Thought disorder in offspring of schizophrenic parents: findings from the New York High-Risk Project.

The goal of the present analyses was to examine the hypothesis that mild forms of thought disorder (TD) may serve as an indicator of genetic liability for schizophrenia. A subset of 232 subjects drawn from the New York High-Risk Project was used to compare individuals at high risk for schizophrenia (ie, offspring of parents with schizophrenia; n = 63) with 2 groups of individuals at low risk for schizophrenia (ie, offspring of parents with affective disorder [n = 52] and offspring of psychiatrically normal parents [n = 117]). Subjects were administered the Rorschach Inkblot Test, and their responses were assessed according to the Thought Disorder Index (TDI).

Genomewide linkage scan reveals novel loci modifying age of onset of Huntington's disease in the Venezuelan HD kindreds.

The age of onset of Huntington's disease (HD) is inversely correlated with the CAG length in the HD gene. The CAG repeat length accounts for 70% of the variability in HD age of onset. However, 90% of individuals worldwide with expanded alleles possess between 40 and 50 CAG repeat lengths in their HD gene.

Interval-timing deficits in individuals at high risk for schizophrenia.

A duration-bisection procedure was used to study the effects of signal modality and divided attention on duration classification in participants at high genetic risk for schizophrenia (HrSz), major affective disorder (HrAff), and normal controls (NC). Participants learned short and long target durations during training and classified probe durations during test. All groups classified visual signals as shorter than equivalent duration auditory signals.

Handedness in children of schizophrenic parents: data from three high-risk studies.

This is the first report of data analyses from a consortium of longitudinal genetic-risk studies on offspring of schizophrenic parents (CLOSSER) who were followed from birth or mid-childhood to their early 20's or considerably older ages. Three of the CLOSSER studies provide data to enable us to address long-persisting questions in the schizophrenia literature concerning possible atypicality of hand dominance associated with the illness. Handedness, used as a proxy for cerebral lateralization, is a topic of considerable importance because of its potential to reveal mechanisms in the underlying pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

Venezuelan kindreds reveal that genetic and environmental factors modulate Huntington's disease age of onset.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease caused by a triplet (CAG) expansion mutation. The length of the triplet repeat is the most important factor in determining age of onset of HD, although substantial variability remains after controlling for repeat length. The Venezuelan HD kindreds encompass 18,149 individuals spanning 10 generations, 15,409 of whom are living.

Wisconsin Card Sorting deficits in the offspring of schizophrenics in the New York High-Risk Project.

It has been suggested that performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) may be an indicator of vulnerability to schizophrenia. WCST deficits have been demonstrated in schizophrenic patients and their relatives, but not as yet in their offspring. This study aimed to further establish the indicator potential of WCST deficits by analyzing data collected as part of the New York High-Risk Project (NYHRP), a longitudinal study of attention, cognition and clinical functioning in the offspring of schizophrenic (HRSz, n=73), affective disordered (HRAff, n=61) and normal comparison (NC, n=120) parents.

PERSONALITY FEATURES AND DISORDER IN THE SUBJECTS IN THE NEW YORK HIGH-RISK PROJECT.

One hundred and seventy-five offspring of parents in two psychiatrically ill groups and of normal controls in the New York High-Risk Project (NYHRP) were assessed for Axis II personality traits and disorders as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, Revised (DSM-III-R). These offspring include: subjects at high risk for schizophrenia (HRSz, n = 48), all of whom have a parent with schizophrenic disorder; subjects at high risk for affective disorder (HRAff, n = 40), all of whom have a parent with affective disorder; and subjects at no increased risk for psychiatric illness (NC, n = 87), whose parents are psychiatrically normal. The trained interviewers, who administered a standardized direct interview, were blind to parental clinical status and to previous clinical status of the offspring.