The aims of this prospective study were to explore in subjects with psychosis participating in a rehabilitation program whether cognitive performances at baseline predicted (i) psychosocial functioning over a 15-16 month follow-up; (ii) improvement in psychosocial functioning over the rehabilitation program. Visuo-spatial tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) were administered to assess cognitive performance in 55 subjects with schizophrenia spectrum disorders who completed a rehabilitation program. The Multnomah Community Ability Scale (MCAS) was used to measure dimensions of community functioning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvid Based Ment Health
August 2005
Blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) brain changes underlying response to quetiapine were examined using passive viewing of emotionally negative stimuli. Twelve DSM-IV schizophrenia patients with blunted affect (BA+) were scanned before and after 22 weeks of quetiapine treatment. Whole-brain, voxel-based methods were used to assess the differential hemodynamic response to quetiapine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study examined electrophysiological indices of preparation (readiness potential, RP) and execution (movement-associated potential, MAP) during automated and controlled reaction time (RT) in 13 chronic tic disorder, 17 habit disorder, and 14 control participants.
Background: Both tic and habit disorders are hypothesized to involve states of heightened activation, which could impede initiation and the control of complex motor actions.
Method: The electrophysiological signal was recorded from 4 electrodes (Fz, C3, C4, Pz) during a fixed 4-second foreperiod reaction time task.
Objective: In light of the advent of new technologies, we proposed to reexamine certain challenges posed by cognitive remediation and social reintegration (that is, deinstitutionalization) of patients with severe and persistent mental disorders.
Method: We reviewed literature on cognition, remediation, smart homes, as well as on objects and utilities, using medical and computer science electronic library and Internet searches.
Results: These technologies provide solutions for disabled persons with respect to care delivery, workload reduction, and socialization.
The present meta-analysis investigated the characteristics of sleep in patients with schizophrenia without neuroleptic treatment at the time of sleep recording. The 20 selected studies included 652 participants (321 patients with schizophrenia and 331 healthy subjects). Effect sizes were evaluated using d values for the following sleep variables: sleep latency (SL), total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency index (SEI), total awake time (TAT), stage 2 percentage (S2%), stage 4 percentage, slow-wave-sleep percentage, rapid-eye-movement (REM) percentage, and REM latency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClinicians frequently use a crossover approach in switching antipsychotics, although historically there has been a lack of data addressing the question of switch strategies. To establish if there is now empiric evidence that may guide clinicians in this regard, a MEDLINE search to April 2004 was carried out to identify published, randomized and controlled trials that have addressed this topic. A total of 404 articles were identified in the search, which resulted in the identification of four reports meeting the criteria.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt has been suggested that in order to sustain the lifestyle of substance abuse, addicted schizophrenia patients would have less negative symptoms, better social skills, and less cognitive impairments. Mounting evidence supports the first two assumptions, but data lack regarding cognition in dual diagnosis schizophrenia. Seventy-six schizophrenia outpatients (DSM-IV) were divided into two groups: with (n = 44) and without (n = 32) a substance use disorder.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA growing literature suggests that the characteristics of sensation seeking and reality distortion expressed in schizophrenia share several mechanisms. In a previous study, the comparison of patients with high vs. low reality distortion using event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded in a recognition memory task for unfamiliar faces identified neural and cognitive anomalies specifically related to the expression of these symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSchizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have historical, clinical, and epidemiological links. The clinical use of atypical neuroleptics (ie, dual serotonin-dopamine antagonists) to treat both conditions sheds a new light on them. We report the first two cases of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) induced by quetiapine in schizophrenia patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious studies have suggested that qualitatively distinct aspects of dysphoria (anxiety and depression) are related to specific dimension of schizophrenia symptomatology. Most of these studies used simple dimensions and dysphoria models, although finer distinctions could help defining specific relationships. This study examined the relationships of distinctive aspects of depression and anxiety (both state and trait) with symptom dimensions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProg Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry
February 2005
