Negative Symptoms In Schizophrenic Patients Research Articles

The Effectiveness of Augmenting Modafinil to Risperidone or Olanzapine for Treating Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenic Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trail

Background: Recent evidence suggests the potential efficacy of modafinil in addressing specific symptom domains associated with schizophrenia, particularly negative and cognitive symptoms. However, it's important to note that findings in this area have been inconsistent. Objectives: This study was done to assess the impact of modafinil on improving negative symptoms in schizophrenia patients. Methods: In this clinical trial, 40 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and referred to Golestan Hospital were selected. Patients received a daily dose of 100 to 200 mg of modafinil in addition to their ongoing antipsychotic treatment with either Risperidone or Olanzapine. In the control group, patients received a placebo along with their prescribed antipsychotic therapy. The duration of the follow-up was 4 weeks. Both the evaluator and the patients were blinded to the administered medication. The Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) was utilized to measure negative symptoms before the intervention, and at 2 and 4 weeks following the intervention. Results: The mean age of participants in the intervention and control groups was 34.00 ± 6.60 and 36.90 ± 6.88 years, respectively. Two weeks after the intervention, the average SANS score was lower in the intervention group compared to the placebo group (99.70 ± 10.24 vs. 111.24 ± 7.08, P = 0.04). At 4 weeks post-intervention, the average SANS score in the intervention group was significantly reduced compared to the placebo group (84.39 ± 3.54 vs. 113.79 ± 3.75, P = 0.002). Conclusions: This study suggests that modafinil may be an effective adjunctive therapy for schizophrenia, particularly for treating anhedonia symptoms.

The Differences in Adjuvant Therapy Effectiveness Meloxicam and N-Acetylcysteine against Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Highlights:1. Schizophrenic patients can have negative symptoms.2. Adjuvant therapy is needed to assist antipsychotics in reducing the negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients. AbstractIntroduction: Meloxicam and N-Acetylcysteine are examples of drugs with anti-inflammatory effects that have been widely studied, and are considered to reduce negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Both of these drugs are also widely available in Indonesia and can be obtained at an affordable price. This study aimed to analyze the differences in the effectiveness of adjuvant therapy meloxicam and N-Acetylcysteine on negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study using a single-blind, pretest–post-test design. Determination of the subject used a purposive sampling technique according to the inclusion criteria. This study examined 34 samples and divided them into two groups. In group A, 17 subjects received adjuvant meloxicam therapy of 15 mg/day for 4 weeks; in group B, 17 subjects received adjuvant therapy of N-Acetylcysteine 400 mg/day for 4 weeks. Score assessment was performed using the positive scale, negative scale, and general psychopathology scale (PANSS) negative subscale pre- and post-therapy, then compared the effectiveness. Data analysis used SPSS 25.0.Results: The mean score of the PANSS post-test subscale was negative in the meloxicam adjuvant therapy group 15.58, while for the N-Acetylcysteine adjuvant therapy group was 17.64 with a p-value of 0.009. The mean decrease in the negative subscale PANSS score in the meloxicam adjuvant therapy group was 11.00, while the N-Acetylcysteine adjuvant therapy group was 19.70 with a p-value of 0.000.Conclusion: There was no difference in the effectiveness of adjuvant therapy meloxicam and N-Acetylcysteine in improving negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients.

Evaluating the Effect of Melatonin on Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenic Patients: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Study.

