We report the successful management of a 49-year-old woman with an initial diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder transitioned to resistant schizophrenia. First contact with our psychiatrist service in 2000; referring problems with treatment adherence and occasional toxic abuse, she underwent 15 admissions in acute adult psychiatric hospitalisation units since then (last discharge March, 2015), and a one-year stay (2012–2013) in an adult mid-term mental health unit. She is currently followed-up throughout the major mental-health outpatient visits program.

The patient was prescribed paliperidone 6 mg 2-0-0, oxcarbazepine 600 mg 1-0-1 and clonazepam 0.5 mg 1-0-1 during the last 2 months.

Due to lack of treatment adherence and toxic abuse she suffered a psychotic decompensation in May 2015. She was then prescribed clozapine 200 mg 1-0-2, boosted with aripiprazole 400 mg once monthly. The adjunction of aripiprazole once monthly (AOM) was intended to improve treatment adherence, and to supplement the psychotic control of clozapine without entailing a worsening of therapy tolerability. The patient was monitored during 5 months in our unit.

We observed a positive psychopathological evolution of the patient, which allowed us to re-evaluate the initial diagnostic, ascribing the previous mood fluctuations to toxic consumption.

Previous works have been published about the combination of clozapine and oral aripiprazole for the treatment of resistant schizophrenia, but, as far as we know, this is the first repost of the combined use of clozapine and AOM. Based on our results, this antipsychotic combination resulted in a psychopathological improvement of the patient, with good tolerability.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

We report the successful management of a 57-year-old woman with a 20 year diagnostic of paranoid schizophrenia (first visit November, 1995). She presented several comorbidities (arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus and morbid obesity), with a history of five previous hospitalizations (1995, 2012, January and May 2014, and April 2016).

The patient was always prescribed depot antipsychotics: she was treated for 14 years with Zuclopentixol depot (discontinued due to dermic adverse reactions and weight gain). After a period with oral paliperidone (from 2012 until 2013) and due to lack of adherence to oral therapy, in August 2013 she was prescribed paliperidone palmitate. The treatment was discontinued after nine months (May 2014) due to weight gain, a significant increase of serum prolactin levels and two psychotic relapses that led to hospital admissions.

She was then prescribed Fluphenazine decanoate depot for one year and 4 months, but she was switched to Aripiprazole once monthly (AOM) in September 2015 to avoid metabolic syndrome.

Non-personalized antipsychotic treatment in a patient with a complicated comorbidity history can result in lack of compliance and a risk of relapse, and in a worsening of her medical conditions, with the consequential negative impact in her functioning and quality of life. Based on our results, the treatment with AOM resulted in a positive evolution of the patient, with a good tolerability profile, in an improvement of treatment-caused adverse events (weight loss, and prolactin serum levels normalization); all factors that enable treatment adherence and good clinical response.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The genetic architecture of schizophrenia is based on polygenic trajectories. Indeed, genes converge on molecular co-expression pathways, which may be associated with heritable characteristics of patients and their siblings, called intermediate phenotypes, such as prefrontal anomalies and thalamic dysconnectivity during attentional control [2].

Here, we investigated in healthy humans association between co-expression of genes with coordinated thalamo-prefrontal (THA-PFC) expression and functional connectivity during attentional control.

We used Brainspan dataset to characterize a coordinated THA-PFC expression gene list by correlating post-mortem gene expression in both areas (Kendall's Tau>.76, Bonferroni P < .05). Then, we identified a PFC co-expression network1 and tested all gene sets for THA-PFC and PGC loci [3] enrichments (P < .05). SNPs associated with the first principal component of the resulting enriched gene set were combined in a Polygenic Co-Expression Index (PCI) [1]. We conducted Independent Component Analysis (ICA) on attentional control fMRI data (n = 265) and selected Independent Components (ICs) including the thalamus and being highly correlated with an attentional control network2. Multiple regressions were conducted (predictor: PCI) using a thalamic cluster previously associated with familial risk for schizophrenia [2] as ROI (FWE P < .05).

