Discoidin domain receptor 1 gene variants are associated with decreased white matter fractional anisotropy and decreased processing speed in schizophrenia.

Abstract DDR1 has been linked to schizophrenia (SZ) and myelination. Here, we tested whether DDR1 variants in people at risk for SZ influence white matter (WM) structural variations and cognitive processing speed (PS). First, following a case-control design (Study 1), SZ patients (N = 1193) and controls (N = 1839) were genotyped for rs1264323 and rs2267641 at DDR1, and the frequencies were compared. We replicated the association between DDR1 and SZ (rs1264323, adjusted P = 0.015). Carriers of the rs1264323AA combined with the rs2267641AC or CC genotype are at risk to develop SZ compared to the other genotype combinations. Second, SZ patients (Study 2, N = 194) underwent an evaluation of PS …

Psychobiological response to an anger induction task in schizophrenia: The key role of anxiety.

Abstract In this study an anger induction laboratory task was applied to men with schizophrenia, and resulted in significant changes in different psychophysiological parameters that were measured in a pre-post design. We observed a significantly greater self-reported anger mood and negative affection, lower self-reported positive affection, an increase in cardiovascular reactivity (with blood pressure in deeper affection compared to controls), higher salivary testosterone levels, lower salivary cortisol levels, and an increase in right ear items reported in dichotic listening. Furthermore, clinical risk factors related to anger in our patients were analyzed by Stepwise Regression analyses. …

Diez años de investigación traslacional colaborativa en enfermedades mentales: el CIBERSAM

Research Letter: is neuroticism a risk factor for postpartum depression?

Although the relationship between personality and depressive illness is complex (Shea, 2005), there is empirical evidence that some personality features such as neuroticism, harm avoidance, introversion, dependency, self-criticism or perfectionism are related to depressive illness risk (Gunderson et al. 1999). Moreover, personality traits, especially neuroticism, may explain the increased prevalence of depression among females (Goodwin & Gotlib, 2004). Few studies have explored neuroticism, extraversion and psychoticism as risk factors for depression after an event as stressful as childbirth. Pitt (1968) was the first author to report high scores on neuroticism and low scores on extraversio…

Differences in the Use and Opinions About New eHealth Technologies Among Patients With Psychosis: Structured Questionnaire

[EN] Background: Despite a growing interest in the use of technology in order to support the treatment of psychotic disorders, limited knowledge exists about the viability and acceptability of these eHealth interventions in relation to the clinical characteristics of patients. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the access and use of, as well as experiences and interest in, new technologies using a survey of patients diagnosed with early psychosis compared with a survey of patients diagnosed with chronic psychotic disorders. Methods: We designed a structured questionnaire. This questionnaire was divided into five parts: (1) clinical and demographic information, (2) access a…

Increased amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus activation in schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations: An fMRI study using independent component analysis

Objective: Hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia have strong emotional connotations. Functional neuroimaging techniques have been widely used to study brain activity in patients with schizophrenia with hallucinations or emotional impairments. However, few of these Studies have investigated the association between hallucinations and emotional dysfunctions using an emotional auditory paradigm. Independent component analysis (ICA) is an analysis method that is especially useful for decomposing activation during complex cognitive tasks in which multiple operations occur simultaneously. Our aim in this Study is to analyze brain activation after the presentation of emotional auditory stim…

The EUropean Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI)

Funder: FP7 Ideas: European Research Council; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011199; Grant(s): HEALTH-F2-2010-241909

Transdiagnostic dimensions of psychopathology at first episode psychosis: findings from the multinational EU-GEI study.

Background\ud The value of the nosological distinction between non-affective and affective psychosis has frequently been challenged. We aimed to investigate the transdiagnostic dimensional structure and associated characteristics of psychopathology at First Episode Psychosis (FEP). Regardless of diagnostic categories, we expected that positive symptoms occurred more frequently in ethnic minority groups and in more densely populated environments, and that negative symptoms were associated with indices of neurodevelopmental impairment.\ud \ud Method\ud This study included 2182 FEP individuals recruited across six countries, as part of the EUropean network of national schizophrenia networks st…

Precuneus and insular hypoactivation during cognitive processing in first-episode psychosis: Systematic review and meta-analysis of fMRI studies

Abstract Introduction The neural correlates of the cognitive dysfunction in first-episode psychosis (FEP) are still unclear. The present review and meta-analysis provide an update of the location of the abnormalities in the fMRI-measured brain response to cognitive processes in individuals with FEP. Methods Systematic review and voxel-based meta-analysis of cross-sectional fMRI studies comparing neural responses to cognitive tasks between individuals with FEP and healthy controls (HC) according to PRISMA guidelines. Results Twenty-six studies were included, comprising 598 individuals with FEP and 567 HC. Individual studies reported statistically significant hypoactivation in the dorsolatera…

Utilización de tecnologías móviles en pacientes con psicosis: una revisión sistemática.

[EN] There is a growing interest in mobile Health interventions (m-Health) in patients with psychosis. The aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review in order to analysethe current state of research in this area. The search of articles was carried out following the PRISMA criteria, focusing on those studies that used mobile technologies in patients with psychosis during the period from 1990 to 2016. A total of 20 articles were selected from the 431 studies found. Three types of studies are distinguished: 1) Analysis of quality and usability, 2) Improving treatment adherence and reducing hospital admissions, and 3) Analysisof patient symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: m-Health interventions are…

Motor abnormalities and basal ganglia in first-episode psychosis (FEP)

AbstractBackgroundMotor abnormalities (MAs) are the primary manifestations of schizophrenia. However, the extent to which MAs are related to alterations of subcortical structures remains understudied.MethodsWe aimed to investigate the associations of MAs and basal ganglia abnormalities in first-episode psychosis (FEP) and healthy controls. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 48 right-handed FEP and 23 age-, gender-, handedness-, and educational attainment-matched controls, to obtain basal ganglia shape analysis, diffusion tensor imaging techniques (fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity), and relaxometry (R2*) to estimate iron load. A comprehensive motor battery was applied incl…

Synergistic effects of childhood adversity and polygenic risk in first-episode psychosis

The European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) Project is funded by grant agreement HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme.

Impact of depressive symptoms on subjective well-being: the importance of patient-reported outcomes in schizophrenia

Jorge Mauriño1, Julio Sanjúan2, Josep Maria Haro3, Teresa Díez1, Javier Ballesteros41AstraZeneca Medical Department, Madrid, Spain; 2Department of Psychiatry, University of Valencia, CIBERSAM, Valencia, Spain; 3Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Deu, CIBERSAM, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Spain; 4Department of Neuroscience-Psychiatry, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, CIBERSAM, Leioa, SpainObjective: The subjective experience of psychotic patients toward treatment is a key factor in medication adherence, quality of life, and clinical outcome. The aim of this study was to assess the subjective well-being in patients with schizophrenia and to examine its relationsh…

Perceived major experiences of discrimination, ethnic group, and risk of psychosis in a six-country case-control study

AbstractBackgroundPerceived discrimination is associated with worse mental health. Few studies have assessed whether perceived discrimination (i) is associated with the risk of psychotic disorders and (ii) contributes to an increased risk among minority ethnic groups relative to the ethnic majority.MethodsWe used data from the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions Work Package 2, a population-based case−control study of incident psychotic disorders in 17 catchment sites across six countries. We calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the associations between perceived discrimination and psychosis using mixed-…

