The ILIA study: protocol for a randomized-controlled multicenter clinical trial on smartphone- and web-based relapse monitoring for patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Background: Despite the proven efficacy of antipsychotics in relapse prevention in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, every third patient experiences a relapse within less than one year. Relapses can worsen psychosocial and treatment related outcomes and lead to substantial economic costs, primarily due to frequent and prolonged hospitalizations. The aim of this project is to evaluate a smartphone- and web-based digital solution for detecting early warning signs of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder to reduce relapses and subsequent hospitalizations.

Relationship between blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier integrity, cardiometabolic, and inflammatory factors in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

The blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCB) is impaired in a substantial proportion of individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD). Even though disruption of the BCB is associated with higher symptom severity, factors linked to BCB disruption in SSDs have been minimally investigated. To address this gap, 57 inpatients with SSD underwent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood analyses, and comprehensive clinical assessments.

Determinants of physical activity and exercise in individuals with mental illness: results from a large cross-sectional online survey.

Objective: Regular exercise significantly benefits mental health, yet its therapeutic potential in psychiatric care remains underutilised. Understanding the factors influencing physical activity in individuals with mental illness is crucial to realising its full therapeutic potential. Our study seeks to explore motivational and socio-demographic determinants affecting exercise habits in individuals with mental illness and compare them to those without mental illness.

Higher blood-brain barrier leakage in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: A comparative dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging study with healthy controls.

Background: Blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruptions are presumed to be implicated in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSDs). Previous studies focused on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) markers, which are imprecise for detecting subtle BBB disruption. Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) enables sensitive investigation of subtle BBB leakage in vivo, yet remains unexplored in SSD research.

Reasons to move-a cross-sectional study to identify factors promoting regular exercise.

Regular physical activity can prevent various physical and mental illnesses or improve their prognosis. However, only about half of the German population meets the WHO recommendations for physical activity. The aim of this study was to identify factors that influence engagement in regular exercise and could help increase physical activity levels in the general population.

Investigation of choroid plexus variability in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders-insights from a multimodal study.

Previous studies have suggested that choroid plexus (ChP) enlargement occurs in individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD) and is associated with peripheral inflammation. However, it is unclear whether such an enlargement delineates a biologically defined subgroup of SSD. Moreover, it remains elusive how ChP is linked to brain regions associated with peripheral inflammation in SSD.

EPA guidance on lifestyle interventions for adults with severe mental illness: A meta-review of the evidence.

There is growing interest in lifestyle interventions as stand-alone and add-on therapies in mental health care due to their potential benefits for both physical and mental health outcomes. We evaluated lifestyle interventions focusing on physical activity, diet, and sleep in adults with severe mental illness (SMI) and the evidence for their effectiveness. To this end, we conducted a meta-review and searched major electronic databases for articles published prior to 09/2022 and updated our search in 03/2024.

Effects of aerobic exercise on hippocampal formation volume in people with schizophrenia - a systematic review and meta-analysis with original data from a randomized-controlled trial.

Background: The hippocampal formation represents a key region in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Aerobic exercise poses a promising add-on treatment to potentially counteract structural impairments of the hippocampal formation and associated symptomatic burden. However, current evidence regarding exercise effects on the hippocampal formation in schizophrenia is largely heterogeneous.

Predictors of adherence to exercise interventions in people with schizophrenia.

Exercise interventions are nowadays considered as effective add-on treatments in people with schizophrenia but are usually associated with high dropout rates. Therefore, the present study investigated potential predictors of adherence from a large multicenter study, encompassing two types of exercise training, conducted over a 6-month period with individuals with schizophrenia. First, we examined the role of multiple participants' characteristics, including levels of functioning, symptom severity, cognitive performance, quality of life, and physical fitness.

Characterizing cognitive subtypes in schizophrenia using cortical curvature.

Cognitive deficits are a core symptom of schizophrenia, but research on their neural underpinnings has been challenged by the heterogeneity in deficits' severity among patients. Here, we address this issue by combining logistic regression and random forest to classify two neuropsychological profiles of patients with high (HighCog) and low (LowCog) cognitive performance in two independent samples. We based our analysis on the cortical features grey matter volume (VOL), cortical thickness (CT), and mean curvature (MC) of N = 57 patients (discovery sample) and validated the classification in an independent sample (N = 52).

Sports Therapy for Schizophrenia Psychoses: from the Idea to the Guideline.

Schizophrenia psychoses can be treated much better today due to the introduction of antipsychotics about 70 years ago in conjunction with the implementation of specific psychotherapies. However, current treatment options are still limited in the area of negative symptoms and disease-associated cognitive deficits. In the last 15 years, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been able to show that physical training and especially endurance training could represent a comprehensive complementary treatment approach and could lead to a significant improvement in positive, but especially also in negative symptoms and cognitive deficits.

