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Functional deficits including cognitive impairment and social dysfunction are the core symptoms of schizophrenia (SCZ), and sensory gating (SG) deficits may be involved in the pathological mechanism of functional deficits in SCZ. This study was to investigate the relationship between defective P50 inhibition and functional deficits in first-episode drug naïve (FEDN) SCZ patients. A total of 95 FEDN SCZ patients and 53 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. The Chinese version of UCSD Performance-Based Skills (UPSA), MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), and EEG system were used to assess the social function, cognitive performance, and P50 inhibition, respectively. The MCCB total score and eight domain scores were significantly lower in patients with FEDN SCZ than those in HC (all p < 0.05). The UPSA total score and financial skills scores were also significantly lower in SCZ patients than that in the HC (all p < 0.05). Compared with HC, patients with FEDF SCZ had a higher P50 ratio (all p < 0.05). There was no correlation between P50 components and MCCB scores in patients with FEDF SCZ. However, there was only a correlation between the P50 ratio and UPSA financial skills, communication skills, or total score in patients (all p < 0.05). Defective P50 inhibition in FEDN SCZ patients may be associated with social dysfunction but not cognitive impairment, suggesting that the social dysfunction and cognitive impairment of patients with FEDN SCZ may have different pathogenic mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizophrenia patients with an earlier age of onset have been found to have more serious negative symptoms and cognitive deficits. Oxidative stress is thought to be implicated in cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) is an essential indicator of oxidative stress. However, the association between age of onset, TAOC, and cognitive performance in schizophrenia remains unexplored. In this study, 201 patients (age: 26.5 ± 9.6 years; male: 53.2%) with drug-naïve schizophrenia were recruited. Clinical symptoms were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Plasma TAOC levels were analyzed using established procedures. Results showed that early-onset (EO) patients had higher TAOC levels, more severe negative symptoms and performed worse on visuospatial/constructional, language and RBANS total scores than non-EO patients. After Bonferroni correction, only non-EO patients showed a significant inverse relationship between TAOC levels and RBANS language, attention, and total scores. Our findings suggest that an early/late age of onset may be correlated with psychopathological symptoms, cognitive impairment and oxidative responses in schizophrenia. Furthermore, the age of onset may moderate the relationship between TAOC and cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that improving oxidative stress status in non-EO schizophrenia patients may enhance their cognitive function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research suggests female- and male-headed households in low- and middle-income countries differ in terms of crop choices, access to resources for growing different crops, and values placed on crops for home consumption versus market sale. To better understand relationships between gender of the household head, household resources, individual values, and crop choices, we draw on original survey data collected from 1,001 rural households in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Bivariate and multivariate analyses suggest that female-headed households are less likely to grow cash crops, reflecting a combination of resource constraints and social norms. However, on average, female-headed households plant more diverse food crops per hectare of land to which they have access, consistent with past findings suggesting crop diversity is a strategy employed by resource-constrained female-headed households to meet household food security needs. We also find that women surveyed on behalf of their households place a higher value on crops for food security, while men more frequently emphasize income potential. These results provide novel cross-country evidence on how female- and male-headed households, and women and men farmers within households, may prefer different crops and also face different levels of access to resources needed for market-oriented agriculture. Such findings support recent calls for development practitioners to carefully consider how market-oriented programs and policies may differentially affect female- and male-headed households and individuals residing within them. We also underscore the importance of collecting gender-disaggregated data to capture meaningful differences in preferences and constraints across women and men at the inter- and intra-household level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]