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

Among 16 chronic schizophrenic in-patients, all had at least one neurological soft sign (NSS), and 6 (40%) had definite neurodysfunction. NSS and TD scores were highly intercorrelated, and NSS were significantly correlated with neuroleptic drug exposure. NSS correlated positively with both positive and negative symptoms and cognitive impairment but not with cerebral ventricular size on CT. Patients with neurodysfunction had more positive and negative psychopathology, cognitive impairment and TD than those without. Cerebral ventricular sizes and family histories of schizophrenia were similar in both NSS groups. The presence of NSS may be a simple but important way of identifying a subgroup of schizophrenics with neurodevelopmental predisposing abnormalities, and vulnerability to TD.
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PMID:The clinical correlates of neurological soft signs in chronic schizophrenia. 167 61

ERPs were recorded during a word recognition task to investigate cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. Thirteen medicated schizophrenics and 26 normal controls were tested. In each trial a pair of stimuli, S1 (a word) and S2 (a word or a non-word), were presented. The subjects were required to discriminate between a word and a non-word for S2 (lexical decision task). In a related (R) condition, S2 was the antonym of S1 (e.g., brother-sister); in an unrelated (U) condition, S1 and S2 were semantically unrelated (e.g., brother-drive); in the non-word (N) condition, S2 was a non-word (e.g., brother-grofe). The ERPs for S2 were analyzed, and the contextual effects on the ERPs for S2 observed for both the patients and controls. For both groups, in the U and N conditions S2 elicited a large negative-trending deflection (N370). In contrast, in the R condition it elicited only a small negative-trending notch. There was no difference in the amplitude of N370 between the groups, but its latency was more prolonged or its wave shape more extended for the schizophrenics than for the controls. The N400 amplitude is concluded to remain unchanged in schizophrenics.
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PMID:The N400 component of event-related potentials in schizophrenic patients: a preliminary study. 170 35

Cognitive abnormality has long been regarded as a core feature of schizophrenia, but its nature and etiopathology have been poorly understood. Predicated on new tests that characterize fundamental cognitive impairments, we investigated their relationship to four neuroradiological markers that have been previously implicated in schizophrenia: choroid plexus calcification, cerebellar atrophy, third ventricle enlargement, and pineal calcification. Twenty-three chronic schizophrenic inpatients meeting RDC and DSM-III diagnostic criteria were stabilized on chlorpromazine and assessed independently on a cognitive battery and on CT scan. The results indicated that all four neuroradiological variables were independent of one another and of demographic, historical, and general intellectual measures. The neuroradiological assessments, however, correlated significantly with different cognitive parameters, implying separate pathophysiological bases for distinct profiles of cognitive abnormality. The findings support a "dual-process model" of cognitive dysfunction that posits developmental and arousal-related components which may, more generally, underlie the positive-negative dimension of schizophrenia.
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PMID:Neuroradiological facets of cognitive abnormality in schizophrenia. 193 77

Two hypotheses were tested concerning the nature of the cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia: (a) that there is a broadening of selective attention; and (b) that there is an impairment in associational learning. RDC-diagnosed acute and chronic schizophrenics and normal controls carried out a choice reaction time (RT) task in which conflict between the correct response to a target (a letter in the centre of a computer screen) and that cued by simultaneously presented flankers (two letters either side of the target) increased RT. For 80 ('valid') trials, flankers and targets were consistent in the response cued (pressing a button with either left or right hand); on 8 ('invalid') trials they conflicted. On invalid trials there was a slowing of RT, and an increase of errors for left-hand responses. Chronic schizophrenics showed the same reactions to cue validity as normal controls, both groups differing significantly from acute schizophrenics. For the latter, the RT data supported hypothesis (b), but the error rates appeared to support hypothesis (a).
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PMID:Contextual effects on choice reaction time and accuracy in acute and chronic schizophrenics. Impairment in selective attention or in the influence of prior learning? 195 53

A predetermined set of 22 sociodemographic, psychosocial, clinical, neurocognitive and biochemical potential predictor variables was tested in 98 schizophrenic patients admitted for relapse. The patients were treated with neuroleptics, mostly with haloperidol, for 28 d. Ten of the 22 variables correlated significantly with the neuroleptic response. Using stepwise multiple regression analyses, an optimal combination of 5 predictors was found to be in hierarchical order: disturbances of premorbid adjustment, intensity of positive symptoms at admission, family history of schizophrenia, working ability during the year before admission and serum dopamine-beta-hydroxylase. The 5 best predictors explained 29% of outcome variance, and all 22 variables together explained 35%. Such neurological characteristics as neurological soft signs, handedness, abnormal voluntary movements, spontaneous blink rate and cognitive impairment did not predict the treatment response. Several psychopathological, psychosocial and clinical predictors known from the literature could also be confirmed by cross-validation.
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PMID:Predicting neuroleptic response from a combination of multilevel variables in acute schizophrenic patients. 198 Dec 96

Matching patients with etiologically distinct but clinically overlapping cognitive disorders on performance of a regionally specific neuropsychological task is a novel and potentially powerful approach to highlighting differences in the pathophysiological mechanisms of impaired cognition. We used this strategy to compare patients with Huntington's disease (HD) and schizophrenia (SC), disorders that share similarities in cognitive impairment. Patients were matched on the basis of performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting test of "prefrontal" function, after which neuropsychological test data and regional cerebral blood flow data were determined while patients who performed the Wisconsin Card Sorting test were examined. Patients with HD performed worse on visuospatial tasks and recall memory than did patients with SC, although Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales-Revised IQ and Wechsler Memory Scale memory quotients were equivalent. These differences could not be attributed to differences on the index task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Patients with HD and SC exhibited a double dissociation in regional cerebral blood flow. The patients with SC had relatively low frontal and high parietal flows, while patients with HD exhibited the reverse of this pattern. Thus, the regional cerebral blood flow and neuropsychological findings in this study appeared to demonstrate that the single final common cognitive impairment of executive function in HD and SC is associated with two markedly dissimilar pathophysiological states.
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PMID:Regional cerebral blood flow and cognitive function in Huntington's disease and schizophrenia. A comparison of patients matched for performance on a prefrontal-type task. 213 83

