Analyzing Confabulations in Schizophrenia and Healthy Participants

AbstractObjectives: Confabulations occur in schizophrenia and certain severe neuropsychiatric conditions, and to a lesser degree in healthy individuals. The present study used a forced confabulation paradigm to assess differences in confabulation between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Methods: Schizophrenia patients (n=60) and healthy control participants (n=19) were shown a video with missing segments, asked to fill in the gaps with speculations, and tested on their memory for the story. Cognitive functions and severity of symptoms were also evaluated. Results: Schizophrenia patients generated significantly more confabulations than healthy control participants and had a greater tendency to generate confabulations that were related to each other. Schizophrenic confabulations were positively associated with temporal context confusions and formal thought disorder, and negatively with delusions. Conclusions: Our findings show that the schizophrenia patients generate more confabulations than healthy controls and schizophrenic confabulations are associated with positive symptoms. (JINS, 2016, 22, 911–919)

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S55. PRAGMATIC INFERENCES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: RELATIONSHIP WITH SYMPTOM DOMAINS, THEORY OF MIND AND NEUROCOGNITIVE FUNCTIONS

Schizophrenia Bulletin ◽

10.1093/schbul/sbaa031.121 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S53-S54

Author(s):

Berna Yalincetin ◽

Emre Bora ◽

Berna Binnur Akdede ◽

Köksal Alptekin

Keyword(s):

Negative Symptoms ◽

Thought Disorder ◽

Pragmatic Language ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Formal Thought Disorder ◽

Intended Meaning ◽

Significant Group ◽

Neurocognitive Dysfunction ◽

Neurocognitive Functions

Abstract Background Severe impairment in interpersonal functioning is a common feature of schizophrenia. Deficits in communicative abilities are likely to be among the important factors contributing to social dysfunction in schizophrenia. Difficulties in pragmatic language abilities including understanding intended meaning, beyond explicit and literal content of conversational statements can significantly hamper interpersonal and occupational functioning. An important aspect of pragmatic inference is the ability to derive scalar implicatures (SIs), which are based on linguistic expressions like some, or, often etc. For deriving SIs, one need to go beyond simple semantic and logical level. To date, only a single study has investigated SIs in schizophrenia (Wampers et al 2018). In this study, people with psychosis were less likely to derive SIs than controls. A preliminary analysis of 17 patients with schizophrenia in the same study also showed that better ToM was associated with a higher ability to derive SIs Importantly, the association with schizophrenia and abnormalities in pragmatic infererence might be mediated by clinical features of this illness including formal thought disorder and negative symptoms. Also, difficulties in pragmatic inferences might potentially be secondary to neurocognitive dysfunction rather than being primary deficits. No previous study has investigated clinical and neurocognitive correlates of impairment in ability to derive SIs in schizophrenia. Methods The study included 79 patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (66 schizophrenia and 13 schizoaffective disorder) and 49 healthy controls who completed a SI task. SAPS, SANS were also administered. Comprehension of irony, metaphor and faux pas were assessed using verbal story tasks. A subgroup of patients were also administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and two ToM tasks (Hinting task and RMET (Reading the Mind from the Eyes). Results There were no significant group difference between schizophrenia and healthy controls for age (F=0.69, p=0.41) and gender (Chi square=2.2, p=0.13). The schizophrenia sample had a shorter duration of education compared to the healthy controls (F=27.2, p<0.001). The patients with schizophrenia had significant impairment in understanding the SIs (F=8.2, p=0.005). Comprension impairment of SIs were significantly associated with SANS negative symptoms (r=-0.29, p= 0.009) but not with SAPS positive formal thought disorder (r=-0.09, p=0.44) and symptoms ratings for hallucinations and delusions. Understanding SIs in schizophrenia was significantly related to better performance in RMET (r=0.34, p=0.036) and irony comprehension (r=-0.38, p=0.001). Discussion Schizophrenia is associated with significant deficits in understanding pragmatic utterances. These deficits were significantly related to some aspects of social cognition but not neurocognition. Current findings do not support the proposed relationship between formal thought disorder and pragmatic abnormalities in schizophrenia. These findings might have implications in management of social functioning deficits in schizophrenia.

