Correction: Key Variables for Effective eHealth Designs for Individuals With and Without Mental Health Disorders: 2^12-4 Fractional Factorial Experiment.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/23137.].

Key Variables for Effective eHealth Designs for Individuals With and Without Mental Health Disorders: 2^12-4 Fractional Factorial Experiment.

Background: eHealth applications not only offer the potential to increase service convenience and responsiveness but also expand the ability to tailor services to improve relevance, engagement, and use. To achieve these goals, it is critical that the designs are intuitive. Limited research exists on designs that work for those with a severe mental illness (SMI), many of whom have difficulty traveling for treatments, reject or infrequently seek treatment, and tend to discontinue treatments for significant periods.

Prevalence and Specificity of the Abnormal Niacin Response: A Potential Endophenotype Marker in Schizophrenia.

The skin flush response to niacin is abnormally blunted among a subset of patients with schizophrenia (SZ), preferentially associates with SZ compared to other mental illnesses, occurs frequently in nonpsychotic members of SZ-affected families, appears heritable, and shows evidence of genetic association. The niacin response abnormality (NRA) may prove to be a useful SZ endophenotype. Using a laser Doppler flowmeter, we undertook this study to estimate the prevalence of NRA in SZ (n = 70), bipolar disorder (BP, n = 59), and healthy control (HC, n = 87) groups, and to estimate its specificity for the illness.

The effects of antipsychotic medication on factor and cluster structure of neurologic examination abnormalities in schizophrenia.

This study extends a previous study of the factor structure of the neurologic examination in unmedicated schizophrenia, utilizing cluster analysis and adding a medicated condition. We administered a modified version of the Neurologic Evaluation Scale (NES) on two occasions to 80 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, once while on antipsychotic medications and once while off medication. Data were distilled by combining right- and left-side scores, and by excluding rarely abnormal and unreliable items from the analysis.

Effects of omega-3 fatty acid on platelet serotonin responsivity in patients with schizophrenia.

Studies suggest that the omega-3 fatty acid supplementation may be beneficial in reducing symptom severity in schizophrenia. The mechanism(s) underlying the clinical effect is not known. Serotonin (5-HT) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and in the mechanism of some antipsychotic agents.

Confirmation of a two-factor model of premorbid adjustment in males with schizophrenia.

Because schizophrenia is considered to be a neurodevelopmental disorder, premorbid adjustment is of particular interest. Premorbid adjustment is probably not a unitary construct but rather is expressed across a number of developmental domains. The current investigation examined the validity of a two-factor model that differentiated premorbid adjustment across social and academic domains and evaluated relationships between these premorbid adjustment domains and other variables of interest.

Elevated interleukin-6 in schizophrenia.

Interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels have been shown to be increased in a number of autoimmune disorders and have recently been shown to be elevated in the serum of schizophrenic patients. Given the involvement of the CNS in schizophrenia, levels of interleukin-6 in the CSF are also of interest. Thus, we examined levels of both CSF and serum IL-6 concomitantly to determine if these levels were different from control values.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the WAIS-R in patients with schizophrenia.

Although factor scores are commonly used to interpret the Weschsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised (WAIS-R), the WAIS-R factor structure has not been investigated in patients with schizophrenia. We used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine five latent construct models in 169 males with schizophrenia. The WAIS-R standardization sample (ages 35-44; n = 250) was used as a comparison group.

GABA and brain abnormalities in schizophrenia.

Some recent autopsy studies indicate that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) function is decreased in brain areas that involve some of the well-described structural changes observed in schizophrenia. The current study examined the relationship between CSF and plasma GABA levels and brain structural measures in schizophrenia. Sixty-two drug-free, physically healthy male patients with schizophrenia (DSM-IIIR) were evaluated for plasma and CSF GABA, as well as brain structural measures on CT scans.

Further studies of elevated cerebrospinal fluid neuronal cell adhesion molecule in schizophrenia.

Background: The purposes of the present study were to attempt to replicate a previous finding of increased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neuronal cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) in schizophrenia, and to assess whether the increases could be related to medication, clinical state effects, or brain structural measures.

