Poor P50 suppression among schizophrenia patients and their first-degree biological relatives

A Western blotting method for the detection of whey milk proteins in commercial soymilks was applied to assess the food safety. Soy proteins and milk proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE in PhastSystem equipment. After the electrophoretic separation, immunodetection with anti-bovine alpha-lactalbumin and anti-bovine beta-lactoglobulin antisera was performed. Adulteration with bovine protein in percentages of 0.1% in soy protein can be detected. Western blotting of bovine alpha-lactalbumin and bovine beta-lactoglobulin was applied to detect adulteration by bovine milk proteins in different soymilks: powdered soymilk and soy infant formulas.     

Handedness in first-episode psychotic patients and their first-degree biological relatives.

We evaluated the handedness of 58 schizophrenia patients and 54 of their relatives, 23 patients with major depression with psychosis and 24 of their relatives, 36 patients with bipolar psychosis and 33 of their relatives, and 119 nonpsychiatric Ss and 42 of their relatives. Computerized tomography measures were also available for a subset of the psychotic patients. The schizophrenia patients were significantly more left-handed than any of the other groups, and increased sinistrality was also associated with larger lateral ventricle to brain area ratios. The relatives of the schizophrenia patients did not significantly differ on handedness from either the relatives of the affective psychosis patients or the nonpsychiatric Ss. Findings do not support the notion that left-handedness in schizophrenia is genetically influenced. More research with larger family member data sets is warranted to further explore this possibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pursuit gain and saccadic intrusions in first-degree relatives of probands with schizophrenia.

Oculomotor functioning of 26 probands (aged 18–45 yrs) with schizophrenia, 12 spectrum and 46 nonspectrum 1st-degree relatives (aged 16–72 yrs), and 38 nonpsychiatric control Ss (aged 19–67 yrs) was evaluated. Spectrum relatives had more anticipatory saccades (ASs) and lower pursuit gain than nonspectrum relatives, who had more ASs and lower pursuit gain than control Ss. Probands also had lower pursuit gain than nonspectrum relatives and control Ss but did not differ from other groups on AS frequency. Control Ss had more globally accurate pursuit tracking (root mean square [RMS] error deviation) than both relative groups, whereas probands had the poorest RMS scores. Square wave jerk frequency did not differentiate the groups. Attention enhancement affected the frequency of ASs but did not affect either the other intrusive saccadic event or RMS scores. These results offer evidence that eye-movement dysfunction may serve as a biological marker for schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective reactivity of speech in schizophrenia patients and their nonschizophrenic relatives.

This study compared levels of referential communication disturbance in speech samples from 41 stable schizophrenia outpatients, 46 parents of patients, and 23 nonpsychiatric control participants in affectively positive versus affectively negative conditions. The speech of the patients and parents showed elevated frequencies of reference failures in the affectively positive condition compared with control participants; the speech of the patients became more disordered in the affectively negative condition, whereas the speech of the parents did not. These results support the idea that referential communication disturbances reflect vulnerability, as well as overt illness, but that affective reactivity of these disturbances is associated mainly with the manifest illness. These findings are consistent with biological, cognitive, and psychological theories about the processes underlying stress responsiveness of schizophrenic symptoms more generally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Excessive breast self-examination among first-degree relatives of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. High-Risk Breast Cancer Consortium