Auditory hallucinations in first-episode psychosis: A voxel-based morphometry study

Abstract Background Auditory hallucinations (AH) are a core symptom of psychosis. The brain abnormalities responsible for AH remain controversial due to inconsistent and conflicting findings across studies, with substantial confounding factors, such as chronicity. Few studies have examined the pathological changes that occur in the gray matter (GM) of patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and AH. The present study aims to validate the presence and characteristics of these structural abnormalities in relation to the intensity of psychotic symptoms and AH in a larger homogeneous sample than those of previous studies. Methods A magnetic resonance voxel-based morphometric analysis was app…

Examining the independent and joint effects of genomic and exposomic liabilities for schizophrenia across the psychosis spectrum

The EUGEI project was supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program under grant agreement no. HEALTH-F2-2009-241909 (Project EU-GEI). Dr O’Donovan is supported by MRC programme grant (G08005009) and an MRC Centre grant (MR/ L010305/1). Dr Rutten was funded by a VIDI award number 91718336 from the Netherlands Scientific Organisation. Drs Guloksuz and van Os are supported by the Ophelia research project, ZonMw grant number: 636340001. Dr Arango was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; Instituto de Salud Carlos III (SAM16PE07CP1, PI16/02012, PI19/024); CIBERSAM; Madrid Regional Government (B2017/BMD-3740, AGES-CM-2); Fundación Familia Alonso and Fundac…

Schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations: A voxel-based morphometry study

Many studies have shown widespread but subtle pathological changes in gray matter in patients with schizophrenia. Some of these studies have related specific alterations to the genesis of auditory hallucinations, particularly in the left superior temporal gyrus, but none has analysed the relationship between morphometric data and a specific scale for auditory hallucinations. The present study aims to define the presence and characteristics of structural abnormalities in relation with the intensity and phenomenology of auditory hallucinations by means of magnetic resonance voxel-based morphometry (MR-VBM) method applied on a highly homogeneous group of 18 persistent hallucinatory patients me…

Schizophrenia polygenic risk score and cannabis use modify psychosis expression in first episode psychosis patients and population controls

AbstractBackgroundDiagnostic categories within the psychosis spectrum are widely used in clinical practice, however psychosis may occur on a continuum. Therefore, we explored whether the continuous distribution of psychotic symptoms across categories is a function of genetic as well as environmental risk factors, such as polygenic risk scores (PRSs) and cannabis use.MethodsAs part of the EU-GEI study, we genotyped first episode psychosis patients (FEP) and population controls, for whom transdiagnostic dimensions of psychotic symptoms or experiences were generated using item response bi-factor modelling. Linear regression was used, separately in patients and controls, to test the association…

Neuroimaging correlates of insight in non-affective psychosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract Objective Neurological correlates of impaired insight in non-affective psychosis remain unclear. This study aimed to review and meta-analyze the studies assessing the grey matter volumetric correlates of impaired insight in non-affective psychosis. Methods This study consisted of a systematic review of 23 studies, and a meta-analysis with SDM-PSI of the 11 studies that were whole-brain and reported maps or peaks of correlation of studies investigating the grey matter volumetric correlates of insight assessments of non-affective psychosis, PubMed and OVID datasets were independently reviewed for articles reporting neuroimaging correlates of insight in non-affective psychosis. Qualit…

Age at First Episode Modulates Diagnosis-Related Structural Brain Abnormalities in Psychosis.

Brain volume and thickness abnormalities have been reported in first-episode psychosis (FEP). However, it is unclear if and how they are modulated by brain developmental stage (and, therefore, by age at FEP as a proxy). This is a multicenter cross-sectional case-control brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study. Patients with FEP (n = 196), 65.3% males, with a wide age at FEP span (12-35 y), and healthy controls (HC) (n = 157), matched for age, sex, and handedness, were scanned at 6 sites. Gray matter volume and thickness measurements were generated for several brain regions using FreeSurfer software. The nonlinear relationship between age at scan (a proxy for age at FEP in patients) and…

F145. WHAT ARE THE MAIN BRAIN CHANGES IN FMRI AFTER TREATMENT IN FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOSIS? A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract Background There are many studies using structural MRI to explore the longitudinal course of F Episode Psychosis (FEP).2 On the other hand, there is a lack of functional MRI studies examining the longitudinal course of FEP. The aim of this work is to make a literature systematic review of these studies, to summarize the knowledge about longitudinal course of functional brain activity in FEP. Methods We followed the PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews and combined the use of electronic and manual systematic search methods, in the principal databases (MedLine, PubMed and Web of Science) using the query “longitudinal” AND “fMRI” AND “first episode psychosis” OR “first …

T59. FILLING THE GAP BETWEEN RESEARCH AND CLINICAL PRACTICE: A NEW APP FOR PATIENTS WITH FIRST EPISODE OF PSYCHOSIS

BACKGROUND: In spite of promising results of mobile Health (mHealth) interventions for patients with psychosis, integration of these appliances into clinical practice remains a significant challenge (Bonet et al. 2017). Moreover, some studies have pointed out that percentages between 19–38% of patients have had negative experiences related to internet or cell phone usage, which may increase the risk of psychotic relapses (Bonet et al. 2018). In order to address these issues, we have developed an app called “ReMindCare” whose main objective is being simple, useful and automatically integrated into clinical practice. METHODS: ReMindCare is an app that collects the following information: a) Th…

Impact of the AHI1 gene on the vulnerability to schizophrenia: a case-control association study.

Background: The Abelson helper integration-1 (AHI1) gene is required for both cerebellar and cortical development in humans. While the accelerated evolution of AHI1 in the human lineage indicates a role in cognitive (dys)function, a linkage scan in large pedigrees identified AHI1 as a positional candidate for schizophrenia. To further investigate the contribution of AHI1 to the susceptibility of schizophrenia, we evaluated the effect of AHI1 variation on the vulnerability to psychosis in two samples from Spain and Germany. Methodology/Principal Findings: 29 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in a genomic region including the AHI1 gene were genotyped in two samples from Spain (28…

Cuando la asistencia no sigue a la evidencia: el caso de la falta de programas de intervención temprana en psicosis en España

Resumen Actualmente existe evidencia suficiente que avala la importancia de las intervenciones en fases tempranas de la psicosis. El retraso en la deteccion y el tratamiento del primer episodio psicotico se asocia con una recuperacion menor y mas lenta, asi como con un riesgo mayor de recaidas. A pesar de ello, todavia no se han implementado de forma regular programas de intervencion temprana en los servicios de salud mental en Espana. En este articulo de opinion se revisaran los principales argumentos que nos permitan defender la necesidad de la implementacion de estos programas y las estrategias a seguir para cumplir con este objetivo. Existen actualmente programas de intervencion tempran…

Imaging Genetics of Hallucinations

Structural and functional imaging of the brain language structures, regions, and circuits has revealed the association between brain anomalies and hallucinations in psychosis (see Chaps. 9, 10, and 11). Similarly genetic investigations have demonstrated the effect of gene variations on the severity of hallucination (see Chap. 7).

