Task-based default mode network connectivity predicts cognitive impairment and negative symptoms in first-episode schizophrenia.

Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ) demonstrate difficulty distinguishing between internally and externally generated stimuli. These aberrations in "source monitoring" have been theorized as contributing to symptoms of the disorder, including hallucinations and delusions. Altered connectivity within the default mode network (DMN) of the brain has been proposed as a mechanism through which discrimination between self-generated and externally generated events is disrupted. Source monitoring abnormalities in SZ have additionally been linked to impairments in selective attention and inhibitory processing, which are reliably observed via the N100 component of the event-related brain potential elicited during an auditory paired-stimulus paradigm. Given overlapping constructs associated with DMN connectivity and N100 in SZ, the present investigation evaluated relationships between these measures of disorder-related dysfunction and sought to clarify the nature of task-based DMN function in SZ. DMN connectivity and N100 measures were assessed using EEG recorded from SZ during their first episode of illness (N = 52) and demographically matched healthy comparison participants (N = 25). SZ demonstrated less evoked theta-band connectivity within DMN following presentation of pairs of identical auditory stimuli than HC. Greater DMN connectivity among SZ was associated with better performance on measures of sustained attention (p = .03) and working memory (p = .09), as well as lower severity of negative symptoms, though it was not predictive of N100 measures. Together, present findings provide EEG evidence of lower task-based connectivity among first-episode SZ, reflecting disruptions of DMN functions that support cognitive processes. Attentional processes captured by N100 appear to be supported by different neural mechanisms.

Developmental trajectories of premorbid functioning predict cognitive remediation treatment response in first-episode schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive development after schizophrenia onset can be shaped by interventions such as cognitive remediation, yet no study to date has investigated whether patterns of early behavioral development may predict later cognitive changes following intervention. We therefore investigated the extent to which premorbid adjustment trajectories predict cognitive remediation gains in schizophrenia. METHODS: In a total sample of 215 participants (170 first-episode schizophrenia participants and 45 controls), we classified premorbid functioning trajectories from childhood through late adolescence using the Cannon-Spoor Premorbid Adjustment Scale. For the 62 schizophrenia participants who underwent 6 months of computer-assisted, bottom-up cognitive remediation interventions, we identified MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery scores for which participants demonstrated mean changes after intervention, then evaluated whether developmental trajectories predicted these changes. RESULTS: Growth mixture models supported three premorbid functioning trajectories: stable-good, deteriorating, and stable-poor adjustment. Schizophrenia participants demonstrated significant cognitive remediation gains in processing speed, verbal learning, and overall cognition. Notably, participants with stable-poor trajectories demonstrated significantly greater improvements in processing speed compared to participants with deteriorating trajectories. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to our knowledge to characterize the associations between premorbid functioning trajectories and cognitive remediation gains after schizophrenia onset, indicating that 6 months of bottom-up cognitive remediation appears to be sufficient to yield a full standard deviation gain in processing speed for individuals with early, enduring functioning difficulties. Our findings highlight the connection between trajectories of premorbid and postmorbid functioning in schizophrenia and emphasize the utility of considering the lifespan developmental course in personalizing therapeutic interventions.

The relationship between sex and functional outcome in first-episode schizophrenia: the role of premorbid adjustment and insight.

BACKGROUND: Studies that examined sex differences in first-episode patients consistently show that males compared to females have poor premorbid adjustment, earlier age of onset, worse clinical characteristics, and poorer outcomes. However, little is known about potential mediators that could explain these sex differences. METHODS: Our sample consisted of 137 individuals with first episode schizophrenia (males, n = 105; 77%) with a mean age of 22.1(s.d. = 4.1) years and mean education of 12.5(s.d. = 1.7) years. At entry, patients were within 2 years of their first psychotic episode onset. Baseline assessments were conducted for premorbid adjustment, symptoms, cognitive functioning, insight, and at 6-months for role and social functioning. RESULTS: Males as compared to females had poorer premorbid adjustment across several key developmental periods (p < 0.01), an earlier age of onset [M = 20.3(3.3) v. 22.8(5.6), p = 0.002], more negative symptoms (p = 0.044), poorer insight (p = 0.031), and poorer baseline and 6-month role (p = 0.002) and social functioning (p = 0.034). Several of these variables in which males showed impairment were significant predictors of 6-month role and social functioning. Premorbid adjustment and insight mediated the relationship between sex and role and social functioning at 6-months, but not negative symptoms. DISCUSSION: Males compared to females were at lower levels across several key premorbid and clinical domains which are strongly associated with functional outcome supporting the hypothesis that males might have a more disabling form of schizophrenia. The relationship between sex with role and social functioning was mediated through premorbid adjustment and insight suggesting pathways for understanding why females might have a less disabling form of schizophrenia.

