Signal detection in vigilance tasks and behavioral attributes among offspring of schizophrenic mothers and among hyperactive children.

24 children of schizophrenic mothers, 20 children of mothers with nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders falling outside the schizophrenia spectrum, and 14 hyperactive children were examined relative to groups of individually matched comparison children and to a representatively stratified group of 67 normal children. Ss were 9–16 yrs of age. Children of schizophrenic mothers showed lower mean perceptual sensitivity (PS) than matched and stratified normal children and included an excessive number of extremely poor scorers. Neither children of mothers with nonpsychotic disorders outside the schizophrenia spectrum nor hyperactive children displayed a significant deficit in PS. Hyperactive children scored lower on a beta response criterion factor across vigilance tasks and were rated as higher on an Emotionality factor and lower on a Fearful Inhibition factor than their normal peers. The perceptual sensitivity deficit among children of schizophrenic mothers was found across motivational feedback conditions and was evident throughout the vigilance period. (3? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role of maternal psychopathology in male and female schizophrenics.

Selecting from records of a child guidance clinic, the psychopathology of 165 mothers of male and female children and adolescents was studied in order to investigate sex differences in the degree of relationship between mother's mental status and the child's later hospitalization for schizophrenia. Of the children, 108 were later hospitalized for schizophrenia, while 57 achieved an adequate adjustment in areas of work and interpersonal relationships. For the girls, those who became schizophrenic had severely disturbed mothers significantly more often than did those who achieved an adequate adjustment (p     

Registered criminality in families with children at high risk for schizophrenia.

Describes a project in which 207 Danish children (mean age 15.1 yrs in 1962) with schizophrenic mothers have been periodically assessed and followed since 1962. 104 children matched in age, whose parents and grandparents had never been psychiatrically hospitalized, served as controls. The number of registered criminal offenses in the Ss, their schizophrenic mothers, and their fathers was found to be higher than for controls. Implications for high-risk research and hypotheses on the relation of schizophrenia and criminality are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Environmental factors related to schizophrenia in psychophysiologically labile high-risk males.

Research indicates that certain parameters of electrodermal functioning are related to schizophrenia and risk for schizophrenia. The present study investigated childhood environmental factors in 2 subgroups of high-risk 9–20 yr old males (offspring of schizophrenic mothers): those who showed patterns of electrodermal lability in childhood and later became schizophrenic (9 Ss), and a matched subgroup who showed similar patterns of electrodermal functioning but did not become schizophrenic (9 Ss). The variables examined were parental absence, institutionalization of the child, and quality of the home and neighborhood. The schizophrenic group had experienced significantly more paternal absence during the 2nd yr of life. Schizophrenic Ss also experienced significantly more childhood institutionalization, particularly in the 1st and 6th–20th yrs of life. The quality of home and neighborhood and maternal absence did not distinguish the 2 groups. Findings are interpreted as indicating the importance of paternal presence in ameliorating the disruptive effects of the schizophrenic mother on vulnerable male offspring. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Residual performance deficit in clinically remitted schizophrenics: A marker of schizophrenia?

The study of remitted schizophrenic outpatients is proposed as a way of minimizing the effects of the "nuisance variables" that confound the study of hospitalized schizophrenics. 20 hospitalized acutely disturbed schizophrenics (mean age, 37.0 yrs), 20 schizophrenic outpatients in clinical remission (mean age, 42.8 yrs) and 20 normal controls (mean age, 35.1 yrs) were administered a span of apprehension test and the Continuous Performance Test (CPT). All Ss were controlled for sex and WAIS scores and schizophrenics were rated with Phillips Prognostic Rating Scale. On the CPT, both acute and remitted schizophrenics made significantly more errors of omission and commission than did the normal controls. On the span of apprehension, both groups of schizophrenics showed a significantly greater decrement in accuracy of detection of the target stimuli than did normal controls. The same pattern of results has been observed in children at risk for schizophrenia, which suggests that the span of apprehension may be sensitive to core schizophrenic processes that are independent of clinical state. The cross-sectional study of the 3 stages of schizophrenia—the premorbid, acute, and remitted—is proposed as a way of identifying "core" schizophrenic processes and markers of vulnerability to schizophrenia. The adequacy of a general "attentional impairment" interpretation of schizophrenic deficit is questioned. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal associative disturbances in children at high risk for schizophrenia.

Analyzed single-word and continuous association test behaviors of children at high (207 Ss) and low (104 Ss) risk for schizophrenia. A comparison was also made between test scores of those high-risk Ss who later became schizophrenic and scores of others who did not. Although high-risk Ss exhibited more deviant associations than low-risk Ss, premorbid associative disturbance did not characterize those who later became schizophrenic. These findings are not supportive of learning theories of associative disturbance. When combined with recent evidence showing that degree of associative disturbance at initial breakdown is not predictive of chronicity or outcome, these findings call for a reevaluation of the central character of associative disturbance in schizophrenia. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

MATERNAL ATTITUDES IN SCHIZOPHRENIA.

