Distinct Response Inhibition Patterns in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Patients and Pathological Gamblers.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and pathological gambling (PG) are common disorders. The cognitive models of OCD and PG focus on abnormalities in response inhibition. Although, these functions have been studied in different PG and OCD samples, no study has compared the response inhibition in both.

Machine learning fMRI classifier delineates subgroups of schizophrenia patients.

Background: The search for a validated neuroimaging-based brain marker in psychiatry has thus far been fraught with both clinical and methodological difficulties. The present study aimed to apply a novel data-driven machine-learning approach to functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data obtained during a cognitive task in order to delineate the neural mechanisms involved in two schizophrenia subgroups: schizophrenia patients with and without Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

Methods: 16 schizophrenia patients with OCD ("schizo-obsessive"), 17 pure schizophrenia patients, and 20 healthy controls underwent fMRI while performing a working memory task.

Does co-morbid obsessive-compulsive disorder modify the abnormal language processing in schizophrenia patients? An FMRI study.

Background: Impaired language processing is one of the most replicated findings in functional brain studies of schizophrenia (SCH). This is demonstrated by reduced activations in left prefrontal language areas (i.e.

Reducing antipsychotic-induced weight gain in schizophrenia: a double-blind placebo-controlled study of reboxetine-betahistine combination.

Rationale: Combination treatment with reboxetine, a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, and betahistine, a histamine H1 receptor agonist/H3 antagonist, was developed to produce complementary action in CNS pathways regulating appetite and body weight. In the present placebo-controlled study, we evaluated whether a reboxetine-betahistine combination attenuates olanzapine-induced weight gain in schizophrenia patients.

Method: Forty-three inpatients with DSM-IV schizophrenic disorder participated in a randomized double-blind study.

Age-of-onset of schizophrenic and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in patients with schizo-obsessive disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) are prevalent, persistent, clinically significant phenomena in schizophrenia. To facilitate the understanding of their temporal interrelationship, we assessed age-of-onset of schizophrenic and obsessive-compulsive symptoms among 133 patients admitted to Tirat Carmel Mental Health Center (Israel) during the years 1999-2010 who met DSM-IV criteria for both schizophrenic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The mean age-of-onset of the first clinically significant OCS was significantly earlier than the mean age-of onset of the first psychotic symptoms.

Diminished language lateralization in schizophrenia corresponds to impaired inter-hemispheric functional connectivity.

Introduction: A consistent brain imaging finding in schizophrenia is decreased language-asymmetry, already evident in first episode patients, thus arguing for a biomarker of the disorder. Nonetheless, its specificity to schizophrenia is questionable. Furthermore, while previous studies suggested that enhanced right hemisphere activation underlies this diminished asymmetry, the mechanism for this anomaly is yet unknown.

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia: implications for future psychiatric classifications.

Although obsessive-compulsive symptoms are not considered primary features, they are prevalent, independent of psychosis, and substantially modify clinical characteristics, course, treatment and prognosis of schizophrenia. The authors highlight the clinical significance of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia, provide diagnostic criteria for "schizo-obsessive" patients and address future directions for research.

Global functional connectivity deficits in schizophrenia depend on behavioral state.

Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric illness characterized by deterioration of cognitive and emotional processing. It has been hypothesized that aberrant cortical connectivity is implicated in the disease (Friston, 1998), yet previous studies of functional connectivity (FC) in schizophrenia have shown mixed results (Garrity et al., 2007; Jafri et al.

The antinociceptive properties of reboxetine in acute pain.

The antinociceptive effects of the selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor antidepressant reboxetine and its interaction with various opioid and noradrenaline receptor subtypes were evaluated. Reboxetine (i.p.

Estradiol modulates uterine 18 kDa translocator protein gene expression in uterus and kidney of rats.

We examined the effect of ovariectomy, with and without estradiol treatment, on 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) gene expression and its binding density in the uterus and kidney of rats. Ovariectomy causes a significant decrease in uterine, but not renal TSPO binding density, while estradiol treatment of ovariectomized rats restored TSPO binding density in the uterus. These TSPO density levels did not correlate with steady state or new RNA transcription.

Co-morbid social phobia in schizophrenia.

Background: The co-morbid occurrence of anxiety disorders and schizophrenia has recently begun to be investigated. Social anxiety may be especially important to diagnose and manage among patients with schizophrenia.

Aim: To investigate the prevalence and correlates of social phobia in patients with schizophrenia.

Clinical characteristics of schizotypal-related obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In this study we compared 15 patients with DSM-IV obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) and 31 non-SPD OCD patients. OCD-SPD patients had poorer insight, more negative symptoms, lower functioning, more antipsychotic augmentation and more first-degree relatives with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. A distinct clinical phenotype of OCD associated with SPD should be considered when investigating etiopathogenetic mechanisms.