The influence of the primary antibody, the fixative, and the antigen unmasking technique on the method sensitivity of immunohistochemistry as a method for the identification of viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) virus in paraffin-embedded specimens of naturally infected rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) was examined. Fish (200-300 g) were collected during an outbreak of VHS. Parallel specimens from liver, spleen, kidney, and brain were fixed by immersion in 10% phosphate-buffered formalin, periodate-lysine-paraformaldehyde (PLP), Bouin's fluid, or absolute ethanol. Virus cultivation was also performed on parallel specimens, and the virus titer (TCID50/ml) was determined. Purified nucleocapsid protein (N-protein) of the virus was incorporated in an artificial antigen substrate polymerized bovine serum albumin), fixed as described above, and embedded in paraffin wax. Microwave unmasking was performed on formalin-, PLP-, and Bouin's fluid-fixed specimens. The presence of virus peptides in situ or N-protein in the artificial antigen substrates was visualized using an immunohistochemical method based on alkaline phosphatase or peroxidase and one polyclonal and five monoclonal polypeptide-specific antibodies. VHS virus was identified in situ in specimens with high virus titers (10(7-8) TCID50/ml) regardless of the fixative and without the need of an unmasking procedure. A pronounced masking effect was observed for the cross-linking formalin and PLP fixatives. Regardless of the primary antibodies used, there was a significantly higher epidemiologic sensitivity (the proportion of virus positive samples that tested positive by immunohistochemistry) using ethanol and Bouin's fluid compared with formalin and PLP (P < 0.05). At 10(5) TCID50/ml, the average sensitivity reached 0.5, and at > or = 10(6) TCID50/ml, sensitivity was 0.9. Unmasking procedures showed a moderate effect and did not result in significantly higher epidemiologic sensitivity (P = 0.17), There was great variation for the different monoclonal antibodies/antigens and fixatives. Sensitivity studies on antigen substrates were in accordance with results of in situ studies that showed the highest sensitivity for ethanol and Bouin's fluid. Virus cultivation was more sensitive than immunohistochemistry. This study showed that the fixative and the primary antibody both influence method sensitivity and that VHS virus antigens concealed during fixation are difficult to reexpose. Immunostaining for VHS virus should be performed with monoclonal antibodies specific for the N-protein, and tissue samples should be fixed in either ethanol or Bouin's fluid. Immunohistochemistry is specific but is less sensitive than virus cultivation. Immunostaining for VHS virus can be a valuable supplement to virus cultivation during acute outbreaks of disease.     

Neuropsychological functioning among the nonpsychotic relatives of schizophrenic patients: A diagnostic efficiency analysis.

Numerous studies suggest that the relatives of schizophrenic patients exhibit neuropsychological impairments that are milder yet similar to those seen among schizophrenic patients. The authors assessed 35 nonpsychotic relatives of schizophrenic patients and 72 normal controls using a clinical and experimental neuropsychological test battery. Three neuropsychological functions met criteria for risk indicators of the schizophrenia genotype: abstraction, verbal memory, and auditory attention. These findings could not be attributed to parental socioeconomic status, education, general visual-spatial ability, or psychopathology. Furthermore, exploratory analyses were performed to determine whether the diagnostic efficiency of the indicators could be adjusted to meet the needs of genetic linkage analyses. These analyses suggest that psychometric considerations may help to create measures for genetic linkage studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic susceptibility and head injury as risk factors for Alzheimer's disease among community-dwelling elderly persons and their first-degree relatives

We performed a community-based study to investigate the relationship of genetic susceptibility and head injury to Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 138 patients with AD and 193 healthy elderly control subjects. Data concerning presence or absence of dementia and certain exposures were also obtained from 799 first-degree relatives of the patients and 1,238 first-degree relatives of the control subjects. Adjusting for age, gender, and other risk factors, the odds ratio for AD associated with head injury was 3.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.4-9.7). The association was highest for head injuries that occurred after age 70. The risk of AD was higher in first-degree relatives of patients with onset prior to age 70 than in relatives of control subjects (risk ratio [RR] = 2.5; 95% CI, 1.1-5.6). The risk was not increased for relatives of patients with onset of AD at age 70 or older. Compared with relatives without head injury, the risk of AD was increased among both head-injured relatives of patients (RR = 5.9; 95% CI, 2.3-14.8) and head-injured relatives of control subjects (RR = 6.9; 95% CI, 2.5-18.9). Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that severe head injury and genetic susceptibility are associated with AD. Both associations concur with current concepts regarding the role of amyloid in AD. Although we regard head injury, like genetic susceptibility, to be a putative risk factor for AD, the temporal relationship between head injury and AD warrants further investigation.     