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Distinct effects of over-general autobiographical memory on suicidal ideation among depressed and healthy people

BMC Psychiatry ◽

10.1186/s12888-020-02877-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Wen Jiang ◽

Guangtao Hu ◽

Jingxuan Zhang ◽

Ken Chen ◽

Dongni Fan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Suicidal Ideation ◽

Autobiographical Memory ◽

Childhood Trauma ◽

Study Data ◽

Path Model ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Healthy Control

Abstract Background Childhood trauma and over-general autobiographical memory (OGM) are crucial risk factors of suicide. This study aimed to investigate whether suicidal ideation was predicted by one’s childhood trauma and OGM and the mechanism of OGM underlying suicidal ideation in depression patients and healthy controls. Methods A total of 180 depression patients and 176 matched healthy individuals were recruited in this study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient was obtained. Path analysis was conducted to test a meditational model. The multigroup comparison was applied to find differences between groups. Results Significant differences were detected between depression patients and healthy controls with respect to childhood trauma, OGM, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior. OGM was positively correlated with both current and worst-point suicidal ideation in the depression group and significantly correlated with worst-point suicidal ideation in the healthy control group. The path model showed that childhood trauma had a direct impact on the current suicidal ideation directly, and an indirect influence through OGM and worst-point suicidal ideation. Multigroup analysis further demonstrated that OGM affected and mediated the current suicidal ideation due to childhood trauma in depression patients, whereas only worst-point suicidal ideation was affected in healthy controls. Conclusions The OGM mediates suicidal ideation in depression patients, but only affects the worst-point suicidal ideation in the healthy controls. As it is one of the major risk factors of suicidal ideation in depression, amelioration of OGM might be an useful method to reduce or prevent suicidal ideation in depression patients.

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Tardive Dyskinesia and Type II Schizophrenia

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.160.2.253 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 160 (2) ◽

pp. 253-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Elizabeth J. B. Davis ◽

Milind Borde ◽

L. N. Sharma

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Negative Symptoms ◽

Chronic Schizophrenia ◽

Thought Disorder ◽

Control Group ◽

Positive Symptoms ◽

Type Ii ◽

Formal Thought Disorder ◽

Schizophrenic Patients ◽

Male Patients

Cognitive impairment, negative and positive symptoms, primitive release reflexes, and age/temporal disorientation were assessed in 20 male patients meeting the DSM–III–R criteria for chronic schizophrenia and Schooler & Kane's criteria for TD. The control group comprised 20 age-matched male chronic schizophrenic patients without TD. Significant associations were found between TD, cognitive impairment, some negative symptoms, and formal thought disorder. These associations were independent of other illness and treatment variables. The severity of TD correlated significantly with that of cognitive impairment.

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Reduced serum levels of pro-inflammatory chemokines in Fragile X Syndrome

10.21203/rs.2.13398/v3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anke Van Dijck ◽

Susana Barbosa ◽

Patricia Bermudez-Martin ◽

Olfa Khalfallah ◽

Cyprien Gilet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fragile X Syndrome ◽

Robust Regression ◽

Fragile X ◽

Serum Levels ◽

Unsupervised Clustering ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Clustering Method ◽

