Prospective memory in non-psychotic first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia

Although a number of studies have found prospective memory (PM) impairment in patients with schizophrenia, very little is known about the PM performance in non-psychotic relatives of these patients. The current study aimed to explore the PM performance in non-psychotic first-degree relatives of these patients. Two groups of participants (26 non-psychotic first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients and 26 healthy comparison participants) were administered three PM tasks (time-, event-, and activity-based) and a set of neurocognitive tests. Results showed that the relatives performed significantly worse than the comparisons on most indices of the PM tasks, with a similar pattern of impairment found in other neurocognitive measures. Together with findings from previous studies, results of the current study suggest that PM may be a potential endophenotype for schizophrenia. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.</p

Examination of postconcussion-like symptoms in healthy university students: Relationships to subjective and objective neuropsychological function performance

This study examined postconcussion-like symptoms in a group of university students and explored their relationships to neuropsychological function performance. A sample of 124 students was recruited. All of the participants received the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) and completed a comprehensive set of neuropsychological tests. They reported a relatively high base rate of postconcussion-like symptoms. The most frequently endorsed items were "fatigue" (76.9%), "longer time to think" (60.3%), "poor concentration" (58.7%), "sleep disturbance" (50.4%), and "frustration" (46.3%). There were no significant differences between low symptom reporters and high symptom reporters, except for self-reported dysexecutive problems. A comparison of the healthy high symptom reporters and a convenient sample of traumatic brain injury patients revealed that the patients performed significantly worse on neuropsychological functions than the high symptom reporters, despite non-significant differences between symptom endorsement. Our findings demonstrate that: (a) the base rate of postconcussion-like symptoms in a group of healthy university students is relatively high and (b) postconcussion symptom (PCS) is not related to neuropsychological functions in normal people.This study examined postconcussion-like symptoms in a group of university students and explored their relationships to neuropsychological function performance. A sample of 124 students was recruited. All of the participants received the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) and completed a comprehensive set of neuropsychological tests. They reported a relatively high base rate of postconcussion-like symptoms. The most frequently endorsed items were "fatigue" (76.9%), "longer time to think" (60.3%), "poor concentration" (58.7%), "sleep disturbance" (50.4%), and "frustration" (46.3%). There were no significant differences between low symptom reporters and high symptom reporters, except for self-reported dysexecutive problems. A comparison of the healthy high symptom reporters and a convenient sample of traumatic brain injury patients revealed that the patients performed significantly worse on neuropsychological functions than the high symptom reporters, despite non-significant differences between symptom endorsement. Our findings demonstrate that: (a) the base rate of postconcussion-like symptoms in a group of healthy university students is relatively high and (b) postconcussion symptom (PCS) is not related to neuropsychological functions in normal people. (c) 2006 National Academy of Neuropsychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The development of a Chinese equivalence version of Letter-Number Span Test

The present study aimed to develop a Chinese equivalence version of the Letter Number (LN) Span Test and to explore the preliminary construct and discriminative validity of the developed version among a group of healthy Chinese volunteers and patients with stroke. A group of 165 (73 men and 92 women) healthy participants were recruited for the validation study most of them were undergraduates or postgraduates. Moreover, a comparison was made between nine patients with stroke and the healthy controls. For the healthy sample, the Chinese version correlated significantly with the English version in total number of correct span (r = .6, p <.00001) and the longest span (r = .5, p <.00005). The Chinese version of LN Span Test was also found to be significantly associated with memory-loaded tests but not other tests. A series of ANCOVAs controlling for age, education, and IQ indicated that stroke patients performed significantly worse than the healthy controls in LN Span total number of correct responses (p <.04), immediate recall (p <.0005), and delayed recall (p <.0005) of WMS-R, SART total number of correct response (p <.0005), PASAT dyads correct response (p <.0 1). The preliminary findings suggest that the Chinese version of the LN Span Test shows impressive preliminary validity among a group of healthy volunteers and an impressive clinical discriminative validity among a group of stroke cases.The present study aimed to develop a Chinese equivalence version of the Letter Number (LN) Span Test and to explore the preliminary construct and discriminative validity of the developed version among a group of healthy Chinese volunteers and patients with stroke. A group of 165 (73 men and 92 women) healthy participants were recruited for the validation study most of them were undergraduates or postgraduates. Moreover, a comparison was made between nine patients with stroke and the healthy controls. For the healthy sample, the Chinese version correlated significantly with the English version in total number of correct span (r = .6, p <.00001) and the longest span (r = .5, p <.00005). The Chinese version of LN Span Test was also found to be significantly associated with memory-loaded tests but not other tests. A series of ANCOVAs controlling for age, education, and IQ indicated that stroke patients performed significantly worse than the healthy controls in LN Span total number of correct responses (p <.04), immediate recall (p <.0005), and delayed recall (p <.0005) of WMS-R, SART total number of correct response (p <.0005), PASAT dyads correct response (p <.0 1). The preliminary findings suggest that the Chinese version of the LN Span Test shows impressive preliminary validity among a group of healthy volunteers and an impressive clinical discriminative validity among a group of stroke cases

Exploratory study on the base-rate of paranoid ideation in a non-clinical Chinese sample

