Virtual visits in cardiovascular disease: a rapid review of the evidence.

Given the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Canada and globally, as well as the staggering cost to human life and health systems, there is an urgent need to understand the successful applications of telemedicine in cardiovascular medicine. While telemedicine in cardiology is well documented, reports on virtual care in the form of synchronous, real-time communication between healthcare providers and patients are limited. As a result of the immediate suspension of ambulatory services for cardiology in Alberta, Canada, due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, we undertook a rapid review on the impact of non-virtual visits in cardiovascular ambulatory settings on patients' healthcare utilization and mortality.

Telehealth interventions for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and clinical high-risk for psychosis individuals: A scoping review.

Background: Despite its increased use in mental health, both health care provision by telehealth and research are in the early stages. Videoconferencing, a telehealth subfield, has been mainly used for the medication management and delivery of psychological treatments for mood, adjustment and anxiety disorders, and to a lesser extent for psychotic disorders.

Objectives: The focus of this scoping review is on studies using videoconferencing for intervention for individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and those who may be considered to be in the very early stages of psychosis (clinical high risk).

Age-related trajectories of social cognition in youth at clinical high risk for psychosis: An exploratory study.

Background: Clinical high risk (CHR) status is characterized by impairments in social cognition, but questions remain concerning their stability over development. In cross-sectional analysis of a large naturalistic sample, the current study examined whether those at CHR status show deviant trajectories for age-related change in social cognitive ability, and whether these trajectories are influenced by treatment history.

Method: Emotion perception (EP) and theory of mind (ToM) were assessed in 675 CHR and 263 healthy comparison (HC) participants aged 12-35.

Pilot study of cognitive remediation and motivational interviewing in youth at risk of serious mental illness.

Aim: The aim of this pilot project was to determine the recruitment feasibility for a computerized cognitive remediation treatment (CRT) for youth at-risk of serious mental illness (SMI), and treatment adherence following an adjunct treatment of motivational interviewing (MI).

Methods: Twelve youth at-risk of SMI were randomized to receive either CRT or CRT plus MI. CRT was conducted over 10 wk during which time 5 MI sessions were available for the CRT + MI group.

Prospective Relationships Between Motivation and Functioning in Recovery After a First Episode of Schizophrenia.

Diminished motivation is associated with robust impairment in psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia (SZ). Little is known about the reciprocal relationships between motivation and functioning, particularly following a first episode of psychosis. We tested bidirectional associations between motivation and social and occupational functioning in the year following a first episode of SZ spectrum disorder among patients in the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode-Early Treatment Program (RAISE-ETP) study.

Comorbid diagnoses for youth at clinical high risk of psychosis.

Several studies have demonstrated that youth at clinical high risk (CHR) of developing psychosis have a high prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders. Less is known about the impact of comorbid diagnoses on later conversion to psychosis and the change over time. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and distribution of psychiatric diagnoses at baseline and over time in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS 2) and the role of comorbid diagnoses in conversion to psychosis.

Social cognition over time in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: Findings from the NAPLS-2 cohort.

Deficits in social cognition are well established in schizophrenia and have been observed prior to the illness onset. Compared to healthy controls (HCs), individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis (CHR) are said to show deficits in social cognition similar to those observed in patients experiencing a first episode of psychosis. These deficits have been observed in several domains of social cognition, such as theory of mind (ToM), emotion perception and social perception.

Pilot study of cognitive remediation therapy on cognition in young people at clinical high risk of psychosis.

Individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) of psychosis evidence cognitive deficits. Given suggestions that deficits in cognition are related to poor functional outcome, cognition is a good treatment target. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) in improving cognition of CHR individuals.

The addition of fluoxetine to cognitive behavioural therapy for youth depression (YoDA-C): study protocol for a randomised control trial.

Background: The aim of the Youth Depression Alleviation-Combined Treatment (YoDA-C) study is to determine whether antidepressant medication should be started as a first-line treatment for youth depression delivered concurrently with psychotherapy. Doubts about the use of medication have been raised by meta-analyses in which the efficacy and safety of antidepressants in young people have been questioned, and subsequent treatment guidelines for youth depression have provided only qualified support.

Methods/design: YoDA-C is a double-blind, randomised controlled trial funded by the Australian government's National Health and Medical Research Council.

Affect recognition in people at clinical high risk of psychosis.

Individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate stable deficits in affect recognition. Similar deficits in affect recognition have been observed in those who are at clinical high risk (CHR) of developing psychosis. The current project aimed to longitudinally examine affect processing in CHR individuals, to determine if affect processing predicted later conversion to psychosis and if affect processing deficits were unique to those who met established criteria for prodromal syndromes.

