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Impairment in attention, memory, processing speed and executive functions have been described in patients with schizophrenia. Such impairments can be observed in early stages of the disease and in chronic patients; discrepancy in findings regarding the cognitive deficits at different stages of the illness keeps the debate about schizophrenia as a neurodegenerative condition which courses with continuous deterioration, or if deficits remain stable, as the neurodevelopmental hypothesis suggests. The aim of the present study was to compare the cognitive performance of recent-onset (RO) and chronic (CH) schizophrenia patients to contrast the neurodevelopmental hypothesis against the neurodegenerative approach. Methods. Twenty RO participants (< 5 years from first psychotic episode) and 30 CH patients (> 5 years from first psychotic episode) were included in the sample. The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), Tower of London test (ToL), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Stroop Test were used for cognitive evaluation. ANCOVA analysis was performed for group comparisons. Results. No differences between RO and CH patients were identified on most cognitive tests. However, a significant difference was observed in the visual spatial span test from MCCB. Conclusions. We conclude that cognitive deficits remain stable over the course of the disease. Our findings are consistent with the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia rather than the neurodegenerative approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanisms underlying the negative effects of obesity on the brain are still unknown. Obesity is associated with oxidative stress in the brain and neuroinflammation that promotes neurodegenerative diseases. Chronic low‐grade neuroinflammation in obesity could be associated with lower volumes of gray matter and lower neuronal density. If neuroinflammation mediated by the expression of cytokines and chemokines leads to apoptosis, this can be assessed by examining caspase expression. The aim of this study was to compare the expression of caspases in the 16 brains of donors with obesity/overweight (n = 8; Body Mass Index [BMI] = 31.6 ± 4.35 kg/m2; 2 females; Age = 52.9 ± 4.76 years) and normal weight (n = 8; BMI = 21.8 ± 1.5 kg/m2; 3 females; Age = 37.8 ± 19.2 years). Sixteen human brain samples were processed. Serial paraffin sections were examined by anti‐caspase immunochemistry (caspase‐3, caspase‐4, caspase‐6, caspase‐1, caspase‐8, and caspase‐9 antibodies). Postmortem samples of cerebral cortex tissue were captured as photomicrographs and the images obtained were analyzed using ImageJ software to obtain the percentage of positive caspase expression. Nonparametric Mann–Whitney U tests were performed to compare caspase expression between samples from donors with obesity/overweight and normal weight. Taking into consideration the immunohistochemistry results, the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes was used to model molecular interactions. Results showed that brain samples from individuals with obesity/overweight exhibited significantly greater values of positive expression for Caspase‐1 (U = 16.5, p = 0.05, Cohen d = 0.89) and −8 (U = 15, p = 0.03, Cohen d = 0.99) than those from donors with normal weight. This study contributes to the knowledge about the inflammatory effects of obesity/overweight on brain, suggesting the activation of the alternative inflammasome pathway in which interact caspase‐1 and ‐8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Schizoaffective disorder (SA) is classified into bipolar (bSA) and depressive (dSA) subtypes. Although clinical differences between both have been reported, there is no clear information regarding their specific cognitive profile. Objective: To compare neurocognition between SA subtypes and schizophrenia (SC). Methods: A total of 61 patients were assessed and divided into 3 groups: 35 SC, 16 bSA, and 10 dSA. All participants signed an informed consent letter. The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, Central and South American version was used to assess neurocognition. The study was performed at the Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría "Ramón de la Fuente". Participants were identified by specialized psychiatrists. Trained neuropsychologists carried out the clinical and cognitive assessment, which lasted 2 h approximately. Results: The cognitive assessment showed a significant difference in Trail Making Test part A subtest (F[2,58] = 4.043; p = 0.023]. Post hoc analyses indicated that dSA obtained a significantly higher score than SC (MD = –11.523; p = 0.018). The