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V Arolt

Publications and source records attributed to V Arolt.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: do difficulties describing feelings assess proneness to shame instead of difficulties symbolizing emotions?

A hallmark of alexithymia is the difficulty putting emotional states into words which has to be differentiated from problems to communicate emotion to others. Shame proneness is a personality trait that is expected to be closely related to a reduced emotional self-disclosure in social interactions. The present investigation was conducted to examine construct validity of the Difficulties Describing Feelings scale of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). The TAS-20 was administered to 68 subjects (30 psychiatric inpatients and 38 normals) along with the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), a direct measure of the ability to express feelings verbally, and the Shame-Guilt-Scale. Difficulties Describing Feelings was associated with shame assessing scales but not with guilt assessing scales or the LEAS. Thus, in view of our data one should be cautious in interpreting scores from the TAS-20 scale Difficulties Describing Feelings as indices of a difficulty to symbolize one's emotions. Instead, this TAS-20 scale seems to evaluate aspects of social shame.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Elevated plasma levels of S-100b protein in schizophrenic patients.

BACKGROUND: In this study, we examined the possibility that structural damage to the brain may play a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. METHODS: We compared plasma levels of S-100b protein in 20 patients with schizophrenic psychosis and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy blood donors. Concentrations of S-100 protein were determined by microtiter-based immunofluorometric assay detecting predominantly S-100b. RESULTS: Mean concentrations of S-100b protein in blood were significantly (p < or = .001) higher in schizophrenic patients (0.165 +/- 0.138 microgram/L) compared to control subjects (0.054 +/- 0.031 microgram/L). Levels did not correlate with age of onset or duration of psychosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that patients with schizophrenia may suffer ongoing structural damage to cells of the central nervous system, and that the concentration of S-100b protein in plasma may help to identify clinical subgroups in schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Smooth pursuit performance in families with multiple occurrence of schizophrenia and nonpsychotic families.

BACKGROUND: Eye tracking dysfunction (ETD) has been put forward as a trait marker for biological susceptibility to schizophrenia with the hope of identifying a link to specific cerebral lesions. METHODS: Eye movements were recorded using infrared oculography in 8 families (67 members) showing multiple occurrence of schizophrenia and in 9 nonpsychotic families (80 members). Triangle wave stimuli at 15 degrees/s and 30 degrees/s were used and gains (eye velocity/target velocity), rates and amplitudes of different saccade categories (catch-up, back-up, anticipatory saccades, and squarewave-jerks) were determined. RESULTS: In the relatives, the same deficit in maintenance of smooth pursuit performance was found as was seen in the schizophrenic patients. This deficit, which was not observed in the nonpsychotic families, consisted of lower gains for leftward as compared to rightward pursuit. This was emphasized most clearly at 30 degrees/s and was associated with an excess of catch-up saccades in the schizophrenic patients, whereas in the relatives a tendency to exhibit more and larger anticipatory saccades was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the hypothesis that eye-tracking dysfunction is a phenotypic marker for genetic liability to schizophrenia. Neurophysiologically, a cerebral dysfunction which includes one or more of the oculomotor centers can be assumed in subjects who carry a genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Slow EEG potentials (contingent negative variation and post-imperative negative variation) in schizophrenia: their association to the present state and to Parkinsonian medication effects.

Between warning signal (S1) and imperative signal (S2), the EEG shifts negatively (contingent negative variation, CNV) reflecting preparation and expectancy. Reduced CNV and continued negativity after S2 (post-imperative negative variation, PINV) have been repeatedly found in schizophrenic patients and have been interpreted as a deficit in attentional processes (CNV) and as uncertainty about the correctness of one's own response to the S2 (PINV). Recent studies obtained a CNV reduction specifically at central sites but not at frontal ones. The present study investigated whether these alterations of slow negative potentials depend on present state of symptoms, on the particular task used, and on neuroleptic medication. Therefore, out-patients and in-patients were studied, two different S1-S2 tasks were used, and the control groups were healthy subjects and patients with Parkinson's disease. The central CNV reduction was stable across tasks and across in-patients and outpatients. Frontal CNV was reduced in in-patients but in only one of the two tasks in outpatients. The schizophrenic patients' enhanced PINV was larger contralaterally than ipsilaterally to the responding hand, correlated with medication, and occurred in similar way in patients with Parkinson's disease. Thus, the PINV increase might reflect the Parkinsonian side effects of the anti-psychotic medication. In contrast, the central CNV reduction appears as a stable marker of schizophrenia, the frontal CNV reduction as a state-dependent effect. The central CNV reduction might reflect impairment in forming stable stimulus-response associations, the relative frontal enhancement might reflect the out-patients' attempt at compensating that impairment.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

hSKCa3: a candidate gene for schizophrenia?