Negative symptoms in individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis.

Negative symptoms are present in the psychosis prodrome. However, the extent to which these symptoms are present prior to the onset of the first episode of psychosis remains under-researched. The goal of this study is to examine negative symptoms in a sample of individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis and to determine if they are predictive of conversion to psychosis.

Social cognition and negative symptoms in psychosis.

This study examined the relationship between negative symptoms and social cognition in individuals with psychosis. Although negative symptoms were associated with social cognition, stereotyped thinking, which is cognitive in nature, emerged as the most significant predictor, suggesting that cognition rather than symptoms may have a greater impact on social cognition.

Using the global functioning social and role scales in a first-episode sample.

Aims: Dysfunction in social and role functioning is a hallmark of schizophrenia, which is present in both the prodromal phase and at the first episode of the illness. Two new measures, Global Functioning: Social and Global Functioning: Role, were developed to address functioning in the prodromal phase of the illness. The purpose of this study was to determine if these measures would be useful in a first episode population.

Treatment of cognitive dysfunction in chronic schizophrenia by augmentation of atypical antipsychotics with buspirone, a partial 5-HT(1A) receptor agonist.

Objectives: To assess effects of a semi-acute administration of buspirone in comparison to a placebo on cognitive function and negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.

Methods: In a 6-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, independent groups study 18 subjects (14 males, four females) received in random order either placebo or buspirone (15-30 mg/day). A neuropsychological assessment using the Hopkins verbal learning test (HVLT) simple reaction time (SRT), choice reaction time (CRT), n-back spatial working memory task and the stroop colour and word test was performed at baseline and final visit.

A brief dyadic group based psychoeducation program improves relapse rates in recently remitted bipolar disorder: a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Background: Various adjunctive psychotherapies assist in decreasing relapse and improving outcomes for people with bipolar disorder (BD). Psychoeducation programs involving patient-only or caregiver-only groups have demonstrated some efficacy. We tested in recently remitted BD if a combined group based psychoeducation program involving patient-companion dyads decreased relapse.

Mirtazapine add-on therapy in the treatment of schizophrenia with atypical antipsychotics: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Objective: Schizophrenia is a multifaceted illness with positive, negative and cognitive symptom domains. Standard treatments often focus on positive symptoms and may not adequately relieve other symptoms. Previous studies have suggested a role for mirtazapine in schizophrenia, particularly in negative symptoms.

A comparison of the CogState Schizophrenia Battery and the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) Battery in assessing cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia.

This study examined the criterion and construct validity of a brief computerized cognitive test battery (CogState Schizophrenia Battery) compared to a conventional cognitive test battery recommended by the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) consensus. The CogState and MATRICS batteries yielded comparable effect sizes in comparing patients with schizophrenia to healthy controls (Cohen's ds = -1.50 for both batteries).

Stability of cognitive impairment in chronic schizophrenia over brief and intermediate re-test intervals.

Objective: This study examined between- and within-subject stability of cognitive performance in individuals with chronic schizophrenia.

Methods: Thirty individuals with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls matched by age, sex, education, and estimated IQ underwent repeated cognitive assessments at baseline and 30 days using computerized tests of psychomotor function, visual attention/information processing, non-verbal learning, and executive function.

Results: Compared to healthy controls, individuals with schizophrenia scored lower on all cognitive measures and demonstrated greater variability in cognitive performance.

Spatial working memory and problem solving in schizophrenia: the effect of symptom stabilization with atypical antipsychotic medication.

Reasoning and problem solving in the spatial domain are important aspects of executive function that are reliably impaired in schizophrenia, and the Groton Maze Learning Test(c) (GMLT) provides a valid measure of spatial working memory. In the current study, 34 patients with first-episode schizophrenia and 20 matched controls were assessed for baseline spatial working memory abilities using this hidden maze learning test. Approximately one month after baseline assessment, allowing for symptoms to stabilize in response to treatment with therapeutic doses of atypical antipsychotic medications for individuals with schizophrenia, all participants were again assessed with the GMLT.

Behavioural studies of spatial working memory dysfunction in schizophrenia: a quantitative literature review.

Cognitive impairments in schizophrenia have been recognized as a prominent feature of the illness. Research is now focusing on determining a relationship between neurocognitive impairments, and social and functional outcome. Despite a number of comprehensive reviews on neurocognitive measures and reports on spatial working memory abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia when compared to healthy volunteers, there have been no meta-analyses of the extent of the abnormality in this group of patients.