High frequency of clinical conditions commonly associated with mitochondrial disorders in schizophrenia.

Objective: It has been hypothesised that neuropsychiatric symptoms, including psychosis, can be the result of a milder brain bioenergetic defect produced by mitochondrial dysfunction; however, mitochondrial dysfunction can be present in other organs or systems. The aim of the study was to investigate whether clinical conditions associated with mitochondrial disorders (CAMDs) were frequently present in schizophrenia.

Methods: A previously used questionnaire regarding the CAMDs was administered to patients and controls in a direct interview with a trained psychiatrist.

Personality dimensions of schizophrenia patients compared to control subjects by gender and the relationship with illness severity.

Background: Personality traits and schizophrenia present gender differences; however, gender has not been considered in most studies on personality and schizophrenia. This study aims to identify the different personality dimensions of schizophrenia patients and healthy control subjects by gender and to explore the relationship between personality dimensions and illness severity variables by analyzing data for males and females separately.

Methods: Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised dimensions were compared by gender between 161 schizophrenia patients and 214 healthy controls from a population-based sample using independent t-tests.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for pathological gambling in Parkinson's disease: a pilot controlled study.

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics and differences in response to treatment of two groups of pathological gamblers: with comorbid Parkinson's disease (PG + PD) and without (PG - PD).

Methods: Clinical and psychopathological profiles and response to cognitive-behavioral treatment were assessed in 15 PG + PD and 45 PG - PD individuals consulting a specialized hospital Unit.

Results: Statistically significant differences were observed between the two groups on a series of clinical variables.

New evidence for the involvement of mitochondrial inheritance in schizophrenia: results from a cross-sectional study evaluating the risk of illness in relatives of schizophrenia patients.

Objective: One of the hypotheses about the genetic factors that contribute to schizophrenia involves mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), an approximately 16,569-base pair molecule inherited only from the mother. If this hypothesis were true, one would expect a higher frequency of schizophrenia among matrilineal relatives who share mtDNA with a schizophrenia patient than among relatives who do not. This article reports the risk of presenting with schizophrenia, other psychiatric disorders, and conditions related to mitochondrial disorders in relatives who share mtDNA with a schizophrenia patient versus those who do not.