Reasoning in psychosis: risky but not necessarily hasty.

Introduction: A liberal acceptance (LA) threshold for hypotheses has been put forward to explain the well-replicated "jumping to conclusions" (JTC) bias in psychosis, particularly in patients with paranoid symptoms. According to this account, schizophrenia patients rest their decisions on lower subjective probability estimates. The initial formulation of the LA account also predicts an absence of the JTC bias under high task ambiguity (i.

Sustained and "sleeper" effects of group metacognitive training for schizophrenia: a randomized clinical trial.

Importance: Cognitive interventions increasingly complement psychopharmacological treatment to enhance symptomatic and functional outcome in schizophrenia. Metacognitive training (MCT) is targeted at cognitive biases involved in the pathogenesis of delusions.

Objective: To examine the long-term efficacy of group MCT for schizophrenia in order to explore whether previously established effects were sustained.

Complementary group Metacognitive Training (MCT) reduces delusional ideation in schizophrenia.

Background: Symptom reduction under antipsychotic agents is incomplete for most schizophrenia patients. In order to enhance outcome, cognitive approaches are increasingly adopted as add-on interventions. The present study aimed to determine the efficacy of group Metacognitive Training (MCT), which targets cognitive biases putatively involved in the pathogenesis of delusions.

Predictors of early stable symptomatic remission after an exacerbation of schizophrenia: the significance of symptoms, neuropsychological performance and cognitive biases.

Neuropsychological deficits and severity of initial psychopathology have been repeatedly associated with poor symptomatic outcomes in schizophrenia. The role of higher-order cognitive biases on symptomatic outcomes of the disorder has not yet been investigated. The present study aimed to assess the contribution of cognitive biases, psychopathology and neuropsychological deficits on the probability of achieving early symptomatic remission after a psychotic episode in patients with schizophrenia.

Predictors of performance improvements within a cognitive remediation program for schizophrenia.

Cognitive impairment is regarded a core feature of schizophrenia and is associated with low psychosocial functioning. There is rich evidence that cognitive remediation can improve cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia. However, little is known about what predicts individual remediation success.

"Don't give me that look" - overconfidence in false mental state perception in schizophrenia.

Dysfunctions in social cognition are implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and have been extensively replicated over the years. For memory research, the administration of cognitive tasks with metacognitive aspects like confidence ratings has deepened our insight into how impairments contribute to symptoms of the disorder. A total of 76 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and a sample of 30 healthy participants were tested with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (Eyes-test).

Maturation of P300 amplitude and short-term learning as reflected by P300 habituation between trial blocks in children.

Although numerous studies concerning P300 have been reported in adults, few have focused on the normal development of children, particularly in relation to habituation. The aim of this study was to investigate maturation of the P300 component and its habituation (short-term automatic learning) in a sample of healthy children and adolescents. Four models of maturation of the P300 (linear, quadratic or two different linear regressions for the pre-pubertal and pubertal age groups as well as age-inverse) were applied and compared, in order to find the most adequate model according to the Bayesian Information Criterion.

Context representation and thought disorder in schizophrenia.

Background: Formal thought disorder (FTD) in schizophrenia is related to a disturbance in the representation of contextual information. This study aimed to assess the extent to which the 'context module' is disturbed in patients with schizophrenia. The context module is needed to mediate an appropriate behavioral response.

[Treatment of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Part 2: Pharmacological strategies].

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are a clinically relevant symptom dimension and one of the best predictors for functional outcome. Pharmacological treatment of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia is still a challenge. The objective of this article is to present a detailed review of the literature on strategies for the pharmacological treatment of cognitive deficits.

[Treatment of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Part 1: Diagnostic and psychological training].

Cognitive dysfunction is a core feature of schizophrenia. Although cognitive deficits in the domains of attention, memory and executive functions have been described for many decades, the focus on therapeutic approaches is new. The recognition that cognitive deficits are the best known predictor of functional outcome in schizophrenic patients explains the increasing interest in the diagnosis and therapy of these impairments.

Metacognitive training for patients with schizophrenia (MCT): feasibility and preliminary evidence for its efficacy.

Background: The treatment program "Metacognitive training for patients with schizophrenia" (MCT) addresses cognitive deficits and biases assumed to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of delusions (e.g. jumping to conclusions, theory of mind deficits, bias against disconfirmatory evidence).

Prolonged activation EEG differentiates dementia with and without delirium in frail elderly patients.

Objective: Delirium in the elderly results in increased morbidity, mortality and functional decline. Delirium is underdiagnosed, particularly in dementia. To increase diagnostic accuracy, we investigated whether maintenance of activation assessed by EEG discriminates delirium in association with dementia (D+D) from dementia without delirium (DP) and cognitively unimpaired elderly subjects (CU).

