Fetal Gene Regulatory Gene Deletions are Associated with Poor Cognition and Altered Cortical Morphology in Schizophrenia and Community-Based Samples.

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) are characterized by substantial clinical and genetic heterogeneity. Multiple recurrent copy number variants (CNVs) increase risk for SSDs; however, how known risk CNVs and broader genome-wide CNVs influence clinical variability is unclear. The current study examined associations between borderline intellectual functioning or childhood-onset psychosis, known risk CNVs, and burden of deletions affecting genes in 18 previously validated neurodevelopmental gene-sets in 618 SSD individuals.

Measuring Cognitive Impairments Associated With Schizophrenia in Clinical Practice: Overview of Current Challenges and Future Opportunities.

Background: Cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS) negatively impacts daily functioning, quality of life, and recovery, yet effective pharmacotherapies and practical assessments for clinical practice are lacking. Despite the pivotal progress made with establishment of the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) for clinical research, implementation of the full MCCB is too time-consuming and cost-ineffective for most clinicians in clinical practice.

Study Design: Here we discuss current assessments in relation to delivery format (interview-based and performance-based), validity, ease of use for clinicians and patients, reliability/reproducibility, cost-effectiveness, and suitability for clinical implementation.

Defeatist performance beliefs in individuals with recent-onset schizophrenia: Relationships with cognition and negative symptoms.

Background: The cognitive model of negative symptoms of schizophrenia suggests that defeatist performance beliefs (DPB), or overgeneralized negative beliefs about one's performance, are an intermediary variable along the pathway from impaired neurocognitive performance to negative symptoms and functioning in daily life. Although reliable associations between these variables have been established in chronic schizophrenia, less is known about the nature of these relationships in recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSz). This current study tested the associations between DPB and variables in the cognitive model (neurocognitive performance, negative symptoms, functioning) as well as mediation by DPB of the association between neurocognitive performance and negative symptoms in ROSz.

Task-based default mode network connectivity predicts cognitive impairment and negative symptoms in first-episode schizophrenia.

Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ) demonstrate difficulty distinguishing between internally and externally generated stimuli. These aberrations in "source monitoring" have been theorized as contributing to symptoms of the disorder, including hallucinations and delusions. Altered connectivity within the default mode network (DMN) of the brain has been proposed as a mechanism through which discrimination between self-generated and externally generated events is disrupted.

Intrinsic motivation predicts cognitive and functional gains during coordinated specialty care for first-episode schizophrenia.

Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) and embedded group therapeutic interventions have been effective in improving outcomes for individuals experiencing recent first-episode schizophrenia, including cognitive performance and functioning. Treatment response varies substantially, with some patients experiencing limited or no improvement. Motivation has emerged as a key determinant of treatment engagement and efficacy.