Soft Signs Research Articles

Neurological soft signs and cognition among inpatients with schizophrenia

ABSTRACT Introduction: Evidence has shown that neurological soft signs are strongly associated with neurocognitive dysfunction. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to assess the association between NSS and cognitive impairments in a sample of inpatients with schizophrenia. The secondary objective was to explore the association between NSS total scores and functioning. Methods: The study enrolled 95 inpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia disorders and 45 healthy controls. The neurological evaluation scale (NES) was used to assess neurological soft sign while the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) was used to evaluate cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia. Results: Patients with schizophrenia had significantly higher mean scores on the NES total test and subtests than the control group. Higher cognition was significantly associated with lower NES total and subtest scores. Higher functional independence was significantly associated with a lower NES total score (Beta = −.25), lower motor coordination subtest score (Beta = −.04), and lower others subtest (Beta = −.12). When taking the functional independence scale as the dependent variable, a higher NES total score was significantly associated with lower functioning (Beta = −0.03). Conclusion: NSS were associated to neurocognitive impairments in almost every domain among patients with schizophrenia. Further prospective research is still needed to confirm this role.

2.13 A Study of Neurological Soft Signs in Children With ADHD: Patterns and Correlations

2.13 A Study of Neurological Soft Signs in Children With ADHD: Patterns and Correlations

Neurological Soft Signs and Social Cognition in Patients with Schizophrenia: the Missing Link

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental disorder characterised by a pronounced decline in mental, physical, and social functioning. Our study aims to investigate the relationship between the socio-cognitive and the subtle motor and sensory symptoms of schizophrenia, which are, respectively, represented by facial emotion recognition deficits (FERD) and neurological soft signs (NSS). Thus, we assessed 60 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. FERD was measured with the “Averaged Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces” set, and NSS was assessed with the Neurological Evaluation Scale. A strong and significant negative correlation was found between the NSS total score and the FERD total score (r = –0.7, p < 0.001). There was also a significant negative correlation between several of the subscores of both instruments. The results show that impaired social cognition is significantly associated with soft neurological disturbances in patients suffering from schizophrenia. Taken together, this reinforces the notion that schizophrenia is characterised by dysfunction and disconnection of a complex cerebral network, which can probably be influenced by psychosocial and physical nonpharmacological therapeutic interventions.

ASSESSING MOTOR NEUROLOGICAL SOFT SIGNS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: CONFIRMATORY FACTOR ANALYSIS OF PORTUGUESE VERSION OF BMS-P

Motor Neurological Soft Signs (MNSS) has been increasingly studied in people with schizophrenia spectrum, contributing to the knowledge of psychomotor disorders. However, there is still scarce the availability of valid and reliable instruments for this assessment worldwide, and in Portugal there is none. Objective: The aim of this study was to analyze the factor structure model of the Portuguese version of the Brief Motor Scale. Method: The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in a sample of 103 participants with schizophrenia, 82 males and 21 females, mean age 44.21 (+11.25). A one-factor model was compared with three two-factor models based on the literature and a previous exploratory factor analysis. Results: The results of this study showed good fit indices and provide evidence to support a two-factor model for the assessment of motor neurological soft signs in persons with schizophrenia. Conclusions: It was proposed a new construct for MNSS assessment consists of 2 domains and 9 items distributed among them.

Potential Role of Smartphone Technology in Advancing Work on Neurological Soft Signs with a Focus on Schizophrenia.

• Outline and Identify potential benefits of using neurological soft signs (NSS) as biomarkers of schizophrenia. Since the late 1960s, NSS have been a focus of study across psychiatric illnesses, including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia in particular. Utilizing these subtle neurological impairments as biomarkers of illness has numerous benefits; NSS offer a direct connection between clinical presentation and neurological functioning, and assessments are cost-effective. However, incongruent measurement scales, confounding variables, and rating system subjectivity have hindered the advancement and scalability of NSS research and clinical implementation. This article provides a brief overview of the literature on NSS as related to schizophrenia, and proposes utilizing smartphone sensing technology to create standardized NSS assessments with objective scoring. Incorporating digital phenotyping into NSS assessment offers the potential to make measurement more scalable, accessible, and directly comparable across locations, cultures, and demographics. We conducted a narrative search in PubMed and APA PsycInfo using the following keywords: neurological soft signs, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and psychotic illnesses. No date limitations were used. There is no other direct work on NSS and new smartphone methods like digital phenotyping; though, there is related work in neurology. Harnessing advances in smartphone technology could provide greater insight into and further our understanding of specific aspects of the NSS field. For instance, it could help us distinguish trait vs. state markers and better understand how distinct groups of signs may reflect different aspects of psychiatric illness and neurological impairment. In addition, such technology can help advance research on the capabilities of NSS as an effective diagnostic tool.

