Intellau_Celistic
5'3 KHHV Mentalcel
-
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2021
- Posts
- 166,468
No.
In her 1936 report of paired-pulse blink inhibition in 13 Yale undergraduate men, Helen Peak described “quantitative variation in amount of inhibition of the second response incident to changes in intensity of the first stimulus which precedes by different intervals of time” (Peak, 1936). These observations appeared to lay dormant for much of the next 30 years, but there was a resurgence of interest in startle modulation in the 1960's, based primarily on findings from Howard Hoffman's group (e.g. Hoffman and Fleshler, 1963). Almost four decades after Peak's first report, and more than 100 years after prestimulus-induced reflex inhibition was first described by the Russian scientist, Sechenov, Frances Graham summarized the growing literature of weak prestimulation effects on startle magnitude and latency (e.g. Hoffman and Searle, 1968) in her 1974 Presidential Address to the Society for Psychophysiological Research (Graham, 1975; see Ison and Hoffman, (1983) for more historical background). This set the stage for David Braff's 1978 report of findings from Enoch Callaway's laboratory, extending Graham's parametric findings of startle inhibition, and demonstrating a relative loss of prestimulus effects on startle in 12 schizophrenia patients (Braff et al., 1978). Braff and colleagues interpreted this loss to be “consistent with a dysfunction in… early protective mechanisms which would correlate with information overload and subsequent cognitive disruption in schizophrenia.” They also noted that deficits observed in patients might reflect a range of issues not specific to schizophrenia, including “global psychopathology… stress of hospitalization… [and] antipsychotic medications.”
It has been shown repeatedly that PPI is significantly impaired in various psychiatric disorders that show similar or overlapping deficits in attention, such as schizophrenia (e.g. Braff et al., 1978; Aggernaes et al., 2010; During et al., 2014), mania with psychosis (Perry et al., 2001), autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (McAlonan et al., 2002; Perry et al., 2007) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Grillon et al., 1996, 1998).
Theoretically, deficient information processing and impaired perceptual capacity in ADHD patients result in sensory overload which in turn may underlie ADHD symptoms, e.g., the inability to regulate attention and inhibit distraction of attention by irrelevant stimuli (Olincy et al., 2000; Holstein et al., 2013).
We hypothesized that both gating measures would be deficient in the psychostimulant-naïve state of the ADHD patients due to decreased prefrontal dopaminergic activity, and that treatment with MPH would ameliorate these deficiencies due to the increase in dopaminergic activity caused by MPH.
The absence of PPI and P50 suppression deficits in our patients in the psychostimulant-naïve state indicates no gating deficits. In turn, this suggests that the difficulties to inhibit distraction of attention by irrelevant stimuli that many patients with (adult) ADHD report, have a different origin than the theoretical causes of sensory overload frequently reported in studies on patients with schizophrenia.
Consistent with increased neural maturity and partially remitted symptomatology, our results indicate intact sensorimotor gating for both tasks in adult ADHD with no comorbidity, independent of the subjects' gender and whether ADHD subjects were receiving ongoing stimulant treatment or not. Reduced PPI at 120-ms lead intervals, on the other hand, was recorded in a subset of 10 ADHD subjects who were taken off their prescribed regular stimulants for 24 h and tested in a randomized counterbalanced order for on vs. off medication. However, our data remained inconclusive as to whether this observation constitutes beneficial treatment or acute stimulant withdrawal effects on sensorimotor gating.
Sensorimotor gating is the process by which one filters out relevant from irrelevant information, a process that is deficient in multiple neuropsychiatric disorders including TS (Castellanos et al., 1996). Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is a measure of sensorimotor gating, in which response, or startle, to a stimulus (pulse) is diminished when the stimulus is preceded by a smaller stimulus (prepulse) (Swerdlow, 2013; Swerdlow and Sutherland, 2005). Disruption of this normal inhibition of startle is consistent with deficient sensorimotor gating. Structures relevant to PPI include the frontal dopaminergic pathways and striatum (Swerdlow et al., 2001). Pharmacological interventions that restore normal PPI typically have good predictive validity for efficacy in multiple neuropsychiatric disorders including TS. PPI has a relevant noradrenergic component as disruptions to PPI can be restored with clonidine, an alpha-2 agonist, and a separable dopaminergic component (Swerdlow et al., 2006). In addition to the predictive validity, it has been suggested that PPI models may also have possible face validity for TS, perhaps modeling the sensory component or premonitory urge present in TS that cannot be filtered or gated (Swerdlow and Sutherland, 2005).