Aerobic exercise enhances cognitive training effects in first-episode schizophrenia: randomized clinical trial demonstrates cognitive and functional gains.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive training (CT) and aerobic exercise both show promising moderate impact on cognition and everyday functioning in schizophrenia. Aerobic exercise is hypothesized to increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and thereby synaptic plasticity, leading to increased learning capacity. Systematic CT should take advantage of increased learning capacity and be more effective when combined with aerobic exercise. METHODS: We examined the impact of a 6-month program of cognitive training & exercise (CT&E) compared to cognitive training alone (CT) in 47 first-episode schizophrenia outpatients. All participants were provided the same Posit Science computerized CT, 4 h/week, using BrainHQ and SocialVille programs. The CT&E group also participated in total body circuit training exercises to enhance aerobic conditioning. Clinic and home-based exercise were combined for a target of 150 min per week. RESULTS: The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery Overall Composite improved significantly more with CT&E than with CT alone (p = 0.04), particularly in the first 3 months (6.5 v. 2.2 T-score points, p < 0.02). Work/school functioning improved substantially more with CT&E than with CT alone by 6 months (p < 0.001). BDNF gain tended to predict the amount of cognitive gain but did not reach significance. The cognitive gain by 3 months predicted the amount of work/school functioning improvement at 6 months. The amount of exercise completed was strongly associated with the degree of cognitive and work/school functioning improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Aerobic exercise significantly enhances the impact of CT on cognition and functional outcome in first-episode schizophrenia, apparently driven by the amount of exercise completed.

A randomized controlled trial of cognitive remediation and long-acting injectable risperidone after a first episode of schizophrenia: improving cognition and work/school functioning.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive deficits at the first episode of schizophrenia are predictive of functional outcome. Interventions that improve cognitive functioning early in schizophrenia are critical if we hope to prevent or limit long-term disability in this disorder. METHODS: We completed a 12-month randomized controlled trial of cognitive remediation and of long-acting injectable (LAI) risperidone with 60 patients with a recent first episode of schizophrenia. Cognitive remediation involved programs focused on basic cognitive processes as well as more complex, life-like situations. Healthy behavior training of equal treatment time was the comparison group for cognitive remediation, while oral risperidone was the comparator for LAI risperidone in a 2 × 2 design. All patients were provided supported employment/education to encourage return to work or school. RESULTS: Both antipsychotic medication adherence and cognitive remediation contributed to cognitive improvement. Cognitive remediation was superior to healthy behavior training in the LAI medication condition but not the oral medication condition. Cognitive remediation was also superior when medication adherence and protocol completion were covaried. Both LAI antipsychotic medication and cognitive remediation led to significantly greater improvement in work/school functioning. Effect sizes were larger than in most prior studies of first-episode patients. In addition, cognitive improvement was significantly correlated with work/school functional improvement. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that consistent antipsychotic medication adherence and cognitive remediation can significantly improve core cognitive deficits in the initial period of schizophrenia. When combined with supported employment/education, cognitive remediation and LAI antipsychotic medication show separate significant impact on improving work/school functioning.

Cognitive heterogeneity in first-episode psychosis and its relationship with premorbid developmental adjustment.