Schizophrenia is commonly regarded as a 'functional' psychosis, the implication being that the delusions, hallucinations and cognitive impairment characteristic of the disease have no organic basis. This view is due in no small way to the failure of pathologists to find convincing pathological changes associated with the disease in the first seven decades of the century. Over the last 10 years things have changed considerably. Recent CT and MRI scan studies have provided convincing evidence of significant ventricular enlargement in the brains of schizophrenics and post-mortem studies have shown that schizophrenic brains are about 6% lighter than controls and have a reduced volume and reduced antero-posterior length. Planimetric studies on post-mortem material and a recent MRI study show that medial temporal lobe structures (parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus and amygdala) are preferentially affected. Although other brain regions (e.g. cingulate gyrus, frontal cortex) also show alterations they appear to be 'downstream' from the regions primarily affected. Morphological studies show that there is a loss of neurons from medial temporal lobe structures and indicate irregularities in their cytoarchitectonic arrangement. The alterations in structure are not associated with degenerative, inflammatory, or abnormal vascular processes. There has been much debate as to the possible causes of the structural changes and whether they are limited to particular 'types' or sub-groups of schizophrenics. At present it seems simpler to suppose that all schizophrenics have a degree of structural abnormality which may differ in degree but not in kind. It has been proposed that the changes in brain structure in schizophrenia are the result of an anomaly of brain development. In the last year CT and MRI studies have shown that ventricular enlargement precedes clinical symptoms and is not progressive. These studies support the developmental interpretation. Future studies will need to focus on (a) the mechanisms (probably genetic) which can cause such developmental anomalies, (b) the neurochemical perturbations occurring as a result of such anomalies and (c) how both relate to clinical symptoms.
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PMID:Notes from the graveyard: neuropathology and schizophrenia. 218 32

Platelet MAO activity has been reported by several investigators to differentiate schizophrenia, schizophrenia related depressive disorders, alcoholism, unipolar and bipolar depression from normal controls. Evoked potentials likewise have differentiated schizophrenic and affective patients. However, the precise relationship between MAO activity, evoked potentials (EP), and psychiatric illness has not been clarified. A possible association between psychopathology and high MAO activity/EP reducing and low MAO activity/EP augmenting has been reported. Such a bidirectionality further confounds results. This study was undertaken to determine the association of psychopathological dimensions found in a group of subjects whose platelet MAO activity and evoked responses were obtained two years earlier. Utilizing the Gottschalk-Gleser verbal behavior scales of Anxiety, Depression, Social Alienation-Personal Disorganization and Cognitive Impairment a significant correlation was revealed between low platelet MAO activity and high Total Anxiety scale and Shame Anxiety subscale scores. Additionally, a significant correlation was demonstrated between reducing evoked potentials and elevated Death Anxiety, Somatic Concerns, and Total Death and Mutilation Depression subscales scores, combined and separately. Furthermore, a significant positive correlation was found between augmenting evoked potentials and Overt Hostility Outward scores. No significant correlations were demonstrated between platelet MAO activity or evoked potentials and Social Alienation-Personal Disorganization or Cognitive Impairment scores. These findings lend support to the position that biological markers may predict predispositions to anxiety and depression.
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PMID:Platelet monoamine oxidase activity and evoked response as predictors of anxiety and depression derived from the content analysis of speech. 221 39

This paper examines the relationship between agitation and medical and psychiatric diagnoses. Agitation marked by aggressive behaviors (e.g., hit, kick) was related to dementia and impairments in activities of daily living. Physically nonaggressive behaviors (e.g., pacing, disrobing inappropriately) correlated with cognitive impairment, fewer medical diagnoses, and absence of a hearing loss. Verbally agitated behaviors (e.g., constant complaints) were manifested by residents with more physical diagnoses, mental disease (other than schizophrenia and affective disorders), more reported pain, and higher cognitive functioning than the population as a whole.
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PMID:Medical correlates of agitation in nursing home residents. 222 68

A 46-year-old businessman suddenly became to behave curiously on the morning, September 1, 1988. He forgot how to go through an automatic ticket gate, which he used every day. In his company, he also forgot how to open the cash box, and he wrote a meaningless report for his business. From the night on that day, he had experienced auditory hallucination in which whispering words of some criticism to his performance for a few days. On the next day, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital because he was suggested to have schizophrenia. By day 6 after the onset, his curious symptoms completely disappeared. However, slight verbal memory disturbance and cognitive dysfunction still remained. Because the brain CT on day 6 showed a small localized subcortical infarction in the left hemisphere he was transferred to our clinic on day 20 to elucidate the relation between the abnormal behavior and the infarction. His blood pressure was 116/64 mmHg and pulse was regular 63/min. He was clear and did not have any neurological deficit. He kept his episodic memory regarding the events at the onset and could almost recall them precisely. Results of standard blood tests, electrocardiogram, ultrasound cardiogram, electroencephalogram as well as cerebral angiography were normal. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed an infarcted lesion in the genu of the left caudate nucleus, adjacent to the anterior part of the thalamus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:[A case of left internal capsular infarction with auditory hallucination and peculiar amnesia and dysgraphia]. 224 83


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