Recently, case-control studies have suggested an association between the polymorphic CAG repeat in the neuronal potassium channel gene hSKCa3 and an increased susceptibility to schizophrenia, with larger repeats being overrepresented in schizophrenic patients. Therefore, we have examined the CAG repeat polymorphism in hSKCa3 and four adjacent microsatellite markers in 12 multiplex schizophrenia families. On performing the extended transmission/disequilibrium test (ETDT), neither allele-wise (P = 0.67) nor genotype-wise (P = 0.071) analysis yielded evidence to support linkage disequilibrium between schizophrenia and the hSKCa3 CAG repeat alleles. No significant results were produced performing parametric and non-parametric linkage analysis between schizophrenia and hSKCa3, as well as the four microsatellite markers. Thus, our study does not support the involvement of hSKCa3 in schizophrenia. Furthermore, we refined the physical localization on chromosome 1q21.3 using linkage analysis. No recombination was seen between markers D1S2624 and D1S1600 and the polymorphic CAG repeat in hSKCa3. LOD scores of 19.44 and 12.97, respectively, were obtained at a recombination fraction of 0.00.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed1998

Distinguishing schizophrenic patients from healthy controls by quantitative measurement of eye movement parameters.

BACKGROUND: Eye tracking dysfunction is a putative trait marker for susceptibility to schizophrenia; however, it cannot be recommended as an additional tool for the diagnosis of schizophrenia, due to low sensitivity and specificity. METHODS: To assess the diagnostic potentials of combinations of eye movement paradigms, four smooth pursuit experiments (1: constant velocity of 15 degrees/sec; 2 and 3: combination with either visual or auditory distractors; 4: constant velocity of 30 degrees/sec) and two saccadic eye movement experiments (1: reflexive saccades; 2: voluntary saccades) were conducted. Fourteen patients with residual schizophrenia and 17 healthy controls were studied. Two sets of discriminant analyses (each with the resubstitution and with the "leaving one out" method) were calculated. RESULTS: In the first set, all 10 characteristic variables were included, whereas for the second set, the three most powerful parameters were selected (two from smooth pursuit tasks and one from a voluntary saccade experiment). This procedure provided the best classification results, regarding concordance between clinical diagnoses and eye movement dysfunction (kappa = .67-.80). CONCLUSIONS: Schizophrenic patients of the residual subtype can be differentiated from healthy individuals with considerable criterion validity on the basis of paradigms from two different ocular motor systems.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Backward masking in schizophrenia: time course of visual processing deficits during task performance.

Backward masking deficits have been put forward as potential psychological markers for vulnerability to schizophrenia. This study was conducted to investigate whether schizophrenic patients improve their performance on a backward masking task during a single test session. The ability of a degraded stimulus version of the masking task to act as a specific diagnostic marker for paranoid schizophrenia (versus affective disorder) was also investigated. The backward masking task was performed on 18 paranoid schizophrenic patients, 18 unipolar depressed patients, and 18 non-psychiatric controls. Paranoid schizophrenic patients were included because they tend to show normal performance with traditional masking protocols. Schizophrenic patients made significantly more detection errors compared to depressives and non-psychiatric controls where interstimulus intervals (ISIs) longer than 14 ms were used. Unlike depressed patients and non-psychiatric controls, schizophrenic patients showed no reduction in error rate during the entire period over which the backward masking task was performed. The constant error rate which was observed at an ISI of 114 ms suggests that schizophrenic patients cannot attenuate the disruption effect due to deflection of attention from the target to the mask. The backward masking deficit in schizophrenia appears to arise from a temporarily stable visual processing impairment in performance within a single test session.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Increased serum neopterin levels in acutely ill and recovered schizophrenic patients.

Twenty-nine in-patients with acute schizophrenia were examined to assess serum neopterin levels by ELISA at two points of time: during the state of acute symptoms and after clinical recovery at the point of discharge (at an interval of 30.84 +/- 15.22 days). Patients showed significantly higher levels of neopterin than controls. Moreover, the neopterin levels were significantly higher in patients after clinical improvement than in acutely ill patients. Neopterin levels in patients after clinical recovery were negatively correlated to scores of psychopathological symptoms, and positively to neuroleptic medication at the acute stage of the disease. The increase of serum neopterin during treatment of schizophrenia may reflect an up-regulation of dopamine turnover, rather than immunological activity.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1998

Target anticipation and impairment of smooth pursuit eye movements in schizophrenia.

A reduced gain of smooth pursuit eye velocity has frequently been reported in schizophrenic patients. With respect to predictable stimuli, this could be due to a deficit in predicting the target path. To determine this contribution to smooth pursuit eye movement performance, we analyzed the ocular smooth pursuit response to a sinusoidally moving target that was suddenly stopped after some cycles of regular movement. Horizontal eye movements were recorded with infrared reflection oculography in a group of 17 schizophrenic in-patients and 16 age-matched healthy subjects for controls. The patients exhibited a reduced gain of smooth pursuit velocity, but phase lag was not different from the control group. After the unpredictable stop of target movement, predictive sinusoidal smooth pursuit was maintained for 150 to 200 ms in both groups. The resulting maximal position and velocity error was larger in the patient group. In conclusion, schizophrenic patients were able to generate a normal anticipatory component of smooth pursuit and to switch it off in response to external demands. They showed, however, an increased velocity of anticipatory pursuit, which might be used to compensate for the primary deficit of smooth pursuit velocity frequently found in schizophrenics.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1998

Depression and social functioning in general hospital in-patients.

