Major mental disorders, gender, and criminological circumstances of homicide.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the criminological circumstances of homicide in a group of French murderers with and without major mental disorders (MMD) stratified by the perpetrator's gender. METHODS: Sociodemographic, clinical, and criminological variables were collected from the psychiatric expert reports of 210 cases of homicide heard at the High Court of Angers, France. Murderers were categorized according to MMD diagnosis and gender. RESULTS: Among 210 murderers, 17.6% (n = 37) had a MMD (20% of the female perpetrators). Logistic regression models showed that being a murderer with a MMD was associated with younger age (adjusted Odds Ratio OR = 1.03, P = 0.034), high school education (OR = 2.48, P = 0.036), previous use of psychiatric services (OR = 4.75, P = 0.003), alcohol intoxication (OR = 2.71, P = 0.027), and delusional state (OR = 3.96, P = 0.002) at the time of the homicide. Multiple correspondence analyses showed that female murderers with a MMD were more prone to have depression and to use drowning as a method than those without a MMD, and that male murderers with a MMD more often had a high school education and delusional beliefs at the time of the homicide than those without a MMD. CONCLUSION: Specific profiles of criminological circumstances of homicide could help to explore the risk of homicide in female and male patients with a MMD.

Cognitive control and schizophrenia: The greatest reliability of the Stroop task.

Three components of cognitive inhibition were compared in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Nineteen patients with schizophrenia were compared to 30 healthy controls, matched for age, sex, and educational level. Cognitive inhibition was examined by (i) access to relevant information (Reading with distraction task), (ii) suppression of no longer relevant information (Trail Making Test B), and (iii) restraint of cognitive resources to relevant information (Stroop Test, Hayling Sentence Completion Test, Go/No-Go Test). Beck Depression Inventory, and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale were also used. Compared to healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia and stabilized for at least 6 months were slower in the inhibition condition at the Stroop task, read more distractors at the RWD, and made more perseverative errors at the TMT, even after controlling for age, Mini-Mental State Examination score, information speed processing, and accuracy. This difference remained significant after taking into account the level of depressive symptoms and the severity of psychotic symptoms. In multivariate analyses, only the Stroop interference index explained cognitive inhibition deficit in patients with schizophrenia. The abnormal cognitive inhibition process observed in patients with schizophrenia could therefore concerns the ability to restraint, rather than the access or the suppression processes.

Homicide and Klinefelter syndrome: a complex interaction.

INTRODUCTION: Several studies have shown an association between homicide and sexual chromosomal abnormalities, but data are still lacking regarding Klinefelter syndrome. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed two cases of homicide perpetrators who were both diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome on the basis of a karyotype analysis. A neurocognitive assessment was also performed (MMSE, Frontal Assessment Battery, brain CT, and electroencephalogram). RESULTS: Numerous intermediate risk factors of homicide were shared by our two cases, including dispositional (male gender, young age, low socioeconomic status), historical (prior arrest record and past conviction for any offense), contextual (unemployment), and clinical (alcohol abuse). CONCLUSION: It is important that clinicians go beyond obvious risk factors, such as chromosomal abnormalities, to pinpoint other meaningful risk factors and potentially facilitate preventive approaches.

[A same deficit of cognitive inhibition in early and late-onset depression in elderly women: a pilot study]. / Déficit de l'inhibition cognitive identique dans la dépression précoce et tardive chez la femme âgée.

OBJECTIVE: Late-life depression has been associated with frontostriatal abnormalities that are thought to lead to deficits of cognitive inhibition. However, it remains unclear, whether age-of-onset identifies subgroups of depression. The objective of this study was to compare cognitive inhibition in depressed women aged 60 and older, according to age of the first onset depression (before or after 60 years old). METHODS: We compared 10 currently depressed women (HDRS-17≥18) with a late-onset depression to 10 depressed women with an early-onset depression, and to 10 healthy controls. We examined cognitive inhibition (Stroop, Hayling, Go/No-Go), shifting (TMT), updating in working memory (WAIS) and executive functions (BREF). All groups were matched for age, education level, and MMSE score (MMSE≥24). RESULTS: Depressed elderly women with a late and an early-onset depression had a greater impairment in executive functions and cognitive inhibition compared with healthy controls (p<0,001), but without significant differences according to the age of the first onset depression. Futhermore, late-onset depression in women was significantly correlated with a deficit of cognitive inhibition (rs=0.55; p=0.012). CONCLUSION: Cognitive inhibition should be assessed in late-life depression. Interventions may be developed to specifically target cognitive impairment in the prevention of late-life depression, to identify those who are the most vulnerable to relapse.

Homicide and Klinefelter syndrome: a complex interaction

Introduction: Several studies have shown an association between homicide and sexual chromosomal abnormalities, but data are still lacking regarding Klinefelter syndrome. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed two cases of homicide perpetrators who were both diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome on the basis of a karyotype analysis. A neurocognitive assessment was also performed (MMSE, Frontal Assessment Battery, brain CT, and electroencephalogram). Results: Numerous intermediate risk factors of homicide were shared by our two cases, including dispositional (male gender, young age, low socioeconomic status), historical (prior arrest record and past conviction for any offense), contextual (unemployment), and clinical (alcohol abuse). Conclusion: It is important that clinicians go beyond obvious risk factors, such as chromosomal abnormalities, to pinpoint other meaningful risk factors and potentially facilitate preventive approaches. .