In one of the 8 ICs of interest there was a positive effect of PCI on thalamic connectivity strength in a cluster overlapping with our ROI (Z = 4.3).

Decreased co-expression of genes included in PCI predicts thalamic dysconnectivity during attentional control, suggesting a novel co-regulated molecular pathway potentially implicated in genetic risk for schizophrenia.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Erotomania is a delusional disorder in which one believes to be loved by someone else. Even though its etiology is not known, psychodynamic factors have been proposed as a possible explanation.

To review the psychodynamic etiology of erotomania.

A search of the Medline/Pubmed database was conducted using the terms “erotomania” and “psychodynamic”.

Several authors wrote about the psychodynamic etiology of erotomania. Kraepelin describes it as a “compensation for the disappointments of life”. De Clérambault highlights the idea of “sexual pride”: stimulated by the absence of affective and sexual approval, erotomania flourishes as a way of satisfying the individual's pride. Hollender and Callahan explain the disorder as a result of an ego deficit of not feeling attractive enough. According to Segal, the erotomanic delusion meets the patient's need for love and it is related to the idea of it as the ultimate way of approval. Taylor highlights the patients’ isolation, loneliness and extreme dependence on others.

About every author agrees with the idea that the erotomanic delusion acts as a gratification to the individual's narcissistic needs, when personal experience has failed to do so. Wanting to be loved is the core of human motivation and the delusion most commonly appears in people who feel rejected by society; facing that perceived rejection, it emerges as the fantasy that other human being is in love with them. This is a relevant overview of this disorder with implications in patients’ treatment, since psychotherapy could be important along with drug treatment.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Schizophrenia, which is linked to a range of physical health conditions, might share intrinsic inflammatory disease pathways with type-two diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Psychotropic medication has presented a major confounder in examining this association. First-episode psychosis (FEP) patients present an interesting cohort to study this potential association, being generally younger with less comorbidity, and with limited exposure to antipsychotic medication.

To assess whether FEP, which could be described as ‘developing schizophrenia’, is associated with prediabetes, or ‘developing diabetes’, to determine whether intrinsic disease links could cause the conditions to develop in unison.

Using PRISMA criteria, we searched Embase, Medline, PsychInfo, Web of Science, and Google Scholar to 6th January 2016. We assessed case-control studies with biochemical assessment of prediabetic states in FEP patients alongside matched controls.

Twelve studies were included, involving 1137 participants. Several measurements examined prediabetes, including fasting plasma glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, and insulin resistance. Pooled analysis found FEP to be related to impaired glucose tolerance (mean difference 1.31 [0.37, 2.25]), insulin resistance (mean difference 0.30 [0.18, 0.42]), and the number of patients with impaired glucose tolerance (odds ratio 5.44 [2.63–11.27]).

Our findings suggest a potential link between prediabetic markers, in particular impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance, and FEP. However, we cannot establish causality, and the studies contributing to this review were at some risk of bias. Nevertheless, the findings might help to explain the increased prevalence of T2DM in patients with schizophrenia and could have implications for the management of schizophrenia patients.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Examine psychiatrists’ communication skills as assessed by their patients with schizophrenia and through external observation, considering patients’ socio-demographic and clinical variables and analyse the importance that aspects of communication have for patients.

This cross-sectional study involved a sample of 30 patients and 11 doctors. An adapted and culturally validated version of the Communication Assessment Tool was used for data collection. Data were analysed in IBM SPSS Statistics®, version 24.

Male patients constituted 86.7% of the sample and mean age was 46.7 ± 13.3. The overall mean percentage of items rated as excellent by patients was 57.4%. On the other hand, external observer percentage of excellent scores was much lower when compared with patients’ scores. Single, divorced or widower/widow patients, patients with higher educational level and patients with shorter number of years in medical treatment gave significantly higher scores to psychiatrists’ communication. Patients’ sex, age, occupation residence and family type did not yield statistically significant effects on patients’ ratings.