Palinopsia (Greek: palin for "again" and opsia for "seeing") is the persistent recurrence of a visual image after the stimulus has been removed.[1] Palinopsia is not a diagnosis; it is a diverse group of pathological visual symptoms with a wide variety of causes. Visual perseveration is synonymous with palinopsia.[dubious – discuss]
In 2014, Gersztenkorn and Lee comprehensively reviewed all cases of palinopsia in the literature and subdivided it into two clinically relevant groups: illusory palinopsia and hallucinatory palinopsia.[2] Hallucinatory palinopsia, usually due to seizures or posterior cortical lesions, describes afterimages that are formed, long-lasting, and high resolution. Illusory palinopsia, usually due to migraines, head trauma, prescription drugs, visual snow or hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD), describes afterimages that are affected by ambient light and motion and are unformed, indistinct, or low resolution.
The results of the study reveal that there was significant improvement in some cognitive function. Cognitive functions are improved at first follow-up and they improved continuously up to last follow-up that is at one month. It is observed that there was improvement in the primary disease. So, final score of the cognitive parameters is because of the resultant activity of direct drug action and improvement in the underlying disease.
Keywords: Antidepressants, fluoxetine, PGI memory scale
Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of startle is an operational measure of the pre-attentive filtering process known as sensorimotor gating. Originally identified in patients with schizophrenia, PPI deficits have been observed in multiple but not all psychiatric disorders. Thus, as with most signs and symptoms of psychiatric disorders, deficits in PPI cut across diagnostic categories. It remains unclear whether the diversity of disorders exhibiting deficient PPI bespeaks diagnostic overlaps or comorbidities. Given the recent focus on treatments for cognitive deficits of schizophrenia independently of treating psychosis, the relationship of PPI deficits to cognitive deficits becomes of interest. Although PPI cannot be considered to be a cognitive process per se, abnormalities in pre-attentive information processing may be predictive of or lead to complex cognitive deficits. Animal models of PPI deficits produced by dopamine agonists reliably predict existing antipsychotics. Nevertheless, since neither PPI nor cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are ameliorated by standard antipsychotics, current research is exploring the predictive value of non-dopaminergic PPI models in identifying treatments for gating disturbances independently of their relevance to specific disorders. Both PPI and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia patients are not reversed by first generation antipsychotics but may be attenuated by clozapine. Similarly, effects of glutamate antagonists on symptoms in patients and PPI in animals appear to be reduced by clozapine. Hence, treatment-induced reversals of deficits in PPI produced by glutamate antagonists may provide animal, and human, models to aid in the discovery of treatments of cognitive deficits in patients already treated with existing antipsychotics.
Sensorimotor gating deficits in adults with autism
Background: Prepulse inhibition (PPI) is an operational measure of sensorimotor gating and is impaired in a family of neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by abnormalities of inhibitory function. Adults with autistic disorder (AD) exhibit clinical features of inhibitory deficits, such as restrictive and repetitive behaviors, that may be explained by deficits in sensorimotor gating.
Methods: Acoustic startle reactivity, habituation, and PPI (30-, 60-, 120-msec interstimulus intervals) were assessed in 14 adult men diagnosed with AD and 16 typically developing normal comparison (NC) participants. All participants were administered measures of intelligence and frontal-executive functioning.
Results: Adults with AD exhibited significantly less PPI in the 60-msec condition than NC participants, which was correlated with increased ratings of restricted and repetitive behaviors. The groups did not differ on measures of startle amplitude or overall habituation. There was, however, a significant group-by-block habituation effect. Furthermore, PPI was not related to intelligence but was moderately associated with performance on a measure of frontal-executive functioning.
Conclusions: Adults with AD have sensorimotor gating deficits similar to other neurodevelopmental disorders, implicating a failure of normal inhibitory regulation of sensory, motor, and attentional mechanisms. Thus, PPI deficits may be indirectly linked to one of the hallmark features of AD.