The aim of this critical review is to address that the study of cognition and antipsychotics is not always driven by logic and that research into real pro-cognitive drug treatments must be guided by a better understanding of the biochemical mechanisms underlying cognitive processes and deficits. Many studies have established that typical neuroleptic drugs do not improve cognitive impairment. Atypical antipsychotics improve cognition, but the pattern of improvement differs from drug to drug.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study was designed to investigate whether the neuropsychological correlates of the symptom dimensions of schizophrenia vary with the clinical state in patients followed from the acute to stable the phase of the illness. Fifteen patients were assessed for symptoms (SAPS-SANS) and undergone a complete neuropsychological assessment at two sessions. The first session (S1) was carried out within six days after admission, i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProg Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry
January 2005
This study investigated changes in cerebral activation related to emotion processing in schizophrenia patients with blunted or flat affect (FA+) during treatment with quetiapine. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), brain activation in 12 FA+ schizophrenia patients during passive viewing of sad film excerpts was studied before and after a median of 5.5-months treatment with quetiapine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim was to explore the pattern of associations between visual cognitive performance and community functioning in a sample of outpatients with schizophrenia participating in a rehabilitation program. Visuo-spatial tests from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) were administered to assess cognitive performances in 88 subjects. The Multnomah Community Ability Scale (MCAS) was used to measure dimensions of community functioning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Atypical antipsychotics are increasingly used in the treatment of diverse psychiatric disorders; however, there is little information on the 'why, when, and how' of switching between the different atypical antipsychotics currently available.
Objective: To review the data on switching and atypical antipsychotics.
Methods: A literature search was initially conducted using the key words followed by a search of relevant articles including conference abstracts; relevant pharmaceutical companies were also contacted.
Schizophrenia generally appears at the beginning of adult life at a time when individuals have important academic choices to make for their professional future. Patients with schizophrenia suffer from cognitive deficits as well as positive and negative symptoms and experience disorganization. Schizophrenia is responsible for a high level of failure in obtaining a high school diploma, an important cause of social exclusion and low economic status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany neuropsychological studies have described deficits of memory and executive functions in patients with schizophrenia, and the severity of these deficits seems to be determinant in predicting the community outcome of these patients [Schizophr. Bull. 26 (2000) 119].
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBr J Psychiatry
September 2004
Background: A number of functional brain abnormalities have been reported in schizophrenia, but it remains to be determined which of them represent trait and state markers of the illness.
Aims: To delineate regional brain dysfunctions that remain stable and those that fluctuate during the course of schizophrenia.
Method: A cohort of patients with first-episode schizophrenia and a matched group of control participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging on two occasions 6-8 weeks apart during performance of a working memory task.
The aim of the present study is to use neuroscience theories about brain function (mirror-neurons MN) to draw inferences about the mechanisms supporting emotional resonance in two different groups of schizophrenia patients (with flat affect FA+ n = 13 and without flat affect FA- n = 11). We hypothesize that FA+ will not activate key brain areas involved in emotional processing. Conversely, FA- will have a functional mirror system for emotional resonance confirmed by activation of the prefrontal cortex and behavioral results.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study investigated the long-term effects of bilateral prefrontal leukotomy on lexical abilities in schizophrenia subjects.
Method: we compared performances of leukotomized (LSP), non-leukotomized schizophrenia patients (NLSP) and normal controls, using a test of verbal fluency. Multiple case and triple comparison design were implemented.
Objective: To investigate which cognitive and affective features contribute most to responder/non-responder group separation during a switching trial with atypical antipsychotic.
Design: A prospective open trial with an atypical antipsychotic (olanzapine).
Patients: One hundred and thirty-four patients meeting diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, schizophreniform or schizoaffective disorder began an 8-week open-label olanzapine treatment at a dose of 5 mg/day which was increased to 10 mg/day after one week.
Background: Conventional and atypical antipsychotics have different affinities for D2 receptors, and these receptors are principally located in the striatum. Given that this cerebral structure was previously found to play a major role in procedural learning, the antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia may be determinant for the procedural learning profile of these patients.
Objective: The current study was aimed at verifying whether procedural learning differs in patients with schizophrenia treated with conventional antipsychotics and patients treated with atypical antipsychotics.