BACKGROUND: Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders have been increasingly recognised to form cognitive subgroups with differential levels of impairment. Using cluster analytical techniques, this study sought to identify cognitive clusters in a sample of first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and examine clinical and developmental differences across the resultant groups. METHODS: In total, 105 FEP patients in the University of California Los Angeles Aftercare Research Program were assessed for cognition, symptoms and premorbid developmental adjustment. Hierarchical cluster analysis with Ward's method and squared Euclidean distance was conducted, confirmed by discriminant function analysis and optimised with k-means clustering. The stability of the solution was evaluated through split-sample (random, 80 and 70% samples) and alternate method (average linkage method) replication via Cohen's κ analysis. Controlling for multiple comparisons, one-way analysis of variances examined group differences in symptom severity and premorbid adjustment. RESULTS: Three groups were identified: severely impaired (n = 27), moderately impaired (n = 41) and relatively intact (n = 37). There were no significant differences in symptom severity across the groups. Significant differences were observed for scholastic performance at three different developmental stages: childhood, early adolescence and late adolescence, with the relatively intact group demonstrating significantly better scholastic performance at all three stages than both the moderately impaired and severely impaired groups (who did not significantly differ from each other). CONCLUSIONS: The findings add to growing evidence that cognitive clusters in FEP mirror that of later-stage schizophrenia. They also suggest that premorbid scholastic performance may not just be a risk factor for developing schizophrenia, but is also related to cognitive impairment severity and potentially to prognosis.

Enhancing return to work or school after a first episode of schizophrenia: the UCLA RCT of Individual Placement and Support and Workplace Fundamentals Module training.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated in a rigorous 18-month randomized controlled trial the efficacy of an enhanced vocational intervention for helping individuals with a recent first schizophrenia episode to return to and remain in competitive work or regular schooling. METHODS: Individual Placement and Support (IPS) was adapted to meet the goals of individuals whose goals might involve either employment or schooling. IPS was combined with a Workplace Fundamentals Module (WFM) for an enhanced, outpatient, vocational intervention. Random assignment to the enhanced integrated rehabilitation program (N = 46) was contrasted with equally intensive clinical treatment at UCLA, including social skills training groups, and conventional vocational rehabilitation by state agencies (N = 23). All patients were provided case management and psychiatric services by the same clinical team and received oral atypical antipsychotic medication. RESULTS: The IPS-WFM combination led to 83% of patients participating in competitive employment or school in the first 6 months of intensive treatment, compared with 41% in the comparison group (p < 0.005). During the subsequent year, IPS-WFM continued to yield higher rates of schooling/employment (92% v. 60%, p < 0.03). Cumulative number of weeks of schooling and/or employment was also substantially greater with the IPS-WFM intervention (45 v. 26 weeks, p < 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: The results clearly support the efficacy of an enhanced intervention focused on recovery of participation in normative work and school settings in the initial phase of schizophrenia, suggesting potential for prevention of disability.

Evidence of shared familial factors influencing neurocognitive endophenotypes in adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: The aggregation of neurocognitive deficits among the non-psychotic first-degree relatives of adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia patients suggests that there may be a common etiology for these deficits in childhood- and adult-onset illness. However, there is considerable heterogeneity in the presentation of neurobiological abnormalities, and whether there are differences in the extent of familial transmission for specific domains of cognitive function has not been systematically addressed. METHODS: We employed variance components analysis, as implemented in SOLAR-Eclipse, to evaluate the evidence of familial transmission for empirically derived composite scores representing attention, working memory, verbal learning, verbal retention, and memory for faces. We contrast estimates for adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia families and matched community control pedigrees, and compare our findings to previous reports based on analogous neurocognitive assessments. RESULTS: We observed varying degrees of familial transmission; attention and working memory yielded comparable, significant estimates for adult-onset and community control pedigrees; verbal learning was significant for childhood-onset and community control pedigrees; and facial memory demonstrated significant familial transmission only for childhood-onset schizophrenia. Model-fitting analyses indicated significant differences in familiality between adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia for attention, working memory, and verbal learning. CONCLUSIONS: By comprehensively assessing a wide range of neurocognitive domains in adult- and childhood-onset schizophrenia families, we provide additional support for specific neurocognitive domains as schizophrenia endophenotypes. Whereas comparable estimates of familial transmission for certain dimensions of cognitive functioning support a shared etiology of adult- and childhood-onset neurocognitive function, observed differences may be taken as preliminary evidence of partially divergent multifactorial architectures.

