Neuroanatomical profiles of treatment-resistance in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Widespread structrual abnormalities in subcortical brain regions have been identified in patients with schizophrenia. However, only a few studies have examined the neuroanatomical profiles of patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to compare differences in subcortical and hippocampal volumes between: (i) treatment-resistant patients who are non-responders to both first-line antipsychotics and clozapine (URS), (ii) treatment-resistant patients who are non-responders to first-line antipsychotics but are responders to clozapine (CLZ-Resp), (iii) responders to first-line antipsychotics (FL-Resp), and (iv) healthy controls.

Modulation of brain activity with transcranial direct current stimulation: Targeting regions implicated in impaired illness awareness in schizophrenia.

Background: Impaired illness awareness or insight into illness (IIA) is a common feature of schizophrenia that contributes to medication nonadherence and poor clinical outcomes. Neuroimaging studies suggest IIA may arise from interhemispheric imbalance in frontoparietal regions, particularly in the posterior parietal area (PPA) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). In this pilot study, we examined the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on brain regions implicated in IIA.

A meta-analysis of transcranial direct current stimulation for schizophrenia: "Is more better?".

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has generated interest in recent years as a potential adjunctive treatment for patients with schizophrenia. The primary objective of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the efficacy of tDCS on positive symptoms, particularly auditory hallucinations, and negative symptoms. A literature search of randomized sham-controlled trials was conducted using the OVID database on October 9, 2018.

Acute and long-term effects of electroconvulsive therapy on human dentate gyrus.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment for severe depression, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Animal studies have consistently shown that electroconvulsive stimulation induces neuroplastic changes in the dentate gyrus. To date, few studies have investigated the effect of ECT on human hippocampal subfields.

OASIS: The Obesity Awareness and Insight Scale.

Aims: Impaired illness awareness or not accepting that one has obesity is an understudied phenomenon that may negatively influence treatment adherence and clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review of available measures of obesity awareness, and subsequently develop and validate a novel scale that measures the core domains of obesity awareness.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature revealed no illness specific measure of subjective obesity awareness.

The effects of illness severity, cognition, and estimated antipsychotic dopamine receptor occupancy on insight into the illness in schizophrenia: An analysis of clinical antipsychotic trials of intervention effectiveness (CATIE) data.

Background: The relationship between dopamine D receptor (DR) occupancy and impaired illness awareness (IIA) remains unclear. While IIA is associated with illness severity and cognitive dysfunction, antipsychotic medication, the principal treatment for schizophrenia, indirectly improves IIA, but may simultaneously contribute to cognitive dysfunction at supratherapeutic doses.

Aim And Methods: We investigated the influence of estimated DR (Est.

Reprint of OASIS - Obesity Awareness and Insight Scale.

Aims: Impaired illness awareness or not accepting that one has obesity is an understudied phenomenon that may negatively influence treatment adherence and clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review of available measures of obesity awareness, and subsequently develop and validate a novel scale that measures the core domains of obesity awareness.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature revealed no illness specific measure of subjective obesity awareness.

Effect of Education on Alzheimer's Disease-Related Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Healthy Controls, and Participants with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Cognitive reserve is the acquired capacity reflecting a functional brain adaptability/flexibility in the context of aging. Educational attainment is thought to be among the most important factors that contribute to cognitive reserve.

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships among duration of education and Alzheimer's disease (AD) related neuroimaging biomarkers such as amyloid-β deposition, glucose metabolism, and brain volumes in each stage of AD.

Neurometabolite levels in antipsychotic-naïve/free patients with schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of H-MRS studies.

Background: Studies using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) have reported altered neurometabolite levels in patients with schizophrenia. However, results are possibly confounded by the influence of antipsychotic (AP). Thus, this meta-analysis aimed to examine neurometabolite levels in AP-naïve/free patients with schizophrenia.

BASIS: The blood pressure awareness and insight scale.

Impaired illness awareness or not accepting that one has hypertension (HTN) may be an important predictor of treatment adherence and optimal blood pressure control. The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review of available instruments to evaluate HTN awareness, and subsequently present a novel scale that measures the core domains of subjective illness awareness in HTN. Based on the absence of any validated HTN specific measure identified through our review, the Blood Pressure Awareness and Insight Scale (BASIS) was developed (www.

Effect of electroconvulsive therapy on hippocampal and amygdala volumes: systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is one of the most effective treatments for depression, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Animal studies have shown that electroconvulsive shock induced neuroplastic changes in the hippocampus. Aims To summarise volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies investigating the effects of ECT on limbic brain structures.

Striatal neurometabolite levels in patients with schizophrenia undergoing long-term antipsychotic treatment: A proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and reliability study.

Previous proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) studies have reported disrupted levels of various neurometabolites in patients with schizophrenia. An area of particular interest within this patient population is the striatum, which is highly implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The present study examined neurometabolite levels in the striatum of 12 patients with schizophrenia receiving antipsychotic treatment for at least 1 year and 11 healthy controls using 3-Tesla H-MRS (PRESS, TE = 35 ms).

Reduced insulin sensitivity may be related to less striatal glutamate: An H-MRS study in healthy non-obese humans.

