Project description:Schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a multifactorial etiology. Pediatric schizophrenia consists of early-onset schizophrenia (onset prior to age 18 years) and childhood-onset schizophrenia (onset prior to age 13 years). Adolescence has been established as a critical period for neuronal pruning; hence, with earlier the onset of symptoms, there may be disruption in the normal process of neuronal development, causing impairments with memory, abstract thinking, and emotion regulation. Although the lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia is 1% in the general population, the incidence of pediatric schizophrenia is rare. Therefore, it is important to effectively evaluate the cause of any psychosis of a child or an adolescent. An accurate history and physical, including a detailed neurological examination, are vitally important, as are pertinent laboratory and imaging tests to rule out the many alternative differential diagnoses that also present with psychotic symptoms. The antipsychotics continue to be significantly more effective than placebo in treating pediatric schizophrenia in combination with psychotherapy, as evidenced by the recent Recover After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) study. However, further study is still needed to better understand causality, improve assessment, and develop a definitive treatment algorithm.
Project description:Mounting evidence implicates microRNAs (miRNAs) in the pathology of schizophrenia. These small noncoding RNAs bind to mRNAs containing complementary sequences and promote their degradation and/or inhibit protein synthesis. A single miRNA may have hundreds of targets, and miRNA targets are overrepresented among schizophrenia-risk genes. Although schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder, symptoms usually do not appear until adolescence, and most patients do not receive a schizophrenia diagnosis until late adolescence or early adulthood. However, few studies have examined miRNAs during this critical period. First, we examine evidence that the miRNA pathway is dynamic throughout adolescence and adulthood and that miRNAs regulate processes critical to late neurodevelopment that are aberrant in patients with schizophrenia. Next, we examine evidence implicating miRNAs in the conversion to psychosis, including a schizophrenia-associated single nucleotide polymorphism in MIR137HG that is among the strongest known predictors of age of onset in patients with schizophrenia. Finally, we examine how hemizygosity for DGCR8, which encodes an obligate component of the complex that synthesizes miRNA precursors, may contribute to the onset of psychosis in patients with 22q11.2 microdeletions and how animal models of this disorder can help us understand the many roles of miRNAs in the onset of schizophrenia.
Project description:A recent view on schizophrenia phenomenology underlines the impaired relations between the mind and the body. An aberrant feeling of ipseity may be the real source of suffering of the patients from psychosis and impacts general symptomatology. The disturbed connection between thinking processes and environmental stimuli may lead to language disembodiment. In the study, we aimed to experimentally test the presence of disembodied language and investigate its association with symptoms of psychosis in adolescents diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Assessment of language embodiment was conducted using the Zabór Verbal Task (ZVT) with concurrent linguistic and clinical assessment using the Thought, Language, and Communication Scale (TLCS) and Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS). The study group of patients (n = 31) aged 11-18 years, with the diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) criteria, was compared with a sex- and age-matched healthy control sample (n = 31). Patients with psychosis made more errors in ZVT than healthy controls (p = 0.01) and this parameter did not improve after 6-8 weeks of standard treatment (p = 0.55). A higher number of errors in ZVT were associated with the presence of auditory hallucinations (odds ratio [OR] 1.14; 95% CI 1.02-1.26). ZVT errors coincided with perception disorders, alternatively to the TLCS scores where we observed association with abnormal beliefs. The results of these preliminary studies indicate the value of the phenomenological approach in the diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum and suggest a potential involvement of language disembodiment in symptomatology.
Project description:Maturity Onset Diabetes of the Young (MODY) is a monogenic form of diabetes diagnosed in young individuals that lack the typical features of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The genetic subtype of MODY determines the most effective treatment and this is the driver for MODY genetic testing in diabetes populations. Despite the obvious clinical and health economic benefits, MODY is significantly underdiagnosed with the majority of patients being inappropriately managed as having type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Low detection rates result from the difficulty in identifying patients with a likely diagnosis of MODY from the high background population of young onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes, compounded by the lack of MODY awareness and education in diabetes care physicians. MODY diagnosis can be improved through (1) access to education and training, (2) the use of sensitive and specific selection criteria based on accurate prediction models and biomarkers to identify patients for testing, (3) the development and mainstream implementation of simple criteria-based selection pathways applicable across a range of healthcare settings and ethnicities to select the most appropriate patients for genetic testing and (4) the correct use of next generation sequencing technology to provide accurate and comprehensive testing of all known MODY and monogenic diabetes genes. The creation and public sharing of educational materials, clinical and scientific best practice guidelines and genetic variants will help identify the missing patients so they can benefit from the more effective clinical care that a genetic diagnosis brings.