"This study was undertaken in order to see whether or not mothers of schizophrenic patients are characterized by certain parent-child attitudes which might be assumed to be of significance in the psychogenesis of schizophrenia… What seemed to emerge as characterizing the mothers of schizophrenics were attitudes of self-sacrificing martyrdom, of subtle (rather than frank) domination, and overprotectiveness." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological research of children with craniofacial anomalies: review, critique, and implications for the future

We conducted a 25-year follow-up study of 50 children of schizophrenic mothers, consisting of 25 children reared by their mothers and 25 children reared apart. The children's adult psychiatric status was evaluated in a 3-h structured interview employing a battery of syndrome check-lists and scales. A slightly higher incidence of psychopathology (including schizophrenia-spectrum disorders) was found among the reared-apart subjects. This may possibly be attributed to their greater genetic predisposition, as suggested by their mothers' more severe illnesses. Lifetime diagnoses do not provide evidence that psychopathology in offspring at genetic risk is increased by rearing by a schizophrenic mother.     

Blink rate in childhood-onset schizophrenia: comparison with normal and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder controls

Several lines of evidence have implicated central dopaminergic pathways in the modulation of blink rate. In the present study, blink rate during smooth pursuit was examined in 17 children with childhood-onset schizophrenia, on and off of clozapine, and compared to that of age-matched normal children and unmedicated children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As has been observed in adolescent and adult schizophrenics, blink rate was significantly higher in schizophrenic children relative to normal and ADHD controls. Within the schizophrenic group, blink rate did not significantly change with the introduction of clozapine and was not related to clinical variables. Blink rate was positively correlated with deterioration in smooth pursuit in normal subjects.     

Breakdown in high-risk subjects: Familial and early environmental factors.

Studied 40 children with schizophrenic mothers, selected from a larger study. 20 suffered breakdown; the others were matched controls. The mothers of Ss in the breakdown group experienced more emotional stress during their pregnancies than did the mothers of the improved group. Ss in the breakdown group suffered loss of mother at an earlier age and tended significantly not to acquire a substitute mother. The breakdown group tended to have mentally ill fathers as well as schizophrenic mothers. There were no fathers hospitalized for mental illness in the improved group. Results are discussed in terms of the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conversational repair in schizophrenic and normal children

OBJECTIVE: Children acquire the skills to monitor the adequacy of their spoken message and to self-initiate repair strategies that modify the message during early, middle, and late childhood. To characterize further the communication deficits of childhood-onset schizophrenia, this study compared self-initiated repair strategies in schizophrenic and normal children and their relationship with formal thought disorder, discourse deficits, and distractibility. METHOD: Measures of self-initiated repair, formal thought disorder, and cohesion were coded in 32 schizophrenic and 47 normal children, aged 5.6 to 12.4 years, from speech samples elicited with the Story Game. RESULTS: The schizophrenic children used some repair strategies (false starts, fillers, referential revision) more infrequently than the normal children. Within the schizophrenic group, the children who were receiving neuroleptic medication underutilized repair and had more discourse deficits than the unmedicated patients. Loose associations and distractibility were associated with increased use of false starts but not fillers. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to formal thought disorder and discourse deficits, schizophrenic children underutilize self-initiated repair when presenting their thoughts to the listener, particularly if they are being treated with neuroleptics, a potential sign of increased clinical morbidity. Impoverished communication skills might reflect negative signs in childhood-onset schizophrenia.     

Negative metabolic effects of cyclic GMP in quiescent cardiomyocytes are not related to L-type calcium channel activity

Evidence of immune system abnormalities in adult schizophrenia has prompted examination of the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system. Childhood onset schizophrenia offers a unique opportunity to test neurodevelopmental hypotheses of schizophrenia, including those which implicate components of the immune system. In the present study, class I and II HLA antigens were typed using sequence-specific primers and the polymerase chain reaction in 28 childhood onset schizophrenics and 51 ethnically matched healthy subjects. Groups were compared for frequencies of HLA antigens reported to be associated with schizophrenia and/or autoimmune disorders. We hypothesized that antigen frequencies would differ between schizophrenic and healthy children, suggesting that some dimension of the neurodevelopmental disturbance experienced by these children may be mediated by subtle abnormalities of immune function. There were no significant differences between schizophrenic and healthy subjects in the frequency of any antigen tested. These findings do not support HLA-associated pathology in childhood onset schizophrenia.     

The social and academic competence of children vulnerable to schizophrenia and other behavior pathologies.