The hypersystemizing theory of autism suggests that autistic individuals, on average, have superior attention to detail, and a stronger drive to systemize. Systemizing involves identifying input-operation-output relationships. Here, we report the results of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of systemizing measured using the Systemizing Quotient - Revised in n = 51,564 individuals. We identify three genome-wide significant loci: Two of these were significant in the non-stratified GWAS: rs4146336 on chromosome 3 (P = 2.58×10−8) and rs1559586 on chromosome 18 (P = 4.78×10−8). In addition, we also identified a significant locus in the males-only GWAS (rs8005092 on chromosome 14, P = 3.74×10−8). We find that 12%± 1.2 of the variance in systemizing is captured by SNPs (P=1.2×10−20). We identify a positive genetic correlation between autism and systemizing (rg = 0.26±0.06; P = 3.35×10−5), which is independent of genetic contribution to educational attainment. We further demonstrate that genetic risk for autism from systemizing is genetically distinct from genetic risk emerging from social autistic traits, suggesting distinct shared genetics between autism and social and non-social traits. Our results highlight the importance of considering both social and non-social autistic traits in elucidating the genetic architecture of autism.
These initial clinical observations have been quantified using different measures. For example, on a self-report measure of systemizing (the Systemizing Quotient – Revised, or the SQ-R)4, autistic adults, on average, score significantly higher than non-autistic individuals4,5. The same pattern of results is seen in autistic children, using the parent-report version of the SQ6. Systemizing is also highly correlated with aptitude in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)7. Fathers and grandfathers of children with autism are significantly overrepresented in the field of engineering8. The same is true of mothers9. This is in line with higher rates of autism in geographical regions that have higher rates of people working in fields such as information technology, like Eindhoven in the Netherlands10. Further, autistic individuals are more likely to enrol in STEM majors (34.31%) compared to the general population (22.8%) and other learning disabilities (18.6%)11. STEM professionals also score significantly higher on measures of autistic traits (mean = 21.92, SD = 8.92) compared non-STEM professionals (mean = 18.92, SD = 8.48)12. Finally, unpublished work from Sweden suggests that high technical IQ in fathers increases risk for autism in children. A few studies have also investigated systemizing in other psychiatric traits and conditions, including schizotypy13 and anorexia nervosa14.
1000Genomes_30x | Global | Study-wide | 6404 | A=0.7820 | T=0.2180 |
1000Genomes_30x | African | Sub | 1786 | A=0.6249 | T=0.3751 |
1000Genomes_30x | Europe | Sub | 1266 | A=0.9637 | T=0.0363 |
1000Genomes_30x | South Asian | Sub | 1202 | A=0.8544 | T=0.1456 |
1000Genomes_30x | East Asian | Sub | 1170 | A=0.6607 | T=0.3393 |
1000Genomes_30x | American | Sub | 980 | A=0.890 | T=0.110 |
Systematic variations of the block design task were given to 20 autistic, 33 normal and 12 mildly retarded subjects. Designs were contrasted which were either "whole" or segmented, rotated or unrotated, and which did or did not contain obliques. Only segmentation, but neither of the spatial orientation factors, revealed a significant group difference. Autistic subjects, regardless of age and ability, performed better than controls when presented with unsegmented designs. This result suggests that they need less of the normally required effort to segment a gestalt, and thus supports the hypothesis of weak central coherence as a characteristic of information processing in autism.
Hyperlexia is defined as the co-occurrence of advanced reading skills relative to comprehension skills or general intelligence, the early acquisition of reading skills without explicit teaching, and a strong orientation toward written material, generally in the context of a neurodevelopmental disorder. In this systematic review of cases (N = 82) and group studies (including 912 participants of which 315 are hyperlexic), we address: whether the hyperlexic profile is associated with autism and why, whether models of non-autistic reading can teach us about hyperlexia, and what additional information we can get from models specific to autistic cognitive functioning. We find that hyperlexia, or a hyperlexic-like profile, characterises a substantial portion of the autistic spectrum, in which the subcomponents of the typical reading architecture are altered and dissociated. Autistic children follow a chronologically inverted path when learning to read, and make extended use of the perceptual expertise system, specifically the visual word form recognition systems. We conclude by discussing the possible use of hyperlexic skills in intervention.
We argue that hyper-systemizing predisposes individuals to show talent, and review evidence that hyper-systemizing is part of the cognitive style of people with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). We then clarify the hyper-systemizing theory, contrasting it to the weak central coherence (WCC) and executive dysfunction (ED) theories. The ED theory has difficulty explaining the existence of talent in ASC. While both hyper-systemizing and WCC theories postulate excellent attention to detail, by itself excellent attention to detail will not produce talent. By contrast, the hyper-systemizing theory argues that the excellent attention to detail is directed towards detecting ‘if p, then q’ rules (or [input–operation–output] reasoning). Such law-based pattern recognition systems can produce talent in systemizable domains. Finally, we argue that the excellent attention to detail in ASC is itself a consequence of sensory hypersensitivity. We review an experiment from our laboratory demonstrating sensory hypersensitivity detection thresholds in vision. We conclude that the origins of the association between autism and talent begin at the sensory level, include excellent attention to detail and end with hyper-systemizing.