997 Traumatic Jejunal Rupture Following Gaelic Football Game. Case Report

Abstract Aim Abdominal injury accounts for just 6.3% of injuries in sport. The most common mechanisms are contacts with a player (74.5%), a surface (8.1%) or equipment (0.6%). Only twelve cases of Jejunal rupture are described in the literature. Method This case involves a young Gaelic football player who had significant abdominal contact with other players’ knees. He experienced nausea and left flank pain radiating to the groin. At the Emergency Department the heart rate was 95 beats per minute and blood pressure was 120/70 mmHg. There was bruising in the left flank at the impact site and some guarding. Initial investigations showed normal inflammatory markers and a normal Chest X-ray. Nine hours later the white cell count had increased to 17.85x10^9 and CRP to 106mg/L. Abdominal and Pelvic CT scanning suggested a bowel injury with free fluid in the left flank and pelvis. Management Exploratory laparotomy identified a jejunal rupture 10cm distal to the duodenal-jejunal flexure. A primary two-layer repair was performed. Antibiotic and anti-fungal cover were prescribed, and he was discharged well on day 5. Conclusions Owing to the rarity of bowel injury after blunt trauma, soft peritoneal signs and radiological insensitivity, the diagnosis of small bowel perforation is often delayed and can be associated with marked morbidity and mortality. Serial examinations and a high index of suspicion is required to detect bowel injuries in the case of blunt abdominal trauma in contact sports.

Utilizing Remote Sensing and Satellite-Based Bouguer Gravity data to Predict Potential Sites of Hydrothermal Minerals and Gold Deposits in Central Saudi Arabia

This article aims to aid in exploring and forecasting hydrothermal minerals and gold deposits in Central Saudi Arabia (SA), with a focus on structural contexts. Remote sensing (RS) and satellite-based Bouguer gravity (SBG) data were integrated in order to create a mineral prediction map for the researched location. Data from the Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) were transformed and enhanced using a variety of approaches. The delineation of hydrothermal alteration zones (HAZs) and highlighting of structural discontinuities in the OLI data were made possible using band ratios and oriented principal component analysis (PCA). Additionally, the underlying structural features were successfully exposed by processing the SBG using a variety of edge detection techniques, like the analytical signal (AS), total horizontal derivative (THD), tilt angle (TA), horizontal tilt angle (TDX), theta map (TM), horizontal derivative of the tilt derivative (HD_TDR), horizontal gradient of the tilt angle (HGTA), tilt angle of the analytical signal (TAAS), and soft sign function (SF). As a result, more prominent lineaments were found in the NW–SE, NNW–SSE, NE–SW, and NNE–SSW directions than in the N–S and E–W directions. The GIS incorporated surface/subsurface geological structure density maps with zones of hydrothermal alteration. It was found that the lineaments derived from the analysis of the RS and SBG data were more in line with the HAZs, which demonstrated the common connection between alteration zones and deep lineaments. The findings revealed a mineral prediction map with extremely low to extremely high probabilities. Overall, combining RS and SBG data effectively identified probable mineralization sites associated with hydrothermal processes and made it easier to create this study’s final predictive mineralization map.

A tablet-based quantitative assessment of manual dexterity for detection of early psychosis.