Whole blood serotonin and plasma beta-endorphin in autistic probands and their first-degree relatives

BACKGROUND: Whole blood serotonin (5-HT) and C-terminally directed beta-endorphin protein immunoreactivity (C-ter-beta-EP-ir) are known to be elevated in autistic subjects and might be possible markers of genetic liability to autism. This study thus investigates the familial aggregation of 5-HT and of C-ter-beta-EP-ir levels in first degree relatives of autistic probands. METHODS: In a sample of 62 autistic subjects and 122 of their first-degree relatives, compared to age and sex-matched controls, we measured 5-HT by radioenzymology and C-ter-beta-EP-ir by radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: We confirm the previously reported familiality of hyperserotoninemia in autism as mothers (51%), fathers (45%) and siblings (87%) have elevated levels of 5-HT, and we reveal presence of elevated levels of C-ter-beta-EP-ir in mothers (53%) of autistic subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Familial aggregation of quantitative variables, such as concentration of neurotransmitters, within unaffected relative could serve as an intermediate phenotype and might thus help the search of genetic susceptibility factors in autism.     

Neuropsychological functioning among the nonpsychotic relatives of schizophrenic patients: A 4-year follow-up study.

In a prior study of 54 relatives of patients with schizophrenia and 72 control participants, 3 neuropsychological functions met the criteria for risk indicators of the schizophrenia genotype: executive functioning, memory, and auditory attention. In an assessment of the stability of these findings, the sample was reexamined 4 years after the initial assessment. Three test scores were found to differ between groups (Immediate Verbal Memory, Delayed Verbal Memory, and Dichotic Listening Digits Detected) or to show a significant Group?×?Gender interaction (immediate and delayed verbal and visual memories). None of the test scores showed Group?×?Time interactions, suggesting that the discriminating power of the tests was stable over time. Evidence for deficits in working memory and rule learning on the object alternation test was also found. These results support the idea that neuropsychological dysfunction among relatives of patients with schizophrenia is a stable trait caused by the familial predisposition to schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beta-cell dysfunction in first-degree relatives of patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

To analyse the relationship between age, glucose tolerance, beta-cell function, and insulin sensitivity in preclinical states of non-insulin-dependent (Type 2) diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), we have done a cross-sectional, age-stratified analysis of 86 non-diabetic first-degree relatives of NIDDM patients and 49 controls with similar age, sex, and BMI. A 5 mg kg ideal body weight-1 min-1 for 60 min of continuous infusion of glucose with model assessment (CIGMA) of serum glucose and C-peptide values at the end of the infusion was used to determine glucose tolerance and beta-cell function. Insulin sensitivity was estimated by modelling basal serum glucose and insulin values. Relatives and controls were divided into tertiles on the basis of age. Relatives had higher basal (5.3 vs 5 mmol l-1, p = 0.02) and achieved serum glucose (9.1 vs 8.4 mmol l-1, p = 0.01), lower beta-cell function (128 vs 145%, p = 0.007), and lower insulin sensitivity (37 vs 43%, p = 0.002). Beta-cell function declined with age in relatives (from 139% in young subjects to 134% in intermediate subjects and to 111% in older subjects, p = 0.002) and this decline was associated with an increase in basal serum glucose (from 5.1 to 5.3 and to 5.7 mmol l-1, p = 0.000) and achieved glucose (from 8.3 to 9.1 and to 9.3 mmol l-1, p = 0.038), without significant changes in insulin sensitivity. These trends were observed even after the exclusion of subjects with mild glucose intolerance. We conclude that both beta-cell dysfunction and insulin resistance are present in first-degree relatives of NIDDM. The progression of beta-cell dysfunction and glucose intolerance with age suggests that beta-cell dysfunction is the key factor in the apparition and progression of the disease.     

Somatosensory processing in the biological relatives of schizophrenia patients: A signal detection analysis of two-point discrimination.