Communication is at the heart of psychiatrists’ daily practice. Many communication styles might be needed, depending on the nature of clinical encounters and patient expectations. Specific training is required to optimise psychiatrists’ communication skills on everyday practice.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Anatomical alterations in the Superior Temporal Gyrus (STG) have been reported in schizophrenia. The STG is one of the most asymmetric and lateralized structure of the brain, and the process of lateralization seems to vary according to gender. Although it has been suggested that patients with schizophrenia do not show normal brain lateralization, only few studies investigated it in the STG considering the effects of sex.

The objective of this study is to evaluate sexual dimorphism in STG volumes in a sample of patients with schizophrenia compared to age-and sex-matched healthy controls.

Seventy-two right-hander males (40 schizophrenia patients and 32 controls) and 45 right-hander females (18 schizophrenia patients and 27 controls) underwent clinical evaluation and a 1.5 T MRI scan. Gray and white matter volumes of regions of interests within the STG were detected, including the Heschl's Gyrus (HG) and the planum temporale (PT).

Female patients with schizophrenia presented a reduction in left PT gray matter volumes (F = 4.58, P = 0.03) and a lack of the normal PT asymmetry index (t = 0.27; P = 0.79) compared to female controls (t = 5.47; P < 0.001). No differences were found between males for volumes or laterality. Also, in patients with schizophrenia STG gray and white volumes negatively correlated with positive symptoms (r = −0.33, P = 0.02 and r = −0.29, P = 0.03 respectively), whereas left PT gray matter volumes were negatively associated to duration of illness (r = −0.27, P = 0.04).

Sexual dimorphism plays a key role on PT in schizophrenia, underlying the importance of gender as a modulator of brain morphology and lateralization of schizophrenia.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Functioning of patients with delusional disorder may be impaired, particularly if the delusional thinking is chronic rather than episodic. They refuse to characterize their beliefs as false and view opposing views with surprise, if not hostility and disdain, dismissing or ignoring them, and continuing their struggle to find resolution or restitution for the wrongs they have endured or the illnesses from which they suffer. They typically reject and often resent the suggestion that they are mentally compromised. They are a difficult group to engage clinically, often refusing to meet with a clinician about their delusions and/or to take medication. The first-line treatment of delusional disorder is antipsychotic medication rather than other clinical interventions. Patients with the disorder often reject psychiatric treatment, it is particularly important that medication be prescribed in the context of a therapeutic relationship that includes support, education, encouragement of healthier pursuits, and discouragement of damaging, delusion-inspired actions.

We describe a case of a 55-year-old woman with a delusional disorder that was diagnosed 4 years before. The supervision of the right take of the treatment was not possible and the intensity of behavioral disturbances increased. Then we started the treatment with long-acting injectable aripiprazole.

Within the 4 months following the start of treatment, her mental state improved by attenuation of psychotic symptoms.

Long-acting aripiprazole could be an effective tool for treatment of psychotic symptoms in patients with no insight and difficulties to check the proper treatment take.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

More than 60% of patients receiving intensive treatment with first generation antipsychotic manifest some type of clinically significant extrapyramidal side effects. Parkinsonian syndrome is the most common and is characterized by rigidity, tremors, akinesia and bradykinesia and usually improves with discontinuation of antipsychotic drug or anticholinergic association.

It is a 60-year-old man, married with two children. Initiates contact with mental health in 2013 with a diagnosis of adjustment disorder. In February 2014 he requires hospitalisation, establishing the diagnosis of delusional disorder and starting treatment with long-acting injectable paliperidone palmitate (100 mg/month) with remission of psychotic symptoms in a few days. When we receive the patient in our clinic, he presents parkinsonian extrapyramidal symptoms (UKU subscale: 18), with significant functional limitation. We decrease the dose to 75 mg/month and an anticholinergic was added without improvement of Parkinsonian clinic, so we decided to switch to long-acting injectable aripiprazole 400 mg/month, objectifying complete remission of extrapyramidal syndrome (UKU subscale: 0).