Objective: Schizophrenia is known as a severe psychiatric disorder with a broad range of clinical indications and symptoms such as positive and negative symptoms. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of melatonin on positive and negative symptoms of inpatients with schizophrenia. Method : This study was conducted as a randomized placebo-controlled trial (double-blind) in the population of patients with schizophrenia. Study samples were selected from inpatients with schizophrenia, according to the DSM-5 criteria, who had not been diagnosed with a depressive episode of schizophrenia based on the Calgary questionnaire and who also met the inclusion criteria. 46 patients with schizophrenia were randomly assigned to the intervention (6 mg melatonin per day as two 3 mg pills for six weeks) and placebo groups. The positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS) was used to assess the effect of treatment at T1 (before intervention), T2 (three weeks after beginning the intervention) and T3 (six weeks after beginning the intervention). To check the research hypotheses, multiple comparison statistics were used by the SPSS 22 software. Results: The placebo and melatonin groups had no significant difference in terms of PANSS scores (negative, positive, general and total symptom scores) at T1. Also, there was no difference in PANSS scores between the two groups at T2. However, at T3, there was a significant difference between the two groups only in the score of negative symptoms of PANSS (P = 0.036), so that negative symptoms of schizophrenia were significantly reduced in the intervention group compared to the placebo group. Furthermore, based on within-group analyzes, all PANSS scores were significantly reduced in the two groups at T2 and T3 (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Long-term use (at least six weeks) of melatonin can improve the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Since antipsychotics can better affect the positive symptoms, the use of melatonin in combination with these drugs may perhaps further improve the patients' symptoms.

Effect of Family Psychological Education Program on Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenic Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Familial psycho-education is a training model dedicated to providing essential information and educating families with a psychiatric patient to work with mental health professionals as part of a treatment plan for their ill family members. Objectives: Our aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the family psychological didactic program as an adjunctive treatment to medication in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia to reduce negative and positive symptoms. Methods: In this clinical trial, we included 49 Iranian inpatients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia hospitalized at Shiraz Psychiatric Hospital from September 2016 to May 2017. They were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 24) and control (n = 25) groups. All groups were prescribed their usual pharmacological treatments. Additionally, in the experimental group, a psychological education intervention was planned for their families. This intervention consisted of six 90-minute sessions that lasted for three weeks. Before the intervention, after the intervention, and two months after the intervention, all subjects completed the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Results: This study was undertaken on 50 hospitalized schizophrenic patients. Most were male (72%). The mean PANSS scores at the pretest and posttest were 82.5 ± 12.594 and 84.72 ± 9.629 for the intervention group and 50.08 ± 11.477 and 51.92 ± 9.823 for the control group, respectively. Based on the ANCOVA, all groups showed the same decrease in the posttest PANSS score, although there was no considerable difference among the groups (F = 0.049; P = 0.825) in the posttest. Nevertheless, eight weeks after the completion of the intervention program, the severity of symptoms was significantly reduced in the intervention group compared to the control group. (F = 165.931; P = 0.001). Conclusions: The family psychological training intervention as an additional treatment for hospitalized patients with schizophrenia can increase the effectiveness of drug treatment. Of course, we must consider the small research sample when generalizing the results.

Study of Negative Symptoms among 100 Schizophrenic Patients

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a clinical syndrome of variable but profoundly disruptive, psychopathology that involves cognition, emotion, perception and other aspects of behavior. The expression of these manifestations varies across patients and over time, but the effect of the illness is always severe and usually long lasting. The disorder usually begins before age 25, persists throughout life, and affects persons of all social classes. Both patients and their families often suffer from poor care and social ostracism because of widespread ignorance about the disorder. Schizophrenia is equally prevalent in men and women. Objective: To find out the pattern and frequency of negative symptoms in Schizophrenic patients. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st June to 31st December 2014 among 100 schizophrenic patients. For demographic assessment every patient was interviewed by a semi-structured questionnaire, after taking informed consent. Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) was used to interview the Schizophrenic patient. The scale is internationally well accepted research instrument for assessing negative symptoms in Schizophrenic patient. The study was conducted in Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Dhaka and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka. Sampling size was 100 where Schizophrenia was diagnosed by psychiatrists. Results: The age group of the patients was from 18 years to 59 years with mean age 27.3 years (SD ±11.0), most of the patients were below the age of 30 years. Eighty six (86%) out of one hundred patients were found to have negative symptom. Most of the patient were male, literate, Muslim and came from a middle class family background. Onset of the disease was mostly insidious in nature. Conclusion: Schizophrenia is a major psychiatric disorder. Both the patient and their families suffer a lot by schizophrenia and its consequences. So improving the management of negative symptoms may reduce the overall burden of schizophrenic patients and their caregivers. JAFMC Bangladesh. Vol 17, No 1 (June) 2021: 22-25