Methods: CSF N-CAM was measured by the Western blot technique in 45 DSM-III-R diagnosed male schizophrenic patients both on and off haloperidol treatment and in 20 healthy male control subjects.

Results: CSF N-CAM was significantly increased in schizophrenic patients, with no overlap in the ranges, when compared to controls.

Utility of WAIS-R short forms in schizophrenia.

Recently, short forms of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (Wechsler, 1981) have received increasing attention because of their ability to provide estimated IQ scores with substantial time savings (in some cases 85-90% savings). These short forms may have particular utility for individuals with schizophrenia because they require less time to administer and, as a result, are less taxing for these patients who often exhibit impaired attention and deficient motivation. In this study, we examine the psychometric properties of nine popular WAIS-R short forms in a group of 143 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Chronic haloperidol treatment does not affect structure of attention in schizophrenia.

Results of a number of investigations indicate attention is a multifactorial construct composed of four distinct cognitive factors including focus-execute, sustain, encode and shift abilities. While investigators have partially or fully replicated this attentional structure in a number of clinical and nonclinical populations, no study has adequately examined the structure of attention in patients with schizophrenia who are not treated with antipsychotics. In this study, we examined the four-factor theory of attention in patients with schizophrenia while they were stabilized on haloperidol (with no adjunctive antiparkinsonian/anticholinergic medications) and again when they were approximately 3 weeks drug free.

Predicting haloperidol treatment response in chronic schizophrenia.

The study attempted to identify pretreatment characteristics of chronic schizophrenic patients that would predict remission in psychosis and amount of clinical improvement after treatment with haloperidol. Thirty-five acutely relapsed schizophrenic patients were entered into a blind 6-week treatment protocol. Pretreatment measures were assessed for prediction of both remission status (dichotomous) and for correlations with change in psychopathology (continuous).

Predicting duration of clinical stability following haloperidol withdrawal in schizophrenic patients.

Although chronic maintenance antipsychotic drug treatment is the most effective way of preventing relapse in schizophrenic patients, it is not very successful. A considerable number of patients relapse on medication, and many others do not take their medications as prescribed after leaving the hospital. Unfortunately, clinicians are not able to identify how long patients will remain clinically stable after drug discontinuation.

Abnormal incorporation of arachidonic acid into platelets of drug-free patients with schizophrenia.

Incorporation of [3H]arachidonic acid (AA) into resting platelets was studied in samples from schizophrenic patients before and after haloperidol withdrawal, and from normal subjects. Eicosanoid biosynthesis was subsequently evaluated in prelabeled platelets by sequential events of thrombin activation. The total incorporation of [3H]AA in drug-free patients was significantly lower than in the same individuals during haloperidol treatment as well as in normal volunteers.

Increases in CSF levels of interleukin-2 in schizophrenia: effects of recurrence of psychosis and medication status.

Objective: Interleukin-2, traditionally viewed as solely involved in immunological events, has recently been shown to exert profound effects on the development and regulation of the central nervous system. This study examined the relationships between interleukin-2 in the CSF and plasma of schizophrenic patients and clinical measures, including relapse and medication status. Plasma and CSF interleukin-1 alpha levels were also measured to ascertain the specificity of changes in cytokine levels.

Chronic hemodialysis patients' perceptions of stress, coping, and social support.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe chronic hemodialysis patients' perceptions of stressors, coping methods, and social support.

Design: A descriptive survey design was used.

Sample/setting: The convenience sample consisted of 129 hemodialysis patients who ranged in age from 20 to 87 years.

Behavioral vs biochemical prediction of clinical stability following haloperidol withdrawal in schizophrenia.

Background: We sought to identify haloperidol-treated subjects who relapsed within 6 weeks of placebo replacement and those who did not, using multivariate analysis.

Methods: In the week prior to discontinuation of haloperidol treatment, global behavioral ratings and a lumbar puncture for cerebrospinal fluid monoamine metabolities were obtained in 88 patients with chronic schizophrenia. Logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate two competing models of relapse prediction.