Recent findings from several large-scale community surveys suggest that delusions tend to occur in non-clinical samples as a continuous phenotype rather than as an all-or-none phenomenon. However, the majority of studies on the prevalence of delusions and paranoid ideation are limited to Western samples. The present study aims to examine the phenomenon and base-rate of paranoid ideation in a Chinese non-clinical sample. A total of 4951 undergraduates (65.9% male) completed a checklist for paranoid ideation and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Participants were classified into individuals with and without schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) features based on the SPQ. For the frequency subscale, 2.1-18.2% of the participants without SPD features experienced certain types of paranoid ideation at least once a week during the survey. The prevalence rate even elevated to a higher proportion in conviction and distress dimensions. For the conviction subscale, 93-53.5% of the participants somewhat believed of the ideations. For the distress subscale, 14.7-31.3% of the participants felt somewhat distressing in the experienced paranoid ideation. Participants with SPD features reported significantly higher prevalence in most items across these three dimensions. Findings indicate a high base-rate of attenuated forms of psychotic-like symptoms in a non-clinical Chinese sample, and provide further evidence for the continuity of psychotic phenomenon in non-clinical samples. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

The role of melatonergic system in intervertebral disc degeneration and its association with low back pain: a clinical study

Objective The mechanisms of intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) in low back pain (LBP) patients are multiples. In this study, we attempt to investigate whether melatonergic system plays a potential role in IVDD patients with LBP by analyzing their clinical specimens. The fucus will be given to the correlation between the melatonin receptor expression and intervertebral disc tissue apoptosis. Methods In this clinical study, 107 lumbar intervertebral disc nucleus pulposus (NP) specimens from patients with LBP were collected with patients’ consents. The disc height (DH) discrepancy ratio, range of motion and sagittal parameters of the pathological plane were measured and Pfirrmann grade was used to classified the grades of IVDD level. Discs at grades 1–3 were served as normal control and grades 4–5 were considered as IVDD. The expression levels of melatonin receptor 1A (MT1) and 1B (MT2) were measured by immunohistochemistry. The apoptosis of NP was assessed using TUNEL staining. Their potential associations among MT1/2, DH, apoptosis, sagittal parameters with IVDD and LBP were evaluated with statistical analysis. Results The incidence of IVDD was positively associated with age and negatively related to VAS scores for LBP (p < 0.001). Patients with higher degree of IVDD also have higher DH discrepancy ratio (p < 0.001), higher prevalence of lumbar instability (p = 0.003) and higher cell apoptosis compared to the control. Nevertheless, no statistically significant correlation was identified between Pfirrmann grade and lumbar sagittal parameters. MT1 and MT2 both were highly expressed in the NP tissues. Importantly, MT1 expression but not MT2 was significantly increased in the intervertebral disc tissue of patients with IVDD and its level correlated well with cell apoptosis level and the severity of IVDD as well as lower VAS scores for LBP. Conclusion The highly elevated MT1 expression was found in NP tissues of patients with IVDD and LBP compared to the control. This phenomenon probably reflects the compensating response of the body to the pathological alteration of the IVDD and LBP. Therefore, these findings provide the novel information to use selective agonists of MT1 to target IVDD and LBP clinically

Sustained Attention Deficit Along the Psychosis Proneness Continuum A Study on the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART)

Background: Sustained attention deficits have been associated with schizophrenia. However, these findings were limited to patients with schizophrenia and cannot be generalized to a wider nonclinical sample with schizotypal personality features

Meta-analysis of prospective memory in schizophrenia: Nature, extent, and correlates

Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to remember to carry out an intended action in the future and it is an important function for everyday living. Studies have found that the neural basis of PM is located mainly in the prefrontal lobes (particularly in Brodmann Area 10) and patients with schizophrenia have functional deficits in this area. The present study provided a meta-analytic review of PM performances in patients with schizophrenia in 11 studies. A total of 485 patients with schizophrenia and 409 controls were included. Results showed that patients with schizophrenia exhibited impairments in all time- (d = -1.33), event- (d = -0.827). and activity-based (d = -0.729) PM, with time-based PM more impaired than event-based PM. In addition, PM was found to be significantly correlated with negative symptoms (r = -0.18), general psychopathology (r = -0.168), medication dosage (r = -0.119), duration of illness (r = -0.131), age (r = -0.23), education (r = 0.249), IQ (r = 0.439) and premorbid IQ (r = 0.356). It has theoretical and clinical implications. Theoretically, the results indicate time-based PM involves more initiation than event-based PM. Clinically, the results indicate patients on high dose of antipsychotic medication and with long duration of illness need special attention from care givers for PM problems. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000270758700009&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701PsychiatrySCI(E)SSCI33REVIEW1-364-7011

Exploratory study on the base-rate of paranoid ideation in a non-clinical Chinese sample

Recent findings from several large-scale community surveys suggest that delusions tend to occur in non-clinical samples as a continuous phenotype rather than as an all-or-none phenomenon. However, the majority of studies on the prevalence of delusions and paranoid ideation are limited to Western samples. The present study aims to examine the phenomenon and base-rate of paranoid ideation in a Chinese non-clinical sample. A total of 4951 undergraduates (65.9% male) completed a checklist for paranoid ideation and the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Participants were classified into individuals with and without schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) features based on the SPQ. For the frequency subscale, 2.1-18.2% of the participants without SPD features experienced certain types of paranoid ideation at least once a week during the survey. The prevalence rate even elevated to a higher proportion in conviction and distress dimensions. For the conviction subscale, 93-53.5% of the participants somewhat believed of the ideations. For the distress subscale, 14.7-31.3% of the participants felt somewhat distressing in the experienced paranoid ideation. Participants with SPD features reported significantly higher prevalence in most items across these three dimensions. Findings indicate a high base-rate of attenuated forms of psychotic-like symptoms in a non-clinical Chinese sample, and provide further evidence for the continuity of psychotic phenomenon in non-clinical samples. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.</p