The hyper-systemizing theory of autism proposes that the systemizing mechanism is set too high in people with autism. As a result, they can only cope with highly lawful systems, and cannot cope with systems of high variance or change (such as the social world of other minds). They appear ‘change-resistant’. This proposal extends the extreme male brain theory of autism. Finally, evidence is reviewed for autism being the genetic result of assortative mating of two high systemizers.
I'm not reading all of that, but I know I agree
Background: Hyperlexia is the phenomenon of spontaneous and precocious mastery of single-word reading that has been of interest to clinicians and researchers since the beginning of the last century.
Methods: An extensive search of publications on the subject of hyperlexia was undertaken and all available publications were reviewed.
Results: The literature can be subdivided into discussions of the following issues: (1) whether hyperlexia is a phenomenon that is characteristic only of specific clinical populations (e.g., children with developmental delays) or whether it can also be observed in the general population; (2) whether hyperlexia is a distinct syndrome comorbid with a number of different disorders or whether it is a part of the spectrum of some other clinical condition(s); (3) whether hyperlexia should be defined through single-word reading superiority with regard to reading comprehension, vocabulary, general intelligence, any combination of the three, or all three characteristics; (4) whether there is a specific neuropsychological profile associated with hyperlexia; (5) whether hyperlexia is characterized by a particular developmental profile; and (6) whether hyperlexia should be viewed as a disability (deficit) or superability (talent).
Thanks for the research bro. I love the intellectual blackpill
This is a lovely thread.
Results and Conclusion:
The results of the study reveal that there was significant improvement in some cognitive function. Cognitive functions are improved at first follow-up and they improved continuously up to last follow-up that is at one month. It is observed that there was improvement in the primary disease. So, final score of the cognitive parameters is because of the resultant activity of direct drug action and improvement in the underlying disease.
Keywords: Antidepressants, fluoxetine, PGI memory scale
You're fine, Miss.
Probiotics are in use for physiological boosting, health supplement, and for treatment since historical time. Recently, the to-and-fro pathways linking the gut with the brain, explaining the indirect communication via modulation of immune function and levels of various neurotransmitters, have been discovered, but how precisely these modulations alter the levels of neurotransmitters contributing to the cognitive and other symptom improvements in patients with schizophrenia remains a new arena of research for psychiatry and psychology professionals. The germ-free mice experiments have been the game changer in the mechanistic exploration. The antimicrobial usage alters the local gut flora and hence is associated with psychiatric side effects that strengthen the association further. The changes in the genetics of these bacteria with different types of diet and its correlation with neurotransmitters production capacity and the psyche of the individual are indeed an emerging field for schizophrenia research. Redressal of issues such as manufacturing, the shelf life of probiotics, and stability of probiotics in the gut milieu, in the presence of food, secretions, and exact volume needed for particular age group will help in refining the dose duration of probiotic therapy. Clinical trials are underway for evaluating safety and efficacy in schizophrenia. The gut microorganism transplant and pharmacovigilance of probiotics are important areas yet to be addressed accurately. This paper elucidates the pathways, clinical studies, availability of probiotics in the Indian market with their composition, regulatory issues in India about the probiotic use, and future of probiotic research in schizophrenia.
Total patients had statistically significant higher serum SOD, CAT and GPX levels compared to control groups at baseline. At 8 weeks, there were significant differences in the mean decrease in SOD and CAT levels but not in GPX levels between treatment groups. The changes in SOD and CAT levels were correlated with the change in SAPS in group I, but not in the group II. The present study supported the findings of the previous study demonstrating that EGb might enhance the efficiency of antipsychotic in patients with schizophrenia, particularly on positive symptoms of the disorder.
