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Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Sensori-motor gating, as assessed by prepulse inhibition of the startle response is diminished in patients with schizophrenia. We have previously shown that inbred Brown Norway (BN) rats display significantly less prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response than inbred Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, and that prepulse inhibition is decreased by central administration of the neuropeptide, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in both strains. The present study was conducted to establish whether peripheral administration of CRF alters prepulse inhibition, whether a low, threshold dose for decreasing prepulse inhibition is the same in the two rat strains, and whether central administration of a CRF receptor antagonist enhances prepulse inhibition in the BN strain. CRF-induced behavioral activation was also examined to determine whether the two rat strains are differentially sensitive to a behavioral effect of CRF that does not involve the startle response. In each experiment, BN rats showed significantly less prepulse inhibition than WKY rats. Subcutaneous administration of CRF had no affect on startle amplitude or prepulse inhibition of the startle response in either rat strain. In BN, but not in WKY rats, low-dose CRF (0.3 microg) decreased prepulse inhibition. However, doses of CRF that did not alter prepulse inhibition in the WKY strain, did result in behavioral activation. No dose of CRF tested affected baseline startle amplitude. Central administration of the CRF receptor antagonist, astressin had no effect on prepulse inhibition or startle amplitude in either rat strain. Central administration of the CRF receptor antagonist, D-Phe CRF (12-41) had no effect on prepulse inhibition in WKY rats, resulted in a only a small, non-significant increase in prepulse inhibition in BN rats, while it decreased startle amplitude. The results suggest that CRF reduces prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response independently of effects on the pituitary-adrenal axis, and that endogenous CRF has at most, a minor role in the low prepulse inhibition found in BN rats.
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PMID:Characterization of the effects of corticotropin-releasing factor on prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response in Brown Norway and Wistar-Kyoto rats. 1565 2

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) have been observed in a substantial proportion of schizophrenic patients. In this study, the rate of occurrence of OCS and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in schizophrenic patients, and also the interrelationship between OCS and schizophrenic symptoms and depressive symptoms were assessed. A total of 100 subjects with a diagnosis of schizophrenia from the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) were evaluated by the structured and clinical interview for axis-1 DSM-IV disorders-patient edition (SCID-P), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), and the Calgary Depression Rating Scale for Schizophrenia. The prevalance of OCS in individuals meeting criteria for schizophrenia was 64%. A total of 30 of these patients (Y-BOCS total score > or =7) also met the DSM-IV criteria for OCD. The total score on Y-BOCS was significantly correlated with total score on PANSS, Positive-PANSS score, General-PANSS score and total score on Calgary Depression Rating Scale for Schizophrenia. OCS and OCD relatively frequent in schizophrenic patients and OCS are significantly correlated with the severity of psychosis, positive symptoms, and depressive symptoms in schizophrenic patients. These findings provide further evidence for the importance of OCS in schizophrenia.
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PMID:Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia: prevalance and clinical correlates. 1589 22

Development of new antipsychotics and their novel applications may be facilitated through the use of physiological markers in clinically normal individuals. Both genetic and neurochemical evidence suggests that reduced prepulse inhibition of startle (PPI) may be a physiological marker for individuals at-risk for schizophrenia, and the ability of antipsychotics to normalize PPI may reflect properties linked to their clinical efficacy. We assessed the effects of the atypical antipsychotic quetiapine (12.5 mg p.o.) on PPI in 20 normal men with a 'low PPI' trait, based on PPI levels in the lowest 25% of a normal PPI distribution. The effects of quetiapine (7.5 mg/kg s.c.) on PPI were then assessed in rats with phenotypes of high PPI (Sprague Dawley (SD)) and low PPI (Brown Norway (BN)); effects of clozapine (7.5 mg/kg i.p.) and haloperidol (0.1 mg/kg s.c.) on PPI were also tested in SD rats. At a time of maximal psychoactivity, quetiapine significantly enhanced PPI to short prepulse intervals (20-30 ms) in 'low gating' human subjects. Quetiapine increased PPI in low gating BN rats for prepulse intervals <120 ms; this effect of quetiapine was limited to 20 ms prepulse intervals in SD rats, who also exhibited this pattern in response to clozapine but not haloperidol. In both humans and rats, normal 'low gating' appears to be an atypical antipsychotic-sensitive phenotype. PPI at short intervals may be most sensitive to pro-gating effects of these drugs.
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PMID:Antipsychotic effects on prepulse inhibition in normal 'low gating' humans and rats. 1648 83