f test showed a large effect size (f = 0.401). No statistical differences were observed regarding other cognitive variables. Conclusions: The cognitive profile of SA subtypes and SC is similar since no differences were found in most subtests. However, dSA may be less impaired than SC in measures of processing speed. Further research with larger samples must be conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to compare cortex thickness and neuronal cell density in postmortem brain tissue from people with overweight or obesity and normal weight.Methods: The cortex thickness and neuron density of eight donors with overweight or obesity (mean = 31.6 kg/m2 ; SD = 4.35; n = 8; 6 male) and eight donors with normal weight (mean = 21.8 kg/m2 ; SD = 1.5; n = 8; 5 male) were compared. All participants were Mexican and lived in Mexico City. Randomly selected thickness measures of different cortex areas from the frontal and temporal lobes were analyzed based on high-resolution real-size photographs. A histological analysis of systematic-random fields was used to quantify the number of neurons in postmortem left and right of the first, second, and third gyri of frontal and temporal lobe brain samples.Results: No statistical difference was found in cortical thickness between donors with overweight or obesity and individuals with normal weight. A smaller number of neurons was found among the donors with overweight or obesity than the donors with normal weight at different frontal and temporal areas.Conclusions: A lower density of neurons is associated with overweight or obesity. The morphological basis for structural brain changes in obesity requires further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Schizophrenia patients show impairments in social cognition (SC), which is a set of cognitive processes that underlie social interactions. The research about SC in schizophrenia has identified four main domains: Theory of mind (ToM), social perception, attributional style and emotional processing. The present review aims to summarize the most recent and consistent findings about SC in patients with schizophrenia, unaffected relatives and ultra-high risk for psychosis individuals (UHR), as well as its association with clinical variables and functional outcome. Methods. A systematic PsycINFO and Pubmed/Medline databases search was conducted. Results. ToM impairments have been observed in schizophrenia patients, unaffected relatives and UHR. Emotional processing disturbance has been consistently reported in schizophrenia patients and UHR. ToM and emotional processing have been correlated with symptomatology and functional outcome. However, inconsistencies have been found across studies that assess ToM and emotional processing as predictors of psychosis. Social perception and attributional style are affected in schizophrenia, but the research in at- risk populations is scarce and their relationship with symptoms or functional outcome is not clear. Conclusions. All domains of SC are impaired in schizophrenia. Non affected relatives and UHR also display deficits of SC. More research must be conducted to assess the reliability of SC domains as endophenotypes or predictors of conversion to psychosis in at-risk populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Mismatch Negativity (MMN) is an auditory Event- Related Potential which is generated as an automatic cerebral response to any change in the auditory stimulation that exceeds a limit corresponding to the discrimination threshold. It has been widely and consistently reported that patients with recent and chronic schizophrenia display smaller MMN amplitudes, suggesting that this component may be related with alteration in sensory memory and stimuli integration capacities, which seem to increase with the disease progression. Recently, new research areas have emerged, and studies of MMN of relatives of patients with schizophrenia have been conducted in order to assess the MMN efficacy as an endophenotype. Likewise, there have been MMN studies in schizophrenia prodromes or clinical high risk subjects, aiming to know if there are cerebral processing disturbances prior to the onset of the disease. The results of these studies have been promising, suggesting the presence of auditory stimuli processing disturbances in this population. These disturbances are subtle and seem to increase as the disease appears. The MMN component may be a very effective electrophysiological tool that provides information about the automatic auditory processing in schizophrenia related to its chronicity. It may also be a relative reliable index of genetic vulnerability and clinical risk for developing schizophrenia. Nevertheless, it is necessary