Neurological soft signs and cerebral measurements investigated by means of MRI in schizophrenic patients

Bersani, Giuseppe; Paolemili, M.; Quartini, Adele; Clemente, Roberta; Gherardelli, Simona; Iannitelli, Angela; Biasi, C. Di; Gualdi, Gianfranco; Pancheri, P.

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2006.11.032

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Furthermore, our results are in line with previous findings presented by Thomann et al (2009b) who found NSS total scores and MOCO levels to be associated with WM reduction in the right cerebellum. Nevertheless, our findings deviate from those presented by Bersani et al (2007), who found no significant relationship between NSS levels and atrophy in the above mentioned cerebellar areas, but in the cerebellar vermis. In summary, our findings of cerebellar cortex atrophy in lobules VIIa and VIIb are of particular interest because the three respective subscales COMT, MOCO, and RLSPO include motor tasks which necessitate a tight link between cerebellar areas involved in one's own bodily movement, the spatialtemporal control and cognitive functions.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…When compared to healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia have shown reduced cerebellar volumes (Andreasen and Pierson, 2008). Yet to date, only few structural MRI (sMRI) studies have examined the relationship between NSS and cerebellar morphology (Bersani et al, 2007;Bottmer et al, 2005;Keshavan et al, 2003;Mouchet-Mages et al, 2007;Thomann et al, 2009a), yielding inconsistent findings. This inconsistency might at least in part be attributable to methodological aspects like image analysis procedures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neurological soft signs in recent-onset schizophrenia: Focus on the cerebellum

Hirjak

Kubera

Stieltjes

et al. 2015

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurological soft signs in recent-onset schizophrenia: Focus on the cerebellum

Hirjak

Kubera

Stieltjes

et al. 2015

Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry

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“…These variations paralleled the results of other studies [31], suggesting a similar widespread area of subtle brain abnormality that is characteristic of schizophrenia [34]. Whereas the motor sequencing impairment was inversely proportional to the total and regional gray matter volume, cerebellar atrophy was particularly related to the NSS of rhythmic drumming and forefinger-right thumb opposition and forefinger-left thumb opposition tasks [35]; further, cerebellar neurological signs have smaller total cerebellar tissue volume [36].…”

Section: Sociodemographic Variablessupporting

confidence: 79%

“…The number of participants who had high scores in all aspects of the NES was higher in group A than in groups B and C. Table 4 shows a comparison between the results of the scores of the NES among the three groups by score intervals. In the motor subtests, a larger number of HCs (35) obtained low scores (0-3) compared with S-NDSZ (31), whereas the number of S-DSZ to obtain low scores was the smallest (20). However, a larger number of S-DSZ (5) obtained high scores (6-9) compared with none of the S-NDSZ and one HC.…”

Section: Neurological Soft Signsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neurological soft signs as an endophenotype in siblings of deficit versus nondeficit schizophrenic patients

Bassim¹,

Ghoniemy²,

Dardiry³

2012

Middle East Current Psychiatry

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BackgroundDeficit schizophrenia affects 25-30% of chronic schizophrenic patients. Endophenotypes are quantifiable biological variations that are types of stable trait markers of presumed inherited vulnerability to a disease. Neurological soft signs (NSS) are important endophenotypes of schizophrenia that are more prevalent in patients than in their unaffected relatives and in the general population. Objectives This study was conducted to assess and compare the NSS in siblings of deficit and nondeficit schizophrenic patients (S-DSZ and S-NDSZ) and in healthy controls (HCs). Subjects and methodsForty siblings of each of 40 deficit and 40 nondeficit schizophrenic patients were enrolled into the study, along with 40 HCs. The patients' diagnoses were confirmed with Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Axis-I Disorders and then classified by the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome. Siblings and HCs were examined with the help of a General Health Questionnaire -Arabic version and with the Neurological Evaluation Scale. ResultsPrevalence of NSS was higher in S-DSZ than in S-NDSZ. S-DSZ scored higher in each of the three main domains of the Neurological Evaluation Scale, followed by S-NDSZ and HCs. Their sociodemographic profile reflected the impact of possibly inherited negative traits. Conclusion NSS as an endophenotype is a heritable trait marker that is more prevalent in S-DSZ than in S-NDSZ and in HCs. Thus, siblings are high-risk individuals who should be followed up as a part of future preventive strategies, after taking decisions about early intervention, with implications of our results on the choice of medications; besides, the low-risk individuals in the general population should also be followed up for primary prevention.

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“…Reduction of cerebellar-dependent delay eyeblink conditioning [23] reflects impaired cerebellar time processing in schizophrenia. Cerebellar morphological changes are present in schizophrenia [24]; they are linked with NSS [25-27], including repetitive motor acts, i.e., sequences of movements [25,28,29]. Cerebellar abnormalities are linked to non-motor symptoms of schizophrenia, such as cognitive dysfunction [16,30,31].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cortico-cerebellar functional connectivity and sequencing of movements in schizophrenia

et al. 2012

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BackgroundAbnormal execution of several movements in a sequence is a frequent finding in schizophrenia. Successful performance of such motor acts requires correct integration of cortico-subcortical processes, particularly those related to cerebellar functions. Abnormal connectivity between cortical and cerebellar regions with resulting cognitive dysmetria has been proposed as the core dysfunction behind many signs and symptoms of schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to assess if these proposed abnormalities in connectivity are a unifying feature of schizophrenia, or, rather, reflect a specific symptom domain of a heterogeneous disease. We predicted that abnormal functional connectivity between the motor cortex and cerebellum would be linked with abnormal performance of movement sequencing.MethodsWe examined 24 schizophrenia patients (SCH) and 24 age-, sex-, and handedness-matched healthy controls (HC) using fMRI during a modified finger-tapping task. The ability to perform movement sequencing was tested using the Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES). The subjects were categorized into two groups, with (SQ+) and without (SQ-) movement sequencing abnormalities, according to the NES-SQ score. The effects of diagnosis and movement sequencing abnormalities on the functional connectivity parameters between the motor cortex and cerebellum (MC-CRBL) and the supplementary motor cortex and cerebellum (SMA-CRBL) activated during the motor task were analyzed.ResultsWe found no effect of diagnosis on the functional connectivity measures. There was, however, a significant effect on the SQ group: SQ + patients showed a lower level of MC-CRBL connectivity than SQ- patients and healthy controls. Moreover, the level of MC-CRBL and SMA-CRBL negatively correlated with the magnitude of NES-SQ abnormalities, but with no other NES domain.ConclusionsAbnormal cortico-cerebellar functional connectivity during the execution of a motor task is linked with movement sequencing abnormalities in schizophrenia, but not with the diagnosis of schizophrenia per se. It seems that specific patterns of inter-regional connectivity are linked with corresponding signs and symptoms of clinically heterogeneous conditions such as schizophrenia.

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Neurological soft signs and cerebral measurements investigated by means of MRI in schizophrenic patients

Cited by 25 publications

References 24 publications

Neurological soft signs in recent-onset schizophrenia: Focus on the cerebellum

Neurological soft signs in recent-onset schizophrenia: Focus on the cerebellum

Neurological soft signs as an endophenotype in siblings of deficit versus nondeficit schizophrenic patients

Cortico-cerebellar functional connectivity and sequencing of movements in schizophrenia

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