The mechanism of action of aripiprazole m LAI (partial agonist of D2 receptors in the brain) without decreases in the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway, of improving extrapyramidal effects associated one other antipsychotics.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Approximately a third of patients with schizophrenia show limited response to antipsychotic medication. As several studies have been suggesting new classifications to schizophrenia, our aim is to review different hypothesis and seek a new way of approaching patient's treatment in day-to-day practice.

The methods we used consisted on reviewing several papers that have recently been published on the area of classification and treatment of schizophrenia, considering an approach to the findings that enables a practical and clinical advantage in the area.

New studies suggest that neuroimaging measures of dopamine and glutamate function might provide a means of stratifying patients with psychosis according to their response to treatment. Some of those studies associate treatment response with the anterior cingulate level of glutamate and striatal dopamine synthesis capacity. Other study identified three biotypes with different outcomes to psychosis, reaching a stronger association between biotypes as predictors of illness severity than the DSM-V classification. If a correlation between these studies was found, we would be able, in theory, to predict the response to treatment using simple and affordable neurobiological measures.

Associating the anterior cingulate glutamate levels, the striatal dopamine synthesis capacity and biotypes hypothesis in schizophrenia, one can expect to be possible to predict the degree of response to treatment, based on more affordable methods to day-to-day clinicians than the measure of neurotransmitter levels, enabling the regular clinicians to narrow their pharmacological options for patients, achieving better results in the approach to schizophrenia.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The prevalence of acute and transient psychotic disorder (ATPD) varies from 3.9–9.6 per 100,000 population [1]. Even it has clinical course with psychosis, there is no evidence that ATPD is similar with schizophrenia [2].

Since in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) are not established specialized services for early interventions (EI), community mental health centers (CMHC) are basic services for fast and most efficient interventions in the cases of ATPD among other psychiatric disorders. The mental health reform has planned to establish EI services in the future [3].

To show CMHC as efficient service in the treatment of ATPD without using hospitalisation of young woman with two years follow up (case study)

Full recovery of young female with ATPD using team approach and model of case management. After follow up of two years was any indications that psychotic disorders will develop.

Even we have not EI specialized services in our country, CMHC have capacities to manage ATDP in community settings avoiding hospitalisation of young people.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Most individuals with schizophrenia will be confronted with some forms of stigmatization. In recent years, the term “schizophrenia” has been increasingly contested by clinicians and family members and many of them argue for a change of name. Surprisingly, most of the research has been explored though self-reports but behavioural research is still lacking. The aim of our study was to assess through an experimental design if the term “schizophrenia” was enough to modify social behaviours.

Eleven participants from the community were asked to engage in three coordination tasks with a simple dot displayed on a screen and moved by another person. Participants had to synchronize their movements with either a schizophrenia patient, a patient with neuro-emotional integration disorder (NEID) or a healthy subject, situated in different rooms. Each condition was counterbalanced between participants. In reality, the movements of the dot were pre-recorded (five trajectories) and were therefore identical for all three conditions.

Measuring the error between the displayed and performed trajectories, participants coordinate worse when they though interacting with a schizophrenia or NEID patient in comparison to the “healthy” (F(2.20) = 4.02; P = .034; n2P = 0.29) condition. Post-hoc analysis revealed an even higher difference between “schizophrenia” and “healthy” conditions (P = 0.01).

Our study is the first to demonstrate that the label “schizophrenia” directly impacts our behaviour, with negative consequences on social interactions. However, our results cannot confirm yet a positive effect induced by changing the name.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

There is limited data on the efficacy rates between first and second generation antipsychotic depots. One good indicator of efficacy is the rates of hospitalization. Some studies have shown that second generation depot antipsychotics significantly reduce hospitalizations rates as compared to conventional depots.

