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Biomedical subjects

C Petruzzi

Publications and source records attributed to C Petruzzi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

PANSS factors and scores in schizophrenic and bipolar disorders during an index acute episode: a further analysis of the cognitive component.

To investigate the factor structure of psychotic symptoms, we compared the clinical characteristics of manic patients with those of schizophrenic patients evaluated with positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS). The clinical symptoms of 148 bipolar patients and 86 schizophrenic patients hospitalized for an index psychotic episode were assessed. Schizophrenic patients showed more positive and cognitive symptoms than bipolars. The factor analysis of the two PANSS scores showed a three-factor solution with 'positive', 'negative' and 'mixed' depressive-activated factors for bipolars and 'positive', 'negative' and 'depressive' factors for schizophrenics. In both groups, the 'cognitive cluster' loaded on the first 'positive' factor while the 'lack of insight' (LOI) has a different meaning in the two groups, more related to the positive symptoms in the bipolar patients and more related to the negative symptoms in the schizophrenic patients. This finding suggests that LOI could be a non-unitary phenomenon in psychoses and it should be further explored to better elucidate differences in symptom structures between schizophrenic and bipolar disorders.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2001

Association between 5-HT(2A) receptor polymorphism and psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to analyze the segregation of the 102T/C polymorphism in the serotonin 2A receptor gene in patients affected by sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) with and without psychotic symptoms. METHODS: The polymorphism was analyzed in 275 subjects. A semistructured interview was used to obtain information about delusions, hallucinations, and other specific behavioral signs occurring during the disease. RESULTS: Fifty-two percent of AD patients with psychotic symptoms were homozygous for the C102 allele, as compared with 6.9% of AD patients without psychosis. Similarly, the C102/C102 genotype was significantly more frequent in FAD patients with psychosis than in FAD patients without (46.5% vs. 7.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Our data strongly confirm and extend to FAD previous studies suggesting that the genetic variation at this locus is associated with prominent psychotic features in AD and that the 102C allele could play an important role in late-onset AD.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Alpha2-macroglobulin polymorphisms in Italian sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease.

A 5-bp deletion and a Val1000 polymorphism at the alpha(2)-macroglobulin (A2M) gene have recently been reported to be associated with late onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). As recently it has been suggested that the effect of the A2M gene on AD susceptibility may be limited to certain populations or families, we analyzed the segregation of A2M and apolipoprotein E polymorphisms in Italian sporadic and familial AD. We analyzed the two polymorphisms in a total of 346 subjects including 98 controls by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Our data do not confirm these associations, in particular we found a significant decrease of the deletion allele in AD with respect to controls. Our data do not support a role for the A2M gene as genetic risk factor for AD.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

A factor analysis of signs and symptoms of the manic episode with Bech-Rafaelsen Mania and Melancholia Scales.

BACKGROUND: Several factor analyses of signs and symptoms of mania have been reported using different rating scales. We propose here that the use of two instruments well known in the European literature may be useful in detecting the structure of manic episodes. METHOD: We investigated the pattern of symptoms in a group of 124 bipolar inpatients hospitalised for a manic episode. We conducted a factor analysis of the broad range of psychiatric symptoms covered by the Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale (BRMaS) and Melancholia Scale (BRMeS). RESULTS: Five eigen values were greater than unity, which determined the number of factors computed. The five factors captured 66.7% of the total variance. Following rotation, five factors were clinically relevant. CONCLUSION: This suggests that both euphoric activation and depression are prominent in this sample.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed2001

Personality disorders in bipolar and depressive disorders.

The association of mood disorders with personality disorders (PDs) is relevant from a clinical, therapeutic and prognostic point of view. To examine this issue, we compared the prevalence of DSM-III-R personality disorders assessed with SCID-II in patients with depressive (n = 117) and bipolar (n = 71) disorders both recovered from a major depressive index episode that needed hospital admission. PDs prevalence and comorbidity with axis I were calculated. Avoidant PD (31.6%) (O.R. = 1.7, C.I. = 1.06-2.9. P < 0.01), borderline PD (30.8%) and obsessive-compulsive PD (30.8%) were the most prevalent axis II diagnoses among patients with depressive disorder. In bipolar disorder group, patients showed more frequently obsessive-compulsive PD (32.4%), followed by borderline PD (29.6%) and avoidant PD (19.7%). Avoidant PD showed a trend toward being significantly more prevalent among depressives (P < 0.07). A different pattern of PDs emerges between depressive and bipolar patients.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Cognitive symptoms of mania in pure and mixed episodes evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale.

To investigate the clinical specificity of mixed affective patients, we compared the clinical characteristics of pure manic patients with those of mixed manic patients. The clinical symptoms of 146 bipolar inpatients hospitalized for a manic episode were assessed by means of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Mixed patients showed more positive and cognitive symptoms and among these the lack of judgement and insight was prominent. Further studies are needed to clarify the specificity of lack of insight of the mixed bipolar patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

No implication of apolipoprotein E polymorphism in Italian schizophrenic patients.