Impairment of social functioning is often associated with depression and contributes to an unfavorable course of the disease. Although it must be suspected that both social maladaptation and depression could obstruct recovery from somatic diseases, little attention has been paid to their interaction in general hospital patients. To assess social integration in depressive and psychiatrically healthy general hospital in-patients, 250 patients were studied with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), a structured clinical interview, and the Social Interview Schedule (SIS). From clinical interviews, it was established that 16.4% of the patients suffered from depressive disorders (ICD-10). When these patients were compared with patients without psychiatric disorder, only a tendency to social dysfunctioning with regard to social management and satisfaction with social situations was observed. But when the depressive sample was divided into three diagnostic groups (depressive episode, dysthymia, depressive adjustment disorder), significant social impairments were found in the dysthymia subsample. Family and other interpersonal problems were most prominent. When depression preceded somatic illness, a higher level of impairment was observed. The majority of dysthymia patients suffered from long-term somatic diseases, often cancer, which were preceded by depression. The results of this study single out a small group of patients who seem to be at an extensive risk of chronic psychiatric and somatic illnesses and should therefore be a focus of consultation/liaison (C/L) interventions.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Immunological dysfunction in schizophrenia: a systematic approach.

BACKGROUND: In the present study, immunological alterations were investigated as one possible factor contributing towards the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Specifically cellular changes, deviating cytokine production and interfering variables were studied in order to improve our understanding of how these factors interact. METHOD: 44 acutely ill schizophrenics were compared with matched healthy controls. Cell numbers were determined by flow cytometry and cytokine production by whole blood assay and ELISA. A criss-cross technique was employed for the assessment of interfering serum factors. RESULTS: Cell counts for leukocytes, lymphocytes, pan T cells, activated T cells and the absolute B cell count of the schizophrenic patients were all within normal limits. The absolute and relative monocyte counts, the number of IL-2 receptor carrying T cells and the relative B cell count were slightly elevated. IL-2 and IFN-gamma production were increased while IL-10 production, the sIL-2R and cortisol levels remained unchanged. No interfering serum factors were detected. CONCLUSION: The deficient production of TH-1 cytokines in schizophrenia is not due either to a changed number of immunocompetent cells or to a counterregulation of the TH-2 cytokine IL-10. Serum factors in in vitro testing are not responsible for the deficient cytokine production.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1998

Relations between neuropsychological vulnerability markers and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

In neuropsychological vulnerability research the visual backward masking task, the Span of Apprehension, the degraded stimulus Continuous Performance Test (dsCPT), and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test have been described as putative indicators for the predisposition to develop negative (schizophrenic) symptoms. The present study assesses the stability of the association between neuropsychological tests and negative symptoms by examining clinically improved patients. The interdependence between the four cognitive measures and clinical symptomatology was examined in 31 patients with DSM III-R and ICD-10 schizophrenia suffering predominantly from negative symptoms. Backward masking performance was related to affective flattening and anxiety-depression. False alarm rate on dsCPT was associated positively with affective flattening and hallucinations, and negatively with avolition. Card sorting preseverative errors correlated negatively with anhedonia, non-preservative errors correlated positively with avolition. Correlations notwithstanding, the data provide evidence in support of the relative independence of neuropsychological functions and negative symptoms in clinically improved schizophrenics.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Alexithymia and automatic activation of emotional-evaluative information].

The emotional valence of stimuli seems to be stored in the associative network and is automatically activated on the mere observation of a stimulus. A principal characteristic of alexithymia represents the difficulty to symbolize emotions verbally. The present study examines the relationship between the dimensions of the alexithymia construct and emotional priming effects in a word-word paradigma. The 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale was administered to 32 subjects along with two word reading tasks as measures of emotional and semantic priming effects. The subscale "difficulty describing feelings" correlated as expected negatively with the negative inhibition effect. The subscale "externally oriented thinking" tended to correlate negatively with the negative facilitation effect. Thus, these dimensions of alexithymia are inversely related to the degree of automatic emotional priming. In summary, there is evidence for an impaired structural integration of emotion and language in persons with difficulties in describing feelings. Poor "symbolization" of emotions in alexithymia is discussed from a cognitive perspective.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

[Effectiveness of computer-assisted attention training of schizophrenic patients].

Recent years witnessed a considerable proliferation of computer-based training programmes as instruments of cognitive rehabilitation for schizophrenic patients. A study on the effects of a 3-week computer-based attention training with schizophrenic patients is presented. The Span of Apprehension and the Continuous Performance Test (CTP) were carried out before and after the training period. Performance improvements were found only on few attention training tasks. Schizophrenics had higher post-treatment hit rates on the Span of Apprehension, but no post-treatment improvements were observed in the CPT. Performance of trained patients in the external attention measures was not superior to performance of matched schizophrenic control patients. These data suggest that brief intensive computer-based attention remediation does not lead to enhanced attentional capacity in schizophrenia. Thus, it might be more adequate to teach behavioural strategies that bypass attention deficits or to offer programmes for exercising more complex cognitive skills than to try to remedy basic cognitive impairments.

Adult↗