Presents the rationale behind and the initial findings from a research project investigating the competence of children vulnerable to psychopathology. 4 target groups were studied: (a) children with schizophrenic mothers, (b) children with internalizing mothers, (c) externalizing children, and (d) internalizing children. R. Achenbach's internalizing-externalizing classification system was used. Each of the 120 target children (mean age = 10) was placed in an experimental trial with 120 matched and 116 randomly-selected controls. Judgments of social and intellectual competence were made by peers and teachers in 113 classrooms in 37 elementary schools. Results are presented for each sex separately at the trial and target-group levels. Overall, externalizers were judged least competent, followed in order of increasing competence by children of schizophrenic mothers, internalizers, childern of internalizing mothers, and controls. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenic psychoses and HLA antigens. Personal data and review of the literature

Genetic factors play probably an important part in the development of schizophrenic psychoses. As a consequence the use of a genetic marker as the HLA system appears to be interesting in determining the disease susceptibility gene of these psychoses. Methods and results of an investigation about the frequencies of 33 HLA alleles observed in 51 patients considered as paranoid schizophrenics are presented. The frequency of HLA-A 29 was diminished while the one of HLA-B 15 was increased but the differences were no longer significant when p was corrected. However when all the results published from 1974 to 1980 were pooled in a combined statistical analysis, some associations became significant. It seems that schizophrenia as a whole, once paranoid and hebephrenic sub-types have to be distinguished. It may be concluded from these data that correlations between schizophrenia and HLA antigens which remain doubtful could be explained with a biological genetic heterogeneity of schizophrenic disorders. Review of literature concerning the identification of HLA haplotypes in schizophrenics pedigrees and about the HLA system as a genetic marker for the clinical response to neuroleptics in schizophrenic patients or in vitro, is also discussed.     

Concept of "pathogenesis" in parents of schizophrenic and normal children.

Administered the TAT to 5 pairs of parents of normal and schizophrenic children in a cross-validation study. Parents by diagnostic category were matched on age, education, and social class. Each story was judged pathogenic, benign, or unscorable and a pathogenic score was tabulated for each S from the formula: pathogenic/pathogenic plus benign. Mothers of the normal children told significantly fewer pathogenic stories than mothers of the schizophrenic children. Although fathers did not differ significantly, their mean pathogenic scores were distributed according to the hypotheses of the study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Calibration and standardization of microwave ovens for fixation of brain and peripheral nerve tissue

BACKGROUND: The role of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) in schizophrenia has previously been investigated using postmortem material. Recently, using single photon emission tomography (SPET) with the selective benzodiazepine antagonist 123I-Iomazenil as the radioligand, we have demonstrated an in vivo relationship between reduced GABAA/benzodiazepine receptor binding and the severity of positive symptomatology in schizophrenia. The present study aimed to build on this using the same in vivo scanning techniques, and relating findings to cognitive functioning. METHODS: Ten nonpsychiatric control subjects and 15 schizophrenic patients, matched for age and handedness, were scanned. A battery of neuropsychologic tests was also administered. RESULTS: Correlational analysis revealed a pattern of increased correlations between GABAA/benzodiazepine receptor binding and task performance, in the schizophrenic group compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Findings are preliminary but suggest a relationship between reduced GABAA/benzodiazepine receptor binding and poorer cognitive functioning, involving memory and visual attention processes, in the schizophrenic group but not in the control group. A role for GABA in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia is suggested. Limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Clinical computed tomographic correlations in children from a group at high risk for schizophrenia

Computed tomography (CT) was performed in 189 individuals: in 44 children of schizophrenic parents (high risk group, HRG), in 39 parents with schizophrenia or with schizophrenic disturbance, in 56 children with schizophrenia, in 50 children with consequences of early organic damages of central nervous system (mental retardation syndrome and generalized tic syndrome). The frequency of CT changes was equal in the mentioned groups but their character was quite different. The widening of brain's liquor system (89.7%), the signs of frontal and temporal atrophia (31%), foci of decreased density of cerebral brain's matter, closer in subcortical ganglia and periventricular zone, and different anomalies of brain were observed in HRG children.     

Regression and disorders of thought.

Utilizing 2 tests (see 35: 5236; 36: 4JQ14C) devised to assess use of various kinds of words, the responses of elementary school children were compared with the responses of a previously obtained sample of schizophrenics. The purpose of the comparison was to test the assumption that schizophrenia involves a regression to a more primitive, infantile stage, and that the thinking of the schizophrenic would resemble that of the child. On some of the tasks, the thinking of the children and the schizophrenic were similar; on others, the children and the organics were similar. The literal use of the term regression re: schizophrenia was rejected. Methodological problems of research in this area are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prognosis and progress: A 5-year study of 48 schizophrenic men.

48 patients diagnosed as schizophrenic were rated by the Phillips Scale of premorbid adjustment 5 years ago. Important subcultural variables, which were related to the prognostic scores became apparent. In this study the reliability of the Phillips Prognostic Rating Scale as an instrument of prognosis and the subcultural variables were examined. For this purpose 3 categories were used: (a) In Group, which contained those men who had not been out of the hospital during the intervening 5 years nor were being considered for discharge or trial visit. (b) Half-way Group, which included those men who had been discharged and returned or who were either now or had been on trial visit. (c) Out Group, or those patients who had been discharged for over 12 mo. and whose readmission appeared unlikely. The results are positive and (the In Group has a higher mean score than the other groups) support the thesis that premorbid adjustment is an indicator of prognosis in schizophrenia. In this particular Kentucky hospital population important subcultural variables along a rural-urban dimension and the importance of marital status are emphasized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)