Exploring Heterogeneity on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Cluster Analytical Investigation.

Objectives: The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a complex measure of executive function that is frequently employed to investigate the schizophrenia spectrum. The successful completion of the task requires the interaction of multiple intact executive processes, including attention, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and concept formation. Considerable cognitive heterogeneity exists among the schizophrenia spectrum population, with substantive evidence to support the existence of distinct cognitive phenotypes.

The effects of a muscarinic receptor 1 gene variant on executive and non-executive cognition in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Individuals with schizophrenia who are homozygous at the c.267C > A (rs2067477) single nucleotide polymorphism within the muscarinic M1 receptor gene have been reported to perform less well on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). We investigated if rs2067477 genotype variation influenced WCST performance and non-executive cognition cross-diagnostically in a sample of 147 schizophrenia spectrum participants (SSD) and 294 healthy controls.

Evidence that eye-movement profiles do not explain slow binocular rivalry rate in bipolar disorder: support for a perceptual endophenotype.

Objectives: Presenting conflicting images simultaneously, one to each eye, produces perceptual alternations known as binocular rivalry (BR). Slow BR rate has been proposed as an endophenotype for bipolar disorder (BD) for use in large-scale genome-wide association studies. However, the trait could conceivably reflect eye movement (EM) dysfunction in BD rather than anomalous perceptual processing per se.

No Relationship Between Binocular Rivalry Rate and Eye-Movement Profiles in Healthy Individuals: A Bayes Factor Analysis.

Binocular rivalry (BR) is an intriguing phenomenon in which conflicting images are presented, one to each eye, resulting in perceptual alternations between each image. The rate of BR has been proposed as a potential endophenotype for bipolar disorder because (a) it is well established that this highly heritable psychiatric condition is associated with slower BR rate than in controls, and (b) an individual's BR rate is approximately 50% genetically determined. However, eye movements (EMs) could potentially account for the slow BR trait given EM anomalies are observed in psychiatric populations, and there has been report of an association between saccadic rate and BR rate in healthy individuals.

Inpatient views and experiences before and after implementing a totally smoke-free policy in the acute psychiatry hospital setting.

In the present study, we examined the views and experiences of patients admitted to an acute psychiatry unit before and after the implementation of a totally smoke-free policy. Forty-six inpatients completed a questionnaire assessing their views before the smoking ban. Another 52 inpatients completed a questionnaire assessing their views and experiences after the smoking ban.

Gender differences in characteristics and outcomes of smokers diagnosed with psychosis participating in a smoking cessation intervention.

While research has identified gender differences in characteristics and outcomes of smokers in the general population, no studies have examined this among smokers with psychosis. This study aimed to explore gender differences among 298 smokers with psychosis (schizophrenia, schizoaffective and bipolar affective disorder) participating in a smoking intervention study. Results revealed a general lack of gender differences on a range of variables for smokers with psychosis including reasons for smoking/quitting, readiness and motivation to quit, use of nicotine replacement therapy, and smoking outcomes including point prevalence or continuous abstinence, and there were no significant predictors of smoking reduction status according to gender at any of the follow-up time-points.

The perceived risks and benefits of quitting in smokers diagnosed with severe mental illness participating in a smoking cessation intervention: gender differences and comparison to smokers without mental illness.

Introduction And Aims: This study aimed to examine the perceived risks and benefits of quitting in smokers diagnosed with psychosis, including potential gender differences and comparisons to smokers in the general population.

Design And Methods: Data were collected from 200 people diagnosed with psychosis participating in a randomised controlled trial testing the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention for smoking cessation and cardiovascular disease risk reduction in people with severe mental illness. Results were compared with both treatment and non-treatment seeking smokers in the general population.

Saccadic impairment in schizophrenia with prominent negative symptoms.

Motor disturbances are frequently reported in schizophrenia, particularly in association with negative symptoms, and may reflect frontostriatal dysfunction. This study investigated the timing of self-paced and reprogrammed saccades in 21 patients with schizophrenia, 11 with and 10 without prominent negative symptoms, as compared with 14 healthy controls. Results indicated that schizophrenia patients with increased negative symptoms scores had increased intraindividual variability in their timing of self-paced and reprogrammed saccades and performed saccades with increased peak velocities.

Estrogen in severe mental illness: a potential new treatment approach.

Context: Accumulating evidence suggests that estrogens may have therapeutic effects in severe mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, via neuromodulatory and neuroprotective activity.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of adjunctive transdermal estradiol with that of adjunctive placebo in the treatment of acute psychotic symptoms.

Design: Randomized, double-blind study.