Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: An Empirical Benchmark Study of Real-world Diagnostic Accuracy and Reliability Among Leading International Psychiatrists.

Background And Hypothesis: Assigning a psychiatric diagnosis in real-world situations is often difficult, given that the clinical presentation does not usually conform to the list of condensed, simplified behavioral descriptors of mainstream operational taxonomies (MOT) (eg, ICD-11 and DSM-5). The goal of this study was to benchmark diagnostic accuracy and reliability on a central and severe spectrum of psychopathology (ie, the schizophrenia spectrum disorders [SSDs]), adopting a pragmatic approach as close as possible to real-world clinical settings.

Study Design: We examined the diagnostic performance of 30 international psychiatrists experts in SSD.

The phenomenological nature of schizophrenia and disorder of selfhood.

Schizophrenia continues its resistance to the pathogenetic understanding. We believe that one of the reasons is an oblivion of schizophrenia's characteristic Gestalt expressive of its psychopathological structure. In this article we argue for a crucial role of disorders of selfhood in the constitution of this Gestalt.

Perspectives of professional experts in relation to the development of community-based exercise for young adults with schizophrenia: a qualitative study.

Physical activity is a key modifiable factor in protecting physical and mental health in people with severe mental illness including schizophrenia. Therefore, early promotion of physical activity is recommended and programmes supporting long-term maintenance of physically active behaviour are warranted. This study aimed to explore the perspectives of professional experts in relation to the development of a sustainable community-based exercise programme tailored to young adults with schizophrenia and intended to promote change and adoption of physical activity.

Study protocol for virtual leisure investigating the effect of virtual reality-delivered stress reduction, entertainment and distraction on the use of coercion and need-based medication and patient satisfaction at a closed psychiatric intensive care unit - a mixed-methods pilot clinical trial.

Introduction: The environment at a psychiatric inpatient ward can lead to emotional distress and behavioural deviations in vulnerable individuals potentially resulting in conflicts, increased use of need-based medication and coercive actions, along with low satisfaction with treatment. To accommodate these challenges, recreational and entertaining interventions are recommended. The tested interventions have, however, shown varying effects and demand a high degree of planning and staff involvement while being difficult to adapt to individual needs.

The effect of smartphone-based monitoring and treatment including clinical feedback versus smartphone-based monitoring without clinical feedback in bipolar disorder: the SmartBipolar trial-a study protocol for a randomized controlled parallel-group trial.

Introduction: A substantial proportion of patients with bipolar disorder experience daily subsyndromal mood swings, and the term "mood instability" reflecting the variability in mood seems associated with poor prognostic factors, including impaired functioning, and increased risk of hospitalization and relapse. During the last decade, we have developed and tested a smartphone-based system for monitoring bipolar disorder. The present SmartBipolar randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to investigate whether (1) daily smartphone-based outpatient monitoring and treatment including clinical feedback versus (2) daily smartphone-based monitoring without clinical feedback or (3) daily smartphone-based mood monitoring only improves mood instability and other clinically relevant patient-related outcomes in patients with bipolar disorder.

Validation of a screening tool for autism spectrum disorder in adults - a study protocol.

Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in adults is exhibiting an increase in prevalence, and a growing rate of referrals is observed from primary health professionals to specialised units. The heterogeneous clinical presentation and high prevalence of comorbidity seen in ASD challenges the case identification, emphasising the need for screening tools with a high validity and reliability. Previously, satisfactory psychometric properties of the Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale - Revised (RAADS-R) have been demonstrated, and it is a widely used screening tool in Denmark.

Atypical Semantic Fluency and Recall in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders Associated with Autism Symptoms and Adaptive Functioning.

It is unclear whether children with autism spectrum disorders have atypical semantic fluency and lower memory for the semantics of words. Therefore, we examined semantic typicality, fluency and recall for the categories of fruits and animals in 60 children with autism aged 7-15 years (boys: 48/girls: 12) compared to 60 typically developing controls. Relative to controls, the autism group had reduced animal fluency, fruit typicality and recall for fruits.

Reduced mismatch negativity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder is associated with their impaired adaptive functioning.

Children and adolescents on the autism spectrum display sensory disturbances, rigid and repetitive behavior, social communication problems and a high prevalence of impaired adaptive functioning. Autism is associated with slowed behavioral and neural habituation to repeated sensory input and decreased responses to sensory deviations. Mismatch negativity (MMN) reflects a pre-attentive difference in the neural response to sensory deviations relative to regularities and studies overall suggest that children and adolescents with autism tend to have smaller MMN.

Effect of specialised versus generalised outpatient treatment for bipolar disorder: the CAG Bipolar trial - study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Despite current available treatment patients with bipolar disorder often experience relapses and decreased overall functioning. Furthermore, patients with bipolar disorder are often not treated medically or psychologically according to guidelines and recommendations. A Clinical Academic Group is a new treatment initiative bringing together clinical services, research, education and training to offer care and treatment that is based on reliable evidence backed up by research.

Treatment of difficult-to-treat depression - clinical guideline for selected interventions.

