A multicentre study on grey matter morphometric biomarkers for classifying early schizophrenia and parkinson's disease psychosis.

Psychotic symptoms occur in a majority of schizophrenia patients and in ~50% of all Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Altered grey matter (GM) structure within several brain areas and networks may contribute to their pathogenesis. Little is known, however, about transdiagnostic similarities when psychotic symptoms occur in different disorders, such as in schizophrenia and PD.

A Randomized Trial of Deep Brain Stimulation to the Subcallosal Cingulate and Nucleus Accumbens in Patients with Treatment-Refractory, Chronic, and Severe Anorexia Nervosa: Initial Results at 6 Months of Follow Up.

Background: The main objective of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with severe anorexia nervosa (AN).

Methods: Eight participants received active DBS to the subcallosal cingulate (SCC) or nucleus accumbens (NAcc) depending on comorbidities (affective or anxiety disorders, respectively) and type of AN. The primary outcome measure was body mass index (BMI).

Cost Evaluation During Decision-Making in Patients at Early Stages of Psychosis.

Jumping to conclusions during probabilistic reasoning is a cognitive bias reliably observed in psychosis and linked to delusion formation. Although the reasons for this cognitive bias are unknown, one suggestion is that psychosis patients may view sampling information as more costly. However, previous computational modeling has provided evidence that patients with chronic schizophrenia jump to conclusions because of noisy decision-making.

Brain responses to different types of salience in antipsychotic naïve first episode psychosis: An fMRI study.

Abnormal salience processing has been suggested to contribute to the formation of positive psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia and related conditions. Previous research utilising reward learning or anticipation paradigms has demonstrated cortical and subcortical abnormalities in people with psychosis, specifically in the prefrontal cortex, the dopaminergic midbrain and the striatum. In these paradigms, reward prediction errors attribute motivational salience to stimuli.

Abnormal reward prediction-error signalling in antipsychotic naive individuals with first-episode psychosis or clinical risk for psychosis.

Ongoing research suggests preliminary, though not entirely consistent, evidence of neural abnormalities in signalling prediction errors in schizophrenia. Supporting theories suggest mechanistic links between the disruption of these processes and the generation of psychotic symptoms. However, it is unknown at what stage in the pathogenesis of psychosis these impairments in prediction-error signalling develop.

Cortical and Striatal Reward Processing in Parkinson's Disease Psychosis.

Psychotic symptoms frequently occur in Parkinson's disease (PD), but their pathophysiology is poorly understood. According to the National Institute of Health RDoc programme, the pathophysiological basis of neuropsychiatric symptoms may be better understood in terms of dysfunction of underlying domains of neurocognition in a trans-diagnostic fashion. Abnormal cortico-striatal reward processing has been proposed as a key domain contributing to the pathogenesis of psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia.

Rationale and methods of the iFightDepression study: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of an internet-based self-management tool for moderate to mild depression.

Background: During the last decade online interventions have emerged as a promising approach for patients with mild/moderate depressive symptoms, reaching at large populations and representing cost-effective alternatives. The main objective of this double-blind, randomized controlled trial is to examine the efficacy of an internet-based self-management tool (iFightDepression) for mild to moderate depression as an add-on to treatment as usual (TAU) versus internet-based psychoeducation plus TAU.

Methods: A total of 310 participants with major depression disorder (MDD) will be recruited at four different mental-health facilities in Spain.

Abnormal glucose tolerance, white blood cell count, and telomere length in newly diagnosed, antidepressant-naïve patients with depression.

Chronic mood disorders have been associated with a shortened telomere, a marker of increased mortality rate and aging, and impaired cellular immunity. However, treatment may confound these relationships. We examined the relationship of glucose tolerance, white blood cell count and telomere length to depression in newly diagnosed, antidepressant-naïve patients.

Inflammatory markers in antipsychotic-naïve patients with nonaffective psychosis and deficit vs. nondeficit features.

Newly diagnosed, antipsychotic-naïve patients with nonaffective psychosis appear to have increases in pro-inflammatory cytokines. Patients characterized by primary, enduring negative symptoms (deficit symptoms) differ from patients without such features with regard to course of illness, treatment response, risk factors and metabolic disturbances. We hypothesized that they would also differ on concentrations of the inflammatory markers interleukin-6 (IL6) and C-reactive protein (CRP).

Testosterone in newly diagnosed, antipsychotic-naive men with nonaffective psychosis: a test of the accelerated aging hypothesis.

Objective: Schizophrenia has been associated with age-related abnormalities, including abnormal glucose tolerance, increased pulse pressure, increased inflammation, abnormal stem cell signaling, and shorter telomere length. These metabolic abnormalities and other findings suggest that schizophrenia and related disorders might be associated with accelerated aging. Testosterone activity has a progressive decline with increasing age.

Prolactin concentrations in newly diagnosed, antipsychotic-naïve patients with nonaffective psychosis.

Background: Previous studies have found increased prolactin concentrations in antipsychotic-naïve patients with schizophrenia. However, the roles of other hormones, and of potentially confounding variables such as gender and smoking, have not been considered.

Methods: Blood from newly diagnosed, antipsychotic-naïve patients with nonaffective psychosis (13 women and 20 men) and matched controls (12 women and 21 men) was assayed for prolactin, as well as three other hormones that impact prolactin concentrations: thyrotropin-stimulating hormone (TSH), ghrelin, and cortisol.

Metabolic profile of antipsychotic-naive individuals with non-affective psychosis.

Background: Some studies suggest individuals with schizophrenia have an increased risk of diabetes prior to antipsychotic use. Small sample sizes and the potential for confounding by hypercortisolaemia have decreased confidence in those results.

Aims: To examine diabetes-related factors in newly diagnosed, antipsychotic-naive people with non-affective psychosis.

Glucose abnormalities in the siblings of people with schizophrenia.

Background: Some studies suggest that schizophrenia may be associated with an increased risk of diabetes, independently of antipsychotic medications and other confounding factors. Previous studies have also suggested that there is an increased prevalence of diabetes in the relatives of schizophrenia probands.

Method: First-degree siblings of schizophrenia probands (N=6) and control subjects (N=12) were administered a glucose tolerance test.