to continue performing studies to get comparable and replicable studies in the future that could confirm the information about MMN utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cognitive impairment is a key feature of schizophrenia. While one recent study suggested that individuals with psychosis experience a progressive decline in certain cognitive domains during the first 10 years of their illness, other clinical and functional MRI-based studies have proposed that most cognitive deficits are present during the first episode and remain stable over time, possibly as a result of medication response. To examine the temporal nature of cognitive deficits in the schizophrenia spectrum, we examined cognition in never-medicated individuals at different stages of the illness. Methods: We recruited three groups of patients: 1) individuals at clinical high-risk (CHR) for psychosis (n=87), 2) individuals experiencing their first-episode of a non-affective psychosis (FEP) (n=64) (defined by a duration of untreated psychosis < 74 weeks), and 3) individuals with chronic schizophrenia (n=40) (CSz – duration of untreated psychosis > 74 weeks). All three groups were antipsychotic-naïve. Patients with any comorbid disorders or current substance abuse disorders were excluded from this study. We also recruited matched healthy control subjects (n=102). All subjects were recruited at the Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía in Mexico City. The study was approved by the institutional review board. Adults provided written informed consent and minors provided assent with written consent provided by both parents. Cognition was assessed with the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery. Differences between groups were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) with cognitive domain as inter-subject factor and Bonferroni correction for post hoc pairwise comparisons. Statistical significance was set at p ≤ .05. Results: Since age, gender, and parental education were significantly different between the groups, they were included as covariates in the RM-ANOVA. In this revised model, there was no main effect of age (p = 0.69) nor any interaction between age and any cognitive domain. Therefore, age was removed from the final model. We observed a significant main effect of group (p <.001); All patient groups were significantly impaired compared to the control group (CHR mean difference (MD) = 6.12; FEP MD = 16.46; CSz MD = 16.37; p <.001 in all cases), individuals with both FEP and CSz had significantly more cognitive impairment than the CHR group (FEP MD = 10.34; CSz MD = 10.25; p <.001 in both cases). No significant differences were observed between FEP and CSz groups (MD = .09, p >.99). We also found a significant group by cognitive domain interaction (p <.001). Namely, all patient groups were cognitively impaired compared to the control group, except in the Verbal and Visual Learning domains in which there were no significant differences between the control and CHR groups. No significant differences were found between the FEP and CSz groups in any domain. Moreover, the CHR group was not significantly different from the other clinical groups in the Social Cognition domain. Within the FEP and CSz groups, no significant correlations were observed between duration of untreated psychosis and any cognitive domain. Discussion: We observed significant cognitive deficits since at-risk stages of the schizophrenia spectrum. Patients with FEP were as impaired as those with CSz, while cognitive functioning observed in CHR individuals was intermediate between controls and patients with syndromal psychosis. These results emphasize the importance of pre-syndromal detection and prediction of burgeoning psychotic illness. Future research on strategies to mitigate the decline in cognitive function between presyndromal and firstepisode psychosis is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

En México, el 80% de los pacientes con demencia son tratados y atendidos en sus hogares, Io que repercute en la salud familiar. Se han realizado varios estudios sobre la salud mental del "cuidador primario", los cuales afirman que las actividades relacionadas con el cuidado del paciente son factores que predisponen la presencia de depresión y ansiedad en los cuidadores. Poco se ha investigado sobre la forma que afecta a los cuidadores secundarios (hijos o nietos) el tener que cuidar a un paciente con demencia. El objetivo de esta investigación fue conocer los efectos del cuidado en la salud mental (ansiedad y depresión) de adolescentes cuidadores secundarios de pacientes con demencia. Para este propósito se utilizó el Inventario de Ansiedad Rasgo Estado (IDARE) y