Psychiatry research
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Psychiatry research · May 2008
Light to moderate alcohol use is associated with increased cortical gray matter in middle-aged men: a voxel-based morphometric study.
We examined the associations of current alcohol consumption with brain morphometric measures in a healthy, community-dwelling cohort. Cranial T1-weighted 3D-structural MRI scans were obtain in 383 adults (men=211) aged 60-64 years, randomly selected form the larger PATH Through Life study. Voxel-based morphometric analyses were applied to detect regional gray matter and white matter volume changes related to reported weekly alcohol consumption (mean 7.04+/-8.15 drinks per week). ⋯ In women, there was no significant linear association between alcohol consumption and total or regional brain volumes. Our results showed a dose-related, sexually dimorphic impact of alcohol on brain tissue volumes independent of cerebrovascular risk factors. These findings are consistent with an inverse-U association between alcohol use and brain morphometry, while suggesting an increased vulnerability of white matter to alcohol-related brain damage.
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Psychiatry research · Feb 2008
The Violence Risk Scale Second Edition (VRS-2) as a predictor of institutional violence in a British forensic inpatient sample.
This study examined the utility of The Violence Risk Scale 2nd Edition (VRS-2) [Wong, S., Gordon, A., 1999. Manual for the Violence Risk Scale. University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada] as an institutional violence risk predictor. ⋯ The VRS-2 putative "dynamic" items showed the highest predictive accuracy. The results tentatively support the use of the VRS-2 as a predictor of inpatient violence in mentally ill patients in medium security settings, with the dynamic component of this instrument showing most promise. Further studies validating this instrument are required before it is adopted into routine clinical practice.
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Psychiatry research · Jan 2008
Inhibitory control and spatial working memory: a saccadic eye movement study of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.
The negative symptoms of schizophrenia are perhaps the most unremitting and burdensome features of the disorder. Negative symptoms have been associated with distinct motor, cognitive and neuropathological impairments, possibly stemming from prefrontal dysfunction. Eye movement paradigms can be used to investigate basic sensorimotor functions, as well as higher order cognitive aspects of motor control such as inhibition and spatial working memory - functions subserved by the prefrontal cortex. ⋯ Results indicated significant increases in response suppression errors, as well as increased response selection impairments, during the oddball task, in schizophrenia patients with prominent negative symptoms. The variability of memory-guided saccade accuracy was also increased in patients with prominent negative symptom scores. Collectively, these findings provide further support for the proposed association between prefrontal dysfunction and negative symptoms.
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Psychiatry research · Nov 2007
White matter abnormalities associated with auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia: a combined study of voxel-based analyses of diffusion tensor imaging and structural magnetic resonance imaging.
White matter (WM) abnormalities in schizophrenia may offer important clues to a better understanding of the disconnectivity associated with the disorder. The aim of this study was to elucidate a WM basis of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia through the simultaneous investigation of WM tract integrity and WM density. Diffusion tensor images (DTIs) and structural T1 magnetic resonance images (MRIs) were taken from 15 hallucinating schizophrenic patients, 15 non-hallucinating schizophrenic patients and 22 normal controls. ⋯ The mean FA value of the left frontal part of the SLF was positively correlated with the severity score of auditory hallucinations in the hallucinating patient group. Our findings show that WM changes were mainly observed in the frontal and temporal areas, suggesting that disconnectivity in the left fronto-temporal area may contribute to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In addition, pathologic WM changes in this region may be an important step in the development of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia.
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Psychiatry research · Oct 2007
Increased urinary excretion of biopyrrins, oxidative metabolites of bilirubin, in patients with schizophrenia.
During periods of psychological stress, excess amounts of free radicals are produced, and they play an important role in the pathophysiological process. Bilirubin oxidative metabolites, biopyrrins, are generated from bilirubin as a result of this scavenging action against free radicals. We investigated whether the urinary excretion of biopyrrin is altered during the psychotic state in patients with schizophrenia. ⋯ Moreover, urinary concentrations of biopyrrins were still significantly higher in patients with schizophrenia in the sub-acute and remission states than in the controls. These results demonstrated an increase in urinary biopyrrins in patients with schizophrenia and a decrease with recovery from the psychotic state. These findings indicate that the urinary biopyrrin level is a possible indicator that can be useful in the continuous monitoring of psychotic states in clinical practice.