Project description:Although cognitive dysfunction is a primary characteristic of schizophrenia, only recently have investigations begun to pinpoint when the dysfunction develops in the individual afflicted by the disorder. Research to date provides evidence for significant cognitive impairments prior to disorder onset. Less is known about the course of cognitive dysfunction from onset to the chronic phase of schizophrenia. Although longitudinal studies are optimal for assessing stability of cognitive deficits, practice effects often confound assessments, and large and representative subject samples have not been followed over long periods of time. We report results of a cross-sectional study of cognitive deficits early and late in the course of schizophrenia carried out at four different geographic locations to increase sample size and generalizability of findings. We examined a broad set of cognitive functions in 41 recent-onset schizophrenia patients and 106 chronic schizophrenia patients. The study included separate groups of 43 matched controls for the recent-onset sample and 105 matched controls for the chronic schizophrenia sample in order to evaluate the effects of cohort (i.e., age) and diagnosis (i.e., schizophrenia) on cognitive functions. All measures of cognitive function showed effects of diagnosis; however, select time-based measures of problem solving and fine motor dexterity exhibited interactions of diagnosis and cohort indicating that these deficits may progress beyond what is expected with normal aging. Also, worse recall of material in episodic memory was associated with greater length of illness. Nevertheless, findings indicate that nearly all cognitive deficits are comparably impaired across recent-onset and chronic schizophrenia.
Project description:ObjectiveTo document high rates and clinical correlates of nonauditory hallucinations in childhood onset schizophrenia (COS).MethodWithin a sample of 117 pediatric patients (mean age 13.6 years), diagnosed with COS, the presence of auditory, visual, somatic/tactile, and olfactory hallucinations was examined using the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS). We also compared hallucination modality membership (presence/absence) groups on gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, age of onset (of psychosis), Full Scale IQ, Verbal IQ, and clinical severity (Children's Global Assessment Scale [CGAS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms [SANS]).ResultsA total of 111 COS patients (94.9%) had auditory and 94 patients (80.3%) had visual hallucinations. Somatic/tactile (60.7%) and olfactory (29.9%) hallucinations occurred almost exclusively in patients who also had visual hallucinations. Children who had visual hallucinations had lower IQ, earlier age of onset, and more severe illness relative to children who did not have visual hallucinations.ConclusionsIn this study, we observed that patients with COS have high rates of hallucinations across all modalities. An increased rate of visual hallucinations is associated with greater clinical impairment and greater compromise in overall brain functioning. Somatic and olfactory hallucinations reflect an additive rather than alternative symptom pattern.
Project description:Purpose or reviewTo review recent literature about late-onset schizophrenia (LOS): schizophrenia with onset between ages 40 and 60 years. New findings are presented in the context of the previous literature.Recent findingsNewer studies continue to suggest that early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) and LOS share fundamental clinical features (i.e., positive symptoms, negative symptoms, functional deficits). One larger recent study confirmed earlier findings that LOS differs from EOS in several important ways, including predominance of women, lower severity of positive symptoms, and lower average antipsychotic dose requirement. However, this study did not find LOS patients were more likely to have the paranoid subtype or to have less severe negative symptoms compared with EOS patients. New neuroimaging and molecular studies are identifying possible differences in the underlying pathophysiology of EOS and schizophrenia developing in mid-life to late-life; however, more research is needed to confirm these findings and determine their significance. No studies evaluated treatment strategies specifically in LOS.SummaryLOS continues to be an understudied area. Recent studies add support to the idea that LOS may be a distinct subtype of schizophrenia. Studies designed to elucidate the pathophysiology of LOS in comparison with EOS and to assess treatment strategies in this population are needed.
Project description:Timing and magnitude of surface uplift are key to understanding the impact of crustal deformation and topographic growth on atmospheric circulation, environmental conditions, and surface processes. Uplift of the East African Plateau is linked to mantle processes, but paleoaltimetry data are too scarce to constrain plateau evolution and subsequent vertical motions associated with rifting. Here, we assess the paleotopographic implications of a beaked whale fossil (Ziphiidae) from the Turkana region of Kenya found 740 km inland from the present-day coastline of the Indian Ocean at an elevation of 620 m. The specimen is ∼ 17 My old and represents the oldest derived beaked whale known, consistent with molecular estimates of the emergence of modern strap-toothed whales (Mesoplodon). The whale traveled from the Indian Ocean inland along an eastward-directed drainage system controlled by the Cretaceous Anza Graben and was stranded slightly above sea level. Surface uplift from near sea level coincides with paleoclimatic change from a humid environment to highly variable and much drier conditions, which altered biotic communities and drove evolution in east Africa, including that of primates.
Project description:Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been advanced as a candidate gene for schizophrenia by virtue of its effects on neurotransmitter systems that are dysregulated in psychiatric disorder and its involvement in the response to antipsychotic drugs. The extensively examined BDNF gene Val66Met (or rs6265) variant has been associated with schizophrenia, and studies have linked this polymorphism to brain morphology, cognitive function, and psychiatric symptoms in schizophrenia. Moreover the BDNF Val66Met variant has been reported to be associated with age of onset in schizophrenia. Genotyping of African-American subjects with schizophrenia for five BDNF coding region single nucleotide polymorphisms revealed variance only at the Val66Met allele. The results of statistical analyses indicate a relationship between the BDNF Val66Met genotype and the ages of first psychiatric hospitalization and first schizophrenia symptoms.