Schizophrenia And Disorders With Psychotic Features

Emotion perception (EP) is impaired in schizophrenia, is stable across clinical state, resistant to antipsychotic treatment and linked to symptom severity. Given its pervasive nature, there is a need to quantitatively examine whether this dysfunction impacts functional outcomes. We used a meta-analytic strategy to combine results from several studies and examine synthesized effect sizes.|A Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology standard was used to extract data following a PubMed and PsychInfo search. Studies reporting correlations between measures of EP and functional outcomes in schizophrenia spectrum disorders were selected. The impact of potential methodological (task type), demographic (sex, age, race, education, marital status) and clinical (age of onset, duration of illness, setting, symptoms, anti-psychotic medication) moderators on effect sizes were examined.|Twenty-five studies met inclusion criteria and included 1306 patients who were 37 years old, with 12

We aimed to review the evidence for an association between the first episode of psychosis and violence and to consider the possible explanations for this association and the implications for clinicians and service providers.|We searched for published studies in English describing an association between violence and first-episode psychosis using the subject headings, key words, abstracts, and titles in PubMed/MEDLINE from 1970 to 2010, using the terms first-episode schizophrenia OR first-episode psychosis OR early schizophrenia AND suicide OR self harm OR suicide attempt OR homicide OR violence.|We identified 20 studies reporting data on violent suicide attempts, self-mutilation, minor violence, severe nonlethal interpersonal violence, or homicide in first-episode and previously treated psychosis.|The number of people committing acts of violence prior to initial treatment for psychosis and after initial treatment was extracted from the relevant studies.|The proportion of people found

Neurocognitive deficits are common in bipolar disorder and contribute to functional disability. However, the degree to which general and specific cognitive deficits affect everyday functioning in bipolar disorder is unknown. The goal of this meta-analysis was to examine the magnitude of the effect of specific neurocognitive abilities on everyday functioning in bipolar disorder.|We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of studies that reported associations between performance on objective neuropsychological tasks and everyday functioning among individuals with bipolar disorder. From an initial pool of 486 papers, 22 studies met inclusion criteria, comprising a total of 1344 participants. Correlation coefficients were calculated for 11 cognitive domains and four measurement modalities for functioning. We also examined effect moderators, such as sample age, clinical state, and study design.|The mean Pearson correlation between neurocognitive ability and functioning was 0.27, and was

Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) can influence the prognosis of schizophrenia. Previous studies have suggested that gender may influence the length of DUP. This study reports the result of the first systematic literature review and meta-analysis on the role of gender in influencing DUP in first-episode psychosis.|Systematic literature search in PubMed/Medline and Ovid/PsychINFO. Twenty-seven studies presenting data on 4721 patients diagnosed with psychosis at their first episode (2834 males and 1887 females) were included in the analysis.|Samples had a higher proportion of males: odds ratio = 2.5 (95% confidence interval: 1.8-3.3). Mean age at first contact was 25.4 for males and 27.5 for females. Patients from non-Western countries were older at first contact than patients from Western countries. Average DUP in schizophrenia was 64 weeks and did not differ between genders but was shorter in Western compared with non-Western countries.|Earlier age at first contact and larger

Several magnetic resonance imaging studies have reported hippocampal volume reduction in patients with schizophrenia, but other studies have reported contrasting results. In this review and meta-analysis, the authors aim to clarify whether a reduction in hippocampal volume characterizes patients with schizophrenia by considering illness phase (chronic and first episode) and hippocampus side separately. They made a detailed literature search for studies reporting physical volumetric hippocampal measures of patients with schizophrenia and healthy control (HC) participants and found 44 studies that were eligible for meta-analysis. Individual meta-analyses were also performed on 13 studies of first-episode patients and on 22 studies of chronic patients. The authors also detected any different findings when only males or both males and females were considered. Finally, additional meta-analyses and analyses of variance investigated the role of the factors "illness phase" and "side" on

Research has established that psychiatric disorders are common among children and adolescents within thejuvenile justice system. However, the bulk of these researches had been from the developed countries, with very limited data from sub-Sahara Africa. In a region like sub-Sahara Africa with acute shortage of mental healthcare resources, availability of data on mental health needs of children within the juvenile justice system is about the only way to ensure that they are not excluded from needed services. This study aims to determine the pattern, prevalence and correlates of psychiatric disorders among the residents of a juvenile justice facility in Nigeria and to speculate appropriate policy responses.|Using a cross-sectional comparative study design, 60 consecutive residents of the Ibadan juvenile Remand home and 60 randomly selected age- and gender-matched school going adolescents were evaluated for the presence of current and lifetime psychiatric disorders. The Kiddies Schedule

There is substantial evidence found in the literature that supports the fact that the presence of oxidative stress may play an important role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) forms one of the major detoxifying groups of enzymes responsible for eliminating products of oxidative stress. Interindividual differences observed in the metabolism of xenobiotics have been attributed to the genetic polymorphism of genes coding for enzymes involved in detoxification. Thus, in this study we investigated the association of glutathione S-transferase Mu-1 (GSTM1) and glutathione S-transferase theta-1 (GSTT1) gene deletion polymorphisms and schizophrenia in a Tunisian population. A case-control study including 138 schizophrenic patients and 123 healthy controls was enrolled. The GSTM1 and GSTT1 polymorphisms were analyzed by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). No association was found between the GSTM1 genotype and schizophrenia, whereas the

23288389 2013 01 04 2013 02 19 1535-7228 170 1 Jan 1 Am J Psychiatry 122-3 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12060822 Rane Swati S Kose Samet S Gore John C JC Heckers Stephan S eng Case Reports Letter United States Am J Psychiatry 0370512 0002-953X 7782-44-7

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are critically important predictors of long-term psychosocial outcome and are not significantly ameliorated by currently available medications. Cognitive remediation training has shown promise for alleviating cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, but the clinical significance has often been limited by small effect sizes. Approaches that achieve larger improvement involve time requirements that can be cost-prohibitive within the current clinical care system. This mini-review evaluates the theoretical potential of a pharmacological enhancement strategy of cognitive remediation training with nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonists. nAChR agonists can facilitate sensory processing, alertness, attention, learning and memory. While these effects may be too subtle and short-lasting to be of clinical relevance as a primary treatment of cognitive deficits, they constitute an ideal effects profile for enhancing training benefits. Several mechanisms

Intensive computerized auditory training results in improved cognition for schizophrenia patients, but participants show variation in their cognitive gains and the biological factors that affect the response to training are unknown. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene have been related to cognitive function. Here we asked if functional variation in this gene has an impact on the response of schizophrenia patients to cognitive training. We genotyped 48 schizophrenia patients who completed 50 h of computerized cognitive training and analyzed the association between DNA variants in the COMT gene and the improvement in global cognition. Although conventional analyses did not reveal any significant associations, a set-based analysis examining the aggregate effect of common variation in the COMT gene (42 SNPs) suggested association with improvement in global cognition. Eight SNPs, mostly located in the 3' end of the COMT gene, were

NGC is the National Guideline Clearinghouse.

NGC is the National Guideline Clearinghouse.

NGC is the National Guideline Clearinghouse.