el Inventario de Depresión de Beck (IDB). Todos los sujetos firmaron una hoja de consentimiento informado. La muestra fue intencional, se evaluaron 41 sujetos. Se crearon 2 grupos, uno formado por adolescentes cuidadores (AC), con edad promedio de 15 años (DS = 3 años), 75% hombres y 25% mujeres, todos estudiantes, 17% primaria, 25% secundaria y 58% preparatoria. La media del tiempo que Ilevaban cuidando al enfermo fue de 3.6 años (rango de 1 a 13 años), realizando actividades de cuidado 3.2 horas diarias los 7 días de la semana. En el segundo grupo se inciuyeron 29 adolescentes no cuidadores (ANC), con edad promedio de 15.7 años (DS = 2 años), 62% hombres y 38% mujeres, el 47% estudia secundaria y 53% preparatoria. Se realizó análisis descriptivo. Los resultados muestran que los AC presentan mayor frecuencia de depresión moderada en comparación a los ANC (35% vs 14%). Se observaron en el grupo AC puntajes altos en el IDARE, reflejando frecuencias mayores de ansiedad severa en comparación los ANC (33% vs 21%). Los AC con depresión moderada, también presentan niveles altos de ansiedad rasgo (x = 54.0, DS = 9.1) en comparación a los demás cuidadores (x = 43.3, DS = 6.5) y al grupo de ANC (x = 45.1, DS = 4.6). La mayoría de los AC con depresión moderada son del sexo femenino (67%) y cuidan a su paciente un promedio de 7 horas diarias (DS = 3). El 67% de los AC deprimidos reportó bajo rendimiento académico. Todos los AC deprimidos afirmaron notar un cambio importante en su comportamiento debido a la enfermedad del paciente. No hubo diferencias significativas entre los 2 grupos en cuanto a edad y género. De acuerdo a los resultados obtenidos y tomando en cuenta que los adolescentes están en una etapa de la vida en la que están formando su identidad y explorando la forma de lidiar con las relaciones interpersonales, se puede afirmar que el rol del cuidador y el ambiente de cuidado parecen incidir en la aparición y severidad de trastornos mentales como ansiedad y depresión en esta población. Sin embargo, es importante ampliar la muestra para corroborar los resultados obtenidos hasta el momento. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent research shows that individuals exhibiting schizotypal traits (ST) are more prone to developing other psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Regarding the relationship between empathy and schizotypy, a considerable degree of heterogeneity has been observed. The objective of this study was to describe the presence of ST in college students and the relationships among ST, psychiatric symptoms, and empathy., Method: The present study employed a non-experimental, cross-sectional correlational design. A total of 70 participants were assessed with a semi-structured interview, the Oviedo Questionnaire for the Assessment of Schizotypy, the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), and the Cognitive and Affective Empathy Test., Results: A high prevalence of ST was identified in the study sample (85.8%), particularly regarding Distortion of reality (30%), Negative dimension (47%), and Interpersonal disorganization (70%). A positive correlation was observed between Distortion of reality and Interpersonal disorganization with most of the subscales of the SCL-90-R. A negative correlation was observed between Empathic joy and the Negative dimension of ST (rho (ρ) = -0.504, p = < .001), and a positive correlation between Empathic stress and Obsession-compulsion (ρ = 0.473, p < 0.001), Anxiety (ρ = 0.443, p < 0.001), and Depression (ρ = 0.368, p = 0.002). The results of the multiple linear regressions indicated that ST accounted for 41.8% of the variance in Obsession-compulsion, followed by Depression (33%), and Anxiety (27.2%). In addition, it was found that Empathic stress was a significant predictor of Anxiety (R² = 0.228, p ≤ .001), Obsession-compulsion (R² = 0.168, p ≤ .001), and Depressive symptoms (R² = 0.131, p = 0.002). Finally, it was observed that psychiatric symptoms fully mediated the effect of Empathic stress on Interpersonal disorganization and Distortion of reality., Conclusions: There were distinctive patterns in which the different dimensions of ST are related to psychiatric symptoms and empathy., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Ethics Committee of the Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala (FESI) issued approval CE/FES/2021/1384. This study adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: This study was supported by UNAM-PAPIIT (Grant number IT300222). Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías (CONAHCyT) also supported with a PhD scholarship (CVU number 854931). Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Pérez-Ferrara et al.)

