Hypoglutamatergic function is implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and supersensitivity of platelet N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors has been reported in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to examine the platelet glutamate receptor sensitivity in patients with schizophrenia as well as other psychotic conditions, and matched controls, in order to assess if this is a specific marker of schizophrenia or occurs in other psychotic conditions. Glutamate receptor sensitivity was assessed using the intracellular calcium response to glutamate measured with spectrofluorometry. The percentage responses to glutamate stimulation of the schizophrenic subjects and those with depression with psychotic features were significantly greater than control subjects (p<0.005). The mania with psychotic features group was not significantly different to controls. This data suggests that platelet glutamate receptors may be supersensitive in schizophrenia and depression with psychotic features. The platelet may be a possible peripheral marker of glutamate function in schizophrenia and depression with psychotic features.

This research report is submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine in the branch of Psychiatry. / AIM: To describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of a group of patients of Xhosa ethnicity diagnosed with schizophrenia. To also determine the prevalence of their consultations with a traditional healer as well as the factors associated with an increased likelihood of such consultations. METHOD: The study was a review of a database originally compiled as part of an ongoing genetic study. Patients on the database were all of Xhosa ethnicity, with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and had all been recruited from community clinics and psychiatric hospitals in the Cape Town Metropole region. RESULTS: Data was extracted and analysed for 92 patients, who met the criteria for inclusion in this study. The majority of the patients were male (77.2%), single (88%) and unemployed (96%). The mean duration of illness was 20.5 years and the mean number of hospital admissions for their mental illness was 2.4. Close to half (43.5%) of the patients reported being non-compliant on their medication. Ten percent admitted to making one or more suicide attempts in their lifetime. Nicotine was the most commonly used substance (69.6%) followed by alcohol (55.4%), cannabis (37%) and methamphetamines (9.8%). Thirty eight percent of the patients reported having a traditional healer in their family. Twenty two percent had consulted with a traditional healer. In the bivariate analysis the following factors were significantly associated with consulting a traditional healer: having two or less psychiatric admissions (p=0.014); compliance on medication (p=0,012); and having a traditional healer in the family iii (p=0.005). When controlling for age, sex and marital status only having a traditional healer in the family was significantly associated with consulting traditional healer (p=0.011). CONCLUSIONS: This study found that a high proportion of the participants had consulted a traditional healer. This was significantly associated with having a traditional healer as a family member. It is recommended that programmes, to improve the mutual understanding and co-operation between Western practitioners and traditional healers and consequently mental health outcomes, need to be developed and implemented.

"The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution of personal characteristics and intrafamilial relationships of eighteen Negro and fifteen white schizophrenic patients treated on Psychotic Clinic at the University of Alabama Medical School. After the distribution of the selected characteristics according to racial membership was known, a second division of early or chronic institutionalism and noninstitutionalism was constructed to determine if the original intragroup distribution was applicable regardless of the individual's capacity for self-maintenance in the community"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "June, 1960." / "Submitted to the Graduate School of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work." / Advisor: Vernon Fox, Professor Directing Study. / Handwritten note on title page corrects "Kaye" to "Kathryne." / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

24 million people worldwide are affected by schizophrenia. Its complex psychopathology, including changes in perception, can incur substantial personal distress and economic burden. Finding appropriate treatment that attracts voluntary adherence is an ongoing challenge for clinicians to prevent relapse and poor prognosis. This thesis conceives the psychiatrist-patient alliance - mediated through talk - as an intervention point that demands analytic attention. Conceptualising ‘good’ communication is however hindered by a lack of a) conceptual clarity on its constituents b) knowledge of what actually happens in psychiatric encounters. Abstract ideals of ‘Patient Centredness’ and ‘Shared Decision Making’ are widely endorsed as beneficial to adherence, but do not pragmatically translate into specific practices, conducive to training. Following a preparatory systematic review, this thesis addresses a gap in literature by observing psychiatric communication in 3 mixed method studies. Synthesising coding methodologies and statistical analyses with principles of conversation analysis, two studies explore the association - and explanatory mechanism - between adherence and specific communication practices: patient other-initiated repair and psychiatrist questions. Treatment decisions, the precursor to adherent behaviour, are also examined: alternative resources that psychiatrists employ and their interactional consequences are mapped, with a focus on patients’ overt resistance. The findings collectively extend knowledge on medical interaction and demonstrate the utility of a novel approach to outcome research in field dominated by cross sectional studies. Clinical, methodological and theoretical contributions are yielded relating to six themes 1) the consequentiality of psychiatrists’ communicative choices 2) the manifestation of alliance and adherence in clinical talk 3) orientations to experiential expertise and the contingencies of antipsychotic medication adherence 4) reconceptualising ‘good’ communication: misalignment as key to clinical success 5) evidence of the interaction order in schizophrenia 6) reconciling the nuances of naturalistic interaction with global clinical outcomes.