Effect of Adjuvant Vitamin C on Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels and Improvement of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenic Patients

AIM: This study aims to determine the effect of adjuvant Vitamin C on brain-derived neurotropic factors (BDNF) levels and improvement of negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients. METHODS: This study was conducted at Hasanuddin University Hospital and its affiliate with 60 schizophrenic patients (30 controls, 27 treatments, and three dropout patients). The ELISA sample examination method was used to examine blood levels of BDNF, and Vitamin C levels before and after administration of Vitamin C. In addition, the negative symptoms were measured using the PANSS score. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in BDNF levels in treatments group compared the control at 4th–8th weeks with p = 0.005 (4th week) and ≤0.0001 (&lt;0.05) (8th week). The improvement in PANSS scores for negative symptoms in the treatment groups compared to the controls at the 2nd, 4th, and 8th weeks resulted in p = 0.042 (2nd week) and &lt;0.0001 (4th–8th weeks). Furthermore, there was an increase in serum Vitamin C levels in the treatment groups with an initial average value = 4.762 and after 8 weeks = 148.155. Strong correlation between increased BDNF levels and improvement in negative symptoms on the PANSS score was found with p = 0.001 (4th week) and ≤0.0001 (8th week). CONCLUSION: The administration of Vitamin C significantly increases BDNF levels and improves the PANSS score for negative symptoms in the treatments compared to the control groups.

Automatic Detection of Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia via Acoustically Measured Features Associated With Affective Flattening

Among the characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia, negative symptoms are a category. The existence of negative symptoms results in a diminution of normal behaviors and functions for schizophrenic patients. In this research, we focus on the affective flattening of negative symptoms to explore potential biomarkers to achieve automatic diagnosis. This work proposes an automatic procedure for detecting the negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients based on speech signal processing. In this procedure, three features are initially proposed: the symmetric spectral difference level (SSDL), quantization error and vector angle (QEVA), and standard dynamic volume value (SDVV). The SSDL feature is designed with the aim of emphasizing spectral differences that contribute to the evaluation of emotional richness. The QEVA is proposed to reflect the variations in tone using one cumulative error indicator and one variation evaluation indicator. The SDVV feature aims to represent the modulation of speech intensity, considering the speaking behavior of schizophrenic patients. Experiments evaluating the discriminative capabilities of the three features are conducted using a speech database collected from 56 participants (28 schizophrenic patients and 28 healthy controls). The classifier employed in these experiments is a simple decision tree. Three other binary classifiers [linear discrimination (LD), logistic regression (LR), and a support vector machine (SVM)] are also tested to compare their performances with the decision tree in this work. Based on the decision tree classifier, the discrimination accuracy levels of schizophrenic patients and control subjects using the SDLL, QEVA, and SDVV features are in the range of 80.5%-83%, 65%-73%, and 87%- 91.5%, respectively. When the three features are combined, the best discrimination accuracy of schizophrenic patients and control subjects is 98.2%, with an area under the receiver operations characteristic curve (AUC) value of 98%. Note to Practitioners-This article is motivated by the problems of the diagnosis of negative symptoms in schizophrenia and the timely monitoring of schizophrenic patients. In clinic, there exists a high patient-to-clinician ratio and the diagnostic result depends on the subjective experience of the clinician. It is necessary to develop an automatic and objective procedure for the diagnosis and monitoring of schizophrenic patients. Speech disorders are among the salient characteristics of negative symptoms. In this work, an automatic procedure for detecting the negative symptoms based on speech signal processing is proposed. This automatic procedure is achieved based on three newly presented acoustic features involving the characteristics of schizophrenic speech, which consider the speaking behavior of schizophrenic patients. This automatic procedure and the information of the three acoustic features may serve as an aid to clinicians and could potentially help them in providing better monitoring of schizophrenic patients.

PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF REPETITIVE TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION ON NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Back Ground: Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have been demonstrated to be the most relevant predictor of increased future socio-occupational dysfunction and poorer quality of life which is linked to impaired functioning of the prefrontal cortex, mainly reduced activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Repetitive Trans-cranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is a relatively safe and non-invasive tool to modulate neuronal activity. High-frequency rTMS might have role in improvement of negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Aim of work: The Aim of this study to explore the effects of highfrequency rTMS stimulation to the DLPFC on negative symptoms observed in schizophrenia patients. Patients and Methods: 40 patients with schizophrenia who accept and there guardians to participate in the study and sign the written informed consent were assessed by Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS), before the rTMS sessions and after the sessions. Meanwhile the operator allocated the subjects to active or sham group then the subjects of the study received active or Sham rTMS . The rTMS was delivered for 3 sessions /week during six weeks, each session lasts for 13 minutes. Results: There was a statistical significance between active and sham group as regard PANSS Negative subdomain scale, used before and after the rTMS sessions (P value= 0.001 ) Also there was a statistical significant difference among active group before and after the rTMS stimulation( P value<0.001). Conclusion: This study suggests that high frequency rTMS applied to DLPFC may be of benefit in alleviating negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients. A larger sample size is needed to confirm our findings.

The effectiveness of Transcranial Direct- Current Stimulation (TDCS) combined with medication on negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients

The effectiveness of Transcranial Direct- Current Stimulation (TDCS) combined with medication on negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients

Alterations in oxidative stress markers and its correlation with clinical findings in schizophrenic patients consuming perphenazine, clozapine and risperidone

Background and ObjectiveToday, the role of oxidative stress in development of schizophrenia has gained attention. Also, some atypical antipsychotic agents showed antioxidant properties. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the level of oxidative stress parameters between patients treated with perphenazine, clozapine and risperidone and their relationship with schizophrenia symptoms’ severity. Materials and MethodsThis was a descriptive study on 100 patients with chronic schizophrenia. Patient selection was done based on the DSM-IV-TR criteria for at least 3 months regular use of clozapine or risperidone or perphenazine and a minimum period of 2 years of schizophrenia. Ten ml of patient’s blood samples were used to assess serum levels of glutathione (GSH), protein carbonyl, lipid peroxidation (LPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP). Also, the severity of symptoms was assessed with the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS scale). P-values of less than 0.05 were considered significant. ResultsThe results showed a significant difference between clozapine and risperidone with perphenazine in all subscales of PANSS. Also, there was a positive correlation between MDA and PANSS all subscales in risperidone and perphenazine groups and a negative correlation between MDA and PANSS in all subscales in the clozapine group. Serum level of GSH and negative symptoms in patients receiving clozapine showed a negative correlation. The results also represented that clozapine significantly increased SOD levels in comparison to perphenazine and risperidone and reduced LPO in comparison to perphenazine and risperidone, While the protein carbonyl level did not show a significant difference between three groups (p-value = 0.8). ConclusionThis study showed that clozapine, as an atypical antipsychotic agent, has significant antioxidant effects compared to risperidone and perphenazine. Especially, it increased SOD and GSH levels and reduced LPO in patients with schizophrenia. Therefore, clozapine’s antioxidant effect may be contributive to improving negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients.

Nurse's Awareness of the Relationship Between Suicidal Ideation and Schizophrenic Patient's Positive/Negative Symptoms.

