Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief: Effect of invalid responding on factor structure analysis and scores of schizotypy.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the effect of invalid responding on factor structure and on scores of schizotypy through the factor analysis of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B) in a sample of 580 Romanian students using 3 validity items and 5 social desirability items. METHODS: We examined the factor structure of the SPQ-B, we compared the mean SPQ-B scores between reliable and unreliable responders and between high vs. low social desirability responders, and we re-run the factor analysis restricting the sample to the reliable or low social desirability responders. RESULTS: Factor analysis resulted in a 3-factor solution: Cognitive-perceptual, Interpersonal and Disorganized dimensions. Unreliable responders had lower scores of positive, negative and total schizotypy. Subjects with high social desirability scores had lower scores of disorganized schizotypy. Factor analyses in the samples of "good" responders showed minor differences in reliable responders, whereas, after taking into account the effect of social desirability, 2 items correctly loaded on expected dimensions. CONCLUSIONS: Random responding and social desirability could influence scores of schizotypy and factor structure. Simple methods could be used to identify invalid responses. The effect of social desirability could be linked to the phrasing of items.

HIGH-SENSITIVITY C-REACTIVE PROTEIN, POSSIBLE BIOMARKER FOR DEPRESSION IN ELDERLY POPULATION.

CONTEXT: The immune system has an important role in the etiology of depression, through the pro-inflammatory cytokines and acute phase protein mechanisms. In elderly people, frequent association between depression and medical conditions leads to a difficult psychiatric diagnosis, becoming necessary to determine a specific biological marker for this category of population. C-Reactive Protein (CRP) did not prove to have a high level of validity, but higher levels of high-sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP) were found to be associated both with cardiovascular disease and depressive disorder, through a bidirectional relationship. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the possible association between a major depressive episode and levels of inflammatory markers among a population of elderly. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A prospective study on a sample of 82 individuals aged over 65 years, who presented for laboratory evaluations in an outpatient setting. They were recorded socio-demographic and clinical data; depression and anxiety were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Blood samples were collected and analyzed according to the protocol of the study. RESULTS: Anxiety, identified in 57 persons, was not statistically significant correlated with the levels of inflammatory markers. For depressive disorder (37 subjects), both CRP and hs-CRP were significantly higher, with an almost medium effect size. CONCLUSIONS: The high levels of CRP and hs-CRP are associated with the presence of depression in elderly patients, but not with the anxiety. Further and complex studies need to validate these findings on this group of age.

Factors that Impact Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia, a term first introduced by Eugen Bleurer in 1911, is a controversial topic, a symbol of profound behavioral and personality disorders. Although schizophrenia mainly affects the patients, directly, it indirectly affects their caregivers. Because caregivers of subjects with schizophrenia experience significant burden in taking care of the patient, usually over a long period of time, we decided to analyze some of the factors that can impact the perceived level of stress. Our study group consisted of caregivers 124 patients with schizophrenia, interviewed between January 2018 and July 2019. We analyzed demographic, clinical and other medical variables of patients and caregivers. We also evaluated caregivers' burden, using the adapted Zarit interview. The average Zarit score in our study was 42.36±8.64, which shows moderate to high burden. Several factors that influence the perceived burden of the caregiver have been identified, such as patient gender, age of onset, patient and caregiver marital status, patient level of education and social functioning, caregiver age, somatic comorbidities and therapeutic compliance of the patient.

Quality of Life-a Goal for Schizophrenia's Therapy.

Quality of Life (QOL) assessment represents a good instrument to monitor the evolution of schizophrenia and the treatment's outcomes. The present study has evaluated the relationship between the level of the QOL and different socio-demographical and clinical factors. Lower QOL for schizophrenic persons was influenced by the severity of symptoms and cognitive deficits, while same low level of QOL could be considered an indicator for suicidal behavior. The correct therapeutically management of individuals with schizophrenia could lead to better outcomes in terms of life satisfaction of patients and response to the treatment's strategies.

Social Functioning in Schizophrenia Clinical Correlations.

Schizophrenia remains one of the major psychiatric disorder with huge social and economic costs for the individual and community. The role of psycho-social factors is important both on the etiopathogenesis of the illness and its evolution, lack of social functioning and associated stress have impact on everyday life of people with this diagnosis. Our study of 100 subjects with schizophrenia has showed significant correlations between clinical and social items: bigger number of admissions, longest duration of the evolution, cognitive deficits, smoking, suicidal behavior, age, marital status, smoking, level of perceived stress. The social functioning was influenced by these factors, and the therapeutically management during the hospitalization does not showed an improvement of the social function.

Evaluation of the psychoneurotic tendencies risk using the woodworth mathews personality inventory in non-institutionalized persons.

INTRODUCTION: Multiple factors of vulnerability may lead to development of abnormal social behaviour and to important psychiatric diseases. The psychopathological characteristics present at individual level can lead to a pattern of population groups that are subject to developing mental illness risks. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Multidisciplinary study (2009-2011) to assessing the current situation of mental health and identifying population risk groups for developing psychiatric disorders in a non-institutionalised population. We used the Woodworth Mathews Inventory (76 items) to a randomly selected sample of 1,200 men and women, residents in urban and rural areas. RESULTS: The extreme scores for emotiveness had a frequency more than triple for women, and we found a similar situation for obsessive-neurasthenic and depressive tendencies. People aging over 35 years had a double score (limit and poignancy) for depression than younger people, meanwhile correlation between age under 35 years and instability and antisocial tendencies is highly statistically significant (p<0.001), the frequency of extreme scores being almost double than in the older people. CONCLUSIONS: Female gender has a vulnerability for develop depressive and emotional disorders and age over 35 is also significant correlated with depressive tendencies. Younger people (under 35 years) are predisposed for pathological antisocial behaviour, fact revealed by the high scores for instability and antisocial tendencies. It is necessary to develop a program focused on the two risk categories to prevent the possible occurrence of psychiatric disorders.

[Smoking, alcohol consumption and pregnancy in a population of south-western Romania]. / Fumatul, consumul de alcool si sarcina la populatii din sud-vestul României.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the amplitude of tobacco and alcohol consumption among two populations living in urban, respectively rural areas in the South-Western part of the country. The presence of the two risky behaviours during the pregnancy was also analysed. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A number of 1,200 people, men and women, aged 18-75 years, with different educational levels, living in urban and rural communities were asked to answer a questionnaire with 111 items regarding their knowledge and attitudes about the sexual-reproductive health; 11 items referred to tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking. RESULTS: About half of the subjects have never smoked. The mean age of starting smoking was 16.97 years. A number of 295 subjects (24.6%) were daily active smokers, men more frequently than women (p < 0.001). A percentage of 77.3% of the subjects used to drink alcohol, 16.4% of them daily. The daily alcohol consumption was more frequent among men, low educated people and rural inhabitants comparing to women, respectively high educated or urban inhabitants (p < 0.001); 11.2% of the respondents got frequently drunk. During the last pregnancy in the couple, women and high educated people stopped smoking and drinking more frequently then men, respectively low educated people. CONCLUSIONS: The above findings indicate the need to start in school effective health promotion campaigns to reduce tobacco and alcohol consumption and the need for support of population-based educational interventions aimed at smoking cessation in both parents.