Electrophysiological Correlates of Negative Symptom Domains in Schizophrenia

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S96-S97
Author(s):  
G.-M. Giordano ◽  
T. Koenig ◽  
A. Mucci ◽  
A. Vignapiano ◽  
A. Amodio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Symptom Domains ◽  
Consummatory Anhedonia ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Anticipatory Anhedonia ◽  
The Brain

IntroductionNegative symptoms are a core feature of schizophrenia but their pathophysiology remains elusive. They cluster in a motivation-related domain, including apathy, anhedonia, asociality and in an expression-related domain, including alogia and blunted affect.AimOur aim was to investigate the different neurobiological underpinnings of the two domains using the brain electrical microstates (MS), which reflect global patterns of functional connectivity with high temporal resolution.MethodWe recorded multichannel resting EEGs in 142 schizophrenia patients (SCZ) and in 64 healthy controls (HC), recruited to the Italian network for research on psychoses study. Four microstates (MS) classes were computed from resting EEG data using the K-Mean clustering algorithm. Pearson's coefficient was used to investigate correlations of microstates measures with negative symptom domains, assessed by the Brief Negative Symptoms Scale (BNSS).ResultsSCZ, in comparison to HC, showed increased contribution and duration of MS-C. Only the avolition domain of BNSS correlated with the contribution and occurrence of MS-A. Within the same domain, anticipatory anhedonia, apathy and asociality, but not consummatory anhedonia, were positively correlated with contribution and occurrence of microstate A. Asociality was also negatively correlated with contribution and occurrence of MS-D.ConclusionOur findings support different neurobiological underpinnings of the negative symptom domains, avolition and expressive deficit. Furthermore, our results lend support to the hypothesis that only anticipatory anhedonia is linked to the avolition domain of the negative symptoms. Mixed results in the literature concerning the presence of MS-A and D abnormalities in schizophrenia might be related to the syndrome heterogeneity.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Neurophysiological correlates of negative symptom domains in patients with schizophrenia

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. s265-s265
Author(s):  
A. Vignapiano ◽  
V. Montefusco ◽  
G.M. Plescia ◽  
G. Di Lorenzo ◽  
C. Niolu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Symptom Scale ◽  
Symptom Domains ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Competing Interest

IntroductionNegative symptoms have long been recognized as a central feature of schizophrenia, which limit recovery, having a strong negative impact on real-life functioning. External validators of the negative symptoms domains might help refining hypotheses on their pathophysiological basis.AimsThe objective of this study was to evaluate, in the context of the multicenter study of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses, the relationships between auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) components and negative symptom domains in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ).MethodsWe examined ERPs recorded during an auditory odd-ball task in 115 chronic stabilized SCZ (78% on second-generation antipsychotics) and 62 matched healthy controls (HC). Negative symptoms were assessed using the Brief Negative Symptom Scale.ResultsOur main findings included significant N100 and P3b amplitude reductions in SCZ compared to HC. P3b amplitude did not correlate with any negative symptom domain, while N100 amplitude correlated with both anhedonia and avolition domains.ConclusionsAvolition and anhedonia, often clustering in the same factor, are related to abnormalities of early components of the ERPs correlated with perceptual and automatic attention processes. None of the negative symptom domains is associated with abnormalities of the later stages indexed by P3 amplitude.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals Avolition as the core negative symptom in schizophrenia: relevance to pharmacological treatment development

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory P. Strauss ◽  
Lisa A. Bartolomeo ◽  
Philip D. Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Clinical Trial Design ◽  
Core Component ◽  
Treatment Target ◽  
Global Improvement ◽  
Treatment Development ◽  
The Core ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Symptom Domains

AbstractNegative symptoms have long been considered a core component of schizophrenia. Modern conceptualizations of the structure of negative symptoms posit that there are at least two broad dimensions (motivation and pleasure and diminished expression) or perhaps five separable domains (avolition, anhedonia, asociality, blunted affect, alogia). The current review synthesizes a body of emerging research indicating that avolition may have a special place among these dimensions, as it is generally associated with poorer outcomes and may have distinct neurobiological mechanisms. Network analytic findings also indicate that avolition is highly central and interconnected with the other negative symptom domains in schizophrenia, and successfully remediating avolition results in global improvement in the entire constellation of negative symptoms. Avolition may therefore reflect the most critical treatment target within the negative symptom construct. Implications for targeted treatment development and clinical trial design are discussed.