Background: Difficult-to-treat-depression (DTD) is a clinical challenge. The interventions that are well-established for DTD are not suitable or effective for all the patients. Therefore, more treatment options are highly warranted.

Hippocampal volume and memory impairment after electroconvulsive therapy in patients with depression.

Objective: Patients hesitate to consent to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) because of the fear of memory impairment. The mechanisms underlying this impairment are unclear, but several observations suggest hippocampal alterations may be involved. We investigated whether ECT-induced change in hippocampal volume correlates with memory impairment.

Basic self-disorders in adolescence predict schizophrenia spectrum disorders in young adulthood: A 7-year follow-up study among non-psychotic help-seeking adolescents.

Background And Goals: Recent studies indicate that basic self-disorder (SD) is a core clinical phenotype of schizophrenia and its spectrum. The goal of the present study was to test the degree to which SD characterizes the pre-onset phase of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD). A secondary goal was to replicate previous findings regarding the long-term stability of SD.

Volume increase in the dentate gyrus after electroconvulsive therapy in depressed patients as measured with 7T.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment for depression, yet its working mechanism remains unclear. In the animal analog of ECT, neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus is observed. In humans, volume increase of the hippocampus has been reported, but accurately measuring the volume of subfields is limited with common MRI protocols.

Sleep efficiency and neurophysiological patterns in middle-aged men are associated with cognitive change over their adult life course.

Disrupted sleep is a contributing factor to cognitive ageing, while also being associated with neurodegenerative disorders. Little is known, however, about the relation of sleep and the gradual cognitive changes over the adult life course. Sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns are potential markers of the cognitive progress.

The perspectives of former recipients and experts on stigmatization related to electroconvulsive therapy in Denmark: A focus group study.

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has existed worldwide for nearly 80 years. ECT is a fast-working and potentially life-saving treatment, but it is considered controversial. Although frequently mentioned, stigmatization in relation to ECT has not been systematically explored so far.

Passive Double-Sensory Evoked Coherence Correlates with Long-Term Memory Capacity.

Memory correlates with the difference between single and double-sensory evoked steady-state coherence in the gamma range (Δ).The correlation is most pronounced for the anterior brain region (Δ ).The correlation is not driven by birth size, education, speed of processing, or intelligence.

Auditory processing in autism spectrum disorder: Mismatch negativity deficits.

Unlabelled: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often show changes in (automatic) auditory processing. Electrophysiology provides a method to study auditory processing, by investigating event-related potentials such as mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a-amplitude. However, findings on MMN in autism are highly inconsistent, partly due to small sample sizes in the studies and differences in MMN paradigms.

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) guidelines for biological treatment of schizophrenia - a short version for primary care.

Objective: Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder and many patients are treated in primary care settings. Apart from the pharmacological management of disease-associated symptoms, the detection and treatment of side effects is of the utmost importance in clinical practice. The purpose of this publication is to offer relevant evidence-based recommendations for the biological treatment of schizophrenia in primary care.

Neurocognitive functions and social functioning in young females with recent-onset anorexia nervosa and recovered individuals.

Background: Young individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) or recovered from AN display impairments of social function. To date, however, it is not clear whether they differ from controls with respect to neurocognitive performance and whether those functions contribute to the compromised social function observed in individuals with AN.

Methods: We included 43 young females with first-episode AN, 28 individuals recovered from adolescent-onset AN, and 41 control individuals (14-22 yr), all without comorbid autism spectrum disorder.

Pretreatment Cardiometabolic Status in Youth With Early-Onset Psychosis: Baseline Results From the TEA Trial.

Objective: To describe pretreatment cardiometabolic constitution in children and adolescents with first-episode psychosis (FEP).

Methods: Baseline cardiometabolic assessment was performed in youths aged 12-17 years with FEP entering the Tolerability and Efficacy of Antipsychotics (TEA) trial and matched healthy controls. Patients were included between June 10, 2010, and January 29, 2014.

Heightened Olfactory Sensitivity in Young Females with Recent-Onset Anorexia Nervosa and Recovered Individuals.

Introduction: Olfaction may be related to food restriction and weight loss. However, reports regarding olfactory function in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN) have been inconclusive.

Objective: Characterize olfactory sensitivity and identification in female adolescents and young adults with first-episode AN and young females recovered from AN.

Data Driven Estimation of Imputation Error-A Strategy for Imputation with a Reject Option.

Missing data is a common problem in many research fields and is a challenge that always needs careful considerations. One approach is to impute the missing values, i.e.

Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Mysticism and schizophrenia are different categories of human existence and experience. Nonetheless, they exhibit important phenomenological affinities, which, however, remain largely unaddressed. In this study, we explore structural analogies between key features of mysticism and major clinical-phenomenological aspects of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders-i.

Sensory processing in autism spectrum disorders and Fragile X syndrome-From the clinic to animal models.

Brains are constantly flooded with sensory information that needs to be filtered at the pre-attentional level and integrated into endogenous activity in order to allow for detection of salient information and an appropriate behavioral response. People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) are often over- or under-reactive to stimulation, leading to a wide range of behavioral symptoms. This altered sensitivity may be caused by disrupted sensory processing, signal integration and/or gating, and is often being neglected.