OBJECTIVES: Functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) is one of the most useful techniques for assessing localized changes in cerebral blood flow and oxygenation using diverse challenge paradigms. This review presents the results of fMRI studies relating to schizophrenia. METHODS: Several fMRI articles on this subject in psychiatric journals were surveyed. RESULTS: Even with some methodological limitations, most studies showed activity differences between schizophrenics and control subjects. CONCLUSION: fMRI extends our understanding of the pathophysiological basis of schizophrenia and offer an opportunity for the assessment and management of its pathology.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Oxygen ; Pathology ; Schizophrenia*

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate relationships between psychotic symptoms and cognitive functions in schizophrenia. METHODS: The study group was composed of 36 schizophrenic patients. Positive, negative, and disorganization symptoms were assessed using the PANSS. Verbal, visuospatial, attention, memory, and executive functions were assessed using a battery of cognitive tests. RESULTS: Correlation analysis between symptom vs. cognitive measures showed that (a) positive symptoms were significantly correlated with no cognitive measures, (b) negative symptoms were significantly correlated with all cognitive measures, and (c) disorganization symptoms were significantly correlated with executive and memory measures. Correlation analyses between symptom vs. cognitive factors showed that negative-disorganization factor is significantly correlated with executive-memory factor. CONCLUSION: Significant relationships were confined mostly to frontal symptoms vs. frontal cognitive functions. Thus, the relationships may be mediated mainly by variations in severity of frontal pathology among patients.
Executive Function ; Fibrinogen ; Humans ; Memory ; Pathology ; Schizophrenia

Brain ; diagnostic imaging ; Diagnostic Imaging ; methods ; Humans ; Radiography ; Schizophrenia ; pathology

Brain ; pathology ; Electroconvulsive Therapy ; adverse effects ; Humans ; Schizophrenia ; therapy

BACKGROUNDAuditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) of schizophrenia have been associated with structural and functional alterations of some brain regions. However, the brain regional homogeneity (ReHo) alterations specific to AVHs of schizophrenia remain unclear. In the current study, we aimed to investigate ReHo alterations specific to schizophrenic AVHs.

METHODSThirty-five schizophrenic patients with AVH, 41 schizophrenic patients without AVHs, and fifty healthy subjects underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. ReHo differences across the three groups were tested using a voxel-wise analysis.

RESULTSCompared with the healthy control group, the two schizophrenia groups showed significantly increased ReHo in the right caudate and inferior temporal gyrus and decreased ReHo in the bilateral postcentral gyrus and thalamus and the right inferior occipital gyrus (false discovery rate corrected, P < 0.05). More importantly, the AVH group exhibited significantly increased ReHo in the left precuneus compared with the non-AVH group. However, using correlation analysis, we did not find any correlation between the auditory hallucination rating scale score and the ReHo of brain regions.

CONCLUSIONSOur results suggest that increased ReHo in the left precuneus may be a pathological feature exclusive to schizophrenic AVHs.

Adult ; Female ; Hallucinations ; pathology ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Parietal Lobe ; physiopathology ; Schizophrenia ; pathology ; physiopathology

Psychophysiological and functional neuroimaging studies have frequently and consistently shown that emotional information can be processed outside of the conscious awareness. Non-conscious processing comprises automatic, uncontrolled, and fast processing that occurs without subjective awareness. However, how such non-conscious emotional processing occurs in patients with various psychiatric disorders requires further examination. In this article, we reviewed and discussed previous studies on the non-conscious emotional processing in patients diagnosed with anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression, to further understand how non-conscious emotional processing varies across these psychiatric disorders. Although the symptom profile of each disorder does not often overlap with one another, these patients commonly show abnormal emotional processing based on the pathology of their mood and cognitive function. This indicates that the observed abnormalities of emotional processing in certain social interactions may derive from a biased mood or cognition process that precedes consciously controlled and voluntary processes. Since preconscious forms of emotional processing appear to have a major effect on behaviour and cognition in patients with these disorders, further investigation is required to understand these processes and their impact on patient pathology.
Anxiety Disorders ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Bipolar Disorder ; Cognition ; Depression ; Functional Neuroimaging ; Humans ; Interpersonal Relations ; Pathology ; Psychopathology* ; Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVES: To develop reliable tools for measuring communication skills in schizophrenia, the present study proposed the concept of communication intelligence, consisting of conversational competence, emotional competence, and empathic competence, and explored its neurobiological underpinnings using regional gray matter volume with healthy people. METHODS: Communicative intelligence scores were obtained from 126 healthy young participants. Correlation analyses between regional volume distributions and communication intelligence subcomponents were conducted using voxel-based morphometry of structural MRI. RESULTS: The significant positive correlations between the regional gray matter volumes with conversational competence were found mainly at the ventromedial frontal gyrus while the negative correlations between the bilateral middle frontal gyrus. With emotional competence, the volume of right superior temporal gyrus was positively and that of bilateral insula was negatively correlated. With empathic competence, the volume of the left middle frontal gyrus was positively and that of the insula was negatively correlated. CONCLUSION: Each of the subcomponents of communicative intelligence scores showed distinctive neurobiological underpinnings. The regions for the subcomponents, which constitute a common network for social cognition and emotion, are highly associated with the regions of the schizophrenia pathology. In conclusion, communicative intelligence scales have neurobiological basis to evaluate social skills of patients with schizophrenia.
Cognition ; Humans ; Intelligence* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Mental Competency ; Pathology ; Schizophrenia ; Weights and Measures