Multimodal morphometry and functional magnetic resonance imaging in schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations

To validate a multimodal [structural and functional magnetic resonance (MR)] approach as coincidence brain clusters are hypothesized to correlate with clinical severity of auditory hallucinations.Twenty-two patients meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fourth edition, DSM-IV) criteria for schizophrenia and experiencing persistent hallucinations together with 28 healthy controls were evaluated with structural and functional MR imaging with an auditory paradigm designed to replicate those emotions related to the patients' hallucinatory experiences. Coincidence maps were obtained by combining structural maps of gray matter reduction with emotional functional increased…

T215. CLINICAL PREDICTORS OF HOSPITALIZTIONS IN FIRST EPISODE PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS: A NATURALISTIC FOLLOW UP STUDY

Abstract Background Some naturalistic longitudinal studies of first psychotic episodes of the last 50 years have suggested associations between psychopathology and the remission of symptoms and the clinical course of disease.1 A recent study in a large sample of patients with schizophrenia has obtained significant results using the number of hospitalizations as outcome variable.2 The main objective of this study is to know if clinical and sociodemographic variables predict the number of hospitalizations after the first psychotic episode Methods Naturalistic, longitudinal follow-up study in a sample of 212 patients of first-episode psychosis attending public mental health service in Area 5 o…

Left orbitofrontal and superior temporal gyrus structural changes associated to suicidal behavior in patients with schizophrenia.

Suicidal attempts are relatively frequent and clinically relevant in patients with schizophrenia. Recent studies have found gray matter differences in suicidal and non-suicidal depressive patients. However, no previous neuroimaging study has investigated possible structural abnormalities associated to suicidal behaviors in patients with schizophrenia. A whole-brain magnetic resonance voxel-based morphometric examination was performed on 37 male patients meeting the DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia. Thirteen (35.14%) patients had attempted suicide. A non-parametric permutation test was computed to perform the comparability between groups. An analysis of covariance (AnCova) model was constru…

Técnicas de análisis de posproceso en resonancia magnetica parael estudio de la conectividad cerebral

Brain connectivity is a key concept for understanding brain function. Current methods to detect and quantify different types of connectivity with neuroimaging techniques are fundamental for understanding the pathophysiology of many neurologic and psychiatric disorders. This article aims to present a critical review of the magnetic resonance imaging techniques used to measure brain connectivity within the context of the Human Connectome Project. We review techniques used to measure: a) structural connectivity b) functional connectivity (main component analysis, independent component analysis, seed voxel, meta-analysis), and c) effective connectivity (psychophysiological interactions, causal …

Duration of untreated psychosis in first-episode psychosis is not associated with common genetic variants for major psychiatric conditions: results from the multi-center EU-GEI Study

The EU-GEI Project is funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2010–241909 (Project EU-GEI).

Association Study of Nonsynonymous Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Schizophrenia

Genome-wide association studies using several hundred thousand anonymous markers present limited statistical power. Alternatively, association studies restricted to common nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) have the advantage of strongly reducing the multiple testing problem, while increasing the probability of testing functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).We performed a case-control association study of common nsSNPs in Galician (northwest Spain) samples using the Affymetrix GeneChip Human 20k cSNP Kit, followed by a replication study of the more promising results. After quality control procedures, the discovery sample consisted of 5100 nsSNPs at minor allel…

T108. ANALYTICAL AND PREDICTIVE VALIDITY OF HALLUCINATIONS IN FIRST PSYCHOTIC EPISODES

Abstract Background Some studies of first psychotic episodes have suggested the association between childhood trauma, such as sexual abuse, and the risk of hallucinations.1 Furthermore, other studies indicated that environment can alter the phenomenological presentation of first psychotic episodes.2 However, there are no studies about the association between hallucinations in first psychotic episodes and the prognosis of the disease. This is the main objective of this study. We also compared the phenomenological differences between hallucinations in first episode psychosis and persistent hallucinations in patients with chronic psychosis. Methods Naturalistic, longitudinal follow-up study in…

Childhood Maltreatment, Educational Attainment, and IQ: Findings From a Multicentric Case-control Study of First-episode Psychosis (EU-GEI).

[Background and hypothesis] Evidence suggests that childhood maltreatment (ie, childhood abuse and childhood neglect) affects educational attainment and cognition. However, the association between childhood maltreatment and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) seems stronger among controls compared to people with psychosis. We hypothesised that: the association between childhood maltreatment and poor cognition would be stronger among community controls than among people with first-episode of psychosis (FEP); compared to abuse, neglect would show stronger associations with educational attainment and cognition; the association between childhood maltreatment and IQ would be partially accounted for by ot…

Serotonin transporter gene polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and emotional response to auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia

The serotonin transporter (5-HTT) has a crucial function in the regulation of serotonin (5-HT) reuptake in presynaptic neurons. 5-HT is a major modulator of emotional behaviour and circadian rhythms. In addition to its neurotransmitter role, it is also an important regulator of morphogenetic activities during early brain development as well as during adult neurogenesis and plasticity (Murphy et al., 2001).

Time dependent expression of the blood biomarkers EIF2D and TOX in patients with schizophrenia

Background During last years, there has been an intensive search for blood biomarkers in schizophrenia to assist in diagnosis, prognosis and clinical management of the disease. Methods In this study, we first conducted a weighted gene coexpression network analysis to address differentially expressed genes in peripheral blood from patients with chronic schizophrenia (n?=?30) and healthy controls (n?=?15). The discriminating performance of the candidate genes was further tested in an independent cohort of patients with first-episode schizophrenia (n?=?124) and healthy controls (n?=?54), and in postmortem brain samples (cingulate and prefrontal cortices) from patients with schizophrenia (n?=?3…

Examining the course of hallucinatory experiences in children and adolescents: A systematic review

Abstract Background Childhood and adolescence represent the periods during which hallucinatory experiences occur at the greatest prevalence, and also constitute a critical window of vulnerability for the pathogenesis of psychotic disorders. The longitudinal course of hallucinatory experiences during late childhood and adolescence, as well as their relationship to psychotic disorders, has never been the subject of review. Methods We followed the PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews and combined the use of electronic and manual systematic search methods. Data were extracted upon pre-defined requested items and were analyzed using several epidemiological measures. The interpreta…

The relationship of symptom dimensions with premorbid adjustment and cognitive characteristics at first episode psychosis: Findings from the EU-GEI study

Premorbid functioning and cognitive measures may reflect gradients of developmental impairment across diagnostic categories in psychosis. In this study, we sought to examine the associations of current cognition and premorbid adjustment with symptom dimensions in a large first episode psychosis (FEP) sample. We used data from the international EU-GEI study. Bifactor modelling of the Operational Criteria in Studies of Psychotic Illness (OPCRIT) ratings provided general and specific symptom dimension scores. Premorbid Adjustment Scale estimated premorbid social (PSF) and academic adjustment (PAF), and WAIS-brief version measured IQ. A MANCOVA model examined the relationship between symptom di…

FC10.06 What is a Psychiatrist? What are They Really Doing? A Qualitative Study Combining Focus Groups and Work Sampling

Semaphorin and plexin gene expression is altered in the prefrontal cortex of schizophrenia patients with and without auditory hallucinations