We performed a pilot study on whether tablet-based measures of manual dexterity can provide behavioral markers for detection of first-episode psychosis (FEP), and whether cortical excitability/inhibition was altered in FEP. Behavioral and neurophysiological testing was undertaken in persons diagnosed with FEP (N = 20), schizophrenia (SCZ, N = 20), autism spectrum disorder (ASD, N = 20), and in healthy control subjects (N = 20). Five tablet tasks assessed different motor and cognitive functions: Finger Recognition for effector (finger) selection and mental rotation, Rhythm Tapping for temporal control, Sequence Tapping for control/memorization of motor sequences, Multi Finger Tapping for finger individuation, and Line Tracking for visuomotor control. Discrimination of FEP (from other groups) based on tablet-based measures was compared to discrimination through clinical neurological soft signs (NSS). Cortical excitability/inhibition, and cerebellar brain inhibition were assessed with transcranial magnetic stimulation. Compared to controls, FEP patients showed slower reaction times and higher errors in Finger Recognition, and more variability in Rhythm Tapping. Variability in Rhythm Tapping showed highest specificity for the identification of FEP patients compared to all other groups (FEP vs. ASD/SCZ/Controls; 75% sensitivity, 90% specificity, AUC = 0.83) compared to clinical NSS (95% sensitivity, 22% specificity, AUC = 0.49). Random Forest analysis confirmed FEP discrimination vs. other groups based on dexterity variables (100% sensitivity, 85% specificity, balanced accuracy = 92%). The FEP group had reduced short-latency intra-cortical inhibition (but similar excitability) compared to controls, SCZ, and ASD. Cerebellar inhibition showed a non-significant tendency to be weaker in FEP. FEP patients show a distinctive pattern of dexterity impairments and weaker cortical inhibition. Easy-to-use tablet-based measures of manual dexterity capture neurological deficits in FEP and are promising markers for detection of FEP in clinical practice.

Contribution of advanced edge detection filters for the structural mapping of the Douala Sedimentary Basin along the Gulf of Guinea

The Douala sedimentary basin (DSB) is an area of interest because of its hydrocarbon potential. Geophysical investigations in this basin are necessary to understand its structural features better. In this study, we aimed to highlight the major lineaments of the DSB by interpreting gravity data using advanced edge detection filters based on various combinations of the horizontal and vertical gradients of the field, namely the total horizontal gradient (THG), analytical signal (AS), theta map (TM), gradient amplitude of the vertical derivative (THG_VD), the tilt angle of the total horizontal gradient amplitude (TAHG) and a novel edge detector based on the soft sign function (SF). These filters were first tested on synthetic data of a simple density model to examine their effectiveness. The results show that the edges of the model structures can be visualized with greater accuracy using the TAHG and SF filters compared to the results from the others.
 Further, although the TAHG and SF filters produced good results in identifying shallow and deep structures, solutions from SF proved to be better at delineating edges. Next, we applied these edge detection filters to the residual gravity anomaly of the study area obtained after a filtering process on the complete Bouguer anomaly. The SF filter clearly and accurately identifies the major structural features. The existence and location of previously unidentified lineaments have been shown. Most of the lineaments of the DSB extracted by this study provide geometric information on the lateral distribution of depositional successions filling the basin. The structural features are mainly concentrically from the volcanic center of Mount Cameroon and show that the DSB has probably been affected by earthquakes from the permanent activities of the Cameroon volcanic line since the Cretaceous. The highlighted lineaments of the DSB obtained from this study may shed light on future studies to improve mineral/hydrocarbon exploitation and update the area's geological/tectonic information.

Grey matter correlates of dystonic soft signs in essential tremor

BackgroundQuestionable signs of dystonia are a common finding in patients with essential tremor (ET). Brain structural alterations in ET patients plus dystonic soft signs (ET + ds) in comparison to ET patients without dystonic soft signs (ET-ds) or patients with tremor associated with manifest dystonia (TAWD) have not been examined yet. Therefore, our study aims to explore alterations of brain grey matter in patients with ET + ds. MethodsA total of 68 elderly patients with ET-ds (n = 32), ET + ds (n = 20) or idiopathic cervical dystonia with dystonia associated action tremor of the upper limbs (TAWD, n = 16) and 42 age-matched healthy controls underwent a clinical and electrophysiological assessment and 3T MRI. For grey matter alterations T1 MRI images were analysed by voxel-based morphometry. Additionally, regression analyses with clinical parameters (tremor frequency, severity and disease duration) were performed. ResultsVBM showed a significant increase of grey matter in the right lentiform nucleus in ET + ds and TAWD compared to HC and ET-ds. Further, an increase of cortical grey matter in the middle frontal gyrus in ET + ds was shown. The hypertrophy of the lentiform nucleus in ET + ds was correlated with disease severity and duration. ConclusionPatients with ET + ds showed grey matter brain structural alterations similar to TAWD. Our findings suggest an involvement of the basal ganglia-cortical loop in ET + ds which may indicate a pathophysiological similarity with TAWD rather than ET.