OBJECTIVES: This study was peformed to compare and measure the changes of corpus callosum of the schizophrenic patients with those of controls, to compare according to clinical symptoms, onset age. METHOD: Brain magnetic resonance imaging study was performed in 38 schizophrenic patients and 28 controls, and the authors measured cerebral area, anterior, middle, posterior callosal areas, vertical width, perpendicular width and maximal horizontal callosal length. The schizophrenic patients were assessed by the PANSS. To correct cerebral areas, ANCOVA was used with cerebral areas as covariants. And two-tailed t-test, ANOVA were used to compare callosal measurements according to subgroups. RESULTS: The schizophrenic patients, compared with controls, were significantly wider in posterior callosal area and thinner in anterior vertical width. The schizophrenic patients with prominent positive symptoms were significantly wider and thicker in middle callosal area, anterior middle vertical width than controls, and those with prominent negative symptoms were significantly thinner in posterior vertical width than those with prominent positive symptoms and wider in anterior area than controls. Early onset patients were significantly thicker in middle perpendicular area than controls. CONCLUSIONS: There were various controversial findings about corpus callosal pathology of the schizophrenic patients. This study, after correction of cerebral area, revealed increased sizes of several parts of callosal regions, and then it suggested neurodevelopmental abnormalities. And also significant differences in callosal regions according positive and negative symptoms suggested that these reflected the heterogeneities of schizophrenia.
Age of Onset ; Brain* ; Corpus Callosum ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Pathology ; Schizophrenia

OBJECTIVES: Social cognition plays an important role in psychiatric symptoms and prognosis in patients with schizophrenia. Diagnostic scales are predominantly text-based or intended for the evaluation of theoretical concepts, with limited usefulness in clinical settings. We therefore developed a video based social cognition scale. METHODS: Our scale consists of 20 video clips portraying frequently experienced social interactions in real life. Patients were asked which interactions were socially unnatural and the reasons for lies told by actors. Our scale was validated and social cognition and its relationship with symptoms was evaluated using item response theory. RESULTS: A total of 209 participants (schizophrenia, 101 ; bipolar disorder, 49 ; healthy controls 59) were enrolled. Our scale showed high reliability and concurrent validity compared with the order subtest of the short form of the Weschler Adult Intelligence scale. Internal validity also was high (Cronbach's alpha=0.904). Most items were easy to answer and highly discriminative. The test information curve showed our scale to be more informative in patients with low social cognition ability. CONCLUSION: Our scale may aid in the study of pathology and social cognition deficits in patients with schizophrenia.
Adult ; Bipolar Disorder ; Cognition* ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Interpersonal Relations ; Pathology ; Prognosis ; Schizophrenia* ; Theory of Mind ; Weights and Measures

Early detection is a crucial milestone in the prevention and treatment of schizophrenia spectrum psychosis, which might alter the course of schizophrenia. Currently, there are two complementary approaches to characterizing the clinical-high risk state of psychosis : the ultra-high risk (UHR) and basic symptoms criteria. Individuals at UHR have two phase-specific problems : heightened risk for the potential pathology of schizophrenia spectrum psychosis and the symptoms, distress and psychosocial functional impairment, which make them seek help. The clinical characteristics of UHR are similar to those of overt psychotic disorders in terms of psychopathological symptoms dimensions, psychosocial disability, neurocognitive and socio-cognitive impairments, history of trauma and abuse experience, lack of protective factors and dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, and the comorbidity of psychiatric illness. Regarding the risk, the pretest risk probability of a psychotic disorder in each high-risk clinic is considered an important factor for predicting the power of an early detection strategy. For the distress and psychosocial disability, the strategies of the therapeutic intervention will be a focus of clinical attention. On the follow-up, one of third of the UHR individuals have sufficient positive symptom to fulfil the at-risk criteria. Most of the UHR individuals have suffered from comorbid psychiatric illness at the times of both baseline and follow-up, and there is no improvement of psychosocial functioning. Currently, it is essential to optimize the early detection and intervention strategy according to the referring and recruitment characteristics of each high-risk clinic in Korean practice situations.
Comorbidity ; Diagnosis* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Pathology ; Protective Factors ; Psychotic Disorders* ; Schizophrenia