This study examined 2-point discrimination performance in 1st-degree biological relatives (n?=?39) of individuals with schizophrenia and normal adult control participants (n?=?30) recruited from the community. They completed an objective 2-point discrimination task, adapted for use with a signal detection approach to permit separation of discriminability (i.e., sensitivity, d') from response bias/criterion (or motivation, lnβ). Relatives revealed poorer performance on the d' index compared with controls. The 2 groups did not differ on lnβ, suggesting a genuine difference in sensitivity but not response bias. The sensitivity deficit might reflect decreased spatial acuity and/or impaired intensity cue processing of tactile stimuli. Poor performance on the d' index was most closely associated with 2 schizotypic features, namely "odd beliefs/magical thinking." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attribution and expressed emotion in the relatives of patients with schizophrenia.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 101(2) of Journal of Abnormal Psychology (see record 2008-10481-001). An incorrect sentence was published. The sentence that ends the fourth paragraph on p. 547 ought to read: A more recent onset of illness would be expected to produce more unstable attributions, and more disturbed behavior (particularly involving violence toward the relative) would be expected to produce attributions that were more internal and personal to the patient but more external and uncontrollable as regards the relative.] Indexes of expressed emotion (EE) in 58 relatives of patients with schizophrenia were related to those relatives' spontaneously expressed causal beliefs about the illness and about related symptoms and behaviors. Relatives made attributions predominantly to factors external, universal, and uncontrollable from their own perspective, and to factors internal, universal, and uncontrollable from the patient's perspective. Low-EE relatives were similar in their attributions to emotionally overinvolved relatives. Compared with these 2 groups, critical and/or hostile relatives made more attributions to factors personal to and controllable by the patient. Subsequent analyses suggested that hostile relatives were further characterized by making more attributions to factors internal to the patient and by making attributions with fewer causal elements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gluten sensitivity in the rectal mucosa of first-degree relatives of celiac disease patients

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Rectal gluten challenge is a simple, sensitive, and specific test of mucosal gluten sensitivity. Our aims in this study were to evaluate gluten sensitivity in a group of relatives of celiac patients and to compare these findings with those obtained on small bowel histology, celiac disease-related serology, and HLA typing. METHODS: A 4-h rectal gluten challenge was performed with 6 g of crude gluten in saline solution in 29 first-degree relatives, 20 well-diagnosed celiac patients, and 10 subjects in whom celiac disease had been excluded. The number of intraepithelial lymphocytes in pre- and postchallenge frozen rectal biopsies (pan T-cell immunocytochemistry) was quantified by computerized image analysis. RESULTS: The intraepithelial lymphocyte response after gluten instillation was significantly higher in celiac disease patients (median, 126% increase above the baseline count; 95% confidence interval: 61-213%) compared with control subjects (median, -5%; 95% confidence interval: -29-5%). Using a cut-off of 20% change in intraepithelial lymphocyte count, 14 relatives (48%) showed a celiac-like response. Two of these subjects had partial villous atrophy and increased lymphocyte counts in the small bowel mucosa. One of them also exhibited a positive celiac disease-related serology and the typical celiac human lymphocyte antibody (HLA) DQ2. The remaining 12, and all those relatives with a negative challenge, had normal small bowel mucosa and were negative for antigliadin and endomysial antibodies. The characteristic celiac HLA (DQA1 0501 DQB1 0201 heterodimer) was identified in five relatives with positive challenge (including the patient with more severe mucosal atrophy) but was also present in eight relatives with no evidence of gluten sensitivity in the rectal mucosa. CONCLUSIONS: Our study characterizes a subgroup of relatives of celiac patients who show mucosal evidence of sensitization after local instillation of gluten in the rectum but who have no other features of celiac disease.     

Analysis of the attention deficit in schizophrenia: a study of patients and their relatives in Ireland

County Roscommon, a rural area in the western part of Ireland, was the site of a family study of schizophrenia. As part of this study, we have assessed several elements of attention, identified by principal components analysis in previous investigations, in a group of subjects with schizophrenia, first-degree relatives of subjects with schizophrenia and age- and education-matched controls. The schizophrenic subjects performed significantly more poorly than the controls; the performance of the relatives fell somewhere between the other two groups. Those relatives with a DSM-III-R diagnosis (most frequently, alcohol abuse or an affective disorder) tended to perform more poorly on some of the attention elements than relatives without a diagnosis; in contrast, control subjects with diagnoses were not distinguishable from other controls. The attention elements appeared to differ in their capacity to differentiate the groups and each seemed to have a distinctive profile. The effects of alcohol abuse were also considered. The results obtained with this cohort may provide clues concerning the pathophysiological basis of schizophrenia and the heterogeneity of its expression.     

Smooth-pursuit eye tracking in first-episode psychotic patients and their relatives.

