Trajectories of behavior and social cognition in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and primary psychiatric disorders: A call for better operationalization of socioemotional changes.

Background And Purpose: Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and primary psychiatric disorders (PPD), such as mood, psychotic, and autism spectrum disorders, share similar clinical characteristics of behavior and social cognition. Better understanding of clinical progression in bvFTD and PPD is essential for adequate disease monitoring and trial design.

Methods: In this longitudinal study (N = 89), patients with bvFTD and PPD with at least one follow-up assessment were included from the Social Brain Project of the Alzheimer Center Amsterdam.

Decreased emotion recognition and reduced focus on facial hallmarks in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia compared to primary psychiatric disorders and controls.

Background And Purpose: Early diagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is challenging due to symptomatic overlap with primary psychiatric disorders (PPD). As emotion recognition deficits are early and key features of bvFTD, the aim was to explore processes driving social cognition deficits that may aid in the differentiation between bvFTD and PPD.

Methods: The total sample (N = 51) included 18 patients with bvFTD, 11 patients with PPD (mood, autism spectrum and psychotic disorders) and 22 controls from the Alzheimer Center Amsterdam of the Amsterdam UMC.

Metabolic syndrome rates in older patients with severe mental illness after five years of follow-up and the association with mortality.

Objectives: To establish the course of metabolic syndrome (MS) rates in older patients with severe mental illness (SMI) after 5-year follow-up and evaluate whether MS at baseline is associated with mortality or diabetes at follow-up.

Methods: Patients (>60 years of age) with SMI (N = 100) were included at a specialized mental health outpatient clinic. Metabolic parameters were collected from patients' medical files at baseline and after 5-year follow-up.

Screening for metabolic syndrome in older patients with severe mental illness.

Objective: To evaluate metabolic screening of elderly patients with severe mental illness (SMI) in terms of newly detected metabolic abnormalities.

Methods: Prospective evaluation of the metabolic screening outcome data of 100 consecutive elderly outpatients with SMI, all with universal access to health services. We gathered data on previous diagnoses of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia and assessed metabolic syndrome parameters.

Genetic factors underlie stability of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

The contribution of genetic and environmental factors to the stability of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms has not yet been established in adult population based samples. We obtained the Young Adult Self Report Obsessive-Compulsive Subscale in mono- and dizygotic twins from the population-based Netherlands Twin Register in 1991, 1995 and 1997 and the Padua Inventory Revised Abbreviated in 2002. Stability of OC symptoms was analyzed as a function of genetic and environmental components.

Genetic and environmental contributions to self-report obsessive-compulsive symptoms in Dutch adolescents at ages 12, 14, and 16.

Objective: To determine the contributions of genetic and environmental influences to variation in self-report of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms in a population-based twin sample of adolescent boys and girls.

Method: Self-report ratings on the eight-item Youth Self-Report Obsessive-Compulsive Scale were collected in Dutch mono- and dizygotic twin pairs who participated at age 12 (N = 746 twin pairs), 14 (N = 963 pairs), or 16 years (N = 1,070 pairs). Structural equation modeling was used to break down the variation in liability to OC symptoms into genetic and environmental components.

An fMRI study in monozygotic twins discordant for obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

To examine neurobiological changes underlying obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) we examined intrapair differences in behavior and fMRI brain activation in monozygotic twins discordant for OCS, using a Tower of London planning paradigm. Despite only mild evidence for impairment at the behavioral level, twins with OCS showed significantly decreased brain activation during planning in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, thalamus pulvinar, and inferior parietal cortex. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis of disturbed cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuitry underlying OCS.

Environmental factors in obsessive-compulsive behavior: evidence from discordant and concordant monozygotic twins.

To investigate environmental factors that protect against or exacerbate obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms, we selected 25 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs discordant, 17 MZ twin pairs concordant high and 34 MZ pairs concordant low on OC symptoms from a large longitudinal Dutch sample of adult twin pairs and their family members, applying stringent criteria for OC symptomatology. Data were collected on psychopathology, family structure, health, lifestyle, birth complications and life events. Unique environmental factors were studied using within-discordant MZ pair comparisons, whereas between-concordant MZ pair comparisons were used to study environmental factors that are shared by the twins of an MZ pair.

Heritability of obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions.

Recent research has shown that obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) differ remarkably among patients and can be divided into several symptom dimensions. OCS are influenced by genetic components, but it is unknown to what extent these symptom dimensions are heritable. The phenotypic heterogeneity also raises the question to what extent the symptom dimensions are influenced by specific or shared genetic factors.

Genetic and environmental influences on obsessive-compulsive symptoms in adults: a population-based twin-family study.

Background: The contribution of genetic factors to obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms has not been examined using a large population-based sample of adults. Furthermore, the extent to which there are qualitative and quantitative differences in genetic architecture between men and women with OC symptoms has not been elucidated.

Method: We obtained the Young Adult Self Report Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YASR-OCS) from a group of 5893 monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, and 1304 additional siblings from the population-based Netherlands Twin Register.

Genetic and environmental contributions underlying stability in childhood obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Background: Little is known about the stability of obsessive-compulsive (OC) behavior during childhood. The objective of this study is to determine the developmental stability of pediatric OC behavior and the genetic and environmental influences on stability in a large population-based twin sample.

Methods: Maternal and paternal ratings on the 8-item Obsessive Compulsive Scale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL-OCS) on Dutch mono- and dizygotic twin pairs from 8083 families were collected at ages 7, 10, and 12 years.

Twin studies on obsessive-compulsive disorder: a review.

Genetic factors have historically been thought of as important in the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). For the estimation of the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors, twin studies are an obvious approach. Twin studies of OCD have a long history, starting in 1929.