Needs of forensic psychiatric patients with schizophrenia in five European countries.

AIMS: The purpose was to compare the frequency of needs of patients with schizophrenia in forensic services across five European countries as assessed by both the patients and their care staff. METHODS: Patients with schizophrenia and a history of significant interpersonal violence were recruited from forensic psychiatric services in Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland and England. Participants' needs were assessed using the Camberwell Assessment of Needs-Forensic Version (CANFOR). Multiple linear regression analyses were used to identify predictors of numbers of needs. RESULTS: In this sample, (n = 221) the most commonly reported need according to patients (71.0%) and staff (82.8%) was the management of psychotic symptoms. A need for information was mentioned by about 45% of staff and patients. Staff members reported a significantly higher number of total needs than patients (mean 6.9 vs. 6.2). In contrast, staff members reported a significantly lower number of unmet needs than patients (mean 2.0 vs. 2.5). Numbers of total needs and met needs differed between countries. Unmet needs as reported by patients showed positive associations with the absence of comorbid personality disorder, with higher positive symptom scores and lifetime suicide or self-harm history. Significant predictors of unmet needs according to staff were absence of comorbid personality disorder and higher positive as well as negative symptom scores according to PANSS. CONCLUSIONS: Staff rated a significantly higher number of total needs than patients, while patients rated more unmet needs. This indicates that patients' self-assessments of needs yield important information for providing sufficient help and support.

Neurogenic potential of human umbilical cord blood: neural-like stem cells depend on previous long-term culture conditions.

In vitro studies conducted by our research group documented that neural progenitor cells can be selected from human umbilical cord blood (HUCB-NPs). Due to further expansion of these cells we have established the first human umbilical cord blood-derived neural-like stem cell line (HUCB-NSC) growing in serum-free (SF) or low-serum (LS) medium for over 3 years. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the neurogenic potential of HUCB-NSCs cultured in SF and LS condition in different in vitro settings before transplantation. We have shown that the number of cells attaining neuronal features was significantly higher for cultures expanded in LS than in SF condition. Moreover, the presence of neuromorphogens, cultured rat astrocytes or hippocampal slices promoted further differentiation of HUCB-NSCs into neural lineage much more effectively when the cells had derived from LS cultures. The highest response was observed in the case of co-cultures with rat primary astrocytes as well as hippocampal organotypic slices. However, the LS cells co-cultured with hippocampal slices expressed exclusively a set of early and late neuronal markers whereas no detection of cells with glial-specific markers was possible. In conclusion, certain level of stem/progenitor cell commitment is important for optimal response of HUCB-NSC on the neurogenic signals provided by surrounding environment in vitro.