Auditory hallucinations (AH) are clinical hallmarks of schizophrenia, however little is known about molecular genetics of these symptoms. In this study, gene expression profiling of postmortem brain samples from prefrontal cortex of schizophrenic patients without AH (SNA), patients with AH (SA) and control subjects were compared. Genome-wide expression analysis was conducted using samples of three individuals of each group and the Affymetrix GeneChip Human-Gene 1.0 ST-Array. This analysis identified the Axon Guidance pathway as one of the most differentially expressed network among SNA, SA and CNT. To confirm the transcriptome results, mRNA level quantification of seventeen genes involved i…

Towards a framework for treatment effectiveness in schizophrenia

Georg Juckel,1 Andrea de Bartolomeis,2 Philip Gorwood,3 Sergey Mosolov,4 Luca Pani,5 Alessandro Rossi,6 Julio Sanjuan7 1Department of Psychiatry, LWL-University Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; 2Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry and Unit of Treatment Resistant Psychosis, University School of Medicine of Naples Federico II, Napoli, Italy; 3Groupe Hospitalier Sainte-Anne (CMME), Paris-Descartes University, Paris, France; 4Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry, Moscow, Russia; 5Institute of Translational Pharmacology, Italian National Research Council, Rome, Italy; 6Università de L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy; 7Clinic Hospital, Spanish Mental Hea…

Association between neonatal temperament,SLC6A4,DRD4and a functional polymorphism located inTFAP2B

Genetic studies on human personality have provided little satisfactory results to date mainly because of the complexity of this trait. Neonatal temperament using observational measures is an alternative phenotype to approach genetics to human behavior. An association study was conducted on 117 Caucasian newborns. Their temperament was evaluated using the Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale 48 h after birth. Thirteen polymorphisms in the SLC6A4, DRD4 and TFAP2B genes were genotyped. Linear regression was performed to analyze data, and Bonferroni correction was applied. To check the functional effect of the TFAP2B Indel Intron 2 polymorphism, reporter gene luciferase assays using a mouse corti…

A replication study of JTC bias, genetic liability for psychosis and delusional ideation

The EUGEI project was supported by the European Community's Seventh Framework Program under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2009-241909 (Project EU-GEI). Dr O'Donovan is supported by MRC programme grant (G08005009) and an MRC Centre grant (MR/L010305/1)

FOXP2 expression and gray matter density in the male brains of patients with schizophrenia

Common genetic variants ofFOXP2may contribute to schizophrenia vulnerability, but controversial results have been reported for this proposal. Here we evaluated the potential impact of the commonFOXP2rs2396753 polymorphism in schizophrenia. It was previously reported to be part of a risk haplotype for this disease and to have significant effects on gray matter concentration in the patients. We undertook the first examination into whether rs2396753 affects the brain expression ofFOXP2and a replication study of earlier neuroimaging findings of the influence of this genetic variant on brain structure.FOXP2expression levels were measured in postmortem prefrontal cortex samples of 84 male subject…

The crisis of psychiatry – insights and prospects from evolutionary theory

Darwin’s emphasis on natural selection has had a transformative influence on how biological and medical sciences are conceptualized and conducted. However, the relevance of his ideas for the understanding of psychiatric conditions is still under-appreciated. Modern understanding of disease has required appreciation of the dialectical give and take between environmental influences, life history theory imperatives, human behavioral ecology, and characteristics of adaptive processes at all levels of the individual. This has enabled a better comprehension of metabolic disturbances, cancers, auto-immune disease, inherited anemias, and vulnerability to infectious disease 1. Here we propose that a…

Pre-training inter-rater reliability of clinical instruments in an international psychosis research project.

International audience

Jumping To Conclusions, General Intelligence, And Psychosis Liability: Findings From The Multi-Centre EU-GEI Case-Control Study

AbstractBackgroundThe “jumping to conclusions” (JTC) bias is associated with both psychosis and general cognition but their relationship is unclear. In this study, we set out to clarify the relationship between the JTC bias, IQ, psychosis and polygenic liability to schizophrenia and IQ.Methods817 FEP patients and 1294 population-based controls completed assessments of general intelligence (IQ), and JTC (assessed by the number of beads drawn on the probabilistic reasoning “beads” task) and provided blood or saliva samples from which we extracted DNA and computed polygenic risk scores for IQ and schizophrenia.ResultsThe estimated proportion of the total effect of case/control differences on J…

Cognitive impairment is related to oxidative stress and chemokine levels in first psychotic episodes.

Abstract Introduction This study measures the levels of various markers of oxidative stress and inflammation in blood samples from first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients, and examines the association between these peripheral biomarkers and cognitive performance at 6 months after treatment. Methods Twenty-eight FEP patients and 28 healthy controls (matched by age, sex and educational level) had blood samples taken at admission for assessment of total antioxidant status, superoxide dismutase (SOD), total glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase, lipid peroxidation, nitrites and the chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). A battery of cognitive tests was also app…

A polygenic approach to the association between smoking and schizophrenia.

Smoking prevalence in schizophrenia is considerably larger than in general population, playing an important role in early mortality. We compared the polygenic contribution to smoking in schizophrenic patients and controls to assess if genetic factors may explain the different prevalence. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for smoking initiation and four genetically correlated traits were calculated in 1108 schizophrenic patients (64.4% smokers) and 1584 controls (31.1% smokers). PRSs for smoking initiation, educational attainment, body mass index and age at first birth were associated with smoking in patients and controls, explaining a similar percentage of variance in both groups. Attention-defi…

Rapid evolving RNA gene HAR1A and schizophrenia

A possible association between the CCK-AR gene and persistent auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia.

AbstractRecent studies have suggested that DNA variations in the CCK-AR gene might predispose individuals to schizophrenia and particularly to auditory hallucinations (AH). The aim of this study is to assess the association between AH, using a specific scale for AH in schizophrenia (PSYRATS), and the CCK-AR polymorphism at 779 in a Spanish sample. A total of 105 DSM-IV schizophrenic patients with AH and 93 unrelated controls were studied. Twenty-two patients were considered as persistent auditory hallucinators, which showed similar clinical and demographic characteristic than patients with episodic AH, but with the exception of the PSYRATS values. The persistent AH group showed an excess of…

Treated Incidence of Psychotic Disorders in the Multinational EU-GEI Study

Importance: Psychotic disorders contribute significantly to the global disease burden, yet the latest international incidence study of psychotic disorders was conducted in the 1980s. Objectives: To estimate the incidence of psychotic disorders using comparable methods across 17 catchment areas in 6 countries and to examine the variance between catchment areas by putative environmental risk factors. Design, Setting, and Participants: An international multisite incidence study (the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions) was conducted from May 1, 2010, to April 1, 2015, among 2774 individuals from England (2 catchment areas), France (3 catch…

Maternal anxiety following delivery, early infant temperament and mother's confidence in caregiving.

