Ingrid Melle

..Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness with a profound negative influence on social functioning. How does a schizophrenic disorder in parents influence their rearing of their children?..

..Most studies on first-episode psychosis show an association between a long duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and poorer short-term outcome, but the mechanisms of this relationship are poorly understood...

..The duration of untreated psychosis (DUP)-the time from onset of psychotic symptoms to the start of adequate treatment--is consistently correlated with better course and outcome, but the mechanisms are poorly understood...

..Apathy is a common symptom in first episode psychosis (FEP), and is associated with poor functioning. Prevalence and correlates of apathy 10 years after the first psychotic episode remain unexplored...

..Further studies are needed to evaluate the implicated PDE4B region of interest, for potential involvement in SZ and BP susceptibility...

..Thus depressive symptoms are frequent among FEPP, with indications of gender specific differences in patient characteristics that might imply different approaches to treatment...

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..Affective flattening has been described as enduring, but long term follow-up studies of first episode psychosis patients are lacking...

..Severe suicidality (plans and attempts) was predicted by drug abuse, dissatisfaction with life and severe suicidality at start of treatment...

..In the present study we investigated genetic variants associated with bipolar disorder in a homogenous Norwegian sample, and potential genetic overlap with schizophrenia, using the Affymetrix 6.0 array...

..Despite differences in neurocognition and psychosocial function, groups showed the same pattern in prediction of functioning irrespective of DSM-IV or clinical definition...

..To investigate sex differences in neurocognition and social functioning in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and the possible role of sex as a moderator of this relationship...

..However, the results have been inconsistent and there are few studies addressing other COMT single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)...

..We investigated whether there is a relationship between CVD risk factors and inflammation in schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and if second generation antipsychotics (SGA) interact...

..The authors investigated the NOTCH4 gene expression in individuals with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia relative to healthy comparison subjects and identified putative expression quantitative trait loci in and around the NOTCH4 gene...

..In this study we compare neurocognitive function in a cohort of first-contact mania patients with a healthy control group matched for age, gender, and education...

..These results further support that ANK3 is a susceptibility gene specific to BD and that more than one risk locus is involved...

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..Improvements in general s-QoL were associated with increase in excitative symptoms and with improvements in depressive symptoms, global functioning, level of daily activities, level of social activities, and perceived general health...

..This deserves to be replicated in additional populations to provide more evidence for molecular genetic mechanisms of side effects during psychopharmacological treatment...

..We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genes associated with neurocognition...

..We hypothesize that 5-HTTLPR variations and long-term effects of childhood trauma interact and contribute to some of the variation in cognitive dysfunction seen in patients with psychotic disorders...

..Patients with antecedent excessive substance use had reduced risk of long treatment delays. The risk of developing excessive substance use after BD onset increased with longer treatment delays...

..Our findings support PALB2 and BRCA2 as risk genes specifically for BD, and suggest that altered DNA repair related to neurogenesis may be involved in BD pathophysiology. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc...

..Treatment programs that bring first-episode patients into treatment at lower symptom levels can have the potential to reduce risk for suicide attempts...

..We investigated if perceived discrimination was associated with the severity of these symptoms among immigrants in Norway with psychotic disorders...

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..The results of this study suggest that AUDIT and DUDIT are powerful screening instruments for detecting alcohol and other drug use disorders in patients with first-episode psychosis...

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..This naturalistic study aims to compare discontinuation rates for low-dose first-generation versus second-generation antipsychotics in first-episode psychotic patients...

..It is unclear whether an early detection programme increases or decreases the number of patients with a long duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), and whether these differ from other patients with a long DUP...

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..Poor symptom outcome remains a challenge in psychosis: At least 50% of first-episode patients continue to have positive and/or negative symptoms after ten years...

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..The authors investigated the differences in symptoms and recovery after 10 years between regional health care sectors with and without a comprehensive program for the early detection of psychosis...

..Early detection programmes aim to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) by public education and by prompt access to treatment via active outreach detection teams...

..This was more pronounced in females. The presence of lifetime psychotic symptoms did not influence emotional responses...

..In conclusion, DISC1 SNPs might impact brain structural variation, possibly differently in psychosis patients versus controls, but independent replication will be needed to confirm our findings...

..We conclude that while self-harm in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders is highly prevalent in both genders, risk factors in men and women differ in several important ways...

..3-22.1 has been implicated in the development of schizophrenia...

..The purpose of this study was to compare cortical thickness and subcortical volumes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to assess differences and similarities in cortical and subcortical brain structure...

..Thus, SFS adds valuable information as a supplement to standard clinician-rated assessment tools of social functioning, suited both for research and clinical work...

..The present results, although not robust, suggest that the NTRK-3 gene influences hippocampal function and may modify the risk for schizophrenia...

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..We aimed to determine if immune markers that consistently have been reported elevated in BP were associated with depressive and manic symptoms, and if this was specific for BP...

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..The aim of this study was to investigate whether patients with BD II showed decreased activation in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) as compared to healthy controls when performing a task sensitive to impulsivity...

..We examined whether this differentiation was related to differences in underlying psychological processes of object relations and reality testing...

..These results are consistent with the view that common variation in brain structure is associated with genetic variants located in nonexonic, presumably regulatory, regions...

..The main aims of this study were to examine the psychometric properties of the AES-C and its relationship to the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)...

..In addition, we examined whether age at onset influenced on time to first treatment, and if patient characteristics related to illness severity influenced age at onset...

..Further, it investigated the relationship between students, employed and unemployed patients and clinical, neurocognitive, global, and social functioning...

..We found no significant association after multiple-testing correction between any of these SNPs and BD in our sample. Thus, it is unlikely that these genetic variations confer susceptibility to BD in this large Scandinavian sample...

..The psychosocial climate of inpatient units has proved to be related to both patient satisfaction and outcome...

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..Psychotherapeutic inpatient programs may be beneficial to patients who have higher levels of global functioning at the start of treatment but detrimental to other patients...

..Early intervention is assumed to improve outcome in first-episode psychosis, but this has not been proven...

..There is highly replicated positive correlation between longer duration of untreated psychosis and poorer outcome...

..This study reports what happens to DUP and presenting schizophrenia in the same health care sector when the IC is stopped...

..Treatment was well received by patients and families. Care should be taken to prevent a long delay before group commencement at this stressful period in the lives of patients and families...

..More severe deficits in WM and VL are associated with more relapses during the first year. It is unclear whether NP deficits cause relapse, relapse causes NP deficits, or both are manifestations of a third deteriorative process...

..The premorbid profiles of the substance abusers were clearly different from the non-abusers. Drug abusers, in particular, were more socially active both premorbidly and during the year preceding the start of treatment...

..CNV analysis may also point the way to the identification of additional and more prevalent risk variants in genes and pathways involved in schizophrenia...

..Knowledge about premorbid development in psychosis can shed light upon theories about aetiology and schizophrenic heterogeneity, and form a basis for early detection initiatives...

..Thus, we tested the hypothesis that variants of the glycolytic genes are associated with schizophrenia or at least with gender-associated aspects of the illness...