The clinical neuropsychology of schizophrenia

Author(s):  
Philip D. Harvey ◽  
Christopher R. Bowie

Impairments in a variety of cognitive functions are found in patients with schizophrenia. These impairments affect a wide array of different cognitive abilities and are often quite severe, when compared to standards based on healthy individuals of the same age, education levels, and gender. Cognitive impairments appear to be present across the lifespan, detectable at the time of the first treatment episode, if not before, and to manifest a generally stable course over time. Although the current knowledge base regarding cognition in schizophrenia is quite broad, additional research information is constantly accruing. The main purpose of this chapter is to provide a broad overview of the domains, severity, and course of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, with a focus on functional relevance and treatment possibilities.

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.K. Aich ◽  
A. Mahato ◽  
S. Subedi

Impairments in a variety of cognitive functions are found in patients with schizophrenia. These impairments affect a wide array of different cognitive abilities and are often of moderate to severe degree. Cognitive impairments appear to present across lifespan, detectable at the time of first episode of illness, probably predate the illness and manifest a generally stable course over time.Though cognitive impairment does not form a part of diagnostic criteria, it has been included in DSM-V and proposed to be included in ICD-11 as a schizophrenia course specifier. This review attempts to provide a broad overview of the domains, onset, severity and course of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, with a focus on functional relevance and treatment possibilities. There is strong evidence for a relationship between cognitive impairment and vocational and functional impairment in individuals with schizophrenia.


2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan I Barr

Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) are nutrient reference standards used for planning and assessing the diets of apparently healthy Canadians and Americans. The development of DRIs reflects a joint initiative by the United States and Canada to update, expand on, and replace the former Recommended Nutrient Intakes for Canadians and Recommended Dietary Allowances for Americans. DRIs include the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR), Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), Adequate Intake (AI), and Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL). The EAR is the average daily intake level that meets the requirement of 50% of healthy individuals in a life stage and gender group, whereas the RDA is set at a level that will meet the requirements of almost all (97%-98%) individuals in that life stage and gender group. An AI is a recommended intake level that is thought to meet the needs of almost all healthy individuals, and is set when there are insufficient data to establish an EAR (and therefore an RDA). The UL represents a threshold above which adverse effects of excessive intake may increase. In addition to these DRIs, macro nutrients have an Acceptable Macro nutrient Distribution Range (AMDR) and, for energy, an Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) is described.Key words: nutrient reference standards, nutrient requirements, nutrient toxicity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongjian Ke ◽  
Weiya Hao ◽  
Huiping Ding ◽  
Yingying Wang

Private investors have been encouraged to participate in the development and operation of urban rail projects in China through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), given the fact that subnational governments are suffering from urgent development demands and severe fiscal pressure. However, there is no formal assessment to determine the private involvement in a PPP project. This problem is particularly critical in the sector of urban rail, in which the huge investment cannot rely on the private sector alone. This study hence aimed to uncover and identify the influencing factors. Multiple research methods, including content analysis, case study and focus group discussion were adopted to achieve the research purpose. Seven types of influencing factors were identified, including project financial model, government fiscal commitment, risk allocation, public accountability, efficiency considerations, policy and regulations, and organisational marketing strategies. The findings add to the current knowledge base by uncovering the drivers behind private involvement in a PPP project. They are also beneficial for industry practitioners as a basis/checklist to determine the private involvement.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osama Hamadelseed ◽  
Thomas Skutella

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability. Here, we use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on children and adults with DS to characterize changes in the volume of specific brain structures involved in memory and language and their relationship to features of cognitive-behavioral phenotypes.METHODS: Thirteen children and adults with the DS phenotype and 12 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were analyzed by MRI and underwent a psychological evaluation for language and cognitive abilities.RESULTS: The neuropsychological profile of DS patients showed deficits in different cognition and language domains in correlation with reduced volumes of specific regional and subregional brain structures.CONCLUSIONS: The memory functions and language skills affected in our DS patients correlate significantly with the reduced volume of specific brain regions, allowing us to understand DS's cognitive-behavioral phenotype. Our results provide an essential basis for early intervention and the design of rehabilitation management protocols.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Vero Vanden Abeele ◽  
Brenda Schraepen ◽  
Hanne Huygelier ◽  
Celine Gillebert ◽  
Kathrin Gerling ◽  
...  

