Schizophrenia Research
July 1, 2009
Félix-Antoine Lusignan, Antonio Zadra, Marie-Josée Dubuc et al.
Many clinical, laboratory and non-laboratory studies have examined dream content reported by patients with schizophrenia but findings have been variable and inconsistent. Using both questionnaire-based measures and laboratory REM sleep awakenings, we investigated dream content in 14 patients with schizophrenia (mean age=25.5+/-3.2 years) under atypical antipsychotic medication and 15 healthy...
Schizophrenia Research
September 21, 2008
C. Corcoran, D. Kimhy, Arielle D. Stanford et al.
Background Cannabis use is reported to increase the risk for psychosis, but no prospective study has longitudinally examined drug use and symptoms concurrently in clinical high risk cases. Method We prospectively followed for up to 2 years 32 cases who met research criteria for prodromal psychosis to examine the relationship between substance use and clinical measures. Results Cases with a...
Schizophrenia Research
August 2008
Oliver J Mason, Celia J M Morgan, Ana Stefanovic et al.
This study reports a new measure of psychotomimetic states in the context of cannabis and ketamine use. The Psychotomimetic States Inventory (PSI) has sub-scales of Delusory Thinking, Perceptual Distortions, Cognitive Disorganization, Anhedonia, Mania and Paranoia. The PSI was administered in two independent group, repeated measures designs: an experimental study of ketamine and a naturalistic...
Schizophrenia Research
February 2008
Srihari S Bangalore, Konasale M R Prasad, Debra M Montrose et al.
Structural alterations of the brain in schizophrenia have been associated with genetic and environmental factors. Among the environmental factors, cannabis use has been associated with increased risk for patients with schizophrenia, but the effect of cannabis on their brain structure is unclear. We examined gray matter alterations in first episode schizophrenia patients (FES) with cannabis use...
Schizophrenia Research
August 2007
F Markus Leweke, Andrea Giuffrida, Dagmar Koethe et al.
Previous studies have shown that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from schizophrenic patients contains significantly higher levels of the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide than does CSF from healthy volunteers. Moreover, CSF anandamide levels correlated inversely with psychotic symptoms, suggesting that anandamide release in the central nervous system (CNS) may serve as an adaptive mechanism...
Schizophrenia Research
July 2007
J Boydell, K Dean, R Dutta et al.
There is considerable interest in cannabis use in psychosis. It has been suggested that the chronic psychosis associated with cannabis use, is symptomatically distinct from idiopathic schizophrenia. Several studies have reported differences in psychopathology and family history in people with schizophrenia according to whether or not they were cannabis users. We set out to test the hypotheses...
Schizophrenia Research
December 2006
Massoud Stephane, Giuseppe Pellizzer, Susan Roberts et al.
Evidence indicates that the neuropathology of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) varies according to their phenomenological characteristics. Therefore, AVH should be subgrouped accordingly in hallucinations research. As evaluation of these characteristics depends entirely on the patient report, obtaining measurement of the reliability of these reports is crucial. A computerized binary scale...
Schizophrenia Research
December 1, 2006
Dagmar Koethe, Christoph W Gerth, Miriam A Neatby et al.
Recent data on alterations of the endogenous cannabinoid system in schizophrenia have raised the question of its functional role in this disease. The psychoactive compound of Cannabis sativa, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta9-THC), has been shown to induce psychotic symptoms, but it is unknown to what extend prodromal states of psychoses are reflected by these experimental approaches. This...
Schizophrenia Research
November 15, 2005
Robert F Ferdinand, Jan Van der Ende, Ilja Bongers et al.
To investigate if associations between cannabis use and psychotic symptoms occur independently, or occur as a consequence of previous-other types of-psychopathology. A 14-year follow-up study of 1580 initially 4- to 16-year-olds who were drawn randomly from the Dutch general population was conducted. At initial assessment, psychopathology was assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist. Across...
Schizophrenia Research
November 1, 2005
Shitij Kapur, Romina Mizrahi, Ming Li
510 citations
How does an excess in a neurochemical lead someone to being paranoid about the intentions of their neighbour? And why does blocking a dopamine receptor improve this symptom? In this article we present a heuristic framework which attempts to link the biology, phenomenology and pharmacology of psychosis. Focussing on dopamine's role in reward prediction and motivational salience we propose that...
Schizophrenia Research
March 1, 2005
Lindsay M Reynolds, Susan M Cochran, Brian J Morris et al.
Administration of phencyclidine (PCP) to both humans and animals models the symptoms of schizophrenia. Brain concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) are reduced in this disease, reflecting neuronal dysfunction. This study investigates the effects in rats of a chronic intermittent regime of PCP on NAA and its precursor N-acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) in rat frontal and temporal cortex,...
Schizophrenia Research
January 1, 2005
Georg Northoff, Andre Richter, Felix Bermpohl et al.
Based on animal data, NMDA receptor hypofunction has been suggested as a model for positive symptoms in schizophrenia. NMDA receptor hypofunction affects several corticolimbic brain regions, of which the posterior cingulate seems to be the most sensitive. However, empirical support for a crucial role of posterior cingulate NMDA hypofunction in the pathophysiology of positive symptoms is still...
Schizophrenia Research
December 19, 1997
Jorge Ciprian-Ollivier, M G Cetkovich-Bakmas
34 citations
Interest in the role of indolamines in the pathogenesis of psychoses has been renewed in recent years by the development of atypical antipsychotic drugs such as clozapine, olanzapine, and risperidone, which act on serotonin receptors. Discovery of the hallucinogenic compounds called methylated indolealkyalamines (MIAs) (e.g. N,N-dimethylserotonin, or bufotenin, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine, or...
Schizophrenia Research
September 1, 1994
Philip Mcguire, P Jones, I Harvey et al.
The Present State Examination was used to assess the psychopathology of 23 psychotic patients who were cannabis positive on urinary screening, and 46 matched drug-free controls. Cases and controls were indistinguishable in terms of psychopathology, DSMIII diagnoses, onset of recent illness, the proportion of first admissions, ethnicity, and socio-economic class, differing only in their...