scholarly journals Negative Symptom Domains Are Associated With Verbal Learning in Adolescents With Early Onset Psychosis

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn Mørch-Johnsen ◽  
Runar Elle Smelror ◽  
Dimitrios Andreou ◽  
Claudia Barth ◽  
Cecilie Johannessen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Early Onset ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Symptom Domains ◽  
Symptom Scores ◽  
Early Onset Psychosis

Background: Early-onset psychosis (EOP) is among the leading causes of disease burden in adolescents. Negative symptoms and cognitive deficits predicts poorer functional outcome. A better understanding of the association between negative symptoms and cognitive impairment may inform theories on underlying mechanisms and elucidate targets for development of new treatments. Two domains of negative symptoms have been described in adult patients with schizophrenia: apathy and diminished expression, however, the factorial structure of negative symptoms has not been investigated in EOP. We aimed to explore the factorial structure of negative symptoms and investigate associations between cognitive performance and negative symptom domains in adolescents with EOP. We hypothesized that (1) two negative symptom factors would be identifiable, and that (2) diminished expression would be more strongly associated with cognitive performance, similar to adult psychosis patients.Methods: Adolescent patients with non-affective EOP (n = 169) were included from three cohorts: Youth-TOP, Norway (n = 45), Early-Onset Study, Norway (n = 27) and Adolescent Schizophrenia Study, Mexico (n = 97). An exploratory factor analysis was performed to investigate the underlying structure of negative symptoms (measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)). Factor-models were further assessed using confirmatory factor analyses. Associations between negative symptom domains and six cognitive domains were assessed using multiple linear regression models controlling for age, sex and cohort. The neurocognitive domains from the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery included: speed of processing, attention, working memory, verbal learning, visual learning, and reasoning and problem solving.Results: The exploratory factor analysis of PANSS negative symptoms suggested retaining only a single factor, but a forced two factor solution corroborated previously described factors of apathy and diminished expression in adult-onset schizophrenia. Results from confirmatory factor analysis indicated a better fit for the two-factor model than for the one-factor model. For both negative symptom domains, negative symptom scores were inversely associated with verbal learning scores.Conclusion: The results support the presence of two domains of negative symptoms in EOP; apathy and diminished expression. Future studies on negative symptoms in EOP should examine putative differential effects of these symptom domains. For both domains, negative symptom scores were significantly inversely associated with verbal learning.

The second-generation assessment scales: Brief negative symptom scale and clinical assessment interview for negative symptoms

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S70-S70
Author(s):  
A. Mucci ◽  
S. Galderisi
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Clinical Assessment ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Symptom Scale ◽  
Assessment Interview ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Functional Outcome Measures ◽  
Internal Experience ◽  
Assessment Scales

The construct of negative symptoms has undergone significant changes since the introduction of first generation assessment scales, such as the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms or the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Blunted affect, Alogia, Asociality, Anhedonia and Avolition are largely recognized as valid domains of the negative symptoms construct.Among the new assessment instruments, both the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) and the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms (CAINS) are considered adequate in their coverage of the negative symptoms domains. They include the assessment of both behavior and internal experience for Anhedonia, Asociality and Avolition to avoid overlap with functional outcome measures, as well as consummatory and anticipatory components of anhedonia with an emphasis on the internal experience of pleasure.Strengths and limitations of these new assessment instruments will be reviewed in the light of some existing challenges, such as the distinction between primary and secondary negative symptoms and development of innovative treatments.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Assessment of negative symptoms beyond schizophrenia

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S69-S70
Author(s):  
S. Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Skewed Distribution ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Measurement Instruments ◽  
Symptom Scale ◽  
Schizotypal Personality ◽  
Competing Interest