AbstractA mother’s emotional state is a well-known environmental factor that relates to the development of infant temperament. However, some relevant issues have not yet been fully explored. The current study examines the influence of determined maternal, contextual and perinatal variables on infant temperament and the mother’s confidence in caregiving during the first weeks of life. A prospective study was carried out in three-hundred and seventeen newborns and their mothers. Perinatal and socio-demographic variables were recorded. The mother’s anxiety and mood were measured in the first days after childbirth and again at 8 weeks. Infant temperament and the mother’s confidence in caregivin…

The genetic contribution of the NO system at the glutamatergic post-synapse to schizophrenia: Further evidence and meta-analysis

NO is a pleiotropic signaling molecule and has an important role in cognition and emotion. In the brain, NO is produced by neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS-I, encoded by NOS1) coupled to the NMDA receptor via PDZ interactions; this protein-protein interaction is disrupted upon binding of NOS1 adapter protein (encoded by NOS1AP) to NOS-I. As both NOS1 and NOS1AP were associated with schizophrenia, we here investigated these genes in greater detail by genotyping new samples and conducting a meta-analysis of our own and published data. In doing so, we confirmed association of both genes with schizophrenia and found evidence for their interaction in increasing risk towards disease. Our stron…

Familial liability to schizophrenia and mood disorders and cognitive impairment in psychosis.

Schizophrenia and other psychoses are complex disorders with high rates of cognitive impairment and a considerable degree of genetic and environmental influence on its etiology. Whether cognitive impairment is related to dimensional scores of familial liability is still matter of debate. We conducted a cross-sectional study including 169 patients with psychotic disorders and 26 healthy controls. Attention, memory and executive functions were assessed, and familial loading scores for schizophrenia and mood disorders were calculated. The relationships between familial liability and neuropsychological performance were examined with Spearman׳s correlation coefficients. In addition, patients wer…

Early Social Isolation Stress and Perinatal NMDA Receptor Antagonist Treatment Induce Changes in the Structure and Neurochemistry of Inhibitory Neurons of the Adult Amygdala and Prefrontal Cortex

AbstractThe exposure to aversive experiences during early life influences brain development and leads to altered behavior. Moreover, the combination of these experiences with subtle alterations in neurodevelopment may contribute to the emergence of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia. Recent hypotheses suggest that imbalances between excitatory and inhibitory (E/I) neurotransmission, especially in the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, may underlie their etiopathology. In order to understand better the neurobiological bases of these alterations, we studied the impact of altered neurodevelopment and chronic early-life stress on these two brain regions. Transgenic mice displaying fl…

Spectroscopic metabolomic abnormalities in the thalamus related to auditory hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia

Abstract Objective Previous studies have found neurochemical abnormalities in thalamic nuclei in patients with schizophrenia. These abnormalities have been associated with information processing deficiencies and symptom formation. There are no metabolic spectroscopy studies in patients with schizophrenia attending to auditory hallucinations. The aim of the present study is to explore metabolic Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) ratio differences in the thalamus between schizophrenic patients with and without auditory hallucinations and control subjects. Methods MRS studies (MRI 1.5 T unit) were performed in 49 patients with schizophrenia (30 with auditory hallucinations and 19 without au…

ReMindCare App for Early Psychosis: Pragmatic Real World Intervention and Usability Study

[EN] Background: eHealth interventions are widely used in clinical trials and increasingly in care settings as well; however, their efficacy in real-world contexts remains unknown. ReMindCare is a smartphone app that has been systematically implemented in a first episode of psychosis program (FEPP) for patients with early psychosis since 2018. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of ReMindCare after 19 months of use in the clinic and varying use by individual patients. Methods: The integration of the ReMindCare app into the FEPP started in October 2018. Patients with early psychosis self-selected to the app (ReMindCare group) or treatment as usual (TAU group). T…

Correlates of Symptom Dimensions in Schizophrenia Obtained with the Spanish Version of the Manchester Scale

In the last decade, a significant number of studies have been published which suggest a multifactorial psychopathological structure in schizophrenia. Seventy-eight acute and chronic schizophrenic patients diagnosed in accordance with DSM-III-R criteria were studied with the Manchester Scale, Premorbid Adjustment Scale, Family History-RDC Interview, Digit Span, Mini-Mental State and computerized tomography (CT). A factorial analysis of the symptoms as recorded with the Spanish version of the Manchester Scale was carried out. Three factors (‘positive’, ‘negative’ and ‘disorganization’) accounted for 79% of the total variance. Poor premorbid adjustment was associated with high scores for the ‘…

Consensus guideline for the evaluation of physical health in patients with schizophrenia

Insight among psychotic patients with auditory hallucinations

Poor insight in psychosis has been described as a seeming lack of awareness of the deficits, consequences of the disorder, and of the need for treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate whether patients with auditory hallucinations have less insight than those without hallucinations, and to determine which hallucination characteristics are related to patient insight. Using the PANSS and PSYRATS, the authors have evaluated the lack of insight data corresponding to 168 psychotic patients divided into three groups: patients with a history of nonpersistent hallucinations, patients with persistent hallucinations, and patients without hallucinations. Patients with persistent hallucination…

Sex-specific association of the ST8SIAII gene with schizophrenia in a Spanish population

We investigated the association between ST8SIAII and schizophrenia in a sample of Spanish origin. We found that the G allele (P=0.044) and the AG genotype (P=0.040) of rs3759916 were associated in females. The ACAG haplotype (rs3759914, rs3759915, rs3759916 and rs2305561) was associated in males (P=0.028).

Emotional words induce enhanced brain activity in schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations.

Neuroimaging studies of emotional response in schizophrenia have mainly used visual (faces) paradigms and shown globally reduced brain activity. None of these studies have used an auditory paradigm. Our principal aim is to evaluate the emotional response of patients with schizophrenia to neutral and emotional words. An auditory emotional paradigm based on the most frequent words heard by psychotic patients with auditory hallucinations was designed. This paradigm was applied to evaluate cerebral activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 11 patients with schizophrenia with persistent hallucinations and 10 healthy subjects. We found a clear enhanced activity of the fronta…

Influence of social cognition as a mediator between cognitive reserve and psychosocial functioning in patients with first episode psychosis

This work was supported by the Carlos III Institute of Health and European Fund for Regional Development (PI08/1213, PI11/01977, PI14/01900, PI08/01026, PI11/02831, PI14/01621, PI08/1161, PI16/00359, PI16/01164, PI18/00805), the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research (BIOEF), the Secretaria d´Universitats I Recerca del Departament d´Economia I Coneixement (2017 SGR 1365), and R&D activities in Biomedicine, Madrid Regional Government and Structural Funds of the European Union (S2017/BMD-3740 (AGES-CM 2-CM)).

The independent and combined influence of schizophrenia polygenic risk score and heavy cannabis use on risk for psychotic disorder: A case-control analysis from the EUGEI study.

Background: Some recent studies have challenged the direction of causality for the association between cannabis use and psychotic disorder, suggesting that cannabis use initiation is explained by common genetic variants associated with risk of schizophrenia. We used data from the European Union Gene-Environment Interaction consortium (EUGEI) case-control study to test for the independent and combined effect of heavy cannabis use, and of Schizophrenia Polygenic risk score (SZ PRS), on risk for psychotic disorder. Methods: Genome-wide data were obtained from 492 first episode psychosis patients (FEPp) and from 787 controls of European Ancestry, and used to generate SZ PRS from the summary res…

When the healthcare does not follow the evidence: The case of the lack of early intervention programs for psychosis in Spain

Abstract There is now sufficient evidence to support the importance of interventions in the early stages of psychosis. The delay in the detection and treatment of the first-episode psychosis is related to a lower and slower recovery, as well as a higher risk of relapse. Despite this fact, early intervention units or teams are still not regularly implemented in mental health service settings in Spain. In this opinion article, a review is presented of the main arguments for defending the need to implement these programmes and strategies in order to achieve this aim. There are a number of programmes for early intervention for psychosis currently working in other countries, with a therapeutic p…

Potential involvement of serotonin receptor genes with age of onset and gender in schizophrenia: a preliminary study in a Spanish sample.