Relationship between antidepressants and IGF-1 system in the brain: possible role in cognition.

Antidepressants facilitate neuroplasticity by stimulating trophic factors. This study evaluated the effect of fluoxetine (FLX) treatment on insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in the rat brain and its role in the effect of FLX on cognition. IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) protein expression and IGF-1 mRNA levels were assessed in rat frontal cortex (FC) and hippocampus, in FLX-treated [15 mg/kg, orally; 3 (acute) or 21 (repeated) days] male Wistar rats.

Positive family history is associated with persistent elevated emotional distress in schizophrenia: evidence from a 16-month follow-up study.

There is some evidence that emotional reactivity to daily life stress is related to a genetic or familial liability to develop schizophrenia. However, it is unclear whether the emotional distress is elevated in schizophrenia patients with positive compared to negative family history. The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that a persistent higher level of emotional distress in schizophrenia subjects is associated with a positive family history of schizophrenia.

Neurological soft signs in schizophrenia patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a prevalent and clinically significant phenomenon in schizophrenia patients. Both schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are considered to be neurodevelopmental disorders sharing dysfunctional frontal-subcortical circuitry. Using the Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES), the authors assessed neurological soft signs in 59 patients who met DSM-IV criteria for both schizophrenia and OCD.

Preferential aggregation of obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders in schizophrenia patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objective: To validate a complex association between schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Method: We used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders to compare the rate of OCD spectrum and additional Axis I disorders in 100 patients who met criteria for both schizophrenia and OCD, non-OCD schizophrenia (n = 100), and OCD (n = 35).

Results: There was a robust between-group difference in the number of patients with one or more OCD spectrum disorders (schizo-obsessive n = 30, compared with schizophrenia n = 8; P = 0.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder in bipolar disorder patients with first manic episode.

Background: Evidence indicates that obsessive--compulsive disorder (OCD) co-occurs with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) at a higher rate than in the general population. The inflated rate of comorbidity may result from chronic illness, antipsychotic therapy or treatment-seeking behavior. To control for these factors we evaluated the prevalence of OCD in patients with first-episode acute mania who met DSM-IV criteria for BD-I, and compared them with our previously reported group of first-episode schizophrenia patients.

Decreased circulatory levels of neuroactive steroids in behaviourally more extremely affected rats subsequent to exposure to a potentially traumatic experience.

This study examined the effects of stress exposure on plasma levels of corticosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulphate derivative DHEA-S in relation to behavioural responses. The magnitude of anxiety-like behaviours on the elevated plus-maze and of non-habituated exaggerated startle reactions were assessed in rats exposed to stress compared to controls. Individuals displaying extreme behavioural changes were termed extreme behavioural response (EBR), as opposed to minimal behavioural response (MBR) in both paradigms performed consecutively.

Behavioral effects of opioid subtypes compared with benzodiazepines in the staircase paradigm.

Opioid abuse is frequently associated with the abuse of benzodiazepines (BZ). Despite the fact that benzodiazepines and opioids act at totally separate receptor sites and through different biochemical and pharmacological mechanisms, they obviously interact with each other at some level. The present study was designed to investigate the behavioral effects of agents with activity on the opioid system and with the benzodiazepine receptor complex in the staircase paradigm.

Low-dose mirtazapine: a new option in the treatment of antipsychotic-induced akathisia. A randomized, double-blind, placebo- and propranolol-controlled trial.

Background: Preliminary evidence indicates a beneficial effect of serotonin 2A (5-HT(2A)) receptor antagonists in antipsychotic-induced akathisia (AIA). We investigated the antiakathisia effect, safety, and tolerability of low-dose mirtazapine, an agent with marked 5-HT(2A) antagonism.

Methods: In a 7-day double-blind trial, 90 antipsychotic-treated patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for AIA were randomly assigned to mirtazapine (n = 30; 15 mg), propranolol (n = 30; 80 mg), or placebo (n = 30).

Familiality in a five-factor model of schizophrenia psychopathology: findings from a 16-month follow-up study.

We sought to examine stability associations between family history and variability of schizophrenia symptoms repeatedly examined during a naturalistic follow-up study. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, the Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire, and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale were administered to 69 patients with familial and 79 patients with sporadic schizophrenia, at hospital admission and at stabilization stage (about 16 months later). Analysis of covariance was applied to identify the association of symptom factors with familiality of schizophrenia.

COMT Val158Met polymorphism in schizophrenia with obsessive-compulsive disorder: a case-control study.

This is the first study of a possible molecular genetic basis for schizophrenia with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We performed a case-control association study of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism in schizophrenia-OCD patients, OCD and healthy controls. One hundred and thirteen schizophrenia-OCD patients, 79 OCD patients and 171 control subjects were genotyped for the Val(158)Met polymorphism in the COMT gene.