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Biomedical subjects

V Peralta

Publications and source records attributed to V Peralta.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Schneiderian versus Bleulerian schizophrenia and basic symptoms.

Using the 'polydiagnostic approach' method, the relationship between basic symptoms (BS) and Bleulerian and Schneiderian types of schizophrenia is studied. Eighty-six schizophrenic patients (RDC criteria) were studied using the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire for the evaluation of the BS. The patients were classified according to the type of symptoms predominant in Schneiderian (n = 32), Bleulerian (n = 12) and mixed (n = 42) schizophrenics. The patients with Schneiderian and mixed schizophrenia displayed more BS than those having Bleulerian schizophrenia. Significant differences (p less than or equal to 0.05) were found on the subscales of Perception (simple), Language, Memory, Motoric and Loss of automatism, in factors 1, 2 and 4, and in the total score. The results suggest that, from the perspective of the BS, Schneiderian schizophrenia is different from Bleulerian and that the BS may have the same production mechanisms as Schneider's FRS, the difference between them being in the different degree of phenomenological expression.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Formal thought disorder in schizophrenia: a factor analytic study.

The Thought, Language and Communication Scale (TLC) was studied in a sample composed of 115 DSM-III-R schizophrenic patients admitted to an acute inpatient unit. A principal component analysis with varimax rotation was performed to explore the possibility of the existence of syndromes within the formal thought disturbances. Seven factors were found to have eigen values greater than 1 and five showed appropriate internal consistency. The first factor, or disorganization factor, was close to the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) formal thought disturbance subscale. The second, or negative factor (perseveration, poverty of speech and content), was moderately correlated with poor premorbid functioning and poor response to neuroleptic treatment. The third and fourth factors were, respectively, formed by stilted speech plus word approximations, and neologisms plus clanging. The fifth factor (distractibility and blocking), as well as the first two factors, were correlated to the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) attention subscale.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Positive versus negative schizophrenia and basic symptoms.

In a sample of 71 Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) schizophrenic patients, the relationship among the basic symptoms measured by the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire and Andreasen and Olsen's types of schizophrenia was studied. The results do not support an overlap between negative and basic symptoms; rather, basic symptoms appear to be more frequent in patients with positive symptoms. Basic symptoms were consistently correlated to formal thought disturbances, but the values were only moderate (r = .3).

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Subjective experiences in schizophrenia: a critical review.

The current status of subjective experiences in schizophrenia is examined. Subjective experiences are very frequent disorders in schizophrenic patients, and their study has been largely neglected. Recently, a number of scales that evaluate subjective experiences have been published, and although the psychometric properties of most scales have not been sufficiently studied, they seem to have adequate interrater reliability, internal consistency, and convergent validity. A higher number of subjective experiences is associated with the female sex and is inversely correlated with the level of education and lack of insight into illness. Hypothetically, subjective experiences are ascribed to impairments of information processing; however, studies on the relationship between these symptoms and measures of information processing are scarce and contradictory. In the acute stage of the illness, subjective experiences are associated with positive symptoms, and at this stage they may reflect the process activity of schizophrenia. In the remission stage of the illness, subjective experiences are related to negative symptoms, and they constitute the subjective correlate of the psychological deficit. A theory of subjective experiences within the framework of the vulnerability/stress model of schizophrenia is proposed.

Arousal↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Are positive and negative symptoms relevant to cross-sectional diagnosis of schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients?

The value of positive and negative symptoms for cross-sectional differential diagnosis was studied in a sample of 103 consecutively admitted patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective psychoses. A semistructured interview for schizophrenia was used. Subjects were diagnosed by Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) and classified as schizophrenic, depressive schizoaffective, and manic schizoaffective disorders. DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia were used to assign RDC schizophrenics to two groups: "true" schizophrenic (fulfilling both DSM-III-R and RDC criteria) and schizophreniform (fulfilling RDC but not DSM-III-R criteria). The Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) were used. Our findings showed that both positive and negative symptoms were relevant to differential diagnosis between schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. However, negative symptoms presented higher significant differences between diagnostic groups than positive symptoms. These results were obtained by global ratings and by scoring on individual symptoms of SAPS and SANS. Treatment with neuroleptic and biperidene drugs did not alter symptomatologic differences between groups that resulted from repeated analyses of covariance. Certain symptoms and clusters of symptoms were found to be of higher severity of higher severity in only one diagnostic group. They were as follows: pressure of speech for manic schizoaffective disorder; guilt for depressive schizoaffective; high scores on negative symptoms for depressive schizoaffective and schizophrenic disorders; inappropriate affect for schizophrenic disorder; and three "psychomotor retardation" symptoms of the affective flattening subscale of SANS (unchanging facial expression, decreased spontaneous movements, and paucity of expressive gestures) for depressive schizoaffective disorder.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Kahlbaum syndrome: a study of its clinical validity, nosological status, and relationship with schizophrenia and mood disorder.

