Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons^™

How Does Schizophrenia Affect The Expression Of Alpha 7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors In The Brain?, Shruti Varshney, Nimish Acharya

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a psychiatric disorder with a pathophysiology that has not yet been fully understood. This mental illness is characterized by disruptions in cognition, social activity, affect, and perception, and affects approximately 0.085% of individuals worldwide. The Alpha 7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor (α7nAChR) has been connected to auditory function gating deficits. The purpose of this review is to understand the current literature in how the levels of α7nAChR expression and function are affected by SZ, information that could be used to develop therapies to modulate auditory hallucinations in patients with SZ. A literature search was conducted for peer-reviewed journal …

Chronic Schizophrenia Presenting With Psychogenic Polydipsia Masking Stage Iv Uterine Adenocarcinoma, Dakota B. Pastore, Kamayel Jaludi, Angelo Sica Md

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Psychogenic polydipsia (PPD) is a condition of excessive water intake and seeking behavior with a 6-20% prevalence among patients with psychiatric illnesses, commonly Schizophrenia. It remains unknown how often concomitant disease can mask other, more serious conditions in psychiatric patients.

Case Description: The patient is a 58-year-old Hispanic, white female with chronic schizophrenia complicated by multiple hospitalizations for hyponatremia secondary to PPD. The patient initially presented to the emergency department (ED) in 2016 with abdominal pain, was treated symptomatically and discharged. From 2020 to 2023, the patient was readmitted seven more times, with two suspected aspirin overdoses, an Ambien …

Using Fmri To Assess Effectiveness Of Olanzapine Treatment For Schizophrenia, William Kyle Copenhaver, David F. Lo, Hanna Rothenberg, Eeshan Khurana, Valerie Rome, Uzayr Wasif, Don D. Shamilov

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Schizophrenia is a complex mental illness with neurobiological underpinnings and misconceptions about violence. Schizophrenia is associated with high levels of creativity and structural traits like fewer D2 receptors. Patients face reduced life expectancy due to cardiovascular diseases and cope through smoking and sedentariness. Treatment involves pharmacological antipsychotics like olanzapine and nonpharmacological approaches. Olanzapine works by antagonizing D2 receptors but has side effects like weight gain and diabetes risk. fMRI is used to study treatment mechanisms and predict response, but research on olanzapine's brain network effects is limited.

Alpha 7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Expression In The Hippocampus Of Patients With Schizophrenia, Shruti Varshney, Ananya Nethikunta, Minjal Patel, Mary Kosciuk, Randel L. Swanson, Venkat Venkataraman, Robert Nagele, Eric Goldwaser, Nimish Acharya

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Schizophrenia (SZ) is a heterogenous psychiatric condition characterized by disruptions in cognition, social activity, affect, and perception often associated with a varied combination of positive and negative symptoms. The pathophysiology behind SZ remains poorly elucidated. Earlier reports have cited the importance of the alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α7nAChR) in the hippocampus and the receptor’s association with auditory sensory gating and cognitive function. Specifically, variations in the expression and functionality of α7nAChR can be linked to auditory hallucinations experienced by patients with SZ and several therapies have been researched that target α7nAChRs. However, there are very few primary research …

Development Of Schizophrenia In A Genetically Predisposed Individual Following Covid-19, Sung Kang, Jonathan Yuh, Timothy Wong

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

We present a patient who is a 56-year-old female with a psychiatric history of anxiety disorder and a medical history of hypercholesterolemia and hyperthyroidism, who was admitted to the hospital after a witnessed seizure at an inpatient psychiatric facility. This patient’s family history is significant for her mother experiencing unspecified psychotic disorder that required psychiatric hospitalization. Our patient was first admitted to the psychiatric hospital after exhibiting worsening paranoid delusions and hallucinations that began several months prior. The patient had reportedly begun locking herself in the restroom and screaming “get out, they’re spying on me”, referring to her next-door neighbors …

Survey Of Primary Care Physicians’ And Pediatricians’ Competency In Identifying Prodromal Symptoms In Schizophrenia And Psychotic Disorders, Mark Shephard, Joanna Petrides Psy.D.

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

• To address whether primary care physicians and pediatricians are equipped to recognize the prodromal symptoms of psychotic disorders

• Patients of primary care physicians exhibited increased help seeking behaviors prior to schizophrenia diagnosis [1]

• Primary care physicians in numerous countries have shown a lack of sufficient knowledge related to diagnosing and treating schizophrenia [2,3,4,5,6]

• Unclear if primary care physicians in the United States are adequately trained and prepared to recognize prodromal signs of schizophrenia, and diagnose and treat a variety of psychotic disorders

Multinational Comparative Cross-Sectional Survey Of Views Of Medical Students About Acceptable Terminology And Subgroups In Schizophrenia, Shanaya Rathod, Muhammad Irfan, Rachna Bhargava, Narsimha Pinninti, Joseph Scott, Haifa Mohammad Algahtani, Zhihua Guo, Rishab Gupta, Pallavi Nadkarni, Farooq Naeem, Fleur Howells, Katherine Sorsdahi, Kerensa Thorne, Victoria Osman-Hicks, Sasee Pallikadavath, Peter Phiri, Hannah Carr, Lizi Graves, David Kingdon

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Faculty Scholarship

AIM: The aim of this study was to inform thinking around the terminology for 'schizophrenia' in different countries.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate: (1) whether medical students view alternative terminology (psychosis subgroups), derived from vulnerability-stress models of schizophrenia, as acceptable and less stigmatising than the term schizophrenia; (2) if there are differences in attitudes to the different terminology across countries with different cultures and (3) whether clinical training has an impact in reducing stigma.

DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional survey that examined the attitudes of medical students towards schizophrenia and the alternative subgroups.

SETTING: The study …

Factors Influencing Health Behaviors In Those At Risk For Developing Schizophrenia, Adriana C. Pennacchi

Theses and Dissertations

Significant health concerns are common among those with schizophrenia- spectrum disorders and are associated with an average lifespan reduction of 15-20 years compared to the general public (Saha, Chant, & McGrath, 2007). Although symptoms of the disorder can disrupt self-care and health behaviors, evidence also suggests that problematic health behaviors are present before the onset of the manifest disorder. One example includes nicotine use which is elevated in those with a family history of schizophrenia (Ferchiou et al., 2012) and in those who show subclinical signs of risk for schizophrenia (Esterberg, Jones, Compton, & Walker, 2007). Despite these findings, there …