Background and objective Reasons for Living (RFL) constitute a construct that enables identifying the reasons for not committing suicide. These reasons are based on significant aspects of life, on the commitment to some ideals which may inhibit the impulse of committing suicide. The present study aimed to explore the RFL in a sample of patients with chronic schizophrenia; analyze the association of RFL with the duration of illness, previous suicide attempts, hospitalizations, and schooling; and describe the potential differences between male and female patients in this context. Materials and methods A total of 94 patients with schizophrenia were assessed. The Reasons for Living Inventory (RFLI) was applied and a structured interview for clinical and sociodemographic data was performed to gather data. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were calculated, and Spearman's correlation analysis was employed. Results The mean score among the sample was 3.9, with 3.8 as the cut-off point under which the presence of suicide risk is significant. The RFLs indicated as most important by patients were those in the domains of Survival and Coping Beliefs and Responsibility to Family. Non-significant differences were observed between groups. An association was observed in terms of age, duration of illness, number of hospitalizations, and RFLI scores. Conclusions The sample in the present study obtained high scores in the RFL domain of Survival and Coping Beliefs and low scores in the domain of Fear of Suicide, reflecting a specific response pattern that contrasts with other high suicidal-risk populations. We suggest that this construct could represent a protective factor for schizophrenia patients, including chronic patients with previous suicide attempts and high hospitalization rates, which were common variables observed in our clinical sample., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Comité de Ética en investigación del Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz issued approval CEI/C/004/2019. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: Mauricio Rosel Vales declare(s) Other from Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen-Cilag and Lundbeck. Has been on advisory boards and has received speaker fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen-Cilag and Lundbeck. Ricardo Saracco Alvarez declare(s) other from Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen-Cilag, Elli Lilly, Armstrong, Aztra Zeneca and Lundbeck. Has been on advisory boards and has received speaker fees from Boehringer Ingelheim, Janssen-Cilag, Elli Lilly, Armstrong, Aztra Zeneca and Lundbeck. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Flores Medina et al.)

Impairment in attention, memory, processing speed and executive functions have been described in patients with schizophrenia. Such impairments can be observed in early stages of the disease and in chronic patients; discrepancy in findings regarding the cognitive deficits at different stages of the illness keeps the debate about schizophrenia as a neurodegenerative condition which courses with continuous deterioration, or if deficits remain stable, as the neurodevelopmental hypothesis suggests.

Introduction: Schizophrenia patients show impairments in social cognition (SC), which is a set of cognitive processes that underlie social interactions. The research about SC in schizophrenia has identified four main domains: Theory of mind (ToM), social perception, attributional style and emotional processing. The present review aims to summarize the most recent and consistent findings about SC in patients with schizophrenia, unaffected relatives and ultra-high risk for psychosis individuals (UHR), as well as its association with clinical variables and functional outcome., Methods: A systematic PsycINFO and Pubmed/Medline databases search was conducted., Results: ToM impairments have been observed in schizophrenia patients, unaffected relatives and UHR. Emotional processing disturbance has been consistently reported in schizophrenia patients and UHR. ToM and emotional processing have been correlated with symptomatology and functional outcome. However, inconsistencies have been found across studies that assess ToM and emotional processing as predictors of psychosis. Social perception and attributional style are affected in schizophrenia, but the research in at- risk populations is scarce, and their relationship with symptoms or functional outcome is not clear., Conclusions: All domains of SC are impaired in schizophrenia. Non affected relatives and UHR also display deficits of SC. More research must be conducted to assess the reliability of SC domains as endophenotypes or predictors of conversion to psychosis in at-risk populations.

The Mismatch Negativity (MMN) is an auditory Event- Related Potential which is generated as an automatic cerebral response to any change in the auditory stimulation that exceeds a limit corresponding to the discrimination threshold. It has been widely and consistently reported that patients with recent and chronic schizophrenia display smaller MMN amplitudes, suggesting that this component may be related with alteration in sensory memory and stimuli integration capacities, which seem to increase with the disease progression. Recently, new research areas have emerged, and studies of MMN of relatives of patients with schizophrenia have been conducted in order to assess the MMN efficacy as an endophenotype. Likewise, there have been MMN studies in schizophrenia prodromes or clinical high risk subjects, aiming to know if there are cerebral processing disturbances prior to the onset of the disease. The results of these studies have been promising, suggesting the presence of auditory stimuli processing disturbances in this population. These disturbances are subtle and seem to increase as the disease appears. The MMN component may be a very effective electrophysiological tool that provides information about the automatic auditory processing in schizophrenia related to its chronicity. It may also be a relative reliable index of genetic vulnerability and clinical risk for developing schizophrenia. Nevertheless, it is necessary to continue performing studies to get comparable and replicable studies in the future that could confirm the information about MMN utility.