Feasibility of a placebo-controlled trial of antibiotics for possible urinary tract infection in care homes: a qualitative interview study.

Diagnosis of suspected urinary tract infection (UTI) in care and nursing home residents is commonly based on vague non-localising symptoms (for example, confusion), potentially leading to inappropriate antibiotic prescription. The safety of withholding antibiotics in such cases could be addressed by a randomised controlled trial (RCT); however, this would require close monitoring of residents, and support from care home staff, clinicians, residents, and families. To explore the views of residential care and nursing home staff (herein referred to as care home staff) and primary care clinicians on the feasibility and design of a potential RCT of antibiotics for suspected UTI in care home residents, with no localising urinary symptoms. A qualitative interview study with primary care clinicians and care home staff in the UK. Semi-structured interviews with 16 care home staff and 11 primary care clinicians were thematically analysed. Participants were broadly supportive of the proposed RCT. The safety of residents was a priority and there was strong support for using the RESTORE2 (Recognise Early Soft Signs, Take Observations, Respond, Escalate) assessment tool to monitor residents; however, there were concerns about associated training requirements, especially for night and temporary staff. Effective communication (with residents, families, and staff) was deemed essential, and carers were confident that residents and families would be supportive of the RCT if the rationale was clearly explained and safety systems were robust. There were mixed views on a placebo-controlled design. The perceived additional burden was seen as a potential barrier, and the use of temporary staff and the out-of-hours period were highlighted as potential risk areas. The support for this potential trial was encouraging. Future development will need to prioritise resident safety (especially in the out-of-hours period), effective communication, and minimising additional burden on staff to optimise recruitment.

Neurological Soft Signs in Schizophrenia, a Picture of the Knowledge in the Last Decade: A Scoping Review.

(1) Background: Neurological Soft Signs (NSS) are subtle neurological abnormalities that are more common in schizophrenia patients than in healthy individuals and have been regularly observed in neuroleptic-naive first-episode patients, supporting the hypothesis that they are an intrinsic component of schizophrenia. (2) Methods: a review of articles published in the last ten years (from January 2013 to January 2023) was carried out on articles published in ScienceDirect and PubMed, by following the PRISMA Statement extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR), which evaluated the impact of NSS in correlation with the symptomatology, neuroleptic treatment, and the cerebral structural changes of patients with schizophrenia. (3) Results: thirty articles were included, among them twelve included MRI structural evaluation and four studies with a longitudinal design. (4) Conclusions: interest in researching NSS has increased in recent years, but questions remain about their origin and relationship to schizophrenia symptoms, thus this study aims to fill in information gaps in the hope that future research will help provide individualized treatment. It is suggested that NSS in schizophrenia might have an inherited genetic relationship pattern, thus being in line with a trait viewpoint. Most of the research revealed that schizophrenia patients had higher NSS scores than healthy controls, however, they were rather similar to their first-degree relatives, thus, also arguing in favor of a trait perspective. The greatest improvement in scores is seen in those with a remitting course, as shown by declining NSS ratings concurrent with symptomatology.

Predictive signs of dysgraphia: graphesthesia as a soft sensory finding in children with writing difficulties in Arabic language

BackgroundDysgraphia is one of the learning disabilities that require a complex set motor actions. It affects writing skills in the form of poor handwriting, spelling problems, and difficulty in writing thoughts and ideas. Children with learning disabilities often show some soft neurological signs as graphesthesia. The aim of this work is to study graphesthesia as a predictive sign that could be associated with developmental dysgraphia.ResultsGraphesthesia test showed significant difference when applied on dysgraphic children compared to children with normal leaning development.ConclusionGraphesthesia is a soft neurological sign that showed to be affected in Arabic dysgraphic children and could be used as a quick predictive test for dysgraphia before applying the formal graded tests.

