Schizotypal traits and cognitive performance in siblings of patients with psychosis.

Introduction: Schizotypy has been proposed to be the expression of genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. The available literature shows cognitive similarities between schizotypy and schizophrenia, with mildly impaired performance being associated with schizotypy. This study aims to determine the relationship between schizotypy and cognitive performance in siblings of patients with psychosis.

Initial validation of the Spanish childhood trauma questionnaire-short form: factor structure, reliability and association with parenting.

The present study examines the internal consistency and factor structure of the Spanish version of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) and the association between the CTQ-SF subscales and parenting style. Cronbach's α and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed in a female clinical sample (n = 185). Kendall's ι correlations were calculated between the maltreatment and parenting scales in a subsample of 109 patients.

Relationships between childhood maltreatment, parenting style, and borderline personality disorder criteria.

This study examines the relationship of different types of childhood maltreatment and the perceived parenting style with borderline personality disorder (BPD) criteria. Kendall's Tau partial correlations were performed controlling for the effect of simultaneous adverse experiences and Axis I and II symptoms in a sample of 109 female patients (32 BPD, 43 other personality disorder, and 34 non-personality disorder). BPD criteria were associated with higher scores on emotional and sexual abuse, whereas parenting style did not show a specific association with BPD.

Spanish adaptation of the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) for schizophrenia.

Introduction: The Beck Cognitive Insight Scale has been designed to evaluate the cognitive insight capacity, that is to say, the practice of self-reflectiveness as a meta-cognitive mechanism for examining and analysing the disorder's symptoms, it also permits a continuous re-evaluation of inadequate interpretations.

Methodology: The aim of this study is to examine the psychometric properties, the dimensional structure and the internal validity of the Spanish version of Beck's Cognitive Scale of Insight (BCIS). In this paper we also analyse its relation with the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS).

Association study of nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms in schizophrenia.

Background: Genome-wide association studies using several hundred thousand anonymous markers present limited statistical power. Alternatively, association studies restricted to common nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) have the advantage of strongly reducing the multiple testing problem, while increasing the probability of testing functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Methods: We performed a case-control association study of common nsSNPs in Galician (northwest Spain) samples using the Affymetrix GeneChip Human 20k cSNP Kit, followed by a replication study of the more promising results.

Minor physical anomalies and schizophrenia: literature review.

Many authors view schizophrenia as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Knowledge of whether patients have morphologic variants that occur during the development of different anatomic areas of the brain and an understanding of the relation between such variants and brain development or prenatal exposure to possible noxae could provide clues about the events that lead to schizophrenia. Nonspecific morphologic variants that occur during the first and second trimesters of gestation, which are known as minor physical anomalies (MPA) and can be used as disease risk markers insusceptible persons, have been related with schizophrenia,independently of the anatomic region where they occur.

Increased morning adrenocorticotrophin hormone (ACTH) levels in women with postpartum thoughts of harming the infant.

Introduction: Some postpartum women experience intrusive thoughts of harming the infant. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which has been linked to postpartum depression, may play a role in the aetiology of postpartum thoughts of harming the infant. We aimed to study whether HPA axis hormones measured early postpartum are related to postpartum intrusive thoughts.

Thyroid function 48h after delivery as a marker for subsequent postpartum depression.

Physiological changes during gestation and after delivery are associated with postpartum thyroid dysfunction, which is due to thyroid autoimmunity in some cases. Postpartum thyroid dysfunction, in turn, has been associated with postpartum depression (PPD). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether thyroid function immediately after delivery can predict postpartum depression at 8 weeks and 32 weeks after delivery.

Psychopathology and personality traits in psychotic patients and their first-degree relatives.

Personality dimensions have been associated with symptoms dimensions in schizophrenic patients (SP). In this paper we study the relationships between symptoms of functional psychoses and personality dimensions in SP and their first-degree relatives (SR), in other psychotic patients (PP) and their first-degree relatives (PR), and in healthy controls in order to evaluate the possible clinical dimensionality of these disorders. Twenty-nine SP, 29 SR, 18 PP, 18 PR and 188 controls were assessed using the temperament and character inventory (TCI-R).

[A genetic-behavioral alternative to the personality disorders: the Livesley dimensional model].

In the personality disorder section of the DSM-V research agenda, the authors stress the need for studies on the relevance of a change from diagnostic categorical models to dimensional ones. These studies should identify the underlying genetic and neurobiologic mechanisms and appropriate representation on the dimensions of clinical criteria as cognitive disturbances, identity conflicts and attachment. Livesley's behavioral-genetic model represents an interesting dimensional paradigm of personality pathology.

Association of common copy number variants at the glutathione S-transferase genes and rare novel genomic changes with schizophrenia.

Copy number variants (CNVs) are a substantial source of human genetic diversity, influencing the variable susceptibility to multifactorial disorders. Schizophrenia is a complex illness thought to be caused by a number of genetic and environmental effects, few of which have been clearly defined. Recent reports have found several low prevalent CNVs associated with the disease.

[Comorbidity of major depression with other common mental disorders in primary care patients].

Introduction: Psychiatric comorbidity affects the impact, the prognosis and the management of depression.

Aims: To determine the prevalence of other common mental disorders in patients with major depression and to analyse their associated comorbidities.

Design: Two-stage cross-sectional study: a) screening (Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale); b) a standardised psychiatric interview.