Prefrontal and Hippocampal Brain Volume Deficits: Role of Low Physical Activity on Brain Plasticity in First-Episode Schizophrenia Patients.

UNLABELLED: Our objective in the present study was to conduct the first empirical study of the effects of regular physical activity habits and their relationship with brain volume and cortical thickness in patients in the early phase of schizophrenia. Relationships between larger brain volumes and higher physical activity levels have been reported in samples of healthy and aging populations, but have never been explored in first-episode schizophrenia patients. METHOD: We collected MRI structural scans in 14 first-episode schizophrenia patients with either self-reported low or high physical activity levels. We found a reduction in total gray matter volume, prefrontal cortex (PFC), and hippocampal gray matter volumes in the low physical activity group compared to the high activity group. Cortical thickness in the dorsolateral and orbitofrontal PFC were also significantly reduced in the low physical activity group compared to the high activity group. In the combined sample, greater overall physical activity levels showed a non-significant tendency with better performance on tests of verbal memory and social cognition. Together these pilot study findings suggest that greater amounts of physical activity may have a positive influence on brain health and cognition in first-episode schizophrenia patients and support the implementation of physical exercise interventions in this patient population to improve brain plasticity and cognitive functioning.

Intrinsic motivation predicts cognitive and functional gains during coordinated specialty care for first-episode schizophrenia.

Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) and embedded group therapeutic interventions have been effective in improving outcomes for individuals experiencing recent first-episode schizophrenia, including cognitive performance and functioning. Treatment response varies substantially, with some patients experiencing limited or no improvement. Motivation has emerged as a key determinant of treatment engagement and efficacy. However, the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of motivation has not been directly examined with treatment outcomes in first-episode schizophrenia. This study investigated whether baseline levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation predicted cognitive and functional gains over 6 and 12 months in CSC. Forty participants with first-episode schizophrenia completed a 12-month CSC treatment period. Baseline measures of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were obtained for group therapeutic interventions and work/school, as well as measures of cognition and functioning (role and social) at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. Results revealed that higher baseline scores of intrinsic motivation for group therapeutic interventions were significantly predictive of greater cognitive gains at 12 months, and a similar tendency was observed at 6 months. Additionally, baseline scores of intrinsic motivation for work/school predicted role gains at 6 months, with a similar tendency observed at 12 months. Extrinsic motivation did not consistently impact treatment outcomes, except for work/school-related extrinsic motivation, which was linked to greater social functioning gains at 12 months. These findings provide insight into the factors influencing treatment outcomes for individuals with first-episode schizophrenia and highlight the importance of intrinsic motivation as a modifiable personal variable that can enhance response to CSC.

Defeatist performance beliefs in individuals with recent-onset schizophrenia: Relationships with cognition and negative symptoms.