Can neurological soft signs and neurocognitive deficits serve as a combined endophenotype for Han Chinese with bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder's (BD) potential endophenotypes include neurological soft signs (NSS) and neurocognitive disorders (ND). Few research, meanwhile, has coupled NSS and ND as combined endophenotypes of BD. This study intends to investigate NSS and ND and compare their differences in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (EBP), their unaffected first-degree relatives (FDR), and healthy controls (HC). Additionally, search for potential endophenotypic subprojects of NSS and ND and construct and verify a composite endophenotypic. The subjects were all Han Chinese and consisted of 86 EBP, 81 FDR, and 81HC. Cambridge Neurological Inventory and MATRICSTM Consensus Cognitive Battery tested NSS and ND independently. All three groups displayed a trapezoidal distribution of NSS levels and cognitive abnormalities, with EBP having the most severe NSS levels and cognitive deficits, followed by FDR and HC. Among them, motor coordination in NSS and Information processing speed (IPS), Verbal learning (VL), and Working memory (WM) in neurocognitive function are consistent with the traits of the endophenotype of BD. The accuracy in differentiating EBP and HC or FDRs and HC was higher when these items were combined as predictor factors than in differentiating EBP and FDR. These results provide more evidence that motor coordination, IPS, VL, and WM may be internal characteristics of bipolar disease. When these characteristics are combined into a complex endophenotype, it may be possible to distinguish BD patients and high-risk groups from normal populations.

Neurological soft signs and schizophrenia.

Neurological soft signs (NSS) are likely to represent abnormal neurodevelopment and aberration in neural maturation and connectivity. They may not be unique to schizophrenia, but they appear to be a trait characteristic in psychosis and therefore could serve as an objective measure for the assessment of serious psychiatric disorder in the prodromal phase, at onset, and along the course of the disease. Evidence so far proposes that NSS are independent of antipsychotic treatment and therefore constitute a trait symptom, independent of the illness stage and medication. Somatomotor and somatosensory regions, spatial orientation, and visual processing areas, cerebellum, and basal ganglia are implicated as possible structural substrates of NSS. Several studies have examined the relationship between NSS and schizophrenia positive, negative symptoms and deficit syndrome; however, results have been so far ambiguous. Neurocognitive symptoms have been moderately related to NSS suggesting that neurocognitive deficits may contribute to the construct of NSS. Regardless of the fact that NSS are not unique to schizophrenia but extend across to the schizotypy continuum, they may help identify individuals at risk of developing schizophrenia later in life.

Clinical Characteristics of Melancholic and Nonmelancholic Depressions.

This study aimed to compare clinical-demographic features of melancholic and nonmelancholic depressions. We included 141 depressed inpatients classified as melancholic and nonmelancholic by the Sydney Melancholia Prototype Index (SMPI) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) criteria. Results were controlled for confounders, including severity measures. Melancholic patients by both diagnostic systems were more severely depressed and presented more psychotic symptoms, neurological soft signs, and psychomotor disturbances. Melancholic patients classified by the SMPI were also older at illness onset and had fewer suicide attempts. After controlling for confounders, although all differences remained significant for SMPI diagnosis, the DSM-5 diagnosis of melancholia was only associated with further impaired motor sequencing. The results obtained with the SMPI support the hypothesis that melancholia has clinical features qualitatively different from those of nonmelancholic depressions. Contrarily, the DSM-5 specifier seems to reflect the severity of depressive episodes rather than core clinical features of melancholia.

Neurological soft signs are increased in major depressive disorder irrespective of treatment

The significance of neurological soft signs (NSS) in major depressive disorder (MDD) remains unclear and the stability of NSS in relation to antidepressant treatment has never been investigated. We hypothesized that NSS are relatively stable trait markers of MDD. We thus predicted that patients show more NSS than healthy controls, irrespective of illness duration and antidepressant treatment. To test this hypothesis, NSS were assessed in chronically depressed, medicated MDD patients before (n = 23) and after (n = 18) a series of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In addition, NSS were assessed once in acutely depressed, unmedicated MDD patients (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 20). We found that both chronically depressed, medicated MDD patients and acutely depressed, unmedicated MDD patients showed more NSS than healthy controls. The degree of NSS in both patient groups did not differ. Importantly, we found no change in NSS after on average eleven sessions of ECT. Thus, the manifestation of NSS in MDD seems to be independent of illness duration and pharmacological and electroconvulsive antidepressant treatment. From a clinical perspective, our findings corroborate the neurological safety of ECT.

