Fatty acids and triacylglycerols profiles from sicilian (Cold pressed vs. soxhlet) grape seed oils

Among the Sicilian economic productive sectors, that of wine production has today a considerable economic value. However, with the growth of this sector, notable was the increase in the production of waste, which to date is not only an economic damage for companies, but also a threat to the environment. It is known that waste from wine production has properties (e.g., antioxidants) which have potential reuse at cosmetic, pharmaceutical and nutritional levels to obtain economically sustainable applications. A new goal is given by the recovery of added value compounds from agri-food wastes and by-products. Grape seed oil is a promising vegetable fat and cold pressing does not involve the use of chemicals, which are harmful to health. It implies that cold-pressed seed oils may contain phytochemicals, as well as natural antioxidants, more than refined oils. In this context, this works aims at studying the chemical characterization (triglycerides profile and composition in fatty acids) of grape seed oils obtained from Soxhlet and cold pressed extraction from Sicilian red grape seeds and white grape seeds. The possibility of obtaining high yields of triglycerides and fatty acids from the waste of wine production through new extraction methods would open up new perspectives for the reuse of waste in a human and animal food context. The results of this work allow the opening up of new perspectives to reuse and then reduce these wastes, helping not only to reduce the damage to the environment and costs for companies but also to create a new product that is environmentally sustainable and with an important economic value

Recognition of facial emotion expressions and perceptual processes in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

Background: Social cognition (SC) deficits and of its facial emotion expression (FEE) component have been described in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome (22q11.2DS), a high-risk for schizophrenia (SCZ) systemic genetic syndrome. Correlations between deficits in FEE skills and visual-spatial abilities in people with 22q11.2DS warrant investigation. Methods: The sample consisted of 37 patients with 22q11.2DS (DEL), 19 with 22q11.2DS and psychosis (DEL-SCZ), 23 with idiopathic SCZ, and 48 healthy controls. We assessed FEE through The Ekman 60 Faces test (EK-F60), visual-spatial skills with Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, and symptom severity with the positive And negative syndrome scale. Statistics were conducted through multivariate analysis of variance and correlation analysis. Results: Patients with 22q11.2DS performed worse that the other groups in recognizing Surprise, Disgust, Rage, Fear, and Neutral expressions on the EK-F60. Recognition of Surprise and Disgust correlated positively with visual-spatial abilities in patients with 22q11.2DS; negative and cognitive symptoms correlated negatively with recognition of Sadness, Surprise, and Disgust. Conclusions: Patients with 22q11.2DS show impairments of both peripheral and central steps of the emotional recognition process, leading to SC deficits. The latter are present regardless of the presence of a full-blown psychosis

Social cognition in people with schizophrenia: A cluster-analytic approach

Background The study aimed to subtype patients with schizophrenia on the basis of social cognition (SC), and to identify cut-offs that best discriminate among subtypes in 809 out-patients recruited in the context of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses. Method A two-step cluster analysis of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), the Facial Emotion Identification Test and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores was performed. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify the cut-offs of variables that best discriminated among clusters. Results We identified three clusters, characterized by unimpaired (42%), impaired (50.4%) and very impaired (7.5%) SC. Three theory-of-mind domains were more important for the cluster definition as compared with emotion perception and emotional intelligence. Patients more able to understand simple sarcasm (14 for TASIT-SS) were very likely to belong to the unimpaired SC cluster. Compared with patients in the impaired SC cluster, those in the very impaired SC cluster performed significantly worse in lie scenes (TASIT-LI <10), but not in simple sarcasm. Moreover, functioning, neurocognition, disorganization and SC had a linear relationship across the three clusters, while positive symptoms were significantly lower in patients with unimpaired SC as compared with patients with impaired and very impaired SC. On the other hand, negative symptoms were highest in patients with impaired levels of SC. Conclusions If replicated, the identification of such subtypes in clinical practice may help in tailoring rehabilitation efforts to the person's strengths to gain more benefit to the person

Familial aggregation of MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery scores in a large sample of outpatients with schizophrenia and their unaffected relatives

Background The increased use of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) to investigate cognitive dysfunctions in schizophrenia fostered interest in its sensitivity in the context of family studies. As various measures of the same cognitive domains may have different power to distinguish between unaffected relatives of patients and controls, the relative sensitivity of MCCB tests for relative-control differences has to be established. We compared MCCB scores of 852 outpatients with schizophrenia (SCZ) with those of 342 unaffected relatives (REL) and a normative Italian sample of 774 healthy subjects (HCS). We examined familial aggregation of cognitive impairment by investigating within-family prediction of MCCB scores based on probands' scores.Methods Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze group differences in adjusted MCCB scores. Weighted least-squares analysis was used to investigate whether probands' MCCB scores predicted REL neurocognitive performance.Results SCZ were significantly impaired on all MCCB domains. REL had intermediate scores between SCZ and HCS, showing a similar pattern of impairment, except for social cognition. Proband's scores significantly predicted REL MCCB scores on all domains except for visual learning.Conclusions In a large sample of stable patients with schizophrenia, living in the community, and in their unaffected relatives, MCCB demonstrated sensitivity to cognitive deficits in both groups. Our findings of significant within-family prediction of MCCB scores might reflect disease-related genetic or environmental factors