Background: Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are very common among schizophrenic patients. Nurses have vital role in decreasing incidence of suicide among schizophrenic patients through increase their awareness of the relationship between suicidal ideation and positive / negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Aim of the study: study aims to assess nurse's awareness of the relationship between suicidal ideation and schizophrenic patients' positive/negative symptoms. Research methods: A descriptive exploratory research design was utilized. A convenience sample was selected in this study. The subject of the present study consisted of (70) nurses (males and females) who are working in Port-Said Psychiatric Mental Health Hospital (PSPMHH).Tools: A self-reports study tools were developed by the researcher and it consists of 3 tools. First tool: Socio-demographic data. Second Tool: Nurse's knowledge about schizophrenic disorder. It consisted of three parts. Third Tool: Nurse's awareness of suicidal ideation in schizophrenic patients. It consisted of three parts. Results: There is no statistically significance relationship between socio-demographic characteristic and nurse's awareness of positive &negative symptoms of schizophrenia. While, there is statistically significance relationship between scholastic psychiatric experience & total nurse's awareness of the relationship between suicidal ideation and positive / negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Conclusion: Majority of the studied nurses subject weren't aware of positive / negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients. Nearly three quadrant of studied nurses subject weren't aware of the relationship between suicidal ideation and positive/negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients. Majority of the studied nurses subject don't have the ability to recognize different clues that may indicate early intention for suicide made by schizophrenic patients. Recommendation: Orientation programs/seminars should be developed about the existence of the relationship between specific positive & negative symptoms of schizophrenia and suicidal ideation among Egyptian patients.

The effect of adding buspirone to atypical antipsychotics in treating the negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients

The effect of adding buspirone to atypical antipsychotics in treating the negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients

Schizophrenia and smoking: impact on negative symptoms

Introduction: it has been hypothesized that individuals with schizophrenia use nicotine to reduce negative symptoms and improve cognitive function. There is an inconsistency in the literature suggesting that nicotine could help decrease negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients. Objective: to investigate the effects of nicotine on the expression of the negative symptoms in smokers and non-smokers with schizophrenia. Methods: a cross sectional study, conducted between April and August 2016, 100 inpatients with schizophrenia (54 smokers and 46 non-smokers) diagnosed according to DSM-V, at Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross Lebanon, were compared to changes in clinical parameters using CDSS, PANSS, and nicotine dependence using FTND. The Student’s t-test was used to compare between 2 groups, while the ANOVA test was used to compare between 3 or more groups. For categorical variables, the chi-2 test was used. Results: the mean age was 47.16 years (SD = 7.14) for smokers compared to 47.02 years (SD = 7.92) for non-smokers. 64.8% of smokers were males versus 45.7% of non-smokers. Smoking (high nicotine dependence) significantly decreases the PANSS negative symptoms score between the 2 groups (p &lt; .001), whereas it did not show a significant difference for the positive and the cognitive symptoms total score (p &gt; .05 for both variables). Discussion and conclusion: this study is the first to investigate the relationship between the expression of negative symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia and smoking in Lebanon. Cigarette smoking rates remain remarkably high in patients with schizophrenia. Smoking is a complex process which involves psychopathological, biochemical and neuropharmacological aspects among schizophrenic patients. Further studies are needed to acknowledge these findings and the reasons behind it.

Effects of internalized stigma on symptoms and quality of life in schizophrenic patients; mediated by dysfunctional attitude

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of internalized stigma on symptoms, quality of life of schizophrenic patients; mediated by dysfunctional attitude. A descriptive correlational research design was used to investigate the relationship between symptoms, quality of life and dysfunctional attitude in schizophrenic patients. Linear regression was used to investigate the mediational effects of dysfunctional attitude. Purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of the participants. The study was conducted on diagnosed schizophrenic patients from psychiatry ward of Nishtar Hospital Multan, Fountain House Rehabilitation Centre Lahore and Punjab Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation Centre Lahore. The sample of the study was 50 registered patients of schizophrenia. Calculated sample size was 50 schizophrenic patients among them 34 were Males and 16 were Females. Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Scale was used to see the effects of stigma on schizophrenic patients (ISMI, Ritsher, 2003), along with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale was used to evaluate the positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients (Kay, et al., 1987), World Health Organization Quality of life BREF Scale (WHOQOL-BREF, 2003) was used to assess the quality of life of schizophrenic patients, along with another scale of Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS, Weissman, 1978) was also used to assess the cognitive functioning of the schizophrenic patients. Studies showed that internalized stigma had significant positive correlation with dysfunctional attitude and negative significant correlation with symptoms and quality of life of schizophrenic patients. Internalized stigma had strong significant effects on the symptoms, quality of life and dysfunctional attitude. Studies also showed that people with mental illness has to face negative stereotype, rejection and finally alienation from society because of stigma which is a big hurdle in their process of recovery and treatment.