Comparison of hospitalization rates for patients with schizophrenia on first and second generation antipsychotic depots.

A retrospective observational study was done by reviewing the records of an antipsychotic depot clinic in Essex, United Kingdom. A list of 47 patients enrolled and receiving depot antipsychotics was obtained. Their records were studied and hospital admission rates calculated.

Of the 47 patients 11 were excluded as they were on depot antipsychotics for non-schizophrenic diagnoses.

Of the 36 patients with schizophrenia, 12 were on second generation and 24 were on first generation depots.

Amongst the 24 patients on first generation depots, 19 were male, 5 female and mean age was 52 years.

Of the 12 patients on second generation depots, 10 were male and 2 female and mean age was 46 years.

When comparing hospital admission rates between the 2 groups, the following data was noted (Table 1).

There is no difference in hospitalization rates between patients on first generation antipsychotic depots as compared to second generation antipsychotic depots.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

In a perspective of personalized care for smoking cessation, a better clinical characterization of smokers with schizophrenia (SZ) is needed. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics of SZ smokers with severe nicotine (NIC) dependence.

Two hundred and forty stabilized community-dwelling SZ smokers (mean age = 31.9 years, 80.4% male gender) were consecutively included in the network of the FondaMental Expert Centers for schizophrenia and assessed with validated scales. Severe NIC dependence was defined by a Fagerstrom questionnaire score ≥7. Major depression was defined by a Calgary score ≥6. Childhood trauma was self-reported by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire score (CTQ). Ongoing psychotropic treatment was recorded.

Severe NIC dependence was identified in 83 subjects (34.6%), major depression in 60 (26.3%). 44 (22.3%) subjects were treated by antidepressants. In a multivariate model, severe NIC dependence remained associated with major depression (OR = 3.155, P = 0.006), male gender (OR = 4.479, P = 0.009) and more slightly with childhood trauma (OR = 1.032, P = 0.044), independently of socio-demographic characteristics, psychotic symptoms severity, psychotropic treatments and alcohol disorder.

NIC dependence was independently and strongly associated with respectively major depression and male gender in schizophrenia, and only slightly with history of childhood trauma. Based on these results, the care of both nicotine dependence and depression should be evaluated for an effective smoking cessation intervention in schizophrenia. Bupropion, an antidepressant that has been found as the potential most effective strategy for tobacco cessation in schizophrenia to date, may be particularly relevant in male SZ smokers with comorbid major depression.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Schizoaffective disorder (SAD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are important causes of disability and morbidity. Finding clinical features that can help in their early differentiation may lead to a better understanding of these two nosologic entities.

The purpose of this study was to find clinical differences between SAD and SZ.

We selected for this study 83 inpatients from the Timisoara Psychiatric Clinic, diagnosed with either SAD (n = 35) or SZ (n = 48), according to ICD-10 criteria. The research was conducted between 2014 and 2016. Socio-demographic (age, sex, education, marital status) and clinical data were analysed. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was used to assess symptom severity.

Delusions of grandiosity were found significantly more frequent in SAD patients (P = 0.001). By contrast, bizzare delusions (P = 0.025), derealization phenomena (P = 0.03) and negative symptoms (P = 0.003) appeared more frequent in schizophrenic patients. We found no significant differences between the two samples regarding onset age, number of episodes, duration of episode, duration of remission and suicidal thoughts/attempts. Although the SZ sample had higher BPRS total scores than SAD patients, the differences were not statistically significant.

Even though SAD and SZ are very similar in respect to their clinical presentation, this study also revealed certain differences that may enhance specific knowledge regarding these two disorders.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Social cognition (SC) is an impaired domain in schizophrenia. However, little is known on the Signal Detection properties of SC deficits.