Levels of striatal dopamine (DA) may be positively correlated with levels of striatal glutamate (Glu). While reduced insulin sensitivity (%S) has been associated with reduced striatal DA levels in healthy non-obese persons, whether reduced %S is also associated with reduced striatal Glu levels has not yet been established. Using H-MRS, we measured levels of several neurometabolites in the striatum and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of seventeen healthy non-obese persons (9 female, mean age: 28.

Amotivation is associated with smaller ventral striatum volumes in older patients with schizophrenia.

Objective: Motivational deficits are prevalent in patients with schizophrenia, persist despite antipsychotic treatment, and predict long-term outcomes. Evidence suggests that patients with greater amotivation have smaller ventral striatum (VS) volumes. We wished to replicate this finding in a sample of older, chronically medicated patients with schizophrenia.

Anosognosia Is an Independent Predictor of Conversion From Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer's Disease and Is Associated With Reduced Brain Metabolism.

Objective: Anosognosia, or impaired illness awareness, is a common feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and less so of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Importantly, anosognosia negatively influences clinical outcomes for patients and their caregivers and may predict the conversion from MCI to AD. This study aimed to examine (1) the relationship between brain glucose metabolism as measured by fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and anosognosia in patients with MCI and AD and (2) the predictive utility of anosognosia in patients with MCI for later conversion to AD, even when controlling for other factors, including gender, education, apolipoprotein E ε4 carrier status, dementia severity, and cognitive dysfunction.

Comparison of clinician-rated and self-report insight in Korean patients with schizophrenia using VAGUS insight scale.

This study was aimed to explore self-report auditory verbal hallucinations to provide unique and valuable information in addition to clinician-rated assessment in patients with schizophrenia. The VAGUS (http://www.vagusonline.

Trait impulsiveness is related to smaller post-commissural putamen volumes in males but not females.

Impulsivity is considered a vulnerability trait for addiction. Recently, we found trait non-planning impulsiveness measured with the Karolinska Scales of Personality was negatively correlated with dopamine D receptor availability in the ventral striatum of healthy humans. While also observed in rodents, human studies have failed to find this association with other measures of trait impulsivity.

The Effects of Cortical Hypometabolism and Hippocampal Atrophy on Clinical Trajectories in Mild Cognitive Impairment with Suspected Non-Alzheimer's Pathology: A Brief Report.

The clinical and structural trajectories of suspected non-Alzheimer' pathology (SNAP) remain elusive due to its heterogeneous etiology. Baseline and longitudinal clinical (global cognition, daily functioning, symptoms of dementia, and learning memory) and hippocampal volume trajectories over two years were compared between patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) with SNAP with reduced hippocampal volumes (SNAP+HIPPO) and aMCI patients with SNAP without reduced hippocampal volumes. SNAP+HIPPO showed overall worse baseline cognitive functions.

The relationship between subcortical brain volume and striatal dopamine D receptor availability in healthy humans assessed with [ C]-raclopride and [ C]-(+)-PHNO PET.

Background: Abnormalities in dopamine (DA) and brain morphology are observed in several neuropsychiatric disorders. However, it is not fully understood how these abnormalities may relate to one another. For such in vivo findings to be used as biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disease, it must be understood how variability in DA relates to brain structure under healthy conditions.

Hippocampal and Clinical Trajectories of Mild Cognitive Impairment with Suspected Non-Alzheimer's Disease Pathology.

Suspected non-Alzheimer's disease pathology (SNAP) characterizes individuals showing neurodegeneration (e.g., hypometabolism) without amyloid-β (Aβ).

Intranasal oxytocin does not modulate jumping to conclusions in schizophrenia: Potential interactions with caudate volume and baseline social functioning.

Background: Patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) tend to sample less information when making a decision, jumping to conclusions (JTC) without sufficient evidence. This "JTC bias" may be a trait marker of the disease and may not improve with antipsychotic treatment. We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to test whether intranasal oxytocin could reduce JTC in stable, medicated patients with SCZ and healthy controls (HCs).

Kynurenic Acid in Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Kynurenic acid (KYNA) is an endogenous antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors that is derived from astrocytes as part of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan degradation. Evidence suggests that abnormal KYNA levels are involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. However, this has never been assessed through a meta-analysis.

Threshold of Dopamine D2/3 Receptor Occupancy for Hyperprolactinemia in Older Patients With Schizophrenia.

Objective: Although hyperprolactinemia carries a long-term risk of morbidity, the threshold of dopamine D2/3 receptor (D2/3R) occupancy for hyperprolactinemia has not been investigated in older patients with schizophrenia. Data were taken from a positron emission tomography (PET) study conducted between August 2007 and August 2015. The present post hoc study included 42 clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) (mean ± SD age = 60.

Benzodiazepine Use Attenuates Cortical β-Amyloid and is Not Associated with Progressive Cognitive Decline in Nondemented Elderly Adults: A Pilot Study Using F-Florbetapir Positron Emission Tomography.

Objective: It is inconclusive as to whether benzodiazepines (BZDs) are related to cognitive deterioration in the elderly populations. Animal studies suggest that γ-aminobutyric acid A receptor agonists, such as BZDs, may prevent Aβ-neurotoxicity and reduce β-amyloid (Aβ). However, no studies have investigated the effects of BZD use on Aβ in humans.