The Effect of Physical Exercise as A nursing Intervention on Management of Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenic Patients

The health benefits of physical activity and exercise are well documented and these effects could help people with schizophrenia. This study aimed at implementing and evaluating physical exercise program as nursing intervention on management of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients. Subjects and methods: The study was carried out at the psychiatric inpatient unit of the department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Assiut University Hospital and Assiut mental health hospital. The study included one hundred patients with schizophrenic disorder. They were classified into two subgroups. One of them as experimental group (No=50) assigned to 45 minutes of physical activities and the other as a control group(No=50). Each patient was evaluated through Socio Economic Assessment scale, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Nurse’s Observation Rating Scale, and the Arabic version of self image questionnaire. Results showed that there were statistically significant difference in total PANSS, NORS, and self concepts scores of experimental than control group. The study concluded that symptoms of schizophrenia respond better in patients received physical exercises and usual treatment than in control group who receive usual treatment only. Recommendation: Addition of physical activity program to the management plan of schizophrenics to improve out come of their treatment

Neuropsychological and cerebral morphometric aspects of negative symptoms in schizophrenia: negative symptomatology is associated with specific mnestic deficits in schizophrenic patients.

BackgroundThe prevalence of negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients seems to be an important indicator for treatment response and prognosis. Although negative symptoms have often been attributed to frontal lobe anomalies, neuropsychological and anatomical findings do not explicitly support this assumption. Since knowledge about the cerebral correlate of negative symptoms in schizophrenia might have a strong impact on therapeutic and psychopharmacological interventions, we aimed to answer this question by investigating the relationship between negative symptoms, neuropsychological functioning and cerebral volumes in schizophrenic patients.MethodsTwenty schizophrenic patients and 32 healthy controls were examined using a neuropsychological test battery for the assessment of temporal (mnestic) and frontal (executive) faculties. Volumetric measurements of temporal (hippocampus and amygdala) and frontal (orbitofrontal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and anterior cingulate area) brain areas were performed. Negative symptoms were assessed using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS).ResultsSchizophrenic patients performed worse than healthy controls in tests assessing verbal and visuospatial learning and memory functions and on the Stroop interference task. After dividing the schizophrenic group in patients with high and low SANS scores almost all of these deficits were restricted to the former group. There were no overall group differences regarding cerebral subarea volumes. Overall negative symptoms were significantly correlated with verbal memory functions but not with frontal lobe faculties.ConclusionsNegative symptoms in schizophrenia could specifically associated with verbal memory deficits.

PCP-induced deficits in murine nest building activity: Employment of an ethological rodent behavior to mimic negative-like symptoms of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by three symptom domains, positive (hallucinations, obsession), negative (social withdrawal, apathy, self-neglect) and cognitive (impairment in attention, memory and executive function). Whereas current medication ameliorates positive symptomatology, negative symptoms as well as cognitive dysfunctions remain untreated. The development of improved therapies for negative symptoms has proven particularly difficult, in part due to the inability of mimicking these in rodents. Here, we address the predictive validity of combining an ethologically well preserved behavior in rodents, namely nest building activity, with an established animal model of schizophrenia, the sub-chronic PCP model, for negative symptoms. Decline in rodent nesting activity has been suggested to mirror domains of negative symptoms of schizophrenia, including social withdrawal, anhedonia and self-neglect, whereas repeated treatment with the NMDAR antagonist PCP induces and exacerbates schizophrenia-like symptoms in rodents and human subjects. Using a back-translational approach of pharmacological validation, we tested the effects of two agents targeting the nicotinic α7 receptor (EVP-6124 and TC-5619) that were reported to exert some beneficial effect on negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients. Sub-chronic PCP treatment resulted in a significant nest building deficit in mice and treatment with EVP-6124 and TC-5619 reversed this PCP-induced deficit. In contrast, the atypical antipsychotic drug risperidone remained ineffective in this assay. In addition, EVP-6124, TC-5619 and risperidone were tested in the Social Interaction Test (SIT), an assay suggested to address negative-like symptoms. Results obtained in SIT were comparable to results in the nest building test (NEST). Based on these findings, we propose nest building in combination with the sub-chronic PCP model as a novel approach to assess negative-like symptoms of schizophrenia in rodents.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis ofGinkgo bilobain Neuropsychiatric Disorders: From Ancient Tradition to Modern-Day Medicine