We analyzed the relationship between emotion perception and psychotic symptoms in a sample of schizophrenic patients. For this scope, we extended the scoring system of the awareness of social inference task-emotion recognition (TASIT-ER) according to signal detection theory (SDT).

Sample:

– one hundred and nineteen inpatients from L’Aquila Inpatient unit diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Dependent variable:

– Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)’s Positive, Negative, Disorganized, Excited and Depressed dimensions, and total score.

Independent variable:

– a modified version of TASIT-ER. The original scoring system, including only “HITs”, was extended with “False Alarm” (FA), defined as a detection of an emotion when not present.

Statistical analysis:

– multivariable linear regression models for each sub-group of emotions to assess the effect of FAs on psychotic symptoms compared to HITs.

FAs on positive emotions were associated with disorganized (b = 31.95), excited dimensions (b = 41.84) and PANSS Total (b = 152.46); FAs on negative emotions were associated with Excited dimension (b = −57.97) and PANSS Total (b = −243.70). HITs on Negative emotions were associated with Negative (b = −13.37), Disorganized (b = −8.64) Excited (b = −8.74) dimensions and with PANSS total (b = −45.30).

FA rates were more strongly associated with total PANSS score than HIT rate, suggesting a prominent role of false recognition in defining psychotic symptoms, especially disorganized and excited ones, consistently with computational models of psychosis that rationalize false recognition as failures of active inference systems in updating their predictive model of sensory information.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The relationship between Lack of insight (LoI) and other symptoms in schizophrenia is complex. LoI could be associated with severity of symptoms at one side and global functioning at the other. For this nature LoI is a candidate ‘mediator’ for the relationship between psychotic symptoms and global functioning.

The aim of this study is to explore the possible role of LoI as a mediator between psychotic symptoms and global functioning in a sample of people with schizophrenia.

Seventy-three patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were included. The five-factor model of the PANSS by Wall work was used to assess psychopathology and G12 item as an estimate of LoI. Global assessment of functioning (GAF) was used to measure global disability. Pearson's r correlations and linear regressions for Sobel test for mediation were performed. PANSS factors were modeled as predictors of global functioning and LoI as the mediator.

Correlations revealed the prerequisite relationships between LoI, positive, negative and disorganized PANSS factors and global functioning. Mediation analyses show that LoI partially mediates the relationship between positive and disorganized factor scores and global functioning. No mediation for negative factor score was observed.

Lack of insight mediates the relationships between positive and disorganized factors and global functioning. The partial mediation we report suggests that LoI on the one hand is an independent contributor to global function, but further shows an indirect effect of PANSS positive and disorganized factors to GAF total score.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Previous research has shown that people with psychotic disorders have impaired functioning prior to the onset of the illness. The main goal of the proposed study was to deepen understanding of the characteristics of pre-morbid impairment in persons later diagnosed with psychotic disorders.

We examined unique pre-morbid data from IDF archives, including narrative summaries of pre-induction interviews of 17-year old adolescents (168 male adolescents who were later hospitalized for psychotic disorders, and 168 matched control subjects). The data were analyzed using mixed-method analysis, combining qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Between group comparisons revealed more adaptation difficulties, family problems and dealing with medical conditions in the group of future psychotic disorder patients, while suicidal thoughts and loss of a close person showed trends towards significance. Two factors characterized classification of outcome: adaptation difficulties and family problems. A “high-functioning” factor was significantly higher within the control group, while a “strange” factor was higher among the future psychosis patients. A “high-functioning” factor was identified as a protective factor.

This study used narrative analysis of interview summaries of adolescents who underwent pre-induction assessments. The current study replicated previously published findings that were obtained as a result of retrospective investigations and comparing numeric scores, using unique pre-morbid data and in-depth qualitative analyses, combined with a quantitative one. The main strengths of the current study are the fact that the subjects were interviewed before the onset of psychosis, as well as the fact that the analyses of the data were performed blinded to outcome.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.