Examined the efficacy of fluoxetine augmentation of clozapine treatment response in 33 schizophrenic outpatients who, despite adequate treatment with clozapine, continued to exhibit persistent positive or negative symptoms. Ss completed an 8-wk, double-blind, parallel-groups comparison of adjunctive fluoxetine and placebo. There were no significant differences in positive, negative, depressive, or obsessive-compulsive symptoms between the 18 Ss given adjunctive fluoxetine or the 15 given placebo, suggesting that fluoxetine is not effective in augmenting clozapine treatment response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
U should have been a research assistant for Dr Antony Fauci
“Systemising” and “Empathising” are two cognitive tendencies that individuals rely on to make sense of the world. Systemising involves the observation of environmental contingencies and the consequent formulation of concrete rules to predict events. Empathising is the drive to attribute affective states to others, and to guide responses based on these inferences. High Anxiety is linked to negative, and erroneous, interpretations of social information, and it is possible that the introduction of systems, and therefore predictive utility, might appeal to anxious individuals. It was hypothesised that individuals with high trait anxiety levels would report higher systemising tendencies and lower empathising tendencies than their less anxious peers. A total of 223 participants completed measures of trait anxiety, empathising and systemising tendencies, and autistic traits. Consistent with the hypotheses, individuals with higher levels of trait anxiety demonstrated high systemising tendencies and relatively low empathising tendencies, whilst their less anxious peers demonstrated balanced tendencies in both domains. The High Anxiety group also scored highest on the self-reported measure of autistic traits. This research has identified anxiety as a potential facilitator of divergence in cognitive tendencies, which will be further enhanced by studies in clinical populations.
Background
Single nucleotide polymorphisms in TCF4 gene have been consistently associated with schizophrenia in genome wide association studies, including the C allele of rs9960767. However, its exact role in modulating the schizophrenia phenotype is not known.
Aims
To comprehensively investigate the relationship between rs9960767 risk allele (C) of TCF4 and cognitive performance in patients with first episode psychosis (FEP).
Methods
173 patients with FEP received a comprehensive neurocognitive evaluation and were genotyped for rs9960767. Carriers of the risk allele (CA/CC) were compared to non-carriers (AA) using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance MANCOVA. Ethnicity, negative symptoms and substance abuse were included as covariates.
Results
Carriers of the risk allele had a statistically significant lower performance in the cognitive domain of Reasoning/Problem-Solving compared to non-carriers (F1,172 = 4.4, p = .038). There were no significant genotype effects on the other cognitive domains or general cognition. This effect on the Reasoning/Problem-Solving domain remained significant even when controlling for IQ (F1,172 = 4.3, p = .039).
Conclusions
rs9960767 (C) of TCF4 appears to be associated with neurocognitive deficits in the Reasoning/Problem-Solving cognitive domain, in patients with FEP. A confirmation of this finding in a larger sample and including other TCF4 polymorphisms will be needed to gain further validity of this result.
Delusions are a core feature of psychopathology while fantasy proneness (FP) is a trait that describes a predisposition towards fantastical thinking, vivid mental imagery and an overactive imagination. The relationship between FP and delusional experiences has not yet been examined in the literature. The current study hypothesised that FP would be significantly associated with and predict delusion severity as well as the associated delusional distress, preoccupation and conviction. Ninety-five patients with current psychosis (schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder) were assessed for overall delusional severity using the PANSS (clinician-rated) and the Peters Delusions Inventory (PDI; self-report). FP was assessed using the Creative Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ). Forty-six healthy control participants also completed the PDI and CEQ. Significant positive correlations were observed between FP and delusion severity in both groups; and distress, preoccupation and conviction in patients only. Linear regression analyses, controlling for manic and depressive symptoms, revealed that greater FP predicted higher levels of severity, distress, preoccupation, and conviction associated with delusions in patients, and higher severity only in healthy controls. The findings highlight the role of specific cognitive biases in delusional experiences, and empirically support models of unusual belief formation and maintenance.
Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia are often initially unrecognized or missed
entirely in the diagnostic process. Sexual obsession is common in patients with schizophre-
nia. Therefore, identifying sexual obsession early in treatment has significant implications for
appropriate multidisciplinary management and prognosis. We report the case of a Hispanic
male in his 20s who presented with self-injurious behavior and worsening psychotic symp-
toms in the context of a recent diagnosis of schizophrenia and without a past diagnosis or
historical symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This report elucidates the
importance of identifying the underlying cause of self-injurious behavior, which in this young
man was due to new onset OCD presenting as sexual obsession comorbid with schizophre-
nia. Olanzapine, paroxetine, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) were administered with
good therapeutic response.