Ginkgo biloba (Gb) has demonstrated antioxidant and vasoactive properties as well as clinical benefits in several conditions such as ischemia, epilepsy, and peripheral nerve damage. Additionally, Gb is supposed to act as potential cognitive enhancer in dementia. So far, several trials have been conducted to investigate the potential effectiveness of Gb in neuropsychiatric conditions. However, the results of these studies remain controversial. We conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis of three randomised controlled trials in patients with schizophrenia and eight randomised controlled trials in patients with dementia. Gb treatment reduced positive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia and improved cognitive function and activities of daily living in patients with dementia. No effect of Gb on negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients was found. The general lack of evidence prevents drawing conclusions regarding Gb effectiveness in other neuropsychiatric conditions (i.e., autism, depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and addiction). Our data support the use of Gb in patients with dementia and as an adjunctive therapy in schizophrenic patients.

Effects of handedness (left vs right) and cannabis abuse on intermanual coordination and negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients of the paranoid type

Intermanual coordination as an index of interhemispheric transfer and negative symptoms were investigated in 50 left- and 42 right-handed schizophrenic inpatients of the paranoid type, also including drug abusers. The primary objective was to show that there were higher values in intermanual coordination and fewer manifestations of negative symptoms in the left-handed compared to the right-handed patients. This assumption was based on previous studies. Most importantly, right- and left-handed patients showed a different behaviour in intermanual coordination, when the duration of illness was taken into consideration. Thus, long-term left-handed paranoid patients performed better in intermanual coordination and showed fewer manifestations of negative symptoms than did long-term right-handed patients. These results were true for the large group of all patients, and among them for the subgroup of patients without drug abuse. Consequently, higher scores in intermanual coordination in left-handed patients may be related to a better interhemispheric crosstalk resulting in less pronounced negative symptoms. Secondary objectives assessed by explorative data analysis included the effects of cannabis abuse. While cannabis abuse may be more prevalent in left-handed patients, its effects may be more pronounced in right-handed patients, scoring higher in intermanual coordination and lower in manifestations of negative symptoms.

P03-316 - Effect of selegiline augmentation with antipsychotic drugs on treatment of the negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenic disorder

IntroductionConsidering the shortcomings of antipsychotics in treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients, the use of augmentation treatment for decreasing the negative symptoms is highly important.AimsThe aim of this research was to study the effect of selegiline augmentation with antipsychotic drugs in decreasing the negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients.MethodsIn this double blind randomized control trial study 70 schizophrenic in- patients who were under treatment with antipsychotics were randomly divided into two intervention and control groups. The patients of both groups were given placebo for two weeks along with antipsychotics. For 12 weeks the intervention group was given selegiline 10 mg/day and control group was given placebo. The patients were evaluated with PANSS scale and Hamilton depression test at the end of first and second weeks and then at the end of every other week for twelve weeks. Then the results were analyzed statistically.ResultsThere was no significant difference between intervention and control groups considering PANSS score on first and second weeks, but the difference on 4-14 weeks was statistically significant. There was also no statistically significant difference in Hamilton depression Test between the two groups in first to 10 Th weeks. But the difference was statistically significant in 12–14 weeks.ConclusionsAugmentation treatment with selegiline can improve the negative symptoms of schizophrenic patients.