Inflammatory Chemokines ◽

Healthy Control

Abstract Background: Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most frequent cause of inherited intellectual disability and the most commonly identified monogenic cause of autism. Recent studies have shown that long-term pathological consequences of FXS are not solely confined to the central nervous system (CNS) but rather extend to other physiological dysfunctions in peripheral organs. To gain insights into possible immune dysfunctions in FXS, we profiled a large panel of immune-related biomarkers in the serum of FXS patients and healthy controls. Methods: We have used a sensitive and robust Electro Chemi Luminescence (ECL)-based immunoassay to measure the levels of 52 cytokines in the serum of n=25 FXS patients and n=29 healthy controls. We then used univariate statistics and multivariate analysis, as well as an advanced unsupervised clustering method, to identify combinations of immune-related biomarkers that could discriminate FXS patients from healthy individuals. Results: While the majority of the tested cytokines were present at similar levels in FXS patients and healthy individuals, nine chemokines, CCL2, CCL3, CCL4, CCL11, CCL13, CCL17, CCL22, CCL26 and CXCL10, were present at much lower levels in FXS patients. Using robust regression, we show that six of these biomarkers (CCL2, CCL3, CCL11, CCL22, CCL26 and CXCL10) were negatively associated with FXS diagnosis. Finally, applying the K-sparse unsupervised clustering method to the biomarker dataset allowed for the identification of two subsets of individuals, which essentially matched the FXS and healthy control categories. Conclusions: Our data show that FXS patients exhibit reduced serum levels of several chemokines. This paves the way for further study of immune phenotypes in FXS patients.

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Thought and Language Index: an instrument for assessing thought and language in schizophrenia

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.181.4.326 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 181 (4) ◽

pp. 326-330 ◽

Cited By ~ 67

Author(s):

Peter F. Liddle ◽

Elton T. C. Ngan ◽

Stephanie L. Caissie ◽

Cameron M. Anderson ◽

Alan T. Bates ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Factor Analysis ◽

Interrater Reliability ◽

Intraclass Correlation ◽

Assessment Instrument ◽

Thought Disorder ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Thought Disorders ◽

Reliability Sensitivity ◽

Scale Scores ◽

Healthy Participants

BackgroundSubtle formal thought disorders are difficult to quantify. Their relationship to florid thought disorder is unknown.AimsTo assess the interrater reliability, sensitivity and factor structure of a new assessment instrument, the Thought and Language Index (TLI), and to determine if minor aberrations detectable in the speech of healthy individuals are related to the more severe formal thought disorders characteristic of schizophrenia.MethodInterrater reliability was evaluated by determining the intraclass correlation for the ratings by five assessors. Factor analysis of the TLI scores of 87 patients was performed, and TLI scores in matched patients and controls were compared.ResultsThe intraclass correlation was good for individual TLI items, and excellent for sub-scale scores. Factor analysis identified three groups of approximately orthogonal disorders. Mild speech aberrations were observed in healthy participants and in patients with schizophrenia. The prevalence of mild aberrations was correlated with the prevalence of definite formal thought disorders.ConclusionsThe TLI is reliable and capable of detecting subtle disorders. Some mild aberrations occurring in the speech of healthy individuals appear to be attenuated forms of the florid disorders characteristic of schizophrenia.

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The Positive: Negative Dichotomy in Schizophrenia

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.157.1.41 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 157 (1) ◽

pp. 41-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 65

Author(s):

A. M. Mortimer ◽

C. E. Lund ◽

P. J. McKenna

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Negative Symptom ◽

Negative Symptoms ◽

Thought Disorder ◽

Motor Disorder ◽

Positive Symptoms ◽

Formal Thought Disorder ◽

Symptom Scores ◽

Schizophrenic Patients ◽

Positive And Negative Symptoms

Two studies are reported. In the first, of 62 schizophrenic patients, no correlation between negative symptom scores (rated blindly) and any measure of positive symptoms was found. This independence was confirmed by factor and cluster analyses, which left the question of a third ‘disorganisation’ class of schizophrenic symptoms open. In the second study, of 80 patients, formal thought disorder separated unequivocally into ‘positive formal thought disorder’ and ‘alogia’ syndromes on the basis of correlations with positive and negative symptoms. Catatonic motor disorder also showed evidence of a corresponding positive: negative division, although this only emerged when severity or chronicity of illness was controlled for. Cognitive impairment showed a broad range of affiliations and its particular correlation with negative symptoms was perhaps artefactual.

