Cognitive functioning and adjudicative competence: defendants referred for neuropsychological evaluation in a psychiatric inpatient setting.

Objective: A paucity of peer-reviewed research exists regarding the relation between cognitive functioning and adjudicative competence, despite increasing awareness of cognitive deficits associated with serious mental illness. This retrospective study sought to add to and expand upon existing research by considering performance validity and court determinations of competence, when available.

Method: We compared demographic and cognitive variables of a group of defendants with presumed valid testing admitted to an inpatient psychiatric facility for evaluation of adjudicative competence and referred for neuropsychological evaluation (n = 45) and compared individuals determined by the evaluator and/or the court to be competent (n = 30) and incompetent (n = 15).

Impulsivity in bipolar disorder: relationships with neurocognitive dysfunction and substance use history.

Objectives: Impulsivity is a core feature in bipolar disorder. Although mood symptoms exacerbate impulsivity, self-reports of impulsivity are elevated, even during euthymia. Neurocognitive processes linked to impulsivity (e.

Emotion processing bias and age of seizure onset among epilepsy patients with depressive symptoms.

The current study examined whether mood-congruent biases in emotion processing extend to epilepsy patients with depressive symptoms and the potentially moderating effects of age of seizure onset on these biases. In addition, we examined associations between depression (Beck Depression Inventory - 2nd Edition; BDI-II) and quality of life (Quality of Life in Epilepsy - 10-item questionnaire; QOLIE-10). Data from 101 epilepsy patients were analyzed, including 61 females and 40 males.

Emotional bias in unaffected siblings of patients with bipolar I disorder.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BPD) research has identified a number of neurocognitive deficits as potential vulnerability markers; however, very few studies have focused on patterns of performance on affective processing tasks (e.g. affective Go/No-Go tasks) which may be more closely tied to the pathophysiology of the illness.

Emotional recognition in depressed epilepsy patients.

The current study examined the relationship between emotional recognition and depression using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Second Edition (MMPI-2), in a population with epilepsy. Participants were a mixture of surgical candidates in addition to those receiving neuropsychological testing as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Results suggested that patients with epilepsy reporting increased levels of depression (Scale D) performed better than those patients reporting low levels of depression on an index of simple facial recognition, and depression was associated with poor prosody discrimination.

Age and diffusion tensor anisotropy in adolescent and adult patients with schizophrenia.

Findings of white matter pathology as indicated by diffusion tensor anisotropy values in schizophrenia are well established, but the differences in this measure between the onset of the disease and the chronic state are not well known. To investigate the differences between these states in the progression of the disease of schizophrenia we acquired 1.5 T diffusion tensor anisotropy images on 35 adult patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, 23 adolescents having their first psychotic episode, and age and sex matched controls (33 adults and 15 adolescents).

Diffusion tensor anisotropy in adolescents and adults.

We acquired diffusion tensor images on 33 normal adults aged 22-64 and 15 adolescents aged 14-21. We assessed relative anisotropy in stereotaxically located regions of interest in the internal capsule, corpus callosum, anterior thalamic radiations, frontal anterior fasciculus, fronto-occipital fasciculus, temporal lobe white matter, cingulum bundle, frontal inferior longitudinal fasciculus, frontal superior longitudinal fasciculus, and optic radiations. All of these structures except the optic radiations, corpus callosum, and frontal inferior longitudinal fasciculus exhibited differences in anisotropy between adolescents and adults.

FDG-PET in never-previously medicated psychotic adolescents treated with olanzapine or haloperidol.

We acquired Positron emission tomography with 18-F-deoxyglucose (FDG-PET) and anatomical MRI in 30 never-previously medicated psychotic adolescents (ages 13-20). (FDG-PET) was obtained at baseline and after 8-9 weeks of a randomized double-blind trial of either olanzapine or haloperidol. Neuropsychological tests of executive function were also obtained.

Thalamus size and outcome in schizophrenia.

The size of the thalamus was assessed in 106 patients with schizophrenia and 42 normal controls using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. The thalamus was traced at five axial levels proportionately spaced from dorsal to ventral directions. Patients with schizophrenia had significantly smaller thalamic areas at more ventral levels.

Fluoxetine increases relative metabolic rate in prefrontal cortex in impulsive aggression.

Rationale: Impulsive aggressive personality disordered patients have been shown to have decreased relative glucose metabolism in orbito-frontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus compared with normal subjects. In addition, patients with impulsive aggression have an attenuation of symptoms with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatment.

Objectives: The goals of the present study were to attempt to replicate the finding of improvement in impulsive aggression in borderline personality disorder with SSRIs and to investigate the specific cortical areas modified by medication, which might underlie the observed clinical improvement using (18)FDG-PET.