In order to determine the specificity of smooth-pursuit eye tracking dysfunction to schizophrenia (SC) and the prevalences of dysfunction among functionally psychotic and normal individuals, the authors investigated pursuit tracking in a large sample of psychotic patients, normal Ss, and 1st-degree relatives (N?=?482). Ss were recruited as part of an epidemiological study of 1st-episode psychosis that used a broadly based referral network to identify all cases in a major metropolitan area over a 2.5-yr period. Ss received diagnoses of SC, schizophreniform disorder, psychotic mood disorder, and paranoid or other psychotic disorder based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). The distribution of tracking performance was bimodal for the SC Ss and their relatives, perhaps reflecting major gene action. Moreover, poor tracking ran in families. Pursuit tracking dysfunction was relatively specific to SC Ss and their relatives and occurred infrequently in other psychotic Ss and normal Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A path analysis of factors associated with distress among first-degree female relatives of women with breast cancer diagnosis.

Patterns and predictors of psychological distress in first-degree female relatives (N = 624) of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients were explored. First-degree female relatives who were high monitors reported greater cancer-specific and general distress than did low monitors. Greater optimism was associated with lower cancer-specific distress. Optimism's effect on general distress was moderated by women's level of monitoring. Greater optimism was associated with lower general distress for both high and low monitors, but the effect was stronger for high monitors than for low monitors. Avoidance and engaged coping were associated with higher distress. A close relationship with the cancer patient was related to higher cancer-specific distress but lower general distress. Further understanding of the process of adjustment in these women awaits longitudinal study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic counselling in psoriasis: empirical data on psoriasis among first-degree relatives of 3095 psoriatic probands

The risk of getting psoriasis dependent on the occurrence of psoriasis in the family has been determined empirically. Altogether 3717 families with one or both parents who had psoriasis have been analysed with regard to the number of children with or without psoriasis. The lifetime risk of getting psoriasis if no parent, one parent or both parents have psoriasis is 0.04, 0.28 and 0.65, respectively. If there is already one affected child in the family, the corresponding risks are 0.24, 0.51 and 0.83, respectively. The risk of getting psoriasis before the age of 32 years is dependent on the age-of-onset of psoriasis in one affected parent.     

Autonomic functioning in process and reactive schizophrenia.

Compared the autonomic functioning of male process schizophrenics, reactive schizophrenics, and normal ss (n = 30) under rest and arousal conditions. Ss were exposed to 6 arousal conditions: (a) white noise, (b) electric shock, (c) paired associate learning, (d) word activity test, (e) finger dexterity task, and (f) pursuit rotor task. Rest periods preceded each arousal condition. Heart rate, skin resistance, respiration rate, diastolic and systolic blood pressures were recorded under all 6 conditions. Results show that under stress the levels of physiological functioning for normal ss and reactive schizophrenics were similar on skin resistance and blood pressure, with process schizophrenics showing a higher level of arousal on skin resistance and a lower level on blood pressure. Reactive schizophrenics had the fastest heart rate, with process schizophrenics next, and normals the lowest. Respiration did not reliably differentiate among the groups. Reactive schizophrenics and normals generally showed greater increments to the arousal conditions (compared with prestress base lines) than the process schizophrenics in all measures except heart rate and skin resistance. In those 2 measures, reactive and process schizophrenics were similar in their reactions to the stress conditons, and both groups showed less reactivity in general than normals. (french summary) (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anhedonia and perceptual aberration in first-episode psychotic patients and their relatives.

One hundred eighteen psychiatric patients, each experiencing his or her first lifetime episode of psychosis, 125 of their first-degree relatives, and 155 normal subjects were assessed using the physical anhedonia, social anhedonia, and perceptual aberration scales of L. J. Chapman et al (1976; see also PA, Vol 62:3733). We hypothesized that psychotic subjects would obtain higher scores on these scales than their relatives and the controls, and we expected the group of relatives to score more deviantly than the normal controls. The physical anhedonia and social anhedonia scales successfully differentiated the psychiatric patients from the relatives and the latter from the normal subjects. These findings testify to the construct validity of the scales and suggest that they tap a predisposition to psychosis. Unexpectedly, the relatives scored lower on the perceptual aberration scale than did the normal controls, perhaps because the relatives adopted a defensive response set. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)