Our objective in this study was to determine whether symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) cluster into groups that can usefully subclassify OCD. Psychiatrists or psychologists interviewed 221 subjects using the Lifetime Anxiety Version of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS-LA) for the diagnosis of DSM-IV disorders, and the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) for OCD symptoms. We analyzed 16 symptom categories from the Y-BOCS using exploratory factor analysis to identify latent symptom dimensions. The relationship between these symptom dimensions and clinical characteristics and familiality was investigated. A four-factor model emerged as the best classification of OCD symptoms in the Y-BOCS. These factors were labeled Pure Obsessions, Contamination, Symmetry/Order, and Hoarding. The contamination factor was least likely to be associated with other Axis I disorders. Whereas no significant relationship was found between the factor scores of probands and the presence of OCD in their first-degree relatives, the Symmetry/Order and Hoarding factors did breed true. Hoarding was found to predict poorer treatment response. A four-factor classification of OCD features best describes the symptom patterns of a sample of patients with OCD. There were specific clinical correlates for these factors, and significant intrafamilial sib-sib correlations were found for the Symmetry/Order and Hoarding factors.
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PMID:Factor analysis of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale in a family study of obsessive-compulsive disorder. 1689 17

The rate of smoking is especially high among patients with schizophrenia (SCH) and schizoaffective disorder (SCHAFF). Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) smoke less than the general population. OCD symptoms are more frequent among patients with SCH or SCHAFF than in the general population, but it is still unclear whether schizophrenia patients with OC symptoms suffer from SCH and comorbid OCD, or whether they represent a unique subgroup of SCH with presenting OC symptoms. In our study we hypothetised that the current smoking rate of schizophrenia patients with OC symptoms is lower than in schizophrenia patients without OC symptoms. We assessed OC symptoms with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), general state with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and smoking habits with a questionnaire among 66 patients with SCH or SCHAFF. We formed two groups by dividing patients according to their Y-BOCS score. Group I consisted of patients with Y-BOCS scores under 16, while group II consisted of patients with Y-BOCS scores above 16, and we compared the current smoking rates of the two groups. We found that the rates did not differ significantly, so we came to the conclusion that OC symptoms are not in a tight relationship with smoking habits among patients with SCH/SCHAFF.
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PMID:Relationship between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and smoking habits amongst schizophrenic patients. 1697 20

Although a sizeable minority of people with schizophrenia manifest obsessive and compulsive symptoms, to our knowledge there are no studies of the psychometric performance of measures such as the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS). The present study examined psychometric properties of the Y-BOCS in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia and comorbid obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). To 37 patients with recent-onset schizophrenia and related disorders and comorbid OCS taken from 135 consecutively admitted patients we administered the Y-BOCS at admission and 6 weeks later. The Y-BOCS showed good internal consistency and interrater reliability in this population; however, findings concerning the divergent validity against depressive and negative symptoms are inconsistent.
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PMID:Reliability and validity of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale in schizophrenia patients. 1706 72

The purpose of the study was to examine whether schizophrenia with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) represents a severe form of OCD-spectrum disorders on the basis of neurological soft signs (NSS) and obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms. Sixteen patients with OCD-schizophrenia, 25 OCD patients and 23 healthy controls (HC) were studied. Scales for the Assessment of Positive (SAPS) and Negative Symptoms (SANS), Clinical Global Impressions Scale and Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) were used to assess the schizophrenic and OC symptomatology. NSS were evaluated with the Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES). OCD-schizophrenics had significantly higher scores on total NES than HC. The patients with OCD were more likely to have total Y-BOCS and subscale scores of compulsions than patients with OCD-schizophrenia. The rate of symmetry obsessions and cleaning/washing compulsions were significantly higher in patients with OCD compared to OCD-schizophrenics. We have found no correlation of OC symptoms with schizophrenic symptomatology. Our findings may suggest that OCD-schizophrenia is a distinct subtype of schizophrenia, not a more severe form of OCD-spectrum disorder.
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PMID:Schizo-obsessive and obsessive-compulsive disorder: comparison of clinical characteristics and neurological soft signs. 1707 Sep 33