Despite the proliferation of research on immersive virtual reality (IVR) technologies for older adults, comprehensive guidelines on designing immersive and engaging VR for older adults remain sparse. Therefore, we first compounded 67 guidelines based on published literature. Next, to empirically ground these design recommendations, we provided 37 older adults of diverse ages, education levels, and cognitive abilities with a first VR experience. Analyzing interviews with the 37 older adults via the Laddering method, we found that they generally reported positive experiences with their first VR exposure. With these deepened insights, we reflect on, nuance, and contextualize existing design guidelines, and formulate points to bear in mind when designing accessible and engaging VR experiences for older persons.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel R Chamberlain

Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs) now have their own category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition. Disorders currently classified as OCRDs are obsessive-compulsive disorder, trichotillomania (hair pulling disorder), excoriation (skin picking) disorder, hoarding disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder. Collectively, the OCRDs are prevalent, cause considerable functional impairment, and are often overlooked by clinicians. This review surveys current definitions and diagnosis of OCRDs, highlighting recommended assessment tools, differential diagnoses, and medical issues. The heritability of OCRDs is examined, based on available twin data, along with implicated genetic factors. Neurobiological understanding of OCRDs is outlined, focusing on dysregulation of habit generation and top-down response control corticostriatal pathways. The review then highlights evidence-based treatments for OCRDs, which differ considerably between individual disorders. Treatment guidance includes descriptions of target medication doses and therapy content. Lastly, limitations in the current knowledge base for OCRDs are reviewed, with implications for future research directions. This review contains 1 figure, 7 tables, and 40 references. Key words: compulsivity, dopamine, glutamate, impulsivity, screening for OCD, serotonin 


Author(s):  
Joseph Fleming ◽  
Andrew King ◽  
Tara Hunt

Evidence in the research literature suggests that men are usually not engaged by social workers, particularly in child welfare and child protection settings. Mothers also tend to become the focus of intervention, even when there is growing evidence that men can take an active and important role in a child's development in addition to providing support to the mother and family. Whilst there have been some promising developments in including men in social work practice internationally, there remains a gap in the research regarding the engagement of men as fathers in Australia. Given the growing relevance of the topic of fathers, the purpose of this chapter is to add to the current knowledge base, to support social work students and practitioners to engage with men in their role as fathers, and to offer an evidence-based practice model that may assist social workers in their work with men as fathers.


Author(s):  
Yu Jia ◽  
Zheng Chen ◽  
Jiangyang Lu ◽  
Liu Tingting ◽  
Zhou Liang ◽  
...  

The current knowledge base on circulating serum and plasma risk factors of the cognitive decline of degenerative Alzheimer’s Disease is linked to cholesterol homeostasis and lipoprotein disturbances (i.e., total cholesterol, 24S-hydroxy-cholesterol, lipoprotein(a), or apolipoprotein E. Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is also expressed in the brain, with the highest levels found in the pyramidal cells of the hippocampus, suggesting a possible role for LPL in the regulation of cognitive function. Little is currently known, however, about the specific role of LPL in the brain. The authors of this chapter have generated an LPL-deficient mouse model that was rescued from neonatal lethality by somatic gene transfer. The levels of the presynaptic marker synaptophysin were reduced in the hippocampus while the levels of the post-synaptic marker PSD-95 remained unchanged in the LPL-deficient mice. The decreased frequency of mEPSC in LPL-deficient neurons indicated that the number of presynaptic vesicles was decreased, which was consistent with the decreases observed in the numbers of total vesicles and docking vesicles. These findings indicate that LPL plays an important role in learning and memory function, possibly by influencing presynaptic function.


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