Vulnerability to Schizophrenia and Psychosis

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2019) | Viewed by 11797

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
2. Department of Psychiatry, Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Interests: schizophrenia; vulnerability to psychosis; psychiatric epidemiology; brain biomarkers of psychosis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders continue to impose a significant burden on global society. These disorders have been, and are still, a challenge to the scientific community.

This Special Issue will focus on latest findings in the field of vulnerability to schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. A special topic will be brain biomarkers of vulnerability to psychosis. We aim to recruit top scientist in the field to introduce their research, reviews or other relevant original works.

Prof. Dr. Juha Veijola
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • schizophrenia
  • vulnerability to psychosis
  • brain biomarkers

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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7 pages, 213 KiB  
Article
Prevalence and Clinical Significance of Symptoms at Ultra High Risk for Psychosis in Children and Adolescents with Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: Is There an Association with Global, Role, and Social Functioning?
by Roberto Averna, Maria Pontillo, Francesco Demaria, Marco Armando, Ornella Santonastaso, Maria Laura Pucciarini, Maria Cristina Tata, Francesco Mancini and Stefano Vicari
Brain Sci. 2018, 8(10), 181; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci8100181 - 30 Sep 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3986
Abstract
In literature nothing is known about the clinical significance of Ultra High Risk (UHR) symptoms in children and adolescents with diagnosis of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). In this study, we examined the prevalence of UHR symptoms and their relationship with severity of obsessive–compulsive symptomatology, [...] Read more.
In literature nothing is known about the clinical significance of Ultra High Risk (UHR) symptoms in children and adolescents with diagnosis of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). In this study, we examined the prevalence of UHR symptoms and their relationship with severity of obsessive–compulsive symptomatology, global, social, and role functioning, and level of associated depressive symptoms in a clinical sample (n = 51) of children and adolescents aged between 8 and 17 years with a diagnosis of OCD. The prevalence of UHR symptoms in this sample was 43.1%. We divided the whole sample into two groups: children and adolescents with OCD and UHR symptoms (n = 22) and children and adolescents with OCD without UHR symptoms (n = 29). Our findings suggest that the group with OCD and UHR symptoms shows worse global, social, and role functioning than the group with OCD without UHR symptoms. No differences were found on the severity of obsessive–compulsive symptomatology, the number of psychiatric diagnoses associated, and the level of depressive symptoms. The presence of UHR symptoms in children and adolescents with OCD could cause significant functional impairment and should be considered in order to plan specific and targeted therapeutic interventions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vulnerability to Schizophrenia and Psychosis)

Review

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17 pages, 756 KiB  
Review
Early Senescence and Leukocyte Telomere Shortening in SCHIZOPHRENIA: A Role for Cytomegalovirus Infection?
by Corona Solana, Diana Pereira and Raquel Tarazona
Brain Sci. 2018, 8(10), 188; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci8100188 - 18 Oct 2018
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 7163
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic mental disorder characterized by delusions and hallucinations. Several evidences support the link of schizophrenia with accelerated telomeres shortening and accelerated aging. Thus, schizophrenia patients show higher mortality compared to age-matched healthy donors. The etiology of schizophrenia is multifactorial, [...] Read more.
Schizophrenia is a severe, chronic mental disorder characterized by delusions and hallucinations. Several evidences support the link of schizophrenia with accelerated telomeres shortening and accelerated aging. Thus, schizophrenia patients show higher mortality compared to age-matched healthy donors. The etiology of schizophrenia is multifactorial, involving genetic and environmental factors. Telomere erosion has been shown to be accelerated by different factors including environmental factors such as cigarette smoking and chronic alcohol consumption or by psychosocial stress such as childhood maltreatment. In humans, telomere studies have mainly relied on measurements of leukocyte telomere length and it is generally accepted that individuals with short leukocyte telomere length are considered biologically older than those with longer ones. A dysregulation of both innate and adaptive immune systems has been described in schizophrenia patients and other mental diseases supporting the contribution of the immune system to disease symptoms. Thus, it has been suggested that abnormal immune activation with high pro-inflammatory cytokine production in response to still undefined environmental agents such as herpesviruses infections can be involved in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. It has been proposed that chronic inflammation and oxidative stress are involved in the course of schizophrenia illness, early onset of cardiovascular disease, accelerated aging, and premature mortality in schizophrenia. Prenatal or neonatal exposures to neurotropic pathogens such as Cytomegalovirus or Toxoplasma gondii have been proposed as environmental risk factors for schizophrenia in individuals with a risk genetic background. Thus, pro-inflammatory cytokines and microglia activation, together with genetic vulnerability, are considered etiological factors for schizophrenia, and support that inflammation status is involved in the course of illness in schizophrenia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vulnerability to Schizophrenia and Psychosis)
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