in schizophrenia has been found to be associated with reduced auditory cortex activation during perception of real auditory stimuli like tones and speech. We re-examined this finding using 46 patients with schizophrenia (23 with frequent AVH and 23 hallucination-free), who underwent fMRI scanning while they heard words, sentences and reversed speech. Twenty-five matched healthy controls were also examined.

Neural correlates of referential/persecutory delusions in schizophrenia: examination using fMRI and a virtual reality underground travel paradigm.

Background: The brain functional correlates of delusions have been relatively little studied. However, a virtual reality paradigm simulating travel on the London Underground has been found to evoke referential ideation in both healthy subjects and patients with schizophrenia, making brain activations in response to such experiences potentially identifiable.

Method: Ninety patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder and 28 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while they viewed virtual reality versions of full and empty Barcelona Metro carriages.

Processing of linguistic deixis in people with schizophrenia, with and without auditory verbal hallucinations.

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) are a key symptom of schizophrenia (SZ) defined by anomalous perception of speech. Anomalies of processing external speech stimuli have also been reported in people with AVH, but it is unexplored which specific dimensions of language are processed differently. Using a speech perception task (passive listening), we here targeted the processing of deixis, a key dimension of language governing the contextual anchoring of speech in interpersonal context.

Deep brain stimulation in treatment resistant schizophrenia: A pilot randomized cross-over clinical trial.

Background: Up to 30% of patients with schizophrenia are resistant to antipsychotic drug treatment, with 60% of such cases also failing to respond to clozapine. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been used in treatment resistant patients with other psychiatric disorders, but there is a lack of trials in schizophrenia, partly due to uncertainties over where to site the electrodes. This trial aimed to examine the effectiveness of nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (subgenual ACC) targeted DBS; the primary outcome measure was PANSS total score, as assessed fortnightly.

Exosomal and Non-Exosomal Urinary miRNAs in Prostate Cancer Detection and Prognosis.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding small RNAs, involved in post-transcriptional regulation of many target genes.

Methods: Five miRNAs that have been consistently found deregulated in PCa (miR-21, miR-141, miR-214, miR-375, and let-7c) were analyzed in urinary pellets from 60 prostate cancer (PCa) patients and 10 healthy subjects by qRT-PCR. Besides, urinary exosomes were isolated by differential centrifugation and analyzed for those miRNAs.

Laparoscopic approach for the multiple abdominal vascular entrapment syndrome.

We report an unusual case of a 25-year-old man affected by several vascular entrapment abdominal processes: celiac axis compression or Dunbar syndrome, superior mesenteric artery syndrome or Wilkie's disease and Nutcracker syndrome implying compression of the left renal vein. We discuss the diagnosis that was established by contrast-enhanced spiral computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance angiography. Once diagnosed the patient was treated conservatively by enteral high caloric diet in order to obtain a weight gain, however as it did not relieve the symptomatology of pain and vomit we opted for a surgical procedure.

Minor surgery activity in primary care.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the activity in our Outpatient Minor Surgery unit during its first five-year period.

Design: Retrospective descriptive study.

Methods: It was carried out in two centres of a Basic Health Area with a catchment area of 73,000 inhabitants.