The Experts below are selected from a list of 501 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Keith H Nuechterlein - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the impact of second generation antipsychotic adherence on positive and negative symptoms in recent onset schizophrenia
Schizophrenia Research, 2014Co-Authors: Kenneth L Subotnik, Joseph Ventura, Keith H Nuechterlein, Denise Gretchendoorly, Gerhard Hellemann, Elisha R Agee, Laurie R Casaus, John S Luo, Kathleen F VillaAbstract:Abstract Objective The aim of the study was to explore the extent to which initial severity of positive or negative symptoms in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia is related to medication nonadherence during the first outpatient year. Methods The study involved 64 first-episode schizophrenia patients treated with the second-generation oral antipsychotic medication, risperidone, for 12 months. Symptoms were evaluated using the SANS and SAPS completed every 3 months. Pearson correlations between medication adherence and symptoms were examined over each 3-month interval during 12 months of follow-through treatment. Possible causality was inferred from cross-lagged panel analyses. Results As expected, higher levels of adherence with antipsychotic medication were generally associated with lower levels of concurrent reality distortion (mean of SAPS delusions and hallucinations). Greater adherence during the 3-month baseline interval was generally associated with lower levels of avolition–apathy as well as Alogia throughout the first outpatient year. However, medication adherence was not significantly associated with decreases in avolition–apathy or Alogia over time. Cross-lagged panel analyses based on correlation coefficients are consistent with a causal relationship between initial medication adherence and lower levels of Alogia. A test of mediation confirmed that an indirect path through reality distortion mediated the relationship between medication nonadherence and Alogia. Conclusions The associations between greater medication adherence and lower levels of negative symptoms appeared to be accounted for by the relationship of both variables to positive psychotic symptoms. The findings suggest that the impact of second-generation antipsychotic medication on suppression of negative symptoms might be mediated via a reduction in positive symptoms.
Alex S Cohen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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using machine learning of computerized vocal expression to measure blunted vocal affect and Alogia
npj Schizophrenia, 2020Co-Authors: Alex S Cohen, Gregory P. Strauss, Christopher R Cox, Tovah Cowan, Michael D Masucci, Brian KirkpatrickAbstract:Negative symptoms are a transdiagnostic feature of serious mental illness (SMI) that can be potentially "digitally phenotyped" using objective vocal analysis. In prior studies, vocal measures show low convergence with clinical ratings, potentially because analysis has used small, constrained acoustic feature sets. We sought to evaluate (1) whether clinically rated blunted vocal affect (BvA)/Alogia could be accurately modelled using machine learning (ML) with a large feature set from two separate tasks (i.e., a 20-s "picture" and a 60-s "free-recall" task), (2) whether "Predicted" BvA/Alogia (computed from the ML model) are associated with demographics, diagnosis, psychiatric symptoms, and cognitive/social functioning, and (3) which key vocal features are central to BvA/Alogia ratings. Accuracy was high (>90%) and was improved when computed separately by speaking task. ML scores were associated with poor cognitive performance and social functioning and were higher in patients with schizophrenia versus depression or mania diagnoses. However, the features identified as most predictive of BvA/Alogia were generally not considered critical to their operational definitions. Implications for validating and implementing digital phenotyping to reduce SMI burden are discussed.
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ambulatory digital phenotyping of blunted affect and Alogia using objective facial and vocal analysis proof of concept
Schizophrenia Research, 2020Co-Authors: Alex S Cohen, Brian Kirkpatrick, Tovah Cowan, Elana K Schwartz, Ian M Raugh, Hannah C Chapman, Gregory P. StraussAbstract:Abstract Negative symptoms reflect one of the most debilitating aspects of one of the most debilitating diseases known to humankind. As yet, our treatments for negative symptoms are palliative at best and our understanding of their causes is relatively superficial. To address this, we are developing objective ambulatory tools for digitally phenotyping their severity which can be used outside the confines of the traditional clinical and research settings. The present study evaluated the feasibility, reliability and validity of ambulatory vocal acoustic and facial emotion expression analysis. Videos were provided by 25 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 27 nonpsychiatric controls using inexpensive, non-invasive ambulatory recording methods. Controls provided 411 video recordings, and patients provided 377 video recordings; an average of 15.22 and 14.50 per participant per group respectively. The vast majority (over 80%) of these videos were usable for analysis. An empirically-supported, limited-feature vocal (7 features) and facial (3 features) set was examined. Within participants, these features varied considerably over time, but showed moderate to good test-retest reliability in many cases once contextual factors (e.g., activity involved in at the time of testing) were accounted for. Vocal and facial features showed statistically significant convergence with a “gold standard” negative symptom measure. Ambulatory vocal/facial features were more strongly associated with engagement in social or work activities in patients than negative symptom ratings. These data support the use of ambulatory vocal/facial analytic technologies for digital phenotyping of these negative symptoms.
