Altered decorin leads to disrupted endothelial cell function: a possible mechanism in the pathogenesis of fetal growth restriction?

Objective: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is a key cause of adverse pregnancy outcome where maternal and fetal factors are identified as contributing to this condition. Idiopathic FGR is associated with altered vascular endothelial cell functions. Decorin (DCN) has important roles in the regulation of endothelial cell functions in vascular environments.

Early processing deficits in object working memory in first-episode schizophreniform psychosis and established schizophrenia.

Background: While there are many studies showing working-memory deficits in schizophrenia there are only a few that disentangle impairments for working-memory subprocesses such as perceptual, attentional, mnemonic and executive function.

Method: In this study of delay-dependent memory, 55 patients with schizophreniform psychosis, 50 with established schizophrenia and 56 healthy controls were investigated. Using the delayed matching-to-sample task from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), performance deficits were found in both patient groups after controlling for age and pre-morbid IQ.

A longitudinal study of hippocampal volume in first episode psychosis and chronic schizophrenia.

Brain abnormalities have been identified in patients with schizophrenia, but what is unclear is whether these changes are progressive over the course of the disorder. In this longitudinal study, hippocampal and temporal lobe volumes were measured at two time points in 30 patients with first episode psychosis (mean follow-up interval=1.9 years, range 0.