IntroductionNegative symptoms have long been recognized as a hallmark of schizophrenia. Newer evidence suggests that negative symptoms can be observed in persons with other disorders or even in non-clinical populations. However, most negative symptom scales are designed to identify clinically relevant symptoms, which might lead to underappreciation of subclinical symptom expression.ObjectivesThe aim of the present study was to establish distributional properties of well-established negative symptom scales in comparison with the newly developed Zurich Negative Symptom Scale, which employs a fully dimensional and continuous approach.MethodsWe included participants with established schizophrenia (n = 65), first-episode psychosis (n = 25), schizotypal personality traits (n = 29) and remitted bipolar disorder (n = 20). Assessment of negative symptoms was conducted with the Zurich Negative Symptom Scale and compared to establish rating scales.ResultsIn this broad sample, measurement of negative symptoms with established negative symptom scales lead to a highly skewed distribution. In other words, established negative symptom scales were able to identify negative symptoms in some participants in the non-schizophrenia spectrum, but a differentiation of negative symptom severity in the subclinical range was not possible. In contrast, the distribution of negative symptoms measured with the Zurich Negative Symptom scale approached normality.ConclusionsNegative symptoms can be observed outside the schizophrenia diagnosis. However, in order to fully explore the continuity of negative symptoms, measurement instruments need to be designed to cover the full range of symptomatology starting at a subclinical level. We propose the newly developed Zurich Negative Symptom Scale as a useful tool in this respect.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

scholarly journals T144. CORRELATION BETWEEN CEREBELLAR-PREFRONTAL NETWORK CONNECTIVITY AND NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE STAGES OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S285-S286
Author(s):  
Bin Zhang ◽  
Shiqi Yuan ◽  
Liping Cao ◽  
Yuping Ning ◽  
Jijun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cerebellar Cortex ◽  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Chronic Patients ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
3.0 T ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Background To identify different network-symptom relationship may be a model of how precision medicine approach. In the July 2019 issue of AJP, Brady et al. successfully identified a network biomarker of negative symptom severity in a sample of patients with schizophrenia using resting state functional connectivity (FC) fMRI, which pushed forward the psychiatric research from purely correlational studies. As we known, medications and different episodes of the disease affect the brain function, so the breakdown of cerebellar-prefrontal network connectivity may not directly correspond to negative symptom. At this point, we would strengthen empirical support for a causal relationship between dysfunctional connectivity and psychopathology using different stages of patients with schizophrenia. Methods We used three independent cohorts with schizophrenia, one of which is 54 medication-naïve patients with first episode schizophrenia (FES) in Shanghai Mental Health Center (SH), the other is 112 medicated patients with FES in Guangzhou Huiai Hospital (GZ1), and the third is 35 chronic patients with schizophrenia in Guangzhou Huiai Hospital (GZ2). All patients were Mandarin-speaking Han Chinese and met the criteria for schizophrenia disorder based on the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV-TR. Negative symptom severity was assessed with the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) in SH cohort and with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in GZ1 and GZ2 cohorts. MRI imaging was respectively conducted on Siemens 3.0-T (SH) and Philips 3.0-T (GZ1+GZ2) MRI systems. MRI data were preprocessed and analyzed using the DPABI toolbox, which are the same as the study of Brady et al. Furthermore, we selected the regions of interest (ROI) from the results of Brady et al. for our ROI-wise functional connectivity analysis: right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, 36, 24, 30), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (-33, 30, 42) and midline cerebellar cortex (-9, -96, -27). Results We modeled the effect of negative symptom severity on FC between left or right dlPFC and midline cerebellar cortex while covaried the effects of head motion, age and sex. Our results showed that FC between right dlPFC and cerebellar cortex positively correlated with negative symptom severity in medication-naïve patients (SH cohort: r = 0.343, p = 0.014) and the FC tended to be significantly positively correlated with negative symptom severity in medication patients with FES (GZ1 cohort: r = 0.179, p = 0.061). However, in chronic patients with schizophrenia, the FC between right dlPFC and cerebellar cortex negatively correlated with negative symptom severity (GZ2 cohort: r = -0.390, p = 0.021). The FC between left dlPFC and cerebellar cortex did not correlate with negative symptom severity in all three cohorts. Discussion Our data of chronic patients with schizophrenia validated Brandy’s findings: negative symptom severity was found inversely correlated with FC between right dlPFC and cerebellar cortex. However, our results showed a significantly positive correlation in medication free cohort, and the significance become weaker in the medicated cohort. Our finding proved that the prefrontal cortex – cerebellum network circuit linked directly to negative symptoms, further it is a positive correlation in FES patients, and it is a negative correlation in chronic patients which are the same as Brandy’s. We speculate that medication affects function of the brain network, and then reverses the correlationship between it and the symptoms. We will follow up our two cohorts of FES patients for further fMRI data collection and symptom assessment, and test whether the network could correspond to negative symptom severity.