BACKGROUND: The cognitive model of negative symptoms of schizophrenia suggests that defeatist performance beliefs (DPB), or overgeneralized negative beliefs about one's performance, are an intermediary variable along the pathway from impaired neurocognitive performance to negative symptoms and functioning in daily life. Although reliable associations between these variables have been established in chronic schizophrenia, less is known about the nature of these relationships in recent-onset schizophrenia (ROSz). This current study tested the associations between DPB and variables in the cognitive model (neurocognitive performance, negative symptoms, functioning) as well as mediation by DPB of the association between neurocognitive performance and negative symptoms in ROSz. METHODS: A total of 52 participants (32 adults with ROSz and 20 non-psychiatric healthy comparators; HC) completed in-lab measures of neurocognitive performance, self-reported defeatist performance beliefs, and clinician administered measures of negative symptoms and functional outcome. Bivariate relationships among these variables were tested with Pearson correlations. Bootstrapped regression analyses were conducted to test the strength of the indirect effect of neurocognitive performance on negative symptoms through DPB. RESULTS: Defeatist performance beliefs were significantly elevated in ROSz, and were associated with neurocognitive performance, negative symptoms, and functional outcome as predicted by the cognitive model. There was a significant indirect effect of neurocognition on experiential negative symptoms through DPB, indicating DPB are a partial mediator of the relationship between neurocognitive performance and negative symptoms. CONCLUSION: These findings are consistent with the cognitive model of negative symptoms and extend previous findings in both ROSz and established schizophrenia. Specifically, these data demonstrate that DPB are elevated among ROSz and the associations with neurocognition and clinical outcomes (e.g., negative symptoms and functioning) are of similar magnitude to those reported in chronic schizophrenia. DPB may therefore be a viable treatment target in the early course of illness.

Treatment engagement in first-episode schizophrenia: Associations between intrinsic motivation and attendance during cognitive training and an aerobic exercise program.

Systematic cognitive training and aerobic exercise programs have emerged as promising interventions to improve cognitive deficits in first-episode schizophrenia, with successful outcomes closely linked with greater treatment engagement (e.g., higher attendance and homework completion rates). Unfortunately, treatment disengagement from these services remains a persistent issue. Intrinsic motivation, or the willingness to exert effort because a task is inherently interesting or meaningful, has emerged as a promising malleable personal factor to enhance treatment engagement. This study investigated whether early task-specific intrinsic motivation and its domains (e.g., interest, perceived competence, and value) predicted treatment engagement within the context of intensive cognitive training and aerobic exercise interventions over a 6-month period. Thirty-nine participants with first-episode schizophrenia were administered baseline measures of task-specific intrinsic motivation inventories, one for cognitive training and one for exercise, and completed a 6-month randomized clinical trial comparing a neuroplasticity-based cognitive training plus aerobic exercise program against the same cognitive training alone. Results indicated that higher baseline scores of intrinsic motivation for cognitive training, specifically early perceptions of task interest and value, were predictive of greater cognitive training and exercise group attendance. Scores for exercise-specific intrinsic motivation were generally unrelated to indices of exercise participation, with the exception that the gain over time in perceived choice for exercise was linked with greater exercise homework completion and a similar directional tendency for greater in-clinic exercise attendance. This study provides support for monitoring and enhancing motivation early during service delivery to maximize engagement and the likelihood of successful treatment outcomes.

Exercise Predicts a Good Night's Sleep: Preliminary Findings from a UCLA Study of First-Episode Schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Physical exercise can improve sleep quality in the general population. Understanding the negative impact of poor sleep quality on multiple domains of functioning among persons with schizophrenia is a new frontier of exploration. It is also imperative to investigate non-pharmacologic methods to improve sleep quality as these approaches may not carry the side effect burdens associated with medication. OBJECTIVE: We examined the relationship between regular physical exercise and sleep quality among participants in an intervention consisting of both cognitive training and exercise. METHODS: Participants (N = 48) were schizophrenia patients who had a first psychotic episode within two years of study entry. Participants received 4 h/week of internet-based cognitive training and an aerobic exercise program over a 6-month period. Sleep was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at baseline and six months later. RESULTS: During the 3 months prior to the 6-month follow-up sleep assessment, participants completed an average of 12.6 group exercise sessions and an average of 12.9 individual at-home exercise sessions. A significant relationship between the number of exercise sessions and global sleep quality was seen at month six, r = -0.44, df = 39, p < 0.01. Group exercise frequency was also associated with improvement in global sleep quality over the six-month intervention, t(34) = -2.84, p = 0.008. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that a group of young adults with schizophrenia can be engaged in a regular exercise program, even during the tumultuous early course of the disorder. The number of exercise sessions in which they participated was associated with better sleep quality at six months and pre-postintervention improvement in sleep quality. KEY MESSAGE: Improved sleep quality appears to be a benefit of regular exercise among individuals with serious mental illness.

