Search results for "schizophrenia"
showing 10 items of 594 documents
Reduced oxytocin receptor gene expression and binding sites in different brain regions in schizophrenia: A post-mortem study
2016
Schizophrenia is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder with impairments in social cognition. Several brain regions have been implicated in social cognition, including the nucleus caudatus, prefrontal and temporal cortex, and cerebellum. Oxytocin is a critical modulator of social cognition and the formation and maintenance of social relationships and was shown to improve symptoms and social cognition in schizophrenia patients. However, it is unknown whether the oxytocin receptor is altered in the brain. Therefore, we used qRT-PCR and Ornithine Vasotocin Analog ([125I]OVTA)-based receptor autoradiography to investigate oxytocin receptor expression at both the mRNA and protein level in the left p…
Temporal lobe grey matter volume in schizophrenia is associated with a genetic polymorphism influencing glycogen synthase kinase 3-beta activity
2010
At the crossroad of multiple pathways regulating trophism and metabolism, glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)3 is considered a key factor in influencing the susceptibility of neurons to harmful stimuli (neuronal resilience) and is a target for several psychiatric drugs that directly inhibit it or increase its inhibitory phosphorylation. Inhibition of GSK3 prevents apoptosis and could protect against the neuropathological processes associated with psychiatric disorders. A GSK3-beta promoter single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs334558) influences transcriptional strength, and the less active form was associated with less detrimental clinical features of mood disorders. Here we studied the effect of r…
A study on sexual functioning in adults with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder
2020
PURPOSE Sexual dysfunction has been ignored in adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (A-ADHD). This study examined sexual function in adults with ADHD compared to a healthy control group. DESIGN AND METHODS The experimental group (N = 63, mean age = 31.11 ± 4.29, females = 31) were recruited among referrals with ADHD to an outpatient A-ADHD clinic. The DIVA-2 (Diagnostic Interview for ADHD in adults) and the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia (SADS) were used to assess for A-ADHD and comorbid psychiatric disorders, respectively. The healthy groups (N = 66, mean age = 31.37 ± 4.30, females = 31) were demographically matched and had no psychiatric disorders base…
Improvement of inter-rater reliability of PANSS items and subscales by a standardized rater training.
1998
The present evaluation focused on the inter-rater reliability of single items and subscales of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) before and after a standardized rater training. The results of two independent studies comprising n=23 (study I) and n=12 (study II) psychiatrists and videotaped interviews with schizophrenic patients were analysed. Chance-corrected coefficients of rating agreement with expert standards (weighted kappa) were computed for single items and subscales of the PANSS. The results clearly demonstrate the importance of rater trainings. After three training sessions, 90% of the PANSS items reached an acceptable level of reliability (kappa(w)>0.40) in both eva…
The effect of associative strength on semantic priming in schizophrenia
2017
The present research was designed to investigate the pattern of semantic priming in schizophrenia as a function of strength of association (or semantic distance between concepts in the semantic network). Thirty schizophrenia patients, without formal thought disorder, and twenty-nine healthy controls participated in a lexical decision task in which prime-target associative strength (strong, weak and not related) and stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA: 250 ms and 750 ms) were manipulated. Patients and controls showed the same associative strength effect on RTs. In the short SOA condition priming effects were obtained for both strong and weak prime-target associative conditions. However in the lon…
Double-decision lexical tasks in thought-disordered schizophrenic patients: a path towards cognitive remediation?
2005
Abstract It has been shown that schizophrenics have certain difficulties in the processing of semantic context. These difficulties have usually been evaluated using lexical decision tasks with semantic priming. In this study, we chose to examine the idea of an abnormality in the early stages of semantic context processing in thought-disordered schizophrenics using two double lexical decision tasks: one with a high (25%) and one with a low (15%) proportion of related words to assess the participants’ competency in controlled and possibly also more automatic context processing. The results obtained in 40 control participants and 40 schizophrenic patients revealed no significant differences in…
A Comparison of implicit memory tests in schizophrenic patients and normal controls
2007
The objective of the current study was to compare the performance of schizophrenic patients and normal controls on implicit memory tests. Two neuropsychological tasks were administered to 29 patients and normal participant samples. The implicit tests were: Word fragment completion and Word production from semantic categories. The priming score was the variable of interest. Priming effects are obtained in normal subjects and schizophrenia patients, regardless of the implicit test used. However, a dissociation in priming between normal and patient groups was observed, depending on the test used. For word fragment test, priming was identical between... (Ver más) the two groups. However, for wo…
Expressed and Perceived Criticism, Family Warmth, and Symptoms in Schizophrenia
2013
AbstractCriticism directed by caregivers towards a family member with schizophrenia, both from the perspective of the patient and of the caregiver, predicts relapse, although both perspectives differ. This study aims to verify if the same applies to a Mediterranean sample, where criticism is not the main attitude of high expressed emotion families. The Camberwell Family Interview was applied to assess the family’s perspective, and the Perceived Criticism and the Family Emotional Involvement and Criticism Scales were used to assess the patients’ perspective, in 21 dyads. The association between both perspectives and psychotic symptoms was also examined. Results replicated those of previous s…
Prevalence of bullying victimisation amongst first-episode psychosis patients and unaffected controls
2013
Background—Despite increasing evidence suggesting that childhood maltreatment is significantly associated with psychosis, the specific role of bullying in the onset of psychotic disorders is still unclear. This study aimed to examine whether bullying was more prevalent amongst individuals presenting to services for the first time with a psychotic disorder than in unaffected community controls. Methods—Data on exposure to bullying, psychotic symptoms, cannabis use and history of conduct disorder were collected cross-sectionally from 222 first-presentation psychosis cases and 215 geographically-matched controls. Bullying victimisation was assessed retrospectively as part of the Brief Life Eve…
Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of benperidol in schizophrenic patients after intravenous and two different kinds of oral application
1994
Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of benperidol were determined in 13 schizophrenic patients after acute administration of 6 mg benperidol as an intravenous (i.v.) bolus injection, orally as liquid, and orally as tablets using a partially randomized cross-over design. Drug plasma levels were determined by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection and subjected to model independent pharmacokinetic analyses. After i.v. dosing the geometric means (mean-g) were 3.2 min for the distribution half-life, 5.80 h for the elimination half-life (t1/2 beta), 4.21 l/kg for the distribution volume, 7.50 h for the mean residence time (MRT), and 0.50 l/(h*kg) for the clearance…