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Introduction Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are complex and challenging mental disorders, whose etiopathogenesis can be traced back to a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors that begins at the [...], The pathophysiology of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder involves a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors that begins in the early stages of neurodevelopment. Recent advancements in the field of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer a promising tool for understanding the neurobiological alterations involved in these disorders and, potentially, for developing new treatment options. In this review, we summarize the results of iPSC-based research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, showing disturbances in neurodevelopmental processes, imbalance in glutamatergic-GABAergic transmission and neuromorphological alterations. The limitations of the reviewed literature are also highlighted, particularly the methodological heterogeneity of the studies, the limited number of studies developing iPSC models of both diseases simultaneously, and the lack of in-depth clinical characterization of the included samples. Further studies are needed to advance knowledge on the common and disease-specific pathophysiological features of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and to promote the development of new treatment options.

The assessment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia has advanced since the 2006 NIMH-MATRICS Consensus Statement, leading to the development of second-generation rating scales like the Brief Negative Symptom Scale and the Clinical Assessment Interview for Negative Symptoms. These scales address the limitations of first-generation tools, such as the inclusion of aspects that are not negative symptoms and the lack of assessment of the subject's internal experience. However, psychometric validation of these scales is still in progress, and they are not yet recommended by regulatory agencies, thus limiting their use in clinical trials and settings. Complementing these traditional methods, remote digital phenotyping offers a novel approach by leveraging smartphones and wearable technology to capture real-time, high-resolution clinical data. Despite the potential to overcome traditional assessment barriers, challenges remain in aligning these digital measures with clinical ratings and ensuring data security. Equally important is patient acceptance, as the success of remote digital phenotyping relies on the willingness of patients to use these technologies. This review provides a critical overview of both second-generation scales and remote digital phenotyping for assessing negative symptoms, highlighting future research needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In recent years, the increasing presence of refugees and asylum seekers displaced from their country of origin, determined significant social, economic, humanitarian and public health implications in host countries, including Italy. These populations are exposed to several potential stressful experiences which make them vulnerable to psychological distress. In fact, the majority of studies addressing the topic found a higher prevalence of mental disorders, especially post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder, in refugees and asylum seekers with respect to the general population. However, heterogeneous prevalence rates have been reported among studies, due to methodological factor as well as to the impact of a variety of risk factors related to stressful experiences lived in the country of origin, during the migration journey and in the host country. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of the main psychiatric diagnoses in a large group of adult refugees and asylum seekers (N=303) in the reception centers of two provinces of the Campania region, as well as to investigate the impact of potential risk factors on the occurrence of psychiatric disorders. Methods: The diagnosis of psychiatric disorders and the identification of subjects at high risk to develop psychosis were carried out by means of structured diagnostic interviews. The following variables were explored as potential risk/protective factors to the occurrence of psychiatric disorders: socio-demographic variables, migration status (refugees/asylum seekers) and characteristics of the reception center,assessed by means of an ad hoc questionnaire; cognitive indices assessed by using standardized neuropsychological tests; traumatic experiences and level of political terror in the country of origin, assessed by means of reliable and valid self-report questionnaires. Results: At least one mental disorder was found in 29.7% of the sample. Most prevalent diagnoses were depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and PTSD. Women showed, with respect to men, a higher prevalence of anxiety disorders, higher trauma levels, and came from more at-risk countries. Higher trauma levels, better cognitive abilities and unemployment and refugee status were associated to the presence of a current psychiatric disorder in the whole sample. Conclusions: Our findings showed a higher prevalence of depressive disorders and PTSD in the sample of refugees and asylum seekers with respect to the general population and highlighted the role of potential risk factors whose identification may guide the implementation of preventive strategies and early treatments in these people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The development of neuroimaging biomarkers in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) requires a refined clinical characterization. A limitation of the neuroimaging literature is the partial uptake of progress in characterizing disease-related features, particularly negative symptoms (NS) and cognitive impairment (CI). In the present study, we assessed NS and CI using up-to-date instruments and investigated the associations of abnormalities in brain restingstate (rs)-activity with disease-related features. Methods: Sixty-two community-dwelling SCZ subjects participated in the study. Multiple regression analyses were performed with the rs-activity of nine regions of interest as dependent variables and disease-related features as explanatory variables. Results: Attention/vigilance deficits were negatively associated with dorsal anterior cingulate rs-activity and, together with depression, were positively associated with right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex rs-activity. These deficits and impairment of Reasoning/problem-solving, together with conceptual disorganization, were associated with right inferior parietal lobule and temporal parietal junction rs-activity. Independent of other features, the NS Expressive Deficit domain was associated with the left ventral caudate, while the Motivational Deficit was associated with the dorsal caudate rs-activity. Conclusion: Neurocognitive deficits and the two negative symptom domains are associated with different neural markers. Replications of these findings could foster the identification of clinically actionable biomarkers of poor functional outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs), although conceptualized as separate entities, may share some clinical and neurobiological features. ASD symptoms may have a relevant role in determining a more severe clinical presentation of schizophrenic disorder but their relationships with cognitive aspects and functional outcomes of the disease remain to be addressed in large samples of individuals. Aims To investigate the clinical, cognitive, and functional correlates of ASD symptoms in a large sample of people diagnosed with schizophrenia. Methods The severity of ASD symptoms was measured with the PANSS Autism Severity Scale (PAUSS) in 921 individuals recruited for the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses multicenter study. Based on the PAUSS scores, three groups of subjects were compared on a wide array of cognitive and functional measures. Results Subjects with more severe ASD symptoms showed a poorer performance in the processing speed (p = 0.010), attention (p = 0.011), verbal memory (p = 0.035), and social cognition (p = 0.001) domains, and an overall lower global cognitive composite score (p = 0.010). Subjects with more severe ASD symptoms also showed poorer functional capacity (p = 0.004), real-world interpersonal relationships (p

Background. The conceptualization of negative symptoms (NS) in schizophrenia is still controversial. Recent confirmatory factor-analytic studies suggested that the bi-dimensional model (motivational deficit [MAP] and expressive deficit [EXP]) may not capture the complexity of NS structure, which could be better defined by a five-factor (five NS domains) or a hierarchical model (five NS domains as first-order factors, and MAP and EXP, as second-order factors). A validation of these models is needed to define the structure of NS. To evaluate the validity and temporal stability of the five-factor or the hierarchical structure of the brief negative symptom scale (BNSS) in individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ), exploring associations between these models with cognition, social cognition, functional capacity, and functioning at baseline and at 4 years follow-up. Methods. Clinical variables were assessed using state-of-the-art tools in 612 SCZ at two-time points. The validity of the five-factor and the hierarchical models was analyzed through structural equation models. Results. The two models had both a good fit and showed a similar pattern of associations with external validators at the two-time points, with minor variations. The five-factor solution had a slightly better fit. The associations with external validators favored the five-factor structure. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that both five-factor and hierarchical models provide a valid conceptualization of NS in relation to external variables and that five-factor solution provides the best balance between parsimony and granularity to summarize the BNSS structure. This finding has important implications for the study of pathophysiological mechanisms and the development of new treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]