The puzzle of schizophrenia: tracking the core role of cognitive deficits.

Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia are increasingly accepted as core features of this disorder that play a role as vulnerability indicators, as enduring abnormalities during clinical remission, and as critical rate-limiting factors in functional recovery. This article demonstrates the lasting influence of Norman Garmezy through his impact on one graduate student and then through his later collaborative research with colleagues. The promise of core cognitive deficits as vulnerability indicators or endophenotypes was demonstrated in research with children born to a parent with schizophrenia as well as with biological parents and siblings of individuals with schizophrenia. In studies of patients with a recent onset of schizophrenia, cognitive deficits were found to endure across psychotic and clinically remitted periods and to have a strong predictive influence on likelihood of returning successfully to work or school. Converging lines of evidence for the enduring core role of cognitive deficit in schizophrenia have led in recent years to a burgeoning interest in developing new interventions that target cognition as a means of improving functional recovery in this disorder.

Value-directed remembering in first-episode schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Memory deficits in individuals with schizophrenia are well-established, but less is known about how schizophrenia affects metacognitive processes such as metamemory. We investigated metamemory ability using the value-directed remembering task, which assesses the degree to which participants use value cues to guide their learning of a list of items (i.e., their memory selectivity). METHOD: Participants were patients undergoing treatment following a recent first episode of schizophrenia (n = 20) and demographically comparable healthy controls (n = 18). Participants viewed six lists of 24 words where each word was paired with either a low value (1-3 points) or a high value (10-12 points), and they were instructed to maximize their score on free recall tests given after each list. After the final free recall test, participants completed a recognition test where they gave remember/know judgments. RESULTS: On tests of free recall, patients showed reduced memory selectivity relative to healthy controls. On the recognition test, patients failed to show an effect of value on recognition of nonrecalled words, in contrast to healthy controls, who showed a significant value effect that was characterized by greater "remember" judgments. Patients initially overestimated their memory capacity but were able to adjust their estimates to be more accurate based on task experience. Patients' self-reports of memory selectivity were unrelated to their actual memory selectivity. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with first-episode schizophrenia had substantial impairments on the value-directed remembering task, but areas of preserved metamemory ability were also observed. These findings have potential implications for cognitive training interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Topographical relationships between arcuate fasciculus connectivity and cortical thickness.

The arcuate fasciculus (AF) connects cortical regions important in language processing, but how fiber coherence and organization relates to gray matter macrostructure remains uncharacterized. We used high-resolution structural and 30-direction diffusion imaging data from 36 healthy adults (24 male/12 female; mean age, 30.5 ± 9.8 years) to establish the relationships between AF microstructure and regional variations in cortical gray matter within language networks. Cortical pattern-matching algorithms were used to measure gray matter thickness at high-spatial density, and a validated diffusion tractography method was used to reconstruct the AF in the left and right hemisphere of each subject. Relationships between imaging measures and neuropsychological scores of verbal fluency were additionally assessed. Results revealed positive and highly topographical associations between arcuate fractional anisotropy (FA) and cortical thickness within anterior and posterior language regions and surrounding cortices, more prominently in the left hemisphere. These regional cortical thickness/FA relationships were primarily attributable to variations in radial diffusivity. Associations between cortical thickness and verbal fluency were observed in perisylvian language-related regions. Language scores were associated with left-hemisphere AF axial diffusivity, but not with AF FA or radial diffusivity. These findings thus suggest that particular components of white matter microstructure and regional increases in cortical thickness benefit aspects of language processing. Furthermore, the topographical relationships between independent measures of white matter and gray matter integrity suggest that rich developmental or environmental interactions influence brain structure and function where the presence and strength of such associations may elucidate pathophysiological processes influencing language systems.

Confident memory errors and disrupted reality testing in early psychosis.