scholarly journals Tracing Links Between Early Auditory Information Processing and Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia: An ERP Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia M. Giordano ◽  
Francesco Brando ◽  
Andrea Perrottelli ◽  
Giorgio Di Lorenzo ◽  
Alberto Siracusano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Symptom Scale ◽  
N100 Amplitude ◽  
Symptom Domains ◽  
Auditory Information Processing

Background: Negative symptoms represent a heterogeneous dimension with a strong impact on functioning of subjects with schizophrenia (SCZ). Five constructs are included in this dimension: anhedonia, asociality, avolition, blunted affect, and alogia. Factor analyses revealed that these symptoms cluster in two domains: experiential domain (avolition, asociality, and anhedonia) and the expressive deficit (alogia and blunted affect), that might be linked to different neurobiological alterations. Few studies investigated associations between N100, an electrophysiological index of early sensory processing, and negative symptoms, reporting controversial results. However, none of these studies investigated electrophysiological correlates of the two negative symptom domains.Objectives: The aim of our study was to evaluate, within the multicenter study of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses, the relationships between N100 and negative symptom domains in SCZ.Methods: Auditory N100 was analyzed in 114 chronic stabilized SCZ and 63 healthy controls (HCs). Negative symptoms were assessed with the Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS). Repeated measures ANOVA and correlation analyses were performed to evaluate differences between SCZ and HCs and association of N100 features with negative symptoms.Results: Our findings demonstrated a significant N100 amplitude reduction in SCZ compared with HCs. In SCZ, N100 amplitude for standard stimuli was associated with negative symptoms, in particular with the expressive deficit domain. Within the expressive deficit, blunted affect and alogia had the same pattern of correlation with N100.Conclusion: Our findings revealed an association between expressive deficit and N100, suggesting that these negative symptoms might be related to deficits in early auditory processing in SCZ.

"Predictors of Negative Symptom Domains in Outpatients with Schizophrenia: A Cross-Sectional Study"

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-142
Author(s):  
Octavia Căpățână ◽  
Mihaela Fadgyas Stănculete ◽  
Ioana Micluția
Keyword(s):  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Clinical Predictors ◽  
Factor Solution ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Symptom Domains ◽  
The Relationship

"Background: Current research suggests that negative symptoms may not be a unitary construct. Factor analytic studies typically found evidence for a two-factor solution of the negative symptom domain: the expressive and the volitional deficit. This study aimed to investigate whether the two-factor solution of negative symptoms is supported across different instruments of evaluation: PANSS and NSA-16 in outpatients with schizophrenia and to explore the relationship between these domains and sociodemographic, clinical, and metabolic outcomes, routinely assessed in daily practice.Another aim was to determine clinical predictors of negative symptoms domains among these variables. Materials and methods: 107 patients with schizophrenia were included in this cross-sectional study. The Principal Component Analysis was used to identify negative symptom domains and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and multiple regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between the negative symptom domains and clinical variables. Results: PCA indicated a two-component solution explaining 85.2% of the variance for the NSA-16 subscales, reflecting an expressive deficit and an experiential deficit component. Age of onset of the disease and the cognitive deficit were significant predictors of the expressive deficit , body mass index and the number of admissions in the hospital for the experiential deficit. Conclusions: The current findings indicate that the expressive deficit and the experiential deficit should be considered as distinct domains of the psychopathology and should be rated separately"

scholarly journals Converting Scores Between the PANSS and SAPS/SANS Beyond the Positive/Negative Dichotomy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphanie Grot ◽  
Charles-Édouard Giguère ◽  
Salima Smine ◽  
Violaine Mongeau-Pérusse ◽  
Dana Diem Nguyen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Linear Regression ◽  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Symptom Severity ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Intra Class Correlation ◽  
Symptom Dimensions ◽  
Severity Scores ◽  
Shiny App ◽  
Symptom Domains