Proteomic profiling studies of schizophrenia have the potential to shed further light on this debilitating and poorly understood condition which affects up to 1% of the world’s population. However, recent studies suggest that the field of proteomics in general has been hindered by poor application of bioinformatic strategies, contributing to the failure of many findings to validate. In the context of schizophrenia research, there is therefore a need for a more robust application and integration of existing statistical approaches to proteomic datasets, as well as the development of new methodologies to offer solutions to current challenges. The aims of this thesis were multi-fold. Many studies have stipulated the need for new diagnostic and prognostic strategies to aid psychiatrists, particularly in predicting disease conversion from the prodromal phase. Proteomic data from serum samples was used to investigate the potential for statistical models based on biomarker panels to offer a new and clinically relevant approach. Models were trained based on either differential protein (chapter 3) or peptide (chapter 4) expression levels between schizophrenia patients and controls, as measured through multiplex immunoassay or targeted mass spectrometry technologies. In chapter 4, an SVM model based on 21 peptides was identified that is both highly sensitive and specific as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in symptomatic individuals. Furthermore, in recent years, few preclinical innovations have been made in schizophrenia research in either in vitro or in vivo studies, resulting in a standstill in the development of treatments. In chapters 5 and 6 of this thesis, proteomic information from a novel cellular model of schizophrenia was analyzed. In chapter 5, cell signalling alterations in vitro were identified which may underpin dysfunctional microglial activation in at least a subgroup of patients, thus representing new drug targets in the CNS. Subsequent analysis identified compounds which have the potential to ameliorate the observed changes. Lastly, in chapters 7 and 8, a novel systems biology methodology was developed for the functional comparison of proteomic changes in brain tissue from existing preclinical rodent models of psychiatric disorders to those in human post-mortem samples, providing a new means of overcoming some of the translational hurdles of preclinical psychiatric research. The application of different bioinformatic strategies to a range of proteomic datasets in this thesis has yielded a number of findings which have enhanced the understanding of schizophrenia pathophysiology and provide a platform for future studies towards the goal of improving outcomes for patients affected by this disorder.

Thesis (D.N.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

No description available.

No description available.

Au Wing-cheong. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-91). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS --- p.i / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.ii / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vii / LIST OF FIGURES --- p.viii / LIST OF APPENDICES --- p.ix / Chapter CHAPTER I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter CHAPTER II. --- REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE --- p.3 / The construct of community living skills --- p.3 / Assessment tools for community living skills --- p.6 / The St. Louis Inventory of Community Living Skills --- p.9 / Prediction of community level-of-care --- p.12 / Training community living skills in Hong Kong --- p.15 / Chapter CHAPTER III. --- RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY --- p.17 / de-institutionalization movement and community living skills training --- p.17 / Lack of structured community living skills assessment toolsin Hong Kong --- p.20 / The choice of the SLICLS for cross-cultural validation --- p.21 / Chapter CHAPTER IV. --- GENERAL METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS --- p.23 / An introduction to the test construction procedures --- p.23 / An outline of the cross-cultural validation process --- p.24 / Issues concerning reliability of rating scales --- p.26 / Issues concerning validity of rating scales --- p.28 / Chapter CHAPTER V. --- METHOD --- p.31 / Translation of the SLICLS --- p.31 / Content validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.32 / Inter-rater reliability of the SLICLS-C --- p.34 / Internal consistency of the SLICLS-C --- p.35 / Construct validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.36 / Concurrent validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.37 / Predictive validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.38 / Ethical considerations --- p.41 / Chapter CHAPTER VI. --- RESULTS --- p.43 / The SLICLS-C --- p.43 / Content validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.44 / Inter-rater reliability of the SLICLS-C --- p.46 / Internal consistency of the SLICLS-C --- p.48 / Construct validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.49 / Concurrent validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.52 / Predictive validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.54 / Chapter CHAPTER VII. --- DISCUSSION --- p.59 / Validity of the SLICLS-C --- p.59 / Reliability of the SLICLS-C --- p.62 / Accuracy of the SLICLS-C in predicting community level of care --- p.63 / Significance of the study --- p.65 / Limitations of the study --- p.67 / Recommendations for further studies --- p.69 / Chapter CHAPTER VIII. --- CONCLUSION --- p.70 / REFERENCES --- p.73 / APPENDICES --- p.92