Kahlbaum described catatonia as a disorder in which mood syndromes were the primary features and characteristic symptoms were the motor ones. However, after Kahlbaum this concept has not been taken into account and catatonia has been identified with motor features alone. In the present study, we assessed the clinical validity of Kahlbaum's concept of catatonia, its nosological position in relation to DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and Leonhard's diagnostic criteria, and its relationships with schizophrenia and mood disorder. Of 567 patients consecutively admitted due to a functional psychotic disorder, 45 met criteria for catatonia according to Kahlbaum's concept (the Kahlbaum syndrome [KS]). Patients with the KS were differentiated from those with schizophrenia and mood disorders across a number of demographic and clinical variables, the differences being greater with the former than with the latter group. KS does not appear to fit any particular nosologic category, although this issue largely depends on whether schizophrenia and mood disorder are broadly or restrictively defined. When definitions of both disorders are most restrictive, as in the case of the Leonhard system, KS seems better accommodated as a "third psychosis". Overall, the data raise the possibility that KS is either a variant of mood disorder, or a distinct clinical entity.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Subjective experiences in psychotic disorders: diagnostic value and clinical correlates.

This study evaluated the prevalence and clinical correlates of abnormal subjective experiences across functional psychotic disorders. Patients were recruited from consecutive admissions with the following diagnoses; schizophrenia (n = 40), schizophreniform disorder (n = 40), schizoaffective disorder (n = 21), mood disorder (n = 18), brief reactive psychosis (n = 15), and atypical psychosis (n = 16). Subjective experiences were assessed using the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire (FCQ), and the clinical status was assessed with the Scales for the Assessment of Positive and Negative Symptoms (SAPS and SANS) and the Manual for the Assessment and Documentation of Psychopathology (AMDP). Neither the FCQ total score nor individual subjective experiences displayed significant differences across diagnoses. When the clinical predictors of subjective experiences were studied by multiple regression analyses, a different pattern resulted for individual psychotic disorders. In schizophrenic patients, subjective experiences were predicted by female gender, euphoria, lack of insight, greater illness severity, and more positive symptoms. The only predictors of subjective experiences in the schizophreniform disorder group were the negative symptoms. Within the affective disorders group, subjective experiences had no clinical predictors.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Clinical models of schizophrenia: a critical approach to competing conceptions.

Clinical and etiopathological heterogeneity in schizophrenia has been recognized long ago. The main hypothesis held in this report is that as long as we are not able to disentangle the heterogeneity question at the clinical level, it is not likely that heterogeneity at the etiological and pathophysiological levels may be solved. While the description of symptoms and signs of schizophrenia has remained mainly unchanged over the years, the way in which authors have articulated the varied phenomenological manifestations has been very unequal, thus rendering different views of schizophrenia across periods and countries. We still lack a global and comprehensive model to understand clinical heterogeneity in schizophrenia. In absence of compelling evidence for supporting either a categorical or a dimensional view, it is necessary to integrate and empirically compare competing approaches. The use of a polydiagnostic approach on the one hand, and a multidimensional approach on the other (the polydiagnostic-multidimensional paradigm), seems to be a promising strategy to better understand the heterogeneity of schizophrenia.

Brain↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Etiology of schizophrenia: review of genes-ambient interaction].

Schizophrenia is a disorder of extraordinary importance and complexity. Heterogeneity in the clinical presentation of schizophrenia is certain, which probably reflects heterogeneity in pathophysiology and etiology. Examination of various risk factors can give clues to the causes. Only genetic risk factors come anywhere near the effect size expected for a strong causal agent in schizophrenia. However, the existence of so many environmental risk factors cannot be ignored. Both psychosocial and biological environmental factors may interact with genetic vulnerability to increase the risk of schizophrenia.

English Abstract↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Psychosis associated to megacisterna magna].

Megacisterna magna is a developmental malformation of the middle-line brain structures, which exists along a continuum with cerebellum hypoplasia (Dandy-Walker variant) and cerebellum agenesia (Dandy-Walker syndrome). Psychotic disorders, and particularly schizophrenia, are now conceptualised as disorders of neurodevelopment. We report on a patient who presented a psychotic disorder (delusional type), and mega cisterna magna. This is the first report of such an association, and it is suggested that both the psychotic disorder and the mega cisterna magna may be the expression of a single underlying neurodevelopment abnormality.

Antipsychotic Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[The Short-Form impairment index (SFII) in schizophrenic patients].

The SFII (Short-Form Impairment Index, Horton and cols, 1986) was used to assess cognitive impairment in patients with DSM-III-R diagnosis of schizophrenia and its relationship to the positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms was studied. Two samples of DSM-III-R schizophrenic patients were studied. The first sample was composed of 30 consecutively inpatients admitted by recrudescence of their symptoms. The second was composed of 19 patients that were attending to a Day Psychiatric Hospital by recrudescence of their symptoms or by socio-familiar dysfunctions. The SFII included three subtest: the "Trail Making" Form B, and cubes and digit symbol from the WAIS, that were converted to typical scores adjusted to age (Reitan, 1973). The positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms were assessed by the Andreasen scales (SAPS y SANS). No differences in epidemiological variables were found between both samples. Higher cognitive impairment (lower SFII) and higher negative symptoms were significantly correlated in both samples. This result suggests that the SFII could be a good marker of cognitive functioning in schizophrenic patients in postacute samples and also in mixed schizophrenic patients (acute and defectual population). The SFII presented some limitations in our young samples derived from their age-corrected values.

Adult↗