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder characterized by a disruption in reality testing most often manifest in the form of delusions and hallucinations. Because determining the reality-basis of prior experiences is dependent on episodic and associative memory, deficits in mnemonic processes could be involved in the genesis of impaired reality testing. In the present study, we used an associative memory paradigm incorporating confidence ratings to examine whether patients with a recent onset of schizophrenia (n = 48) show a greater propensity for confident, yet incorrect responses during retrieval testing than healthy controls (n = 26) and whether such confident incorrect responses, specifically, are more strongly associated with positive symptoms than with negative symptoms. Using an analysis of variance design, we found that first-episode schizophrenia patients made a significantly greater number of confident errors than controls (i.e. they expressed high confidence in having seen pairs of items that were not paired at encoding and high confidence in having not seen pairs of items that were paired at encoding). We also found that the number of confident errors was specifically and differentially associated with positive symptom severity, to a significantly greater degree than with negative symptom severity and psychosocial functioning, and this association was not found between positive symptoms and uncertain responses, nor positive symptoms and overall task performance. These findings suggest that the propensity for incorrect memory judgements with high confidence, specifically, may be uniquely associated with disrupted reality testing and that this type of cognitive impairment is distinct from general deficits in memory and cognition in this respect.

Cortical morphometric correlational networks associated with cognitive deficits in first episode schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a chronic cognitive and behavioral disorder associated with abnormal cortical activity during information processing. Several brain structures associated with the seven performance domains evaluated using the MATRICS (Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia) Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) have shown cortical volume loss in first episode schizophrenia (FES) patients. However, the relationship between morphological organization and MCCB performance remains unclear. Therefore, in the current observational study, high-resolution structural MRI scans were collected from 50 FES patients, and the morphometric correlation network (MCN) using cortical volume was established to characterize the cortical pattern associated with poorer MCCB performance. We also investigated topological properties, such as the modularity, the degree and the betweenness centrality. Our findings show structural volume was directly and strongly associated with the cognitive deficits of FES patients in the precuneus, anterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus, as well as the prefrontal, parietal, and sensorimotor cortices. The medial orbitofrontal, fusiform, and superior frontal gyri were not only identified as the predominant nodes with high degree and betweenness centrality in the MCN, but they were also found to be critical in performance in several of the MCCB domains. Together, these results suggest a widespread cortical network is altered in FES patients and that performance on the MCCB domains is associated with the core pathophysiology of SCZ.

Changes in inflammation are related to depression and amount of aerobic exercise in first episode schizophrenia.

INTRODUCTION: Elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines have been reported in meta-analyses of multi-episode schizophrenia patients when compared to controls. However, little is known about whether these same relationships are present in the early course of schizophrenia. OBJECTIVE: To assess first episode schizophrenia patients for depression and to assay blood samples collected at baseline and at 6 months for interleukin-6 (IL-6). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Trained raters used the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale to assess depressive symptoms and a standard lab assay kit to assess for IL-6 levels in plasma. CONCLUSIONS: Decreases in pro-inflammatory IL-6 levels were significantly related to decreases in depressive symptoms. Within a subset of patients in a 6-month aerobic exercise protocol, the number of exercise sessions completed was significantly correlated with the amount of decrease in IL-6. The reductions observed in IL-6 with aerobic exercise suggest exercise is a promising intervention to reduce brain inflammation effects in schizophrenia patients.

Personnel time required for supported employment and education services for individuals in a recent-onset psychosis treatment program.

AIM: Individual Placement and Support (IPS) improves vocational outcomes in first-episode psychosis patients, but policy makers need information on costs (and personnel time required) to conduct effective IPS. METHODS: Using chart records of 42 clients in a first-episode psychosis study, we examined service time for specific activities over 18 months. RESULTS: The IPS specialist averaged 92 (SD = 62) minutes per client per week: 39% of time was spent in direct client contact, 9% in meetings without the client, 14% in meetings with the treatment team, 14% in supervision and 24% on travel time. Time required was significantly higher when participants were seeking work/school placements, decreased over duration of enrolment and was similar for those using work vs school support. CONCLUSIONS: IPS service time covers numerous activities, is reduced when not seeking work/school placements and required less time over enrolment duration. Financing structures should support the full range of IPS services.