A common haplotype of DRD3 affected by recent positive selection is associated with protection from schizophrenia.

The number and frequency of susceptibility alleles at loci associated to most psychiatric disorders is largely unknown, in spite of its relevance for the design of studies aiming to find these alleles. Both, common polymorphisms and rare mutations may contribute to the genetic susceptibility to complex psychiatric disorders, being the relative relevance of each type of variation currently under debate. Here, we confirmed the existence of a common protective haplotype against schizophrenia at the dopamine D(3) receptor (DRD3) gene, by replication and pooled analysis with previous data (Mantel-Haenszel chi(2) P value = 0.

Mood changes after delivery: role of the serotonin transporter gene.

Background: Polymorphic variations in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) moderate the depressogenic effects of tryptophan depletion. After childbirth there is a sharp reduction in brain tryptophan availability, thus polymorphic variations in 5-HTT may play a similar role in the post-partum period.

Aims: To study the role of 5-HTT polymorphic variations in mood changes after delivery.

Improving the role of nursing in the treatment of depression in primary care in Spain.

Purpose: We describe a multicomponent program for the systematic evaluation and treatment of depression in primary care.

Conclusion: Primary-care nurses trained in clinical and therapeutic aspects of depression play a central role in care management, patient education, treatment adherence, and clinical monitoring.

Practice Implications: Diverse interventions, including organizational changes and the enhancement of the role of nurses, have been effective in improving depression outcomes in primary-care settings.

Structure of personality pathology in normal and clinical samples: Spanish validation of the DAPP-BQ.

Given that the DSM taxonomy of personality disorders is flawed by severe classificatory problems, the development of alternative classificatory systems, such as the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ), has now become a priority. This study examined the internal consistency, second-order factor structure, and criterion validity of a Spanish translation of the DAPP-BQ in two samples: subjects with personality disorder (n = 155) and subjects from the general population (n = 300). Alpha coefficients ranged satisfactorily from .

[Family environment and expressed emotion in patients with schizophrenia or other psychoses and in their first-degree relatives].

Introduction: Family has always been considered a key milestone for the development of the human psyche. Furthermore, in relationship with mental disorders we know that certain aspects of family environment change the course of some of these disorders. This study has aimed to compare the family setting perception of schizophrenic patients vs.

Analyses of variants located in estrogen metabolism genes (ESR1, ESR2, COMT and APOE) and schizophrenia.

Relationships between gender, age-of-onset of schizophrenia and reproductive age strongly suggest a key role for gonadal hormones, and more specifically for estrogens, in the etiology of the illness. Also, estrogens act as neural growth and trophic factors influencing neuron and glial cells in many areas of the central nervous system. Therefore, we investigated the association between schizophrenia and 4 genes related to estrogen metabolism.

Assessment of an enhanced program for depression management in primary care: a cluster randomized controlled trial. The INDI project (Interventions for Depression Improvement).

Background: Most depressed patients are attended at primary care. However, there are significant shortcomings in the diagnosis, management and outcomes of these patients. The aim of this study is to determine whether the implementation of a structured programme for managing depression will provide better health outcomes than usual management.

Depression and physical comorbidity in primary care.

Objective: To analyse how clinical characteristics in depressed patients, as well as the management of their depression, are related to the presence of significant physical comorbidity.

Methods: This is a two-phase cross-sectional study that took place in 10 primary care centres in Tarragona (Spain). A total of 906 consecutive patients were screened for depression with a self-rating questionnaire and 306 were subject to a structured interview that contained the diagnoses of major depression and dysthymia (DSM-IV), and the severity of the physical comorbidity (Duke Severity of Illness Scale: DUSOI).

The discoidin domain receptor 1 as a novel susceptibility gene for schizophrenia.

Evidence suggests that myelin alterations could predispose to schizophrenia. Reduced expression of several myelin genes has been observed in schizophrenia patients. Recently, we identified the discoidin domain receptor 1 (DDR1; located at human chromosome 6p21.

Association of schizophrenia with DTNBP1 but not with DAO, DAOA, NRG1 and RGS4 nor their genetic interaction.

Recent reports indicate that DAO, DAOA, DTNBP1, NRG1 and RGS4 are some of the most-replicated genes implicated in susceptibility to schizophrenia. Also, the functions of these genes could converge in a common pathway of glutamate metabolism. The aim of this study was to evaluate if each of these genes, or their interaction, was associated with schizophrenia.

Sustained and selective attention deficits as vulnerability markers to psychosis.

The first descriptions of schizophrenia emphasized attention problems patients with schizophrenia have but recent results evidence that other psychotic disorders share them. We compared the performance in sustained and selective attention between psychotic patients (P), their healthy first degree relatives (R) and healthy volunteers (C) to prove whether these alterations could be an endophenotype of vulnerability to psychosis. We also compared the performance of schizophrenic patients (SZP) and that of patients with other functional psychoses (OP) in order to prove whether these alterations are specific of any psychotic disorder.

M129V variation in the prion protein gene and psychotic disorders: relationship to neuropsychological and psychopathological measures.

The methionine/valine polymorphism at position 129 in the prion protein gene, PRNP M129V, is a known risk factor for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Psychiatric manifestations including psychosis are common in the early phase of CJD and it has therefore been hypothesized that the prion protein could be involved in psychotic disorders. Moreover, among the various hypothesized functions of the prion protein, a role in synaptic activity has been described.