Frontal and temporal sources of mismatch negativity in healthy controls, patients at onset of schizophrenia in adolescence and others at 15 years after onset.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential measure of auditory change detection. It is widely reported to be smaller in patients with schizophrenia and may not improve along with otherwise successful clinical treatment. The main aim of this report is to explore ways of measuring and presenting four features of frequency-deviant MMN dipole sources (dipole moment, peak latency, brain location and orientation) and to relate these to the processes of psychopathology and illness progression.

Cloning and expression of mistletoe lectin III B-subunit.

Aqueous extracts of mistletoe (Viscum album L.) contain toxic proteins (lectins) MLI (viscumin), MLII, and MLIII. We previously cloned the gene encoding MLIII precursor.

Cloning and expression of catalytic subunit of MLIII, the ribosome-inactivating protein from Viscum album.

We have cloned the gene encoding a precursor of mistletoe (Viscum album) toxin MLIII. Analyses of nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of this gene revealed significant differences between MLI and MLIII preprotoxin genes. Immunochemical properties of recombinant A-subunit expressed in Escherichia coli and renatured were investigated using a panel of monoclonal antibodies raised against three mistletoe toxins (MLI, MLII, and MLIII).

Study of heterogeneity of lectins in mistletoe preparations by monoclonal antibodies to their A-subunits.

Monoclonal antibodies (monAbs) displaying diverse affinity to native and recombinant mistletoe lectins A-chains (ML I-A, ML II-A, ML III-A and rML-A) have been obtained. In accordance to specificity of monAb they have been classified into three groups: 1. monAb against MLI-A and MLII-A, 2.

Mistletoe lectin I forms a double trefoil structure.

The quaternary structure of mistletoe lectin I (MLI), a type II ribosome inactivating protein, has been determined by X-ray crystallography. A definitive molecular replacement solution was determined for MLI using the co-ordinates of the homologue ricin as a search model. MLI exists as an [AB]2 dimer with internal crystallographic two-fold symmetry.

Testing the hypothesis of the relationships between laterality and ability according to Annett's right-shift theory: findings in an epidemiological sample of young adults.

In a large epidemiological sample of young adults, predictions of the right-shift (RS) theory of Annett that cognitive abilities will vary with right-left hand skill were tested. Presenting a theory of a genetic balanced polymorphism with heterozygote advantage for laterality and ability, Annett & Manning (1989, 1990a) and Annett (1993c) claimed that probands at the right end of the R-L hand skill continuum would show lower general intelligence in IQ testing and that specific verbal abilities and educational success would be lower at both extremes of the R-L distribution, taking the form of an inverted U. Most of these predictions could not be confirmed by our study.

[Production of biologically active recombinant ricin B-chain].

Escherichia coli cells transformed with plasmids containing ricin B-chain coding sequences are shown to express this heterologous protein in inclusion bodies. After denaturation and renaturation of the product in the presence of glutathione and lactose, the recombinant ricin B-chain is soluble, biologically active and stable. Cytotoxicity of heterodimer containing this protein and ricin A-chain is found to be only ten times lower, than that of native ricin.

The interactions of anti-MLI monoclonal antibodies with isoforms of the lectin from Viscum album.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAb) reacting with native (TA5, TB12) and denatured (T33, T35) plant toxin mistletoe lectin I (MLI) from Viscum album have been obtained. The interaction between mAbs and native toxin with ML isoforms (MLII, MLIII) has been investigated. An immunological cross-reaction has been shown to take place for mAb TA5 (anti-A-chain of MLI) between MLII and MLIII isoforms of toxin.

Renaturated ricin toxin B chain made in Escherichia coli is soluble, stable, and biologically active.

Escherichia coli cells transformed with plasmids containing ricin B-chain coding sequences are shown to express this heterologous protein in inclusion bodies. After denaturation and renaturation of the product in the presence of glutathione and lactose, the recombinant ricin B-chain is soluble, biologically active and stable. Cytotoxicity of heterodimer with this protein and ricin A-chain is bound to be only ten times less than of native ricin.

Comparison of the cytotoxic activity of the immunotoxins with different internalization rate.

In comparative experiments the conjugates of A-chain of a plant toxin ricin (RTA) and monoclonal antibody (MAb) HAE9 (IgM) directed against human erythroblast antigen (Ag-Eb) or Mab HAE3 against human glycophorin-A and immunotoxins (IT) directed to CD5 and CD7 antigens of human T-lymphocytes have been investigated. Proceeding from the number of receptors on a cell, we compared efficiency of the cytotoxic effects of the conjugates with different internalization rate. The efficiency of immunoconjugates against Ags with an extremely high internalization rate was only slightly higher than that of immunoconjugates against Ags with a lower internalization rate.