A family study on first episode of psychosis patients: exploring neuropsychological performance as an endophenotype

Introduction: Family studies provide a suitable approach to analyzing candidate endophenotypes of schizophrenia, including cognitive features. Objective: To characterize different neurocognitive functions in a group of patients with first episode of psychosis (FEP), their first-degree relatives (parents and siblings), and healthy controls (HC), in order to identify potential endophenotypes for schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). Methods: Participants were assessed in the context of a national project in Spain called PAFIP-FAMILIAS. They completed the same neuropsychological battery, which included tests of verbal memory, visual memory, processing speed, working memory, executive functions, motor dexterity, attention, and theory of mind. Group comparisons were performed using one-way ANOVA, followed by tests of multiple comparisons when appropriate. Results: One hundred thirty-three FEP patients were included, as well as 244 of their first-degree relatives (146 parents and 98 siblings) and 202 HC. In general, relatives showed an intermediate performance between the HC and the FEP patients in all neurocognitive domains. However, the domains of executive functions and attention stood out, as relatives (especially parents) showed similar performance to FEP patients. This was replicated when selecting patients subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia and their relatives. Conclusion: These findings suggest that executive and attention dysfunctions might have a family aggregation and could be relevant cognitive endophenotypes for psychotic disorders. The study shows the potential of exploring intra-family neuropsychological performance supporting neurobiological and genetic research in SSD.Funding information: Instituto de Salud Carlos III; Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla; Universidad de Cantabria Acknowledgments: The authors wish to thank the PAFIP-FAMILIAS research team, and especially all the patients and their relatives who participated in the study. The PAFIP-FAMILIAS project received funding from the Carlos III Health Institute (FIS PI17/00221). Additionally, this work was supported by a Miguel Servet contract from the Carlos III Health Institute (Dr. Rosa Ayesa-Arriola) (CP18/00003), and a predoctoral contract (Nancy Murillo-Garcia) from the Valdecilla Biomedical Research Institute and the University of Cantabria (BOC49, REF. IDI-13)

Do Sex/Gender and Menopause Influence the Psychopathology and Comorbidity Observed in Delusional Disorders?

Background: While sex differences and gonadal hormone levels are taken seriously in the understanding and treatment of schizophrenia, their influence in the psychopathology of delusional disorders (DD) remains unknown. Methods: Our strategy was to conduct a narrative review of the effects of (a) sex/gender difference and (b) menopause on delusional content, affective and anxiety-related comorbidity, substance use disorders, cognition, aggressivity, and suicide risk in DD. Results: Because the literature is scarce, our results are tentative. We found that erotomania was more prevalent in women than in men, and especially in women with premenopausal onset. In contrast, jealous and somatic delusions were more commonly seen in DD women with postmenopausal onset. With respect to depressive comorbidity, women with premenopausal onset appear more vulnerable to depression than those with later onset. Age at menopause is reported to correlate positively with intensity of suicidal ideation. Anxiety symptoms may be related to estrogen levels. Men present with higher rates of substance use disorders, particularly alcohol use. Conclusions: Many male/female differences in DD may be attributable to sociocultural factors but menopause, and, therefore, levels of female hormones, influence symptom expression in women and mediate the expression of psychiatric comorbidities. Further research in this area promises to lead to improved individualized treatment

DUNE Offline Computing Conceptual Design Report

This document describes Offline Software and Computing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) experiment, in particular, the conceptual design of the offline computing needed to accomplish its physics goals. Our emphasis in this document is the development of the computing infrastructure needed to acquire, catalog, reconstruct, simulate and analyze the data from the DUNE experiment and its prototypes. In this effort, we concentrate on developing the tools and systems thatfacilitate the development and deployment of advanced algorithms. Rather than prescribing particular algorithms, our goal is to provide resources that are flexible and accessible enough to support creative software solutions as HEP computing evolves and to provide computing that achieves the physics goals of the DUNE experiment

Reconstruction of interactions in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector with Pandora

