Human slow wave sleep: A review and appraisal of recent findings,with implications for sleep functions,and psychiatric illness

Recent findings concerning human slow wave sleep (hSWS-stages 3+4; delta EEG activity) are critically reviewed. Areas covered include the significance of the first hSWS cycle; hSWS in extended sleep; relationship between hSWS, prior wakefulness and sleep loss; hSWS influence on sleep length; problems with hSWS deprivation; influence of the circadian rhythm; individual differences in hSWS, especially, age, gender and constitutional variables such as physical fitness and body composition. Transient increases in hSWS can be produced by increasing both the quality and quantity of prior wakefulness, with an underlying mechanism perhaps relating to the waking level of brain metabolism. Whilst there may also be thermoregulatory influences on hSWS, hypotheses that energy conservation and brain cooling are major roles for hSWS are debatable. hSWS seems to offer some form of cerebral recovery, with the prefrontal cortex being particularly implicated. The hSWS characteristics of certain forms of major psychiatric disorders may well endorse this prefrontal link.     

院外延续护理对精神分裂症患者康复效果的影响

目的探讨院外延续护理服务对精神分裂症患者康复效果的影响.方法将120例出院精神分裂症患者随机分为对照组60例和干预组60例.对照组给予常规出院指导、门诊随访措施;干预组在常规护理的基础上进行为期12个月的延续护理服务.比较12个月后两组患者对精神分裂症基本知识的知晓率、服药依从性、复发率及生活质量等方面的差异.结果干预组对精神分裂症基本知识知晓率、服药的依从性以及生活质量等方面优于对照组(P0.01),病情复发的人数明显低于对照组(P0.01).结论对出院精神分裂症患者开展延续护理服务有助于患者疗效的维持及疾病的恢复,减少疾病复发,提高患者的服药依从性及生活质量,对其社会功能改善具有重要意义.     

精神分裂症起因的进化生物学分析

精神分裂症受基因因素,自然环境因素以及心理应激因素等多种因素共同影响,但目前多数研究都只关注于其中一项,很少有假说能兼顾各种因素.针对精神分裂症研究的这种局限,从进化的角度,利用达尔文医学和进化心理学的方法对精神分裂症进行剖析,以推测其可能的进化史因,并解释环境因素与遗传因素等在精神分裂症发生发展中的作用.同时,对影响精神分裂症发病率的多种环境因素进行了分析,并讨论了精神分裂症的性别特异性、年龄特异性等发病特性,在此基础上提出和论证了一个新的精神分裂症病因的理论假说:"精神分裂症相关基因是一组用于应对不利生存环境的基因,受环境因素的反馈控制.当环境过于恶劣时,这些基因的过度表达就会引发精神分裂症."     

基于近似熵快速算法的静息态脑磁信号分析

为了探究静息态精神分裂症患者脑磁信号的非线性动力学特性,提出了一种将小波变换和近似熵相结合的特征提取方法.该方法首先通过小波变换,将10个正常人和10个精神分裂症患者的脑磁信号进行6层小波分解,提取对应于脑磁信号θ波段和α波段的小波系数,继而计算和比较两类人近似熵的分布情况.实验结果表明,相同情况下精神分裂症患者MEG信号的各脑区和各通道间的近似熵都普遍高于正常人,α波段的额叶和中央区域尤为突出.该结果为进一步研究患者MEG信号特征进而建立相应的分类诊断模型提供了思路.     

一个基于人工神经网络的新一代精神分裂症诊断系统ESSD

本文介绍一个利用人工神经网络进行分型和自动知识获取的新一代精神分裂症诊断系统。阐述了训练样本的统计方法，神经网络的模糊与清晰性相结合的分型方法以及动态自学习方法，在输出规则中引入了黑洞束缚的概念。     

Why endophenotype development requires families

Endophenotypes are heritable quantitative traits that are associated with disease liability, can be measured in both affected and unaffected individuals, and provide much greater power to localize and identify risk genes for mental illness than does affection status alone. Traditionally, endophenotypic markers for psychiatric illnesses include in vivo neuroanatomic and functional magnetic resonance imaging measurements and indices of neurocognitive abilities. However, neurocognitive and neuroimaging measure...     

Selective impairment in recognizing the familiarity of self faces in schizophrenia

The concept of self is a fundamental characteristic of the human mind,and the alteration of self is thought to be a core deficit of schizophrenia.Previous studies have demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia are deficient in self-face recognition.Because self faces are not only self-related but also highly familiar,it is unclear whether such deficit arises from the breakdown of the self-awareness or the failure of recognizing the familiarity of self faces.Here we directly tested these two alternatives by instructing patients with schizophrenia to recognize the identity of a morphed face created by blending face features between any of two identities from the self face,a familiar face,and a novel face.We found that there was no association between the recognition of the self and the recognition of the familiarity,suggesting these two component processes are independent in schizophrenia.Further,patients with schizophrenia were significantly worse in recognizing the familiarity of faces than normal participants,whereas no difference in the sense of self was found between the two groups.Taken together,our finding suggests that it is the sense of familiarity,not the sense of self,that is selectively impaired in self-face recognition in schizophrenia.Thus,our study challenges the hypothesis that the deficit in self-face recognition in schizophrenia reflects the breakdown of self-awareness.     

Which neurological abnormalities and neuropsychological impairments share the same substrate in psychosis?

Approximately 60% of subjects with schizophrenia present minor neurological signs (neurological soft signs, NSS), which include abnormalities in sensory and motor performance indicative of a non-specific cerebral dysfunction. These are also present in healthy individuals and relatives of patients with psychosis, at significantly lower rates. The excess of NSS in psychosis may be a potential endophenotype for this disorder, and reflect the same neurodevelopmental brain dysfunction that also underlies the cog...     

The Holistic Sense of Prison Phenomena in Venezuela. I. Understanding and Comprehending “Schizophrenic” Institutions

This is the first in a series of three papers which report on the results of an interpretive systemic study of the prison system and its reform in Venezuela. After explaining the purpose and contents of the trilogy, this paper proceeds to describe the research process undertaken (following the methodological guidelines of interpretive systemology) to open the scene (or uncover the background) of the distinction of prisons as schizophrenic institutions. The study, as a whole, aims at both illustrating the use of interpretive systemology concepts and helping prison reformers to have a better understanding of the complex social situation they aspire to change.     

Neuroreplacement therapy and stem cell biology under disease conditions

Recent advances in stem cell technology are expanding our ability to replace a variety of cells throughout the body. In the past, neurological diseases caused by the degeneration of neuronal cells were considered incurable because of a long-held 'truism'; neurons do not regenerate during adulthood. However, this statement has been challenged, and we have now found much evidence that the brain is indeed capable of regenerating neurons after maturing. Based on this new concept, researchers have shown neural differentiation of stem cells and recovery of function following transplantation of these cells into the brain. These results may promise a bright future for clinical applications of stem cell strategies in neurological diseases; however, we must consider the pathophysiological environments of individual diseases that may affect stem cell biology. Before we begin to develop clinical applications, we must consider environmental factors that have not been discussed in the current preclinical studies. Here, we study cases of Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia and discuss the effects of environmental factors under disease conditions.Received 15 January 2003; received after revision 7 April 2003; accepted 8 April 2003