Abstract Background: Previous work provided conversion equations for overall indices of positive and negative symptomatology between the two most widely used scales to assess symptom severity in schizophrenia, namely the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Scales for the Assessment of Positive/Negative Symptoms (SAPS/SANS). Our objective was to provide such conversion equations for subdomains of positive and negative symptomatology in order to better account for the diversity of symptom profiles in schizophrenia. Method: Symptoms severity was assessed using both the PANSS and SAPS/SANS in 205 patients with schizophrenia. Two exploratory factor analyses combining items from both scales were first performed separately in the positive and negative symptom domains. For each identified factor, linear regression analyses were then conducted to obtain conversion equations from the PANSS to the SAPS/SANS and vice versa. Linear regression model estimation was performed on 80% of the data, and reliability was then evaluated on the 20% remaining data using intra-class correlation coefficient between the original and predicted scores. This procedure was repeated 100 times with random samplings for each factor cross-scale conversion.Results: Three-factor solutions were favored both in the positive and negative symptom domains. Based on the nature of items that strongly loaded on the different factors, positive factors were termed ‘Hallucinations’, ‘Delusions’ and ‘Disorganization’, while negative factors were associated with ‘Expressivity’, ‘Amotivation’ and ‘Cognition’. Intra-class correlation coefficients between the original and predicted scores were good to excellent (0.68-0.87) for all regressions, but for the cognition factor which were deemed as low (0.25, 0.26).Conclusion: The symptom subdomains identified by the decomposition of the positive and negative domains were consistent with current descriptions of symptom dimensions in schizophrenia. With the exception of the cognition subdomain, symptom severity scores can be converted with good accuracy between scales, beyond the positive/negative symptom dichotomy. Conversion equations are implemented in an R Shiny app to facilitate their use by the clinical research community.

scholarly journals Network Analysis Reveals Which Negative Symptom Domains Are Most Central in Schizophrenia vs Bipolar Disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1319-1330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Paul Strauss ◽  
Farnaz Zamani Esfahlani ◽  
Brian Kirkpatrick ◽  
Daniel N Allen ◽  
James M Gold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Negative Symptom ◽  
Negative Symptoms ◽  
Symptom Scale ◽  
Treatment Development ◽  
Symptom Domains ◽  
Network Connectedness ◽  
Network Properties ◽  
Males And Females

Abstract Network analysis was used to examine how densely interconnected individual negative symptom domains are, whether some domains are more central than others, and whether sex influenced network structure. Participants included outpatients with schizophrenia (SZ; n = 201), a bipolar disorder (BD; n = 46) clinical comparison group, and healthy controls (CN; n = 27) who were rated on the Brief Negative Symptom Scale. The mutual information measure was used to construct negative symptom networks. Groups were compared on macroscopic network properties to evaluate overall network connectedness, and microscopic properties to determine which domains were most central. Macroscopic analyses indicated that patients with SZ had a less densely connected negative symptom network than BD or CN groups, and that males with SZ had less densely connected networks than females. Microscopic analyses indicated that alogia and avolition were most central in the SZ group, whereas anhedonia was most central in BD and CN groups. In addition, blunted affect, alogia, and asociality were most central in females with SZ, and alogia and avolition were most central in males with SZ. These findings suggest that negative symptoms may be highly treatment resistant in SZ because they are not very densely connected. Less densely connected networks may make treatments less likely to achieve global reductions in negative symptoms because individual domains function in isolation with little interaction. Sex differences in centralities suggest that the search for pathophysiological mechanisms and targeted treatment development should be focused on different sets of symptoms in males and females.

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