Numerous studies have provided evidence for a genetic association of the Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) epsilon4 allele and late onset familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). Clinical observations show that a proportion of schizophrenic patients may suffer from severe cognitive impairment. That could reflect a particular clinical aspect of this mental disorder or a common, yet unknown, neurodegenerative mechanism. We analysed the ApoE gene polymorphism in a sample of 69 Italian patients with schizophrenia, 140 AD patients and 121 controls. In schizophrenic patients, the distribution of ApoE genotypes does not significantly differ from that of controls. No effect of the ApoE genotype on age of onset was found. The frequency of ApoE alleles in Italian schizophrenic patients is comparable with control values, suggesting that ApoE polymorphism does not represent a risk factor for schizophrenia.

Age of Onset↗
PubMed1997

Analysis of apolipoprotein E, alpha1-antichymotrypsin and presenilin-1 genes polymorphisms in dementia caused by normal pressure hydrocephalus in man.

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is characterized by dementia, gait disorders and urinary incontinence. Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) epsilon4 allele has been associated with severity of dementia in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in other forms of dementia. Moreover, homozygosity of the A allele of the alpha1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) gene and of allele 1 of the presenilin-1 (PS-1) gene was associated with an increased risk for late onset AD. We analyzed the distribution of ApoE, ACT and PS-1 genotypes and the corresponding allele frequencies in 13 NPH patients. No differences were found in ACT and PS-1 polymorphism distributions in the patients studied with respect to the control group. An increased ApoE epsilon4 allele frequency was observed in NPH patients with respect to controls, thus suggesting that epsilon4 allele may also be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

No evidence of linkage between schizophrenia and D2 dopamine receptor gene locus in Italian pedigrees.

Our purpose was to test the dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2), the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene and the monoamino oxydase A (MAO-A) gene for linkage to schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. We have analyzed seven Italian families with schizophrenia and four families with bipolar disorders for a total of 68 individuals; 32 individuals were affected. Diagnoses were made using the structured clinical interview Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, Lifetime version (SADS-L). The results of our study provide no evidence of linkage between alleles at D2 dopamine receptor loci and schizophrenia or bipolar disorders. The markers TH gene and MAO-A gene give slightly positive or negative results suggesting the utility of further analysis on more informative families.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1996

Apolipoprotein E and alpha1-antichymotrypsin polymorphism in Alzheimer's disease.

A recent observation has shown that a common polymorphism in the alpha1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) gene modifies the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) epsilon4-associated Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk identifying the combination of the ACT/AA and ApoE epsilon4/epsilon4 genotypes as a potential susceptibility marker for AD. We analyzed the segregation of the ApoE and ACT polymorphism in sporadic and familial AD patients. In none of the sporadic AD patients did we find the combination of the ACT/AA and ApoE epsilon4/epsilon4 genotypes. The frequency of ApoE epsilon4/epsilon4 homozygosity in the AD sample resulted highest for the ACT/ TT genotype (17.6%). Our data fail to confirm any additional association with AD beyond the ApoE epsilon4 allele with any ACT genotype, suggesting that ACT does not represent an additional risk factor for AD.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Three-dimensional in vivo planum temporale reconstruction.

We describe a new multistep technique for three-dimensional reconstruction and analysis of the in vivo planum temporale (PT) based on the manipulation of magnetic resonance raw data obtained with a special protocol. Measurements of left and right plana confirm previous neuroanatomical descriptions of a larger left planum temporale. This method can be easily adopted, allowing anatomically valid PT measurements.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Planum temporale asymmetry and thought disorder in schizophrenia.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to investigate the size and the asymmetry of the planum temporale (PT) in 22 schizophrenic patients and 23 strictly matched healthy volunteers. The degree of thought disorder was related to the reduction of the physiological PT asymmetry. When thought disordered patients were contrasted with non-thought disordered patients and healthy controls for a measure of PT laterality, those with thought disorder showed a statistically significant loss of PT laterality. This finding suggests that thought disordered schizophrenics may be characterized by an abnormal development of cerebral lateralization in a region crucial for language processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Quantitative computed tomographic study in schizophrenia: cerebral density and ventricle measures.

Twenty-seven chronic schizophrenics and nineteen controls, all male, were evaluated by computed tomography (CT) scans. Lateral, third and fourth ventricles and cerebral density numbers were measured. In the schizophrenic patients there was a significant increase in third ventricle width, Ventricular Brain Ratio (VBR) and there were significantly higher densities of white matter in the right frontal and parietal region.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Cortical and subcortical computed tomographic study in schizophrenia.

Thirty-six chronic schizophrenics and 24 controls, all males, were evaluated by computed tomography (CT) scans. The lateral, third and fourth ventricles, the Sylvian fissure and the largest sulcus from each lobe were measured. In the schizophrenic patients there was a significant increase in third ventricle, ventricular brain ratio (VBR) and cortical measures. The possible implications of these findings in the aetiopathology of schizophrenia are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A computerised tomographic study in DSM-III affective disorders.

The relationship between ventricular brain ratio (VBR) and clinical variables was investigated in 21 DSM-III depressed patients. None of the following dichotomies--major depression vs. dysthymic disorder, suicidal vs. non-suicidal patients, male vs. female patients--showed any statistically significant differences. An association was identified between VBR and age at onset of depression but when current age was controlled such an association failed to reach a statistically significant level except in the group with major depression. When patients were matched with a control group no differences in VBR were seen with age controlled by decade.

Adult↗