ReMindCare, an app for daily clinical practice in patients with first episode psychosis: A pragmatic real-world study protocol.

[EN] Aim Despite the potential benefits of e-health interventions for patients with psychosis, the integration of these applications into the clinical workflow and analysis of their long-term effects still face significant challenges. To address these issues, we developed the ReMindCare app. This app aims to improve the treatment quality for patients with psychosis. We chose to study the app in real world and pragmatic manner to ensure results will be generalizable. Methods This is a naturalistic empirical study of patients in a first episode of psychosis programme. The app was purpose-designed based on two previous studies, and it offers the following assessments: (a) three daily questions…

218 – Are there structural changes associated to suicidal behavior in patients with schizophrenia?

AN EFFECTIVE NEUROFEEDBACK TRAINING, WITH CORTISOL CORRELATES, IN A CLINICAL CASE OF ANXIETY

Background and objectives: Neurofeedback treatments have shown successful results in anxiety disorders. Thus, the effectiveness of a beta1 Neurofeedback protocol was tested in a longitudinal clinical case study. Design and methods: A participant suffering from an anxiety syndrome was treated with 10 sessions of Neurofeedback, which protocol consisted in uptraining beta1 rhythm (16-21 Hz) while downtraining theta (4-8 Hz) band. For each of the 10 sessions the state anxiety and salivary cortisol levels were measured in a pre/post design. Initial and final examinations of anxiety symptoms and sustained attention performance were taken in addition. 
 Results: The final evaluation showed th…

FOXP2 polymorphisms in patients with schizophrenia.

Abstract Background FOXP2 was described as the first gene involved in our ability to acquire spoken language. The main objective of this study was to compare the distribution of FOXP2 gene polymorphisms between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Methods Two FOXP2 polymorphisms, Intron3a and SNP 923875, and the G→A transition in exon 14 were analysed in 149 patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders according to DSM-IV, as well as in 137 controls. All the patients showed a history of auditory hallucinations. Results The transition G→A at exon 14, detected in all the affected members in KE family, was not found in any of the analyzed samples from patients or cont…

Utilización de tecnologías móviles en pacientes con psicosis: una revisión sistemática

Resumen Hay un creciente interes en las intervenciones mobile Health (m-Health) en pacientes con psicosis. El objetivo de este estudio es realizar una revision sistematica para analizar el estado actual de la investigacion en este ambito. La busqueda de publicaciones se llevo a cabo siguiendo los criterios PRISMA, centrandose en aquellos estudios que utilizan tecnologias moviles en pacientes con psicosis durante el periodo de 1990 a 2016. Se selecciono un total de 20 articulos de los 431 estudios que se encontraron. Se diferencian 3 tipos de intervenciones: 1) analisis de calidad y usabilidad; 2) mejora de la adherencia, sintomas y reduccion de hospitalizaciones, y 3) analisis de la sintoma…

FOXP2 gene and language impairment in schizophrenia: association and epigenetic studies

Abstract Background Schizophrenia is considered a language related human specific disease. Previous studies have reported evidence of positive selection for schizophrenia-associated genes specific to the human lineage. FOXP2 shows two important features as a convincing candidate gene for schizophrenia vulnerability: FOXP2 is the first gene related to a language disorder, and it has been subject to positive selection in the human lineage. Methods Twenty-seven SNPs of FOXP2 were genotyped in a cohort of 293 patients with schizophrenia and 340 controls. We analyzed in particular the association with the poverty of speech and the intensity of auditory hallucinations. Potential expansion of thre…

Jumping to conclusions, general intelligence, and psychosis liability: Findings from the multi-centre EU-GEI case-control study

This study was funded by the Medical Research Council, the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program grant [agreement HEALTH-F2-2009-241909 (Project EU-GEI)], São Paulo Research Foundation (grant 2012/0417-0), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, the NIHR BRC at University College London and the Wellcome Trust (grant 101272/Z/12/Z).

Substance Use During Pregnancy, Postpartum Depression and Child Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study

Introduction:Although it is well know that the substance use during pregnancy has a negative impact on mother and child health, there are few data on pregnancy - related substance use as a risk factor for postpartum depression and child outcomes.Aims: To determine maternal and child outcomes at 8 and 32 weeks postpartum of women who reported substance use during pregnancy.Method:This is a cohort study of 1804 Caucasian women in postpartum. Exclusion criteria: psychiatric disorders during pregnancy. Women were evaluated at 2-3 days, 8 and 32 weeks postpartum. Socio-demographic, obstetric, personal and family psychiatric history and substance use during pregnancy; the Edimburgh Postpartum Dep…

Abnormal synchrony and effective connectivity in patients with schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations

Auditory hallucinations (AH) are the most frequent positive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Hallucinations have been related to emotional processing disturbances, altered functional connectivity and effective connectivity deficits. Previously, we observed that, compared to healthy controls, the limbic network responses of patients with auditory hallucinations differed when the subjects were listening to emotionally charged words. We aimed to compare the synchrony patterns and effective connectivity of task-related networks between schizophrenia patients with and without AH and healthy controls. Schizophrenia patients with AH (n = 27) and without AH (n = 14) were compared with healt…

Social disadvantage, linguistic distance, ethnic minority status and first-episode psychosis: Results from the EU-GEI case-control study

The European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) Project was funded by grant agreement Health-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework programme. The Brazilian study was funded by grant 2012-0417-0 from the São Paulo Research Foundation. Dr Jongsma is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant ES/S011714/1). Dr Kirkbride is funded by the Wellcome Trust and Royal Society (Grant 101272/Z/13/Z). Dr Jongsma and Professor Jones are funded by the National Institute of Health Research Collaboration of Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East of England. Professor Rutten is funded…

Evidence, and replication thereof, that molecular-genetic and environmental risks for psychosis impact through an affective pathway

AbstractBackgroundThere is evidence that environmental and genetic risk factors for schizophrenia spectrum disorders are transdiagnostic and mediated in part through a generic pathway of affective dysregulation.MethodsWe analysed to what degree the impact of schizophrenia polygenic risk (PRS-SZ) and childhood adversity (CA) on psychosis outcomes was contingent on co-presence of affective dysregulation, defined as significant depressive symptoms, in (i) NEMESIS-2 (n = 6646), a representative general population sample, interviewed four times over nine years and (ii) EUGEI (n = 4068) a sample of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder, the siblings of these patients and controls.ResultsT…

Smoking does not impact social and non-social cognition in patients with first episode psychosis.