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blunted vocal affect and expression is not associated with schizophrenia a computerized acoustic analysis of speech under ambiguous conditions
Comprehensive Psychiatry, 2018Co-Authors: Lauren T Meaux, Kyle R Mitchell, Alex S CohenAbstract:Abstract Introduction Patients with schizophrenia are consistently rated by clinicians as having high levels of blunted vocal affect and Alogia. However, objective technologies have often failed to substantiate these abnormalities. It could be the case that negative symptoms are context-dependent. Objectives The present study examined speech elicited under conditions demonstrated to exacerbate thought disorder. Methods The Rorschach Test was administered to 36 outpatients with schizophrenia and 25 nonpatient controls. Replies to separate “perceptual” and “memory” phases were analyzed using validated acoustic analytic methods. Results Compared to nonpatient controls, schizophrenia patients did not display abnormal speech expression on objective measure of blunted vocal affect or Alogia. Moreover, clinical ratings of negative symptoms were not significantly correlated with objective measures. Conclusions These findings suggest that in patients with schizophrenia, vocal affect/Alogia is generally unremarkable under ambiguous conditions. Clarifying the nature of blunted vocal affect and Alogia, and how objective measures correspond to what clinicians attend to when making clinical ratings are important directions for future research.
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what do we really know about blunted vocal affect and Alogia a meta analysis of objective assessments
Schizophrenia Research, 2014Co-Authors: Alex S Cohen, Kyle R Mitchell, Brita ElvevagAbstract:Deficits in nonverbal vocal expression (e.g., blunted vocal affect, Alogia) are a hallmark of schizophrenia and are a focus of the Research Domain Criteria initiative from the National Institute of Mental Health. Results from studies using symptom rating scales suggest that these deficits are profound; on the order of four to six standard deviations. To complement this endeavor, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies employing objective analysis of natural speech in patients with schizophrenia and nonpsychiatric controls. Thirteen studies, collectively including 480 patients with schizophrenia and 326 nonpsychiatric controls, were identified. There was considerable variability across studies in which aspects of vocal communication were examined and in the magnitudes of deficit. Overall, speech production (reflecting Alogia) was impaired at a large effects size level (d=-.80; k=13), whereas speech variability (reflecting blunted affect) was much more modest (d=-.36; k=2). Regarding the former, this was largely driven by measures of pause behavior, as opposed to other aspects of speech (e.g., number of words/utterances). On the other hand, ratings of negative symptoms across these studies suggested profound group differences (d=3.54; k=4). These data suggest that only certain aspects of vocal expression are affected in schizophrenia, and highlight major discrepancies between symptom rating and objective-based measures. The discussion centers on advancing objective analysis for understanding vocal expression in schizophrenia and for identifying and defining more homogenous patient subsets for study.
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on the boundaries of blunt affect Alogia across severe mental illness implications for research domain criteria
Schizophrenia Research, 2012Co-Authors: Alex S Cohen, Gina M Najolia, Yunjung Kim, Thomas J DinzeoAbstract:There is growing awareness that reduced expressive behaviors (e.g., blunt affect, Alogia, psychomotor retardation) are characteristic of a range of psychiatric conditions, including mood and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. From a Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) perspective, it would be critical to determine whether these symptoms manifest similarly across diagnostic groups--as they may share common pathophysiological underpinnings. The present study employed computerized acoustic analysis of speech produced in reaction to a range of visual stimuli in 48 stable outpatients with schizophrenia and mood disorders to offer preliminary understanding of this issue. Speaking assessments were administered 1 week-apart to examine how temporal stability might vary as a function of clinical diagnosis and symptom severity. Speech characteristics generally did not differ between groups and were similarly, and for the most part, highly stable over time. Aspects of speech were significantly associated with severity of psychosis and negative symptoms, but not with clinical depression/anxiety severity. Moreover, stability of speech characteristics generally did not vary as a function of diagnostic group or clinical severity. The magnitudes of group differences were almost exclusively in the negligible to small range. Speech production was associated with social functioning deficits. In sum, these preliminary data suggest that speech variables tap a stable and clinically important facet of psychopathology that cut across diagnostic categories. Computerized acoustic analysis of speech appears to be a promising method for understanding the pathological manifestation of these variables.
