Anthropogenic Infection of Domestic Cats With SARS-CoV-2 Alpha Variant B.1.1.7 Lineage in Buenos Aires.

SARS-CoV-2 reverse zoonosis, particularly to domestic animals, and the potential role of infected animals in perpetuating the spread of the virus is an issue of increasing concern. In this case report, we identified the natural infection of two cats by SARS-CoV-2, in Argentina, whose owner had been previously infected by SARS-CoV-2. Viral genetic material was detected in feline oropharyngeal (OP) and rectal (R) swab by RT-qPCR, and sequence analysis revealed that the virus infecting the owner and one cat were genetically similar. The alpha variant (B.1.1.7 lineage) was identified with a unique additional mutation, strongly suggesting human-to-cat route of transmission. This study reinforces the One Health concept and the importance of integrating human, animal, and environmental perspectives to promptly address relevant health issues.

Relationship of good and poor Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance to illness duration in schizophrenia: a cross-sectional analysis.

The authors investigated whether schizophrenic patients with good and poor performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) showed cognitive modifications related to duration of illness. Of the 154 patients evaluated with the WCST, 56 subjects had normal or mildly impaired performance and 98 showed impairment on the basis of the number of categories achieved (0-3 categories = poor performance). These subsamples were then cross-sectionally divided into three subsamples depending on length of illness (< 5 years, 6-10 years, > 10 years). The inclusion of 69 healthy controls allowed the effect of age to be taken into account. The schizophrenic group as a whole and the group of poor performers did not show differences in any of the WCST indices related to length of illness. Good performers instead showed improvement on the intermediate length-of-illness group (6-10 years of illness), and then decline in the third one (> 10 years). Good performers only showed a positive significant correlation between age, age at onset, educational level and successful WCST performance. Results for the poor performers support the hypothesis of no progressive 'deteriorating' course of schizophrenia, while good performers show an unstable pattern of cognitive functions. These data support the hypothesis that cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia cannot be considered a unitary trait, but emerge along different hypothetical trajectories.

Subjective experiences in schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

Studies comparing 'subjective experiences' in schizophrenic and affective disorders have reached inconclusive results. We investigated the pattern of 'subjective perceived cognitive disturbances' in a group of 55 schizophrenic patients and 39 bipolar patients hospitalized for an index psychotic episode. The assessment of the subjective experiences was made using the Frankfurter Beschwerde-Fragebogen (FBF). Comparing the two groups on the four FBF factors, schizophrenic patients showed significantly higher scores in the areas of 'central cognitive disturbances', 'perception and motility' other than a significantly higher FBF total score. Our results suggest that cognitive, perception and motility disturbances are the most characteristic subjective experiences of schizophrenic patients in comparison with bipolar patients. This finding need to be further explored in light of the issue of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Insight and neuropsychological function in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder with psychotic features.

OBJECTIVES: This study investigates the pattern of association between patient unawareness of illness and neuropsychological tests of frontal lobe function in subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) with psychotic features. METHOD: We administered the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST) and a shortened version of the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD) to a sample of 64 patients with psychosis (42 with schizophrenia and 22 with BD). RESULTS: None of the correlations between WCST scores and insight scores were statistically significant, either in the total group or in each group analyzed separately. Further, no differences were seen in insight scores between sexes and between the diagnostic groups. CONCLUSIONS: The 3 insight dimensions (that is, awareness of mental disorder, awareness of social consequences of mental disorder, and awareness of the benefits of medication) do not appear to be associated with frontal impairment, as measured by the WCST.