lecture 20 LOs Flashcards

1
Q

what are the positive symptoms of schizophrenia

A

abnormal behavious that have been gained
hallucinations, delusions, thought disorders (all aka psychosis)

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2
Q

what are the negative symptoms of schizophrenia

A

normal functions that have been lost
blunted emotional responses, poverty of speech, social withdrawal, anhedonia, lack of insight, cog deficits

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3
Q

what percent of the populaton suffers from schizophrenia

A

1%
onset is typically after puberty
typically does not onset after 30 in men, small number of women develop symptoms after menopause (45+ years)

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4
Q

what are the seven primary domains of cognition that are affected by schizophrenia

A

speed of processing
working memory
visual learning/memory
social cognition
attention/vigilance
reasoning/problem solving
verbal learning/memory

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5
Q

the functions of what brain areas are most impacted by schizophrenia

A

PFC

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6
Q

what makes the highest chances of being diagnosed with schizophrenia

A

having an identical twin with the same diagnosis (50% chance)

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7
Q

what is a gene mutation that has been linked to schizophrenia

A

DISC1
encodes for proteins essential in neural development
various DISC1 poly-morphisms are also associated with impaired cognitive function

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8
Q

what are three perinatal complications that may lead to schizophrenia

A

poor nutrition during pregnancy
premature birth/low birth weight
physical/immune stressors during pregnancy

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9
Q

what are some behaviours in early infancy that can signal potential risk of schizophrenia

A

passivity, apathy, reduced responsiveness to verbal commands, difficult temperament, poor sensorimotor performance

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10
Q

what is seen in adolescence regarding brain matter that can signal schizophrenia

A

excessive synaptic pruning that can result in loss of cortical grey matter

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11
Q

what is seen in the early stages of schizophrenia

A

genetic predispositions and gene expressions
environmental insults including viruses and toxins

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12
Q

what is seen in the latent stages of schizophrenia

A

early subtle signs predicting schizophrenia including motor abnormalities, apathy, social withdrawal

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13
Q

what is seen in late stage schizophrenia

A

excessive synaptic pruning, late environmental insults like stress, substance use, HPA axis dysfunction

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14
Q

what is seen in some schizophrenics hippocampus

A

enlarged lateral ventricles due to smaller hippocampus and other temporal lobe regions
also the organization of hippocampal neurons is altered

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15
Q

what is seen in the prefrontal cortex pyramidal neurons in schizophrenics

A

reduced number of dendrites which reduces processing power of the cells and leads to connectivity failures

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16
Q

what is hypofrontality in schizophrenia

A

reduced PFC function
a characteristic negative symptom

17
Q

what do schizophrenics show in their GABAergic interneurons

A

reduced markers for the interneurons
may lead to reduced info filtering and impairing functioning of these regions

18
Q

what is the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia

A

schizophrenia is caused by an abnormal increase in DA transmission leading to overstimulation of D2 receptors

19
Q

what were the key drugs in the conception of the DA hypothesis of schizophrenia

A

chlorpromazine: antipsychotic, causes parkinson’s in healthy individuals
amphetamine: drugs that increase DA, could induce psychotic symptoms
DA receptor subtypes discovered, antipsychotic potency of a drug correlated with binding to D2 receptors

20
Q

what is a major support for the DA hypothesis of schizophrenia

A

all drugs are effective in treating psychosis block D2 receptors to some degree
DA release is hypersensitive in schizophrenia

21
Q

what does a hyperactive DA system do in schizophrenia

A

it may tag normally irrelevant stimuli as important, therefore imapring the ability to filter out non relevant info
this leads to aberrant salience attribution which can contribute to dilusions

22
Q

what is the dopamine imbalance hypothesis in schizophrenia

A

different symptoms of schizophrenia are driven excess mesolimbic DA function (positive symptoms) combines with reduced prefrontal DA function (negative/cognitive symptoms)

23
Q

what drug can improve cognitive functions in schizophrenics patients

A

drugs that increase the PFC DA release (like amphetamine)