Simone Scalabrin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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genetic mapping of the incompatibility locus in olive and development of a linked sequence tagged site marker
Frontiers in Plant Science, 2020Co-Authors: Roberto Mariotti, Alice Fornasiero, Soraya Mousavi, Nicolo G M Cultrera, Federico Brizioli, S Pandolfi, Valentina Passeri, Martina Rossi, Gabriele Magris, Simone ScalabrinAbstract:The genetic control of self-incompatibility (SI) has been recently disclosed in olive. Inter-varietal crossing confirmed the presence of only two incompatibility groups (G1 and G2), suggesting a simple Mendelian inheritance of the trait. A ddRAD sequencing of a biparental population segregating for incompatibility groups has been performed and high-density linkage maps were constructed in order to map the SI locus and identify gene candidates and linked markers. The progeny consisted of a full-sib family of 229 individuals derived from the cross ‘Leccino’ (G1) × ‘Dolce Agogia’ (G2) varieties, segregating 1:1 (G1:G2), in accordance with a diallelic self-incompatibility (DSI) model. A total of 16,743 single nucleotide polymorphisms was identified, 7,006 in the female parent ‘Leccino’ and 9,737 in the male parent ‘Dolce Agogia’. Each parental map consisted of 23 linkage groups and showed an unusual large size (5,680 cM in ‘Leccino’ and 3,538 cM in ‘Dolce Agogia’). Recombination was decreased across all linkage groups in pollen mother cells of ‘Dolce Agogia’, the parent with higher heterozygosity, compared to megaspore mother cells of ‘Leccino’, in a context of a species that showed exceptionally high recombination rates. A subset of 109 adult plants was assigned to either incompatibility group by a stigma test and the diallelic self-incompatibility (DSI) locus was mapped to an interval of 5.4 cM on linkage group 18. This region spanned a size of approximately 300 Kb in the olive genome assembly. We developed a Sequence-Tagged Site marker in the DSI locus and identified five haplotypes in 57 cultivars with known incompatibility group assignment. A combination of two SNPs was sufficient to predict G1 or G2 phenotypes in olive cultivars, enabling early marker-assisted selection of compatible genotypes and allowing for a rapid screening of inter-compatibility among cultivars in order to guarantee effective fertilization and increase olive production. The construction of high-density linkage maps has led to the development of the first functional marker in olive and provided positional candidate genes in the SI locus.
Howard Berenbaum - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Alogia and formal thought disorder differential patterns of verbal fluency task performance
Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2011Co-Authors: Anna R Docherty, Howard Berenbaum, John G KernsAbstract:Abstract Background There is evidence that Alogia and formal thought disorder (FTD), two prominent speech symptoms in schizophrenia, are associated with different patterns of verbal fluency task deficits. Verbal fluency is thought to involve several cognitive mechanisms, including controlled retrieval, semantic memory, and context processing. Methods The current research examined whether Alogia and FTD were associated with different patterns of verbal fluency performance and whether these patterns of verbal fluency performance would implicate deficits in controlled retrieval, semantic memory, or context processing. In the current research, 34 people with schizophrenia completed letter and category fluency tasks and detailed ratings of Alogia and FTD symptoms were made from typed transcripts. Results Overall, Alogia was associated with increased response latency between each word on the category fluency task, suggesting an association between Alogia and poor controlled retrieval. In contrast, FTD was associated with a decreased proportion of semantically-related words on letter fluency, suggesting an association between FTD and poor context processing. Conclusions Alogia and FTD appear to be associated with unique patterns of fluency performance, implicating separate cognitive mechanisms.
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neuropsychological correlates of Alogia and affective flattening in schizophrenia
Biological Psychiatry, 1994Co-Authors: Neal Stolar, Howard Berenbaum, Marie T BanichAbstract:We examined whether two negative symptoms, Alogia and affective flattening, were more strongly associated with dysfunction of certain brain regions than with others in a sample of 27 schizophrenic subjects. Neuropsychological tests were used to measure the integrity of functioning of different brain regions. Functioning of left and right frontal regions was assessed by word fluency and design fluency, respectively, and functioning of the left temporo-hippocampal region was assessed by Hebb's digit-sequences recall test. Measures of Alogia and affective flattening were obtained using the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms. The results indicated that more severe levels of these negative symptoms were associated with poorer performance on the fluency tests. These relationships were fairly specific as indicated in two ways: (1) only certain neuropsychological measures were associated with negative symptoms; and (2) poor performance on fluency tests was not associated with all psychiatric symptoms. In addition, affective flattening, but not Alogia, appeared to be associated with lateralized dysfunction.
Marco P Boks - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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formal thought disorder in non clinical individuals with auditory verbal hallucinations
Schizophrenia Research, 2010Co-Authors: Iris E C Sommer, Annelea M C Derwort, Kirstin Daalman, Antoin D De Weijer, Peter F Liddle, Marco P BoksAbstract:Abstract Background Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) and formal thought disorder (FTD) may originate from the same aberration in the language system. The hypothesis of a shared neurobiological basis would be strengthened by the presence of FTD in individuals who frequently experience AVH, but do not meet DSM-IV criteria for a psychotic disorder. Methods In this study, FTD was quantified in 40 non-clinical subjects with AVH, in 50 healthy subjects without AVH and in 40 schizophrenia patients with AVH. Recorded speech samples were analysed by one rater who was blind to the presence/absence of AVH and to diagnosis, using the Thought and Language Index. Results Negative FTD was barely present in non-clinical subjects with AVH and in healthy controls without AVH. Positive FTD, however, was significantly higher in both groups experiencing AVH than in controls without AVH. Severity of positive FTD did not differ significantly between non-clinical subjects with AVH and schizophrenia patients with AVH. Conclusion Negative FTD (Alogia) appears not to be associated with AVH. However, the fact that positive FTD (disorganised speech) in schizophrenia patients with AVH is equally high in non-clinical subjects with AVH indicates that these two symptoms tend to co-occur, which may be suggestive of a shared neurobiological substrate.