The author argues that social etiology of mental health, which suggests a causal link between living conditions and the occurence of mental disorders, is valid only when one applies a contextual evaluation of psycho-social stress factors. In that case, when life-events are cut from their environmental consequences, they are insufficient in themselves when trying to explain why mental disorders occur. However, once they are evaluated in function of the person's living conditions, the psycho-social stress factors become triggers and key to the person's stability. George W. Brown suggests a psycho-social model for a precipitative agent and for vulnerability factors linked to the significance and the impact of a life-event, relating also to the factual context at its origin and to the client's biographical history. Poverty then becomes a determining background for the life-event's repercussions. The LEDS (Life-Event and Difficulty Schedule) method of contextual analysis is based on a complete and systematical gathering of factual information on the events and on the context, stripped of the client's bias and emotional reactions. Furthermore, the grid of analysis allows one to qualify and organize this information while maintaining an optimal level of precision and objectivity. The empirical demonstration of the contextual analysis' predictive power is convincing in the case of disorders both mental (depression, anxiety, schizophrenia) and physical (infarction, appendicitis, ulcers). In such a frame of analysis and because of the chronic hardships experienced by the underpriveledged, poverty emerges as a determining contextual factor in the social etiology of mental disorders.
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PMID:[Stressors and mental health : a contextual analysis of poverty.]. 1709 24

It has been reported that some schizophrenic patients suffer from obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS), and clozapine treatment is quite often associated with an occurrence/increase of OCS in schizophrenic patients. The aim of the study was to explore whether differences would exist in the clinical symptomatology and the whole blood serotonin (5-HT) concentrations in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenic patients with and without OCS (S+OCS, S-OCS), and clozapine-treated schizophrenic patients with and without clozapine-induced OCS (CLZ+OCS, CLZ-OCS). We found that S+OCS patients (n=15) showed significantly lower scores on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), but similar levels of compulsions and obsessions using Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) as compared to the patients (n=35) with OCD. S+OCS patients scored significantly lower on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) but higher on the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) compared with S-OCS patients (n=19). However, CLZ+OCS patients (n=15) suffered from dominant compulsions but fewer obsessions compared with the OCD and S+OCS patients. OCD, S+OCS and CLZ+OCS groups had significantly lower levels of whole blood 5-HT than did the healthy volunteers (n=15), S-OCS and CLZ-OCS groups. It suggests that alterations in serotonin metabolism may be a common biological characteristic of OCS in OCD as well as in schizophrenia.
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PMID:Lower levels of whole blood serotonin in obsessive-compulsive disorder and in schizophrenia with obsessive-compulsive symptoms. 1729 95

A substantial proportion of adolescent schizophrenia patients also has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). As the reliability of OCD identification in schizophrenia has been challenged, we evaluated insight into OCD symptoms and awareness of schizophrenia, using the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale and the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder respectively, in 22 adolescent inpatients who met DSM-IV criteria for both schizophrenia and OCD. Awareness of illness was also assessed in a comparison group of 22 non-OCD adolescent schizophrenia patients. Nineteen (86.3%) schizo-obsessive patients exhibited good or fair insight into OCD, while only 3 patients revealed lack of insight. Roughly 30% of patients in the two schizophrenia groups with and without OCD exhibited unawareness of schizophrenia, indicating that the presence of OCD does not substantially modify global awareness of illness. The effect size of the correlation between insight into OCD and awareness of schizophrenia in the schizo-obsessive group was small and not statistically significant. Our findings support the notion that OCD in adolescent schizophrenia patients represent an identifiable dimension of psychopathology independent of core schizophrenia symptoms. Early identification of this potentially treatable syndrome is imperative for appropriate diagnosis and treatment of this unique subset of schizophrenia patients.
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PMID:Insight into obsessive-compulsive symptoms and awareness of illness in adolescent schizophrenia patients with and without OCD. 1756 28


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