Abstract Background Many studies having shown significant improvements in non-social and social cognitive performance in smoking FEP patients compared to non-smoking FEP patients. The findings are controversial. This study analyzed the effects of tobacco use on non-social and social cognitive function in a large group of FEP patients and a matched healthy control group. Methods A sample of 335 patients with FEP and 253 healthy controls was divided into four subgroups: control tobacco users (CTU), control non-tobacco users (CNTU), patient tobacco users (PTU) and patient non-tobacco users (PNTU). Demographic variables, tobacco use variables (presence or absence, frequency and duration of toba…

Early Parental Death and Risk of Psychosis in Offspring: A Six-Country Case-Control Study

Evidence for early parental death as a risk factor for psychosis in offspring is inconclusive. We analyzed data from a six-country, case-control study to examine the associations of early parental death, type of death (maternal, paternal, both), and child’s age at death with psychosis, both overall and by ethnic group. In fully adjusted multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression models, experiencing early parental death was associated with 1.54-fold greater odds of psychosis (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.23, 1.92). Experiencing maternal death had 2.27-fold greater odds (95% CI: 1.18, 4.37), paternal death had 1.14-fold greater odds (95% CI: 0.79, 1.64), and both deaths had 4.4…

An association between plasma ferritin concentrations measured 48 h after delivery and postpartum depression.

Abstract Context Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional problem experienced by childbearing women, and postpartum depression (PPD) is the most common psychiatric disorder seen during the first year after delivery. The possible link between iron deficiency and PPD is not clear. Objective To evaluate whether iron status 48 h after delivery was associated with PPD. Our hypothesis was that iron deficiency would be associated with PPD. Design This was a prospective cohort study of depression-free women studied in the postpartum period. Setting Women who give birth at obstetric units in several general hospitals in Spain. Participants A subsample of 729 women was included in the present s…

Efectividad de un entrenamiento asistido por Neurofeedback, con correlatos de cortisol, en un caso clínico de ansiedad

Neurofeedback treatments have shown successful results in anxiety disorders. The effectiveness of a betal Neurofeedback protocol was tested in a longitudinal clinical case study. A participant suffering from an anxiety syndrome underwent 10 sessions of Neurofeedback, in a protocol consisting of uptraining the betal rhythm (16-21 Hz) while downtraining the theta (4-8 Hz) band. State anxiety and salivary cortisol levels were measured during each of the 10 sessions following a pre/post design. Initial and final examinations of anxiety symptoms and sustained attention performance were also implemented. The final evaluation revealed that levels of anxiety fell within a normative range and that s…

P03-123 - Validation of the Spanish Version of the Subjective Well-Being Under Neuroleptic Scale (SWN) in Patients with Schizophrenia

ObjectiveTo assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the SWN scale, an instrument which evaluates the subjective experience of psychotic patients towards neuroleptic treatment.MethodsA validation study (feasibility, reliability, and validity) was conducted in 20 psychiatric centers. Patients were evaluated with the PANSS, the CGI severity scale and the SWN-20. A re-test was conducted one week after baseline. The study included clinically stabilized outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM-IV-TR criteria) who were on treatment as usual. The SWN used in this study consists of 20 questions answered on a 6-point Likert scale. The total score ranges from 20 to 120 points…

Validación de la versión en castellano de la Escala del Bienestar Subjetivo con Neurolépticos (SWN-K) en pacientes con esquizofrenia

Resumen Fundamento y objetivo La experiencia subjetiva de los pacientes psicoticos con el tratamiento neuroleptico es un factor clave en la adherencia terapeutica, calidad de vida y pronostico. El objetivo de este trabajo fue realizar la adaptacion cultural al castellano de la Escala del Bienestar Subjetivo con Neurolepticos (SWN-K) y analizar sus propiedades psicometricas en pacientes con esquizofrenia. Pacientes y metodo Se realizo un estudio transversal en dos fases (adaptacion cultural y validacion psicometrica) en el que se incluyo a 97 pacientes mayores de 18 anos en tratamiento antipsicotico. Se valoraron la factibilidad, fiabilidad y validez de la escala. Resultados Se demostro una …

Association study of 44 candidate genes with depressive and anxiety symptoms in post-partum women.

The post-partum period is a time of extreme vulnerability for a whole spectrum of psychiatric disorders. Delivery may be considered an important risk factor in genetically susceptible women. Five hundred and eight SNPs in 44 genes at candidate pathways putatively related to mood changes after delivery were genotyped in a multicenter cohort of 1804 women from Spain. Participants completed two scales at 2-3 days, 8 weeks, and 32 weeks post-partum, the Edinburgh Post-partum Depression Scale (EPDS) and the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Those women who scored 9 or more on EPDS were evaluated for major depression using the Diagnostic Interview for Genetics Studies (DIGS) adapt…

Facial Emotion Recognition in Psychosis and Associations With Polygenic Risk for Schizophrenia

The EU-GEI Project was funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-2010-241909 (Project EU-GEI). The Brazilian study was funded by the Säo Paulo Research Foundation under grant number 2012/0417-0.

Examining facial emotion recognition as an intermediate phenotype for psychosis: Findings from the EUGEI study

The EUGEI project was supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2- 2009-241909 (Project EU-GEI). Dr. Arango was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; Instituto de Salud Carlos III (SAM16-PE07CP1, PI16/02012, PI19/024); CIBERSAM (...)

Coping strategies and postpartum depressive symptoms: A structural equation modelling approach.

AbstractBackgroundVariables such as the mother's personality, social support, coping strategies and stressful events have been described as risk factors for postpartum depression. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis was used to examine whether neuroticism, perceived social support, perceived life events, and coping strategies are associated with postpartum depressive symptoms at the 8th and 32nd weeks.MethodsA total of 1626 pregnant women participated in a longitudinal study. Different evaluations were performed 8 and 32 weeks after delivery. Several measures were used: the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS), the Eysenck…

The Independent Effects of Psychosocial Stressors on Subclinical Psychosis: Findings from the Multinational EU-GEI Study

The influence of psychosocial stressors on psychosis risk has usually been studied in isolation and after the onset of the disorder, potentially ignoring important confounding relationships or the fact that some stressors that may be the consequence of the disorder rather than preexisting. The study of subclinical psychosis could help to address some of these issues. In this study, we investigated whether there was (i) an association between dimensions of subclinical psychosis and several psychosocial stressors including: childhood trauma, self-reported discrimination experiences, low social capital, and stressful life experiences, and (ii) any evidence of environment-environment (ExE) inte…

Alterations of perineuronal nets in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of neuropsychiatric patients

Abstract Background Alterations in the structure and physiology of interneurons in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are important factors in the etiopathology of different psychiatric disorders. Among the interneuronal subpopulations, parvalbumin (PV) expressing cells appear to be specially affected. Interestingly, during development and adulthood the connectivity of these interneurons is regulated by the presence of perineuronal nets (PNNs), specialized regions of the extracellular matrix, which are frequently surrounding PV expressing neurons. Previous reports have found anomalies in the density of PNNs in the PFC of schizophrenic patients. However, although some studies have described alterat…

Association between CCK-AR gene and schizophrenia with auditory hallucinations

[Objective]: Previous studies on a possible association between CCK-AR polymorphisms and schizophrenia have been controversial. The aim of the present study was to assess a potential association between schizophrenic patients with auditory hallucinations and polymorphisms of the CCK-AR gene.