Exercise as an add-on treatment in individuals with schizophrenia: Results from a large multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Current treatment methods do not achieve recovery for most individuals with schizophrenia, and symptoms such as negative symptoms and cognitive deficits often persist. Aerobic endurance training has been suggested as a potential add-on treatment targeting both physical and mental health. We performed a large-scale multicenter, rater-blind, parallel-group randomized controlled clinical trial in individuals with stable schizophrenia.

Effects of Exercise on Structural and Functional Brain Patterns in Schizophrenia-Data From a Multicenter Randomized-Controlled Study.

Background And Hypothesis: Aerobic exercise interventions in people with schizophrenia have been demonstrated to improve clinical outcomes, but findings regarding the underlying neural mechanisms are limited and mainly focus on the hippocampal formation. Therefore, we conducted a global exploratory analysis of structural and functional neural adaptations after exercise and explored their clinical implications.

Study Design: In this randomized controlled trial, structural and functional MRI data were available for 91 patients with schizophrenia who performed either aerobic exercise on a bicycle ergometer or underwent a flexibility, strengthening, and balance training as control group.

The Frq-Frh Complex Light-Dependently Delays Sfl1-Induced Microsclerotia Formation in .

The vascular plant pathogenic fungus has to adapt to environmental changes outside and inside its host. harbors homologs of clock genes. The molecular functions and interactions of Frequency (Frq) and Frq-interacting RNA helicase (Frh) in controlling conidia or microsclerotia development were investigated in JR2.

Disturbed Oligodendroglial Maturation Causes Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: A New Hypothesis.

Background And Hypothesis: Cognitive impairment is a hallmark of schizophrenia, but no effective treatment is available to date. The underlying pathophysiology includes disconnectivity between hippocampal and prefrontal brain regions. Supporting evidence comes from diffusion-weighted imaging studies that suggest abnormal organization of frontotemporal white matter pathways in schizophrenia.

The relationship between blood-brain barrier dysfunction and neurocognitive impairments in first-episode psychosis: findings from a retrospective chart analysis.

Background: Even before the onset of psychotic symptoms, individuals with schizophrenia display cognitive impairments. Simultaneously, increasing amounts of individuals exhibit dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). However, the impact of BBB dysfunction on neurocognitive impairment in people with first-episode psychosis has not yet been investigated.

Blood-brain barrier dysfunction and folate and vitamin B12 levels in first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis: a retrospective chart review.

Vitamin deficiency syndromes and blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction are frequent phenomena in psychiatric conditions. We analysed the largest available first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum psychosis (FEP) cohort to date regarding routine cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood parameters to investigate the association between vitamin deficiencies (vitamin B12 and folate) and BBB impairments in FEP. We report a retrospective analysis of clinical data from all inpatients that were admitted to our tertiary care hospital with an ICD-10 diagnosis of a first-episode F2x (schizophrenia-spectrum) between January 1, 2008 and August 1, 2018 and underwent a lumbar puncture, blood-based vitamin status diagnostics and neuroimaging within the clinical routine.

Verticillium dahliae Vta3 promotes ELV1 virulence factor gene expression in xylem sap, but tames Mtf1-mediated late stages of fungus-plant interactions and microsclerotia formation.

Verticillium transcription activator of adhesion 3 (Vta3) is required for plant root colonization and pathogenicity of the soil-borne vascular fungus Verticillium dahliae. RNA sequencing identified Vta3-dependent genetic networks required for growth in tomato xylem sap. Vta3 affects the expression of more than 1,000 transcripts, including candidates with predicted functions in virulence and morphogenesis such as Egh16-like virulence factor 1 (Elv1) and Master transcription factor 1 (Mtf1).

Tomato Xylem Sap Hydrophobins Vdh4 and Vdh5 Are Important for Late Stages of Plant Infection.

causes economic losses to a wide range of crops as a vascular fungal pathogen. This filamentous ascomycete spends long periods of its life cycle in the plant xylem, a unique environment that requires adaptive processes. Specifically, fungal proteins produced in the xylem sap of the plant host may play important roles in colonizing the plant vasculature and in inducing disease symptoms.

Fitness is positively associated with hippocampal formation subfield volumes in schizophrenia: a multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging study.

Hippocampal formation (HF) volume loss is a well-established finding in schizophrenia, with select subfields, such as the cornu ammonis and dentate gyrus, being particularly vulnerable. These morphologic alterations are related to functional abnormalities and cognitive deficits, which are at the core of the insufficient recovery frequently seen in this illness. To counteract HF volume decline, exercise to improve aerobic fitness is considered as a promising intervention.

Associations between aerobic fitness, negative symptoms, cognitive deficits and brain structure in schizophrenia-a cross-sectional study.

Negative symptoms and cognitive deficits are common in individuals with schizophrenia, greatly affect their outcome, and have been associated with alterations in cerebral gray and white matter volume (GMV, WMV). In the last decade, aerobic endurance training has emerged as a promising intervention to alleviate these symptoms and improved aerobic fitness has been suggested as a key moderator variable. In the present study, we investigated, whether aerobic fitness is associated with fewer cognitive deficits and negative symptoms and with GMVs and WMVs in individuals with schizophrenia in a cross-sectional design.