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According to the operational diagnostic criteria, psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are classified based on symptoms. While its cluster of symptoms defines each of these psychiatric disorders, there is also an overlap in symptoms between the disorders. We hypothesized that there are also similarities and differences in cortical structural neuroimaging features among these psychiatric disorders. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed for 5,549 subjects recruited from 14 sites. Effect sizes were determined using a linear regression model within each protocol, and these effect sizes were meta-analyzed. The similarity of the differences in cortical thickness and surface area of each disorder group was calculated using cosine similarity, which was calculated from the effect sizes of each cortical regions. The thinnest cortex was found in SZ, followed by BD and MDD. The cosine similarity values between disorders were 0.943 for SZ and BD, 0.959 for SZ and MDD, and 0.943 for BD and MDD, which indicated that a common pattern of cortical thickness alterations was found among SZ, BD, and MDD. Additionally, a generally smaller cortical surface area was found in SZ and MDD than in BD, and the effect was larger in SZ. The cosine similarity values between disorders were 0.945 for SZ and MDD, 0.867 for SZ and ASD, and 0.811 for MDD and ASD, which indicated a common pattern of cortical surface area alterations among SZ, MDD, and ASD. Patterns of alterations in cortical thickness and surface area were revealed in the four major psychiatric disorders. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a cross-disorder analysis conducted on four major psychiatric disorders. Cross-disorder brain imaging research can help to advance our understanding of the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders and common symptoms.

Background: Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder characterized by significant cognitive and neurobiological alterations. Impairments in cognitive function and eye movement have been known to be promising biomarkers for schizophrenia. However, cognitive assessment methods require specialized expertise. To date, data on simplified measurement tools for assessing both cognitive function and eye movement in patients with schizophrenia are lacking. Objective: This study aims to assess the efficacy of a novel tablet-based platform combining cognitive and eye movement measures for classifying schizophrenia. Methods: Forty-four patients with schizophrenia, 67 healthy controls, and 41 patients with other psychiatric diagnoses participated in this study from 10 sites across Japan. A free-viewing eye movement task and 2 cognitive assessment tools (Codebreaker task from the THINC-integrated tool and the CognitiveFunctionTest app) were used for conducting assessments in a 12.9-inch iPad Pro. We performed comparative group and logistic regression analyses for evaluating the diagnostic efficacy of the 3 measures of interest. Results: Cognitive and eye movement measures differed significantly between patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls (all 3 measures; P<.001). The Codebreaker task showed the highest classification effectiveness in distinguishing schizophrenia with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.90. Combining cognitive and eye movement measures further improved accuracy with a maximum area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.94. Cognitive measures were more effective in differentiating patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls, whereas eye movement measures better differentiated schizophrenia from other psychiatric conditions. Conclusions: This multisite study demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of a tablet-based app for assessing cognitive functioning and eye movements in patients with schizophrenia. Our results suggest the potential of tablet-based assessments of cognitive function and eye movement as simple and accessible evaluation tools, which may be useful for future clinical implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: CD10, also known as neprilysin or enkephalinase exhibiting neutral endopeptidase (NEP) activity, is expressed by B-lineage hematopoietic cells as well as a variety of cells from normal tissues. It cleaves peptides such as cytokines to act for terminating inflammatory responses. Although CD10 molecules of the human pre-B-cell line NALM-6 have 6 consensus N-glycosylation sites, three of them are known to be N-glycosylated by X-ray crystallography. Methods: In order to investigate the role of N-glycans in the full expression of NEP activity, we modified N-glycans by treatment of NALM6 cells with various glycosidases or alter each of the consensus N-glycosylation sites by generating site-directed mutagenesis and compared the NEP activities of the sugar-altered CD10 with those of intact CD10. Results: CD10 of the human B-cell line NALM-6 was dominantly localized in raft microdomains and heterogeneously N-glycosylated. Although neither desialylation nor further degalactosylation caused defective NEP activity, removal of only a small part of N-glycans by treatment with glycopeptidase F under non-denaturing conditions decreased NEP activity completely. All of the three consensus sites of CD10 in HEK293 cells introduced with wild type-CD10 were confirmed to be N-glycosylated. Surface expression of N-glycan at Asn628-deleted CD10 by HEK293 cells was greatly decreased as well as it lost entire NEP activities. Conclusions: N-glycosylation at Asn628 is essential not only for NEP activities, but also for surface expression. General significance: Quality control system does not allow dysfunctional ecto-type proteases to express on plasma membrane. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We propose a multi-frame blind deconvolution method using an in-plane rotating sample optimized for X-ray microscopy, where the application of existing deconvolution methods is technically difficult. Untrained neural networks are employed as the reconstruction algorithm to enable robust reconstruction against stage motion errors caused by the in-plane rotation of samples. From demonstration experiments using full-field X-ray microscopy with advanced Kirkpatrick-Baez mirror optics at SPring-8, a spatial resolution of 34 nm (half period) was successfully achieved by removing the wavefront aberration and improving the apparent numerical aperture. This method can contribute to the cost-effective improvement of X-ray microscopes with imperfect lenses as well as the reconstruction of the phase information of samples and lenses., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Aim: Delusions are a common symptom in schizophrenia. Some scales have been developed to measure delusional tendencies in healthy people, and nonpathological delusional thinking can occur even among these individuals. The existing scales measure the presence and frequency of delusional thoughts, distress levels, and confidence levels. However, these scales are limited because they do not consider the context of the delusions (i.e., where, with whom, and when). In this study, we developed a new scale that presents detailed scenes using illustrations and sentences and measures the tendency toward delusional interpretations., Methods: Factor analysis was conducted to confirm the factor structure of the new scale. To examine the validity of the scale, we analyzed the correlations between delusional tendencies and related variables and verified the consistency between the current scale and previously developed tools., Results: Factor analysis confirmed that the new scale has a two-factor structure, including "internal attribution and paranoid tendency" and "external attribution tendency." The new scale was found to have acceptable reliability and validity. The internal attribution and paranoid tendency factor was negatively correlated with self-esteem and decentering. Furthermore, the internal attribution and paranoid tendency factor showed a moderate positive correlation with depressive state and anxiety tendency and a very weak positive correlation with experiences of bullying or harassment., Conclusion: The correlations between the new scale and related variables confirmed the construct validity and replicated the results reported in previous studies. This new scale enables the measurement of delusional tendencies in healthy subjects based on the social context., Competing Interests: N/A., (© 2023 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.)