Brain activity changes with emotional words in different stages of psychosis.

Abstract Background To date, a large number of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have been conducted on psychosis. However, little is known about changes in brain functioning in psychotic patients using an emotional auditory paradigm at different stages of the disease. Such knowledge is important for advancing our understanding of the disorder and thus creating more targeted interventions. This study aimed to investigate whether individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and chronic schizophrenia show abnormal brain responses to emotional auditory processing and to compare the responses between FEP and chronic schizophrenia. Methods Patients with FEP (n = 31) or chron…

Septal projections to nucleus incertus in the rat: Bidirectional pathways for modulation of hippocampal function

Projections from the nucleus incertus (NI) to the septum have been implicated in the modulation of hippocampal theta rhythm. In this study we describe a previously uncharacterized projection from the septum to the NI, which may provide feedback modulation of the ascending circuitry. Fluorogold injections into the NI resulted in retrograde labeling in the septum that was concentrated in the horizontal diagonal band and areas of the posterior septum including the septofimbrial and triangular septal nuclei. Double-immunofluorescent staining indicated that the majority of NI-projecting septal neurons were calretinin-positive and some were parvalbumin-, calbindin-, or glutamic acid decarboxylase…

The incidence of psychotic disorders among migrants and minority ethnic groups in Europe: findings from the multinational EU-GEI study

AbstractBackgroundIn Europe, the incidence of psychotic disorder is high in certain migrant and minority ethnic groups (hence: ‘minorities’). However, it is unknown how the incidence pattern for these groups varies within this continent. Our objective was to compare, across sites in France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the Netherlands, the incidence rates for minorities and the incidence rate ratios (IRRs, minorities v. the local reference population).MethodsThe European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene–Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study was conducted between 2010 and 2015. We analyzed data on incident cases of non-organic psychosis (International Classification of …

Replication of previous genome-wide association studies of psychiatric diseases in a large schizophrenia case-control sample from Spain.

Genome wide association studies (GWAS) has allowed the discovery of some interesting risk variants for schizophrenia (SCZ). However, this high-throughput approach presents some limitations, being the most important the necessity of highly restrictive statistical corrections as well as the loss of statistical power inherent to the use of a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) analysis approach. These problems can be partially solved through the use of a polygenic approach. We performed a genotyping study in SCZ using 86 previously associated SNPs identified by GWAS of SCZ, bipolar disorder (BPD) and autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) patients. The sample consisted of 3063 independent cases wit…

Consumo de substancias durante el embarazo y dimensiones de personalidad

Este estudio evalúa los patrones de consumo de substancias durante el embarazo y las dimensiones de personalidad asociadas, en una muestra multicéntrica de 1804 mujeres de población general. En el 2-3 día posparto, completaron una entrevista auto-administrada sobre el consumo de alcohol, tabaco, cafeína, cannabis, cocaína, opiáceos, drogas de diseño, además de variables socio-demográficas, obstétricas/reproductivas, historia psiquiátrica previa, apoyo social durante el embarazo y el cuestionario de personalidad de Eysenck (EPQ-RS). Se generaron modelos de regresión logística múltiple. La prevalencia del consumo fue del 50% (N=909): 40% cafeína, 21% tabaco, 3,5% alcohol, y 0,3 cannabis. Las …

Examining the association between exposome score for schizophrenia and functioning in schizophrenia, siblings, and healthy controls: results from the EUGEI study

European Community's Seventh Framework Program, European Commission [HEALTH-F2-2009-241909]; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, 2219 International Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (SAM16PE07CP1, PI16/02012, and PI19/024)...

178 – Promoter region of foxp2 gene: epigenetic and evolutionary analysis

The contribution of cannabis use to variation in the incidence of psychotic disorder across Europe (EU-GEI): a multicentre case-control study.

Background: Cannabis use is associated with increased risk of later psychotic disorder but whether it affects incidence of the disorder remains unclear. We aimed to identify patterns of cannabis use with the strongest effect on odds of psychotic disorder across Europe and explore whether differences in such patterns contribute to variations in the incidence rates of psychotic disorder. Methods: We included patients aged 18–64 years who presented to psychiatric services in 11 sites across Europe and Brazil with first-episode psychosis and recruited controls representative of the local populations. We applied adjusted logistic regression models to the data to estimate which patterns of canna…

The microcephaly ASPM gene and schizophrenia: A preliminary study

Identifying gene-environment interactions in schizophrenia: contemporary challenges for integrated, large-scale investigations

European Community Recent years have seen considerable progress in epidemiological and molecular genetic research into environmental and genetic factors in schizophrenia, but methodological uncertainties remain with regard to validating environmental exposures, and the population risk conferred by individual molecular genetic variants is small. There are now also a limited number of studies that have investigated molecular genetic candidate gene-environment interactions (G x E), however, so far, thorough replication of findings is rare and G x E research still faces several conceptual and methodological challenges. in this article, we aim to review these recent developments and illustrate h…

Subjective Perception of Cognitive Deficit in Psychotic Patients

The objective of this study is to evaluate the subjective perception of cognitive deficit and how it relates to the perception of patients' relatives. Differences between the subjective perception of cognitive deficits in 107 DSM-IV-diagnosed psychotic patients and that of their relatives or caregivers were evaluated using the GEOPTE Scale. Fair agreement was observed between patient and family perception of cognitive functions, although there were important differences on those items that correspond to social functioning. A high degree of correlation was detected between the scores on this scale and clinical global impression scores, as well as the physicians' global impression of cognitiv…

P-992 - Smoking during pregnancy and postnatal period and postpartum depression

Introduction Substance use in pregnancy is an increasingly common problem and has become an important public health issue. Postpartum depression has a high prevalence (10%) of women in Spanish population. Objetive/aim To study the impact of perinatal tobacco use in postpartum depression. Methods A cohort study of 1804 puerperal Spanish Caucasian women of general population. Variables collected: socio-demographic, obstetric, personal and family psychiatric history, substance use during pregnancy and 6 months postpartum, depressive symptoms (EPDS) and anxiety traits (STAI) at 2–3 days, 8 weeks and 32 weeks postpartum. Major postpartum depression (MPD) (EPDS>9) were confirmed through a structu…

The continuity of effect of schizophrenia polygenic risk score and patterns of cannabis use on transdiagnostic symptom dimensions at first-episode psychosis: findings from the EU-GEI study

The work was supported by Guarantors of Brain post-doctoral clinical fellowship to DQ; Clinician Scientist Medical Research Council fellowship (project reference MR/M008436/1) to MDF; Heisenberg professorship from the German Research Founda- tion (grant no. 389624707) to UR; the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The EU-GEI Project is funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. HEALTH-F2-…

S249. IS INTERNET HARMFUL FOR PSYCHOTIC PATIENTS?

Abstract Background Developments in electronic health (e-Health) interventions for psychotic patients have been possible since the growing access and use of internet and electronic devices in past 10 years (Bonet et al. 2017). However, before proceeding further on develop these interventions; limited knowledge exists about the impact of internet and new technologies on the mental health of these psychotic patients. The aim of this study is to assess the benefits and risks of new technologies usage in a survey of patients diagnosed with psychotic disorders. We analyzed the relationship between experiences and opinions about internet and demographic and clinical characteristics of the sample …