Social cognition in people with schizophrenia: A cluster-analytic approach

Background The study aimed to subtype patients with schizophrenia on the basis of social cognition (SC), and to identify cut-offs that best discriminate among subtypes in 809 out-patients recruited in the context of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses. Method A two-step cluster analysis of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), the Facial Emotion Identification Test and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores was performed. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify the cut-offs of variables that best discriminated among clusters. Results We identified three clusters, characterized by unimpaired (42%), impaired (50.4%) and very impaired (7.5%) SC. Three theory-of-mind domains were more important for the cluster definition as compared with emotion perception and emotional intelligence. Patients more able to understand simple sarcasm (14 for TASIT-SS) were very likely to belong to the unimpaired SC cluster. Compared with patients in the impaired SC cluster, those in the very impaired SC cluster performed significantly worse in lie scenes (TASIT-LI <10), but not in simple sarcasm. Moreover, functioning, neurocognition, disorganization and SC had a linear relationship across the three clusters, while positive symptoms were significantly lower in patients with unimpaired SC as compared with patients with impaired and very impaired SC. On the other hand, negative symptoms were highest in patients with impaired levels of SC. Conclusions If replicated, the identification of such subtypes in clinical practice may help in tailoring rehabilitation efforts to the person's strengths to gain more benefit to the person

Social cognition in people with schizophrenia: A cluster-analytic approach

Background The study aimed to subtype patients with schizophrenia on the basis of social cognition (SC), and to identify cut-offs that best discriminate among subtypes in 809 out-patients recruited in the context of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses. Method A two-step cluster analysis of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), the Facial Emotion Identification Test and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores was performed. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify the cut-offs of variables that best discriminated among clusters. Results We identified three clusters, characterized by unimpaired (42%), impaired (50.4%) and very impaired (7.5%) SC. Three theory-of-mind domains were more important for the cluster definition as compared with emotion perception and emotional intelligence. Patients more able to understand simple sarcasm (14 for TASIT-SS) were very likely to belong to the unimpaired SC cluster. Compared with patients in the impaired SC cluster, those in the very impaired SC cluster performed significantly worse in lie scenes (TASIT-LI <10), but not in simple sarcasm. Moreover, functioning, neurocognition, disorganization and SC had a linear relationship across the three clusters, while positive symptoms were significantly lower in patients with unimpaired SC as compared with patients with impaired and very impaired SC. On the other hand, negative symptoms were highest in patients with impaired levels of SC. Conclusions If replicated, the identification of such subtypes in clinical practice may help in tailoring rehabilitation efforts to the person's strengths to gain more benefit to the person

Variance of IQ is partially dependent on deletion type among 1,427 22q11.2 deletion syndrome subjects

The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome is caused by non‐allelic homologous recombination events during meiosis between low copy repeats (LCR22) termed A, B, C, and D. Most patients have a typical LCR22A‐D (AD) deletion of 3 million base pairs (Mb). In this report, we evaluated IQ scores in 1,478 subjects with 22q11.2DS. The mean of full scale IQ, verbal IQ, and performance IQ scores in our cohort were 72.41 (standard deviation‐SD of 13.72), 75.91(SD of 14.46), and 73.01(SD of 13.71), respectively. To investigate whether IQ scores are associated with deletion size, we examined individuals with the 3 Mb, AD (n = 1,353) and nested 1.5 Mb, AB (n = 74) deletions, since they comprised the largest subgroups. We found that full scale IQ was decreased by 6.25 points (p = .002), verbal IQ was decreased by 8.17 points (p = .0002) and performance IQ was decreased by 4.03 points (p = .028) in subjects with the AD versus AB deletion. Thus, individuals with the smaller, 1.5 Mb AB deletion have modestly higher IQ scores than those with the larger, 3 Mb AD deletion. Overall, the deletion of genes in the AB region largely explains the observed low IQ in the 22q11.2DS population. However, our results also indicate that haploinsufficiency of genes in the LCR22B‐D region (BD) exert an additional negative impact on IQ. Furthermore, we did not find evidence of a confounding effect of severe congenital heart disease on IQ scores in our cohort

Genetic contributors to risk of schizophrenia in the presence of a 22q11.2 deletion

Schizophrenia occurs in about one in four individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS). The aim of this International Brain and Behavior 22q11.2DS Consortium (IBBC) study was to identify genetic factors that contribute to schizophrenia, in addition to the ~20-fold increased risk conveyed by the 22q11.2 deletion. Using whole-genome sequencing data from 519 unrelated individuals with 22q11.2DS, we conducted genome-wide comparisons of common and rare variants between those with schizophrenia and those with no psychotic disorder at age ≥25 years. Available microarray data enabled direct comparison of polygenic risk for schizophrenia between 22q11.2DS and independent population samples with no 22q11.2 deletion, with and without schizophrenia (total n = 35,182). Polygenic risk for schizophrenia within 22q11.2DS was significantly greater for those with schizophrenia (padj = 6.73 × 10−6). Novel reciprocal case–control comparisons between the 22q11.2DS and population-based cohorts showed that polygenic risk score was significantly greater in individuals with psychotic illness, regardless of the presence of the 22q11.2 deletion. Within the 22q11.2DS cohort, results of gene-set analyses showed some support for rare variants affecting synaptic genes. No common or rare variants within the 22q11.2 deletion region were significantly associated with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that in addition to the deletion conferring a greatly increased risk to schizophrenia, the risk is higher when the 22q11.2 deletion and common polygenic risk factors that contribute to schizophrenia in the general population are both present