Psychology Commons^™

Cognitive Empathy And Longitudinal Changes In Temporo-Parietal Junction Thickness In Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, Tatiana Karpouzian-Rogers, Julie Petersen, Lei Wang, Vijay A. Mittal, John G. Csernansky, Matthew J. Smith

Faculty Publications

Objective: Deficits in cognitive empathy are well-documented in individuals with schizophrenia and are related to reduced community functioning. The temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is closely linked to cognitive empathy. We compared the relationship between baseline cognitive empathy and changes in TPJ thickness over 24 months between individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Methods: Individuals with schizophrenia (n = 29) and healthy controls (n = 26) completed a cognitive empathy task and underwent structural neuroimaging at baseline and approximately 24 months later. Symmetrized percent change scores were calculated for right and left TPJ, as well as whole-brain volume, and compared between groups. …

Progressive Deterioration Of Thalamic Nuclei Relates To Cortical Network Decline In Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, Matthew J. Smith, Ilse Salinas, Charlene Ng, Mohktar Gado, John G. Csernansky, Lei Wang

Faculty Publications

Thalamic abnormalities are considered part of the complex pathophysiology of schizophrenia, particularly the involvement of specific thalamic nuclei. The goals of this study were to: introduce a novel atlas-based parcellation scheme for defining various thalamic nuclei; compare their integrity in a schizophrenia sample against healthy individuals at baseline and follow-up time points, as well as rates of change over time; examine relationships between the nuclei and abnormalities in known connected cortical regions; and finally, to determine if schizophreniarelated thalamic nuclei changes relate to cognitive functioning and clinical symptoms. Subjects were from a larger longitudinal 2-year follow-up study, schizophrenia (n=20) and …

Cortical Thickness Of Neural Substrates Supporting Cognitive Empathy In Individuals With Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, Suena H. Massey, Daniel Stern, Eva C. Alden, Julie E. Petersen, Lei Wang, John G. Csernansky, Matthew J. Smith

Faculty Publications

Background—Cognitive empathy is supported by the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), anterior midcingulate cortex (aMCC), insula (INS), supplementary motor area (SMA), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), and precuneus (PREC). In healthy controls, cortical thickness in these regions has been linked to cognitive empathy. As cognitive empathy is impaired in schizophrenia, we examined whether reduced cortical thickness in these regions was associated with poorer cognitive empathy in this population.

Methods—41 clinically-stable community-dwelling individuals with schizophrenia and 46 healthy controls group-matched on demographic variables completed self-report empathy questionnaires, a cognitive empathy task, and structural magnetic resonance imaging. We examined between-group …

Solutions For Wellness: Outcome Review And Analysis Of A Healthy Lifestyle Group, Gary Burlingame, Valerie King, Rebecca Janis

Faculty Publications

Individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) experience a notably decreased life span due, in part to a metabolic syndrome linked to psychotropic medications commonly prescribed to SMI patients. Eli Lilly’s Solutions for Wellness (SFW) program was designed to address some of the risk factors (e.g., weight, diet, lifestyle) that exacerbate the metabolic syndrome in SMI outpatients. However, there is limited data as to the effectiveness of the SFW program for hospitalized SMI patients. We replicate and compare SFW outcomes from an inpatient SMI population treated at the Utah State Hospital with previous research that tested an abbreviated SFW curriculum of …

A Sequence Variant In Human Kalrn Impairs Protein Function And Coincides With Reduced Cortical Thickness, Derin J. Cobia, Theron A. Russell, Katherine D. Blizinsky, Michael Cahill, Zhong Xie, Robert A. Sweet, Jubao Duan, Pablo V. Gejman, Lei Wang, John G. Csernansky, Peter Penzes

Faculty Publications

Dendritic spine pathology is a key feature of several neuropsychiatric disorders. The Rac1 guanine nucleotide exchange factor kalirin-7 is critical for spine morphogenesis on cortical pyramidal neurons. Here we identify a rare coding variant in the KALRN gene region that encodes the catalytic domain, in a schizophrenia patient and his sibling with major depressive disorder. The D1338N substitution significantly diminished the protein's ability catalyze the activation of Rac1. Contrary to wild-type kalirin-7, kalirin-7-D1338N failed to increase spine size and density. Both subjects carrying the polymorphism displayed reduced cortical volume in the superior temporal sulcus (STS), a region implicated in schizophrenia. …

Longitudinal Progression Of Frontal And Temporal Lobe Changes In Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, Matthew J. Smith, Lei Wang, John G. Csernansky

Faculty Publications

Cortical abnormalities are considered a neurobiological characteristic of schizophrenia. However, the pattern of such deficits as they progress over the illness remains poorly understood. The goal of this project was to assess the progression of cortical thinning in frontal and temporal cortical regions in schizophrenia, and determine whether relationships exist between them and neuropsychological and clinical symptom profiles. As part of a larger longitudinal 2-year followup study, schizophrenia (n=20) and healthy participants (n=20) group-matched for age, gender, and recent-alcohol use, were selected. Using MRI, estimates of gray matter thickness were derived from primary anatomical gyri of the frontal and temporal …

Cortical Thickness In Neuropsychologically Near-Normal Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, John G. Csernansky, Lei Wang

Faculty Publications

Schizophrenia is a chronic and potentially disabling disorder with widespread neuroanatomical abnormalities thought to be caused by progressive brain changes (Andreasen, 2010), and an equally wide variety of impairments in cognitive functioning (Palmer et al., 2009). In general, individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate significantly impaired performance on a full range of neuropsychological tasks, often reaching greater than one standard deviation below the norm (Dickinson et al., 2007). One particularly puzzling issue is that approximately 15–30% of schizophrenia patients have been found to perform in the normal range of neuropsychological functioning (Kremen et al., 2000; Palmer et al., 1997). Given hypothesized relationships …