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Comparison of sampling methods in assessing the microbiome from patients with ulcerative colitis

BMC Gastroenterology ◽

10.1186/s12876-021-01975-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Dan Kim ◽

Jun-Young Jung ◽

Hyun-Seok Oh ◽

Sam-Ryong Jee ◽

Sung Jae Park ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ulcerative Colitis ◽

Sampling Methods ◽

Mantel Test ◽

Endoscopic Biopsy ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Luminal Content ◽

Healthy Control ◽

Stool Samples ◽

Generation Sequencing

Abstract Background Dysbiosis of ulcerative colitis (UC) has been frequently investigated using readily accessible stool samples. However, stool samples might insufficiently represent the mucosa-associated microbiome status. We hypothesized that luminal contents including loosely adherent luminal bacteria after bowel preparation may be suitable for diagnosing the dysbiosis of UC. Methods This study included 16 patients with UC (9 men and 7 women, mean age: 52.13 ± 14.09 years) and 15 sex- and age-matched healthy individuals (8 men and 7 women, mean age: 50.93 ± 14.11 years). They donated stool samples before colonoscopy and underwent luminal content aspiration and endoscopic biopsy during the colonoscopy. Then, the composition of each microbiome sample was analyzed by 16S rRNA-based next-generation sequencing. Results The microbiome between stool, luminal contents, and biopsy was significantly different in alpha and beta diversities. However, a correlation existed between stool and luminal contents in the Procrustes test (p = 0.001) and Mantel test (p = 0.0001). The stool microbiome was different between patients with UC and the healthy controls. Conversely, no difference was found in the microbiome of luminal content and biopsy samples between the two subject groups. The microbiome of stool and lavage predicted UC, with AUC values of 0.85 and 0.81, respectively. Conclusion The microbiome of stool, luminal contents, and biopsy was significantly different. However, the microbiome of luminal contents during colonoscopy can predict UC, with AUC values of 0.81. Colonoscopic luminal content aspiration analysis could determine microbiome differences between patients with UC and the healthy control, thereby beneficial in screening dysbiosis via endoscopy. Trial registration: This trial was registered at http://cris.nih.go.kr. Registration No.: KCT0003352), Date: 2018–11-13.

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Are Cognitive Symptoms of Schizophrenia Mediated by Abnormalities in Emotional Arousal?

CNS Spectrums ◽

10.1017/s1092852900022276 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 58-70 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi ◽

Cheryl Corcoran ◽

Tsafrir Greenberg ◽

Harold A. Sackeim ◽

Dolores Malaspina

Keyword(s):

Emotional Arousal ◽

Logical Reasoning ◽

Thought Disorder ◽

Perceptual Cues ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Formal Thought Disorder ◽

Error Type ◽

Extensive Information ◽

Low Performance ◽

Arousal Response

ABSTRACTWe tested 28 individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) and 16 healthy individuals on a test of logical reasoning and “cognitive gating,” defined as the ability to discriminate between relevant and irrelevant information in confirming or disconfirming a given belief. The Logical Reasoning and Cognitive Gating Task tests both processes under neutral and affect-laden conditions. This is done by presenting formally identical constructs using benign and emotionally arousing language. When separated by symptom profiles, we found statistically significant differences for performance and arousal response between patients with delusions, patients with formal thought disorder, and patients with neither delusions nor formal thought disorder, as well as between patients and healthy controls. When analyzed by error type, we found that nearly all errors by delusional patients were caused by overly restrictive information choice, a pattern that may be related to a delusional patient's tendency to “jump to conclusions” on Bayesian probabilistic tasks. This is in contrast to patients with formal thought disorder, whose low performance resulted also from overly extensive information choice. The tendencies towards restriction were exacerbated by arousal, which is consistent with studies on cognition and arousal in healthy individuals. After briefly examining research on emotional arousal and SZ, and the interaction between emotional arousal and restriction of perceptual cues in healthy individuals, we conclude by suggesting a model which accounts for the distinctive cognitive characteristics of delusional patients by their possessing distinct vulnerabilities to emotional arousal. Specifically, these results suggest the possibility that delusional patients process information in a manner that is essentially intact. However, delusional patients may possess an acute vulnerability to emotional arousal that might cause delusional individuals to behave cognitively as if they were healthy individuals under significantly more severe forms of stress.