International audienceThe Pandora Software Development Kit and algorithm libraries provide pattern-recognition logic essential to the reconstruction of particle interactions in liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. Pandora is the primary event reconstruction software used at ProtoDUNE-SP, a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector. ProtoDUNE-SP, located at CERN, is exposed to a charged-particle test beam. This paper gives an overview of the Pandora reconstruction algorithms and how they have been tailored for use at ProtoDUNE-SP. In complex events with numerous cosmic-ray and beam background particles, the simulated reconstruction and identification efficiency for triggered test-beam particles is above 80% for the majority of particle type and beam momentum combinations. Specifically, simulated 1 GeV/$c$ charged pions and protons are correctly reconstructed and identified with efficiencies of 86.1$\pm0.6$% and 84.1$\pm0.6$%, respectively. The efficiencies measured for test-beam data are shown to be within 5% of those predicted by the simulation

DUNE Offline Computing Conceptual Design Report

International audienceThis document describes Offline Software and Computing for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) experiment, in particular, the conceptual design of the offline computing needed to accomplish its physics goals. Our emphasis in this document is the development of the computing infrastructure needed to acquire, catalog, reconstruct, simulate and analyze the data from the DUNE experiment and its prototypes. In this effort, we concentrate on developing the tools and systems thatfacilitate the development and deployment of advanced algorithms. Rather than prescribing particular algorithms, our goal is to provide resources that are flexible and accessible enough to support creative software solutions as HEP computing evolves and to provide computing that achieves the physics goals of the DUNE experiment

Reconstruction of interactions in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector with Pandora

International audienceThe Pandora Software Development Kit and algorithm libraries provide pattern-recognition logic essential to the reconstruction of particle interactions in liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. Pandora is the primary event reconstruction software used at ProtoDUNE-SP, a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector. ProtoDUNE-SP, located at CERN, is exposed to a charged-particle test beam. This paper gives an overview of the Pandora reconstruction algorithms and how they have been tailored for use at ProtoDUNE-SP. In complex events with numerous cosmic-ray and beam background particles, the simulated reconstruction and identification efficiency for triggered test-beam particles is above 80% for the majority of particle type and beam momentum combinations. Specifically, simulated 1 GeV/$c$ charged pions and protons are correctly reconstructed and identified with efficiencies of 86.1$\pm0.6$% and 84.1$\pm0.6$%, respectively. The efficiencies measured for test-beam data are shown to be within 5% of those predicted by the simulation

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on $10^3$ pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

Reconstruction of interactions in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector with Pandora

International audienceThe Pandora Software Development Kit and algorithm libraries provide pattern-recognition logic essential to the reconstruction of particle interactions in liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. Pandora is the primary event reconstruction software used at ProtoDUNE-SP, a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector. ProtoDUNE-SP, located at CERN, is exposed to a charged-particle test beam. This paper gives an overview of the Pandora reconstruction algorithms and how they have been tailored for use at ProtoDUNE-SP. In complex events with numerous cosmic-ray and beam background particles, the simulated reconstruction and identification efficiency for triggered test-beam particles is above 80% for the majority of particle type and beam momentum combinations. Specifically, simulated 1 GeV/$c$ charged pions and protons are correctly reconstructed and identified with efficiencies of 86.1$\pm0.6$% and 84.1$\pm0.6$%, respectively. The efficiencies measured for test-beam data are shown to be within 5% of those predicted by the simulation

The DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift Technology, Technical Design Report

International audienceDUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals

The DUNE Far Detector Vertical Drift Technology, Technical Design Report

International audienceDUNE is an international experiment dedicated to addressing some of the questions at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics, including the mystifying preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe. The dual-site experiment will employ an intense neutrino beam focused on a near and a far detector as it aims to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and to make high-precision measurements of the PMNS matrix parameters, including the CP-violating phase. It will also stand ready to observe supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector implements liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) technology, and combines the many tens-of-kiloton fiducial mass necessary for rare event searches with the sub-centimeter spatial resolution required to image those events with high precision. The addition of a photon detection system enhances physics capabilities for all DUNE physics drivers and opens prospects for further physics explorations. Given its size, the far detector will be implemented as a set of modules, with LArTPC designs that differ from one another as newer technologies arise. In the vertical drift LArTPC design, a horizontal cathode bisects the detector, creating two stacked drift volumes in which ionization charges drift towards anodes at either the top or bottom. The anodes are composed of perforated PCB layers with conductive strips, enabling reconstruction in 3D. Light-trap-style photon detection modules are placed both on the cryostat's side walls and on the central cathode where they are optically powered. This Technical Design Report describes in detail the technical implementations of each subsystem of this LArTPC that, together with the other far detector modules and the near detector, will enable DUNE to achieve its physics goals