Functional correlates of neurological soft signs in heavy cannabis users.

Sensorimotor dysfunction has been previously reported in persons with cannabis dependence. Such individuals can exhibit increased levels of neurological soft signs (NSS), particularly involving motor coordination, sensorimotor integration and complex motor task performance. Abnormal NSS levels can also be detected in non-dependent individuals with heavy cannabis use (HCU), yet very little is known about the functional correlates underlying such deficits. Here, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate associations between NSS and intrinsic neural activity (INA) in HCU (n= 21) and controls (n= 26). Compared with controls, individuals with HCU showed significantly higher NSS across all investigated subdomains. Three of these subdomains, that is, motor coordination, sensorimotor integration and complex motor task behaviour, were associated with specific use-dependent variables, particularly age of onset of cannabis use and current cannabis use. Between-group comparisons of INA revealed lower regional homogeneity (ReHo) in left precentral gyrus, left inferior occipital gyrus, right triangular pat of the inferior frontal gyrus and right precentral gyrus in HCU compared with controls. In addition, HCU showed also higher ReHo in right cerebellum and left postcentral gyrus compared with controls. Complex motor task behaviour in HCU was significantly related to INA in postcentral, inferior frontal and occipital cortices. Our findings indicate abnormal ReHo in HCU in regions associated with sensorimotor, executive control and visuomotor-integration processes. Importantly, we show associations between ReHo, cannabis-use behaviour and execution of complex motor tasks. Given convergent findings in manifest psychotic disorders, this study suggests an HCU endophenotype that may present with a cumulative risk for psychosis.

Presence of neurologic signs in children with neurofibromatosis type 1

Neurofibromatosis type 1 is a common neurogenetic disorder affecting nervous system, caused by germiline mutations of the NF1 gene. Although the clinical diagnosis of NF1 is defined by presence of cafe-au-laits spots, freckling and benign tumors (neurofibromatosis), neurocognitive impairment and neuropsychiatric disorders are reported in comorbidity. Children with NF1 show higher incidence of executive deficits, such attention, response inhibition, executive planning and problem solving, working memory, and learning impairment. In this study we examine the presence of neurological soft signs and planning function in subjects with NF1. The NSS are minor motor and sensory abnormalities without focal brain damage. Eleven drug naïve children between 7-15 years with clinical and molecular diagnosis of NF are matched to 11 healthy controls to ass the presence of neurological soft signs and planning executive functions. NSS were assessed using Physical and Neurological Examination for Subtle Signs and the Tower of London task is performance test to assess the capacity of planning, organization and execution of a work. Our results revealed highest rate of NSS and planning deficit in children with NF1 compared to healthy controls. The motor abnormalities and planning deficit are possible markers to confirm that NF1 could be considering a neurodevelopmental disorder.

A preliminary study on similarities and dissimilarities of Neurological Soft Signs in schizophrenic and obsessive-compulsive disorders suggests a common maldevelopmental model.

Neurological Soft Signs (NSS) represent minor neurological signs related to non-specific cerebral alterations. They have been documented in many psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia (SCZ) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Aim of this study was to determine and compare the incidence and severity of NSS in patients with SCZ, in patients with OCD, and healthy control subjects (HCs). Using the Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES), this study investigated NSS in 15 SCZ patients, 14 OCD patients, and 15 HCs. PANSS and Y-BOCS were used to evaluate clinical picture in both groups. Patients with SCZ showed significantly higher scores compared to HCs in the NES total and each of the three NES subscales (Integrative Sensory Function, Motor Coordination, and Sequencing of Complex Motor Acts). Patients with OCD also showed significantly higher scores compared to HCs in the NES total, Motor Coordination and Sequencing of Complex Motor Acts, but not in Integrative Sensory Function. No significant differences emerged in the NES total and the various subscales scores between the two patients' groups. Our results seem to confirm the presence of NSS in both SCZ and OCD. The different types of NSS presented by the two patients' groups versus HCs further supports the findings of widespread cerebral alterations in SCZ, on the other hand, with a preferential involvement of prefrontal and frontal cortex in OCD.