AIM: Cognitive deficit in psychotic illness is intensively studied, different cognitive subtypes have been suggested. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of studies in patients with schizophrenia and their relatives searching for endophenotypes of the disease. The aim of our study was to investigate cognitive performance and cognitive subtypes in the siblings of the patients. METHODS: Four groups of subjects were included: patients with a first episode of psychotic illness, the siblings of these patients, and two control groups. All the study subjects (N = 84) had a battery of neuropsychological tests that measured basic cognitive domains - memory, executive functions, attention, visual-spatial skills, language skills and psychomotor speed - administered to them. The data were assessed with pairwise t-tests for group comparisons. The siblings were distributed into three groups according to their cognitive performance: non-deficit, partial deficit, and global deficit. Subsequently, the patients were assigned into three groups corresponding to their siblings' performance. RESULTS: Our results revealed attenuation of abstract thinking in the siblings compared to the controls. As expected, the patients showed impairment across all cognitive domains. The patients and siblings demonstrated similar profiles in each subtype, in the severity of their impairment, and in their patterns of cognitive performance. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the cognitive profile can be considered as an endophenotype of psychotic disorders.
- MeSH
- endofenotypy MeSH
- kognice MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- neuropsychologické testy MeSH
- schizofrenie * diagnóza MeSH
- sourozenci MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Numerous recent studies show that vitamin D deficiency potentiates various chronic physical and psychiatric disorders and diseases. It has been shown that a similar range of disorders is also associated with latent infection with Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908). For instance, among cancer, diabetes and schizophrenia patients, we find a higher prevalence of both toxoplasmosis and vitamin D deficiency. Theoretically, therefore, vitamin D deficiency could be the missing link between toxoplasmosis and these disorders. We tested this hypothesis by searching for decreased vitamin D levels in the serum of subjects infected with T. gondii (furthermore called Toxoplasma-infected subjects) in two cross-sectional and one case-control study. Results of the first cross-sectional study (N = 72) suggest that Toxoplasma-infected neurasthenic patients have non-significantly lower levels of calcidiol than Toxoplasma-free patients (study A: P = 0.26 in women, P = 0.68 in men). However, two other studies (study B: N = 400; study C: N = 191) showed a non-significantly higher concentration of vitamin D in Toxoplasma-infected subjects than in Toxoplasma-free subjects both in men (study B: P = 0.70, study C: P = 0.55) and in women (study B: P = 0.64, study C: P = 0.12). Taken together, our preliminary results thus do not support the hypothesis that toxoplasmosis could be associated with vitamin D decrease.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- duševní poruchy komplikace MeSH
- kalcifediol krev MeSH
- latentní infekce komplikace MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- nedostatek vitaminu B etiologie MeSH
- průřezové studie MeSH
- schizofrenie komplikace MeSH
- studie případů a kontrol MeSH
- Toxoplasma MeSH
- toxoplazmóza komplikace MeSH
- vitamin D krev MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
BACKGROUND: Changes of white matter integrity in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) were documented following mainly motor/skill acquisitions physical therapy, while following neuroproprioceptive "facilitation, inhibition" (neurofacilitation) only by two pilot studies. Neurofacilitation has potential to induce white matter changes due to the possibility of interfering with the neuronal tactility threshold. However stronger evidence is missing. AIM: This study investigates whether neurofacilitation (three physical therapy types) induce white matter changes and if they relate to clinical improvement. DESIGN: The Three-Arm Parallel-group Exploratory Trial (NCT04355663). SETTING: Each group underwent different kinds of two months ambulatory therapy (Motor Program Activating Therapy, Vojta's reflex locomotion and Functional Electric Stimulation in Posturally Corrected Position). POPULATION: MS people with moderate disability. METHODS: At baseline and after the program, participants underwent magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and clinical assessment. Fractional anisotropy maps obtained from DTI were further analyzed using tract-based spatial statistic exploring the mean values in the whole statistic skeleton. Moreover, additional exploratory analysis in 48 regions of white matter was done. RESULTS: Ninety-two people were recruited. DTI data from 61 people were analyzed. The neurofacilitation (irrespective type of therapy) resulted in significant improvement on the Berg Balance Scale (P=0.0089), mainly driven by the Motor Program Activating Therapy. No statistically significant change in the whole statistic skeleton was observed (only a trend for decrement of fractional anisotropy after Vojta's reflex locomotion). Additional exploratory analysis confirmed significant decrement of fractional anisotropy in the right anterior corona radiata. CONCLUSIONS: Neurofacilitation improved balance without much evidence of white matter integrity changes in people with MS. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: The study results point to the importance of neuroproprioceptive "facilitation and inhibition" physical therapy in the management of balance in people with multiple sclerosis; and the potential to induce white matter changes due to the possibility of interfering with the neuronal tactility threshold.