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Thought disorder: a left lateralised breakdown of the language network

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(11)73105-4 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S2) ◽

pp. 1400-1400

Author(s):

H. Horn ◽

K. Jann ◽

S. Walther ◽

A. Federspiel ◽

M. Wirth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Thought Disorder ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Formal Thought Disorder ◽

New Approach ◽

Schizophrenic Patients ◽

Fmri Analysis ◽

The Individual ◽

The Right ◽

First Time ◽

Language Network

IntroductionStructural and functional deviations in schizophrenic patients with formal thought disorder (FTD) point towards a dysfunction within left sided language network.ObjectivesIndependent component analysis (ICA), a new approach to fMRI analysis, enables to target the question of a network dysfunction directly. Using this method in healthy controls it was possible to identify the language networks separately for the left and the right hemispheres In the present study we use ICA analysis to examine changes of the language network separate for each hemisphere in relation to the severity of FTD.AimsWe hypothesize increasing disintegration with increasing severity of FTD only in the left sided language network while the right language network should remain unaffected.MethodsWe investigated 16 schizophrenic patients with different severity of FTD and matched healthy controls using ICA decomposition of the BOLD signal. The spatial similarity of the individual language networks was correlated to the severity of FTD.ResultsThe integrity of the left language network decrease with increasing severity of FTD (r = -0.79, p < 0.01), while the integrity of the right language network show no significant correlation to the severity of FTD.ConclusionFor the first time the isolated breakdown of the left sided language network was linked specifically to schizophrenic FTD. This result unites older manly left hemispheric findings of structural and functional abnormalities in schizophrenic FTD.

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Comparison of Sampling Methods in Assessing the Microbiomefrom Patients with Ulcerative Colitis

10.21203/rs.3.rs-540741/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dan Kim ◽

Jun-Young Jung ◽

Hyun-Seok Oh ◽

Sam-Ryong Jee ◽

Sung Jae Park ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ulcerative Colitis ◽

Sampling Methods ◽

Mantel Test ◽

Endoscopic Biopsy ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Luminal Content ◽

Healthy Control ◽

Stool Samples ◽

Generation Sequencing

Abstract Background: Dysbiosis of ulcerative colitis (UC) has been frequently investigated using readily accessible stool samples. However, stool samples might insufficiently represent the mucosa-associated microbiome status. We hypothesized that luminal contents including loosely adherent luminal bacteria after bowel preparation may be suitable for diagnosing the dysbiosis of UC.Methods: This study included 16 patients with UC (9 men and 7 women, mean age: 52.13 ± 14.09 years) and 15 sex- and age-matched healthy individuals (8 men and 7 women, mean age: 50.93 ± 14.11 years). They donated stool samples before colonoscopy and underwent luminal content aspiration and endoscopic biopsy during the colonoscopy. Then, the composition of each microbiome sample was analyzed by 16S rRNA-based next-generation sequencing.Results: The microbiome between stool, luminal contents, and biopsy was significantly different in alpha and beta diversities. However, a correlation existed between stool and luminal contents in the Procrustes test (p = 0.001) and Mantel test (p = 0.0001). The stool microbiome was different between patients with UC and the healthy controls. Conversely, no difference was found in the microbiome of luminal content and biopsy samples between the two subject groups. The microbiome of stool and lavage predicted UC, with AUC values of 0.85 and 0.81, respectively.Conclusion: The microbiome of stool, luminal contents, and biopsy was significantly different. However, the microbiome of luminal contents during colonoscopy can predict UC, with AUC values of 0.81. Colonoscopic luminal content aspiration analysis could determine microbiome differences between patients with UC and the healthy control, thereby beneficial in screening dysbiosis via endoscopy. Trial registration: This trial was registered at http://cris.nih.go.kr.Registration No.: KCT0003352), Date : 2018-11-13

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