Giulia Orsenigo
@unimi.it
Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico
University of Milan, Italy
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Marta Serati, Giuseppe Delvecchio, Giulia Orsenigo, Gian Mario Mandolini, Matteo Lazzaretti, Elisa Scola, Fabio Triulzi, and Paolo Brambilla
Elsevier BV
Marta Serati, Giuseppe Delvecchio, Giulia Orsenigo, Gian Mario Mandolini, Matteo Lazzaretti, Elisa Scola, Fabio Triulzi, and Paolo Brambilla
Elsevier BV
The subplate (SP) represents a transitory cytoarchitectural fetal compartment containing most subcortical and cortico-cortical afferents, and has a fundamental role in the structural development of the healthy adult brain. There is evidence that schizophrenia and autism may be determined by developmental defects in the cortex or cortical circuitry during the earliest stages of pregnancy. This article provides an overview on fetal SP development, considering its role in schizophrenia and autism, as supported by a systematic review of the main databases. The SP has been described as a cortical amplifier with a role in the coordination of cortical activity, and sensitive growth and migration windows have crucial consequences with respect to cognitive functioning. Although there are not enough studies to draw final conclusions, improved knowledge of the SP's role in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders may help to elucidate and possibly prevent the onset of these two severe disorders.
Valentina Ciappolino and Giulia Orsenigo
Springer International Publishing
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a major affective disorder marked by recurrent/cyclical episodes of mania/hypomania and depression, and it is considered one of the major causes of disability worldwide, having a detrimental effect on the cognitive, social, and occupational functioning of the individual. BD may have a late onset. The elderly can indeed present two different patterns of mixed affective-cognitive disturbances, with several overlapping features: depressive pseudodementia (symptoms of dementia in depression, reversible) and pseudodepressive dementia (symptoms of depression in dementia, irreversible). Interestingly, the similarities in several features between BD and dementia suggest a potential overlooked continuum between these disorders. Of note, this report describes the case of a 71-year-old male, presenting a quickly cognitive deficits onset and a change from his prior pattern of behavior. Up to date, there are no clear guidelines available to diagnose and treat late-onset bipolar illness presenting as pseudodementia; thus it is necessary to keep in mind the existence of this clinical presentation which requires a follow-up of symptoms over time.
P. Bucci, S. Galderisi, A. Mucci, A. Rossi, P. Rocca, A. Bertolino, E. Aguglia, M. Amore, I. Andriola, A. Bellomo,et al.
Wiley
The study aimed to explore premorbid academic and social functioning in patients with schizophrenia, and its associations with the severity of negative symptoms and neurocognitive impairment.
A. Carlo Altamura, Eleonora Maggioni, Taj Dhanoa, Valentina Ciappolino, Riccardo A. Paoli, Laura Cremaschi, Cecilia Prunas, Giulia Orsenigo, Elisabetta Caletti, Claudia M. Cinnante,et al.
Elsevier BV
BACKGROUND
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a major psychiatric illness characterized by heterogeneous symptoms including psychotic features. Up until now, neuroimaging studies investigating cerebral morphology in patients with BD have underestimated the potential impact of psychosis on brain anatomy in BD patients. In this regard, psychotic and non-psychotic BD may represent biologically different subtypes of the disorder, being possibly associated with specific cerebral features.
METHODS
In the present study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3T was used to identify the neuroanatomical correlates of psychosis in an International sample of BD patients. A large sample of structural MRI data from healthy subjects (HC) and BD patients was collected across two research centers. Voxel based morphometry was used to compare gray matter (GM) volume among psychotic and non-psychotic BD patients and HC.
RESULTS
We found specific structural alterations in the two patient groups, more extended in the psychotic sample. Psychotic patients showed GM volume deficits in left frontal cortex compared to HC, and in right temporo-parietal cortex compared to both HC and non-psychotic patients (p < 0.001, > 100 voxels). Psychotic patients also exhibited enhanced age-related GM volume deficits in a set of subcortical and cortical regions.
LIMITATIONS
The integration of multiple datasets may have affected the results.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall, our results confirm the importance of classifying BD based on psychosis. The knowledge of the neuronal bases of psychotic symptomatology in BD can provide a more comprehensive picture of the determinants of BD, in the light of the continuum characteristic of major psychoses.
A. Mucci, S. Galderisi, M. F. Green, K. Nuechterlein, P. Rucci, D. Gibertoni, A. Rossi, P. Rocca, A. Bertolino, P. Bucci,et al.
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
AbstractBackgroundThe increased use of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) to investigate cognitive dysfunctions in schizophrenia fostered interest in its sensitivity in the context of family studies. As various measures of the same cognitive domains may have different power to distinguish between unaffected relatives of patients and controls, the relative sensitivity of MCCB tests for relative–control differences has to be established. We compared MCCB scores of 852 outpatients with schizophrenia (SCZ) with those of 342 unaffected relatives (REL) and a normative Italian sample of 774 healthy subjects (HCS). We examined familial aggregation of cognitive impairment by investigating within-family prediction of MCCB scores based on probands’ scores.MethodsMultivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze group differences in adjusted MCCB scores. Weighted least-squares analysis was used to investigate whether probands’ MCCB scores predicted REL neurocognitive performance.ResultsSCZ were significantly impaired on all MCCB domains. REL had intermediate scores between SCZ and HCS, showing a similar pattern of impairment, except for social cognition. Proband's scores significantly predicted REL MCCB scores on all domains except for visual learning.ConclusionsIn a large sample of stable patients with schizophrenia, living in the community, and in their unaffected relatives, MCCB demonstrated sensitivity to cognitive deficits in both groups. Our findings of significant within-family prediction of MCCB scores might reflect disease-related genetic or environmental factors.
Silvana Galderisi, Paola Rucci, Brian Kirkpatrick, Armida Mucci, Dino Gibertoni, Paola Rocca, Alessandro Rossi, Alessandro Bertolino, Gregory P. Strauss, Eugenio Aguglia,et al.
American Medical Association (AMA)
Importance Enhanced understanding of factors associated with symptomatic and functional recovery is instrumental to designing personalized treatment plans for people with schizophrenia. To date, this is the first study using network analysis to investigate the associations among cognitive, psychopathologic, and psychosocial variables in a large sample of community-dwelling individuals with schizophrenia. Objective To assess the interplay among psychopathologic variables, cognitive dysfunctions, functional capacity, personal resources, perceived stigma, and real-life functioning in individuals with schizophrenia, using a data-driven approach. Design, Setting, and Participants This multicenter, cross-sectional study involved 26 university psychiatric clinics and/or mental health departments. A total of 921 community-dwelling individuals with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia who were stabilized on antipsychotic treatment were recruited from those consecutively presenting to the outpatient units of the sites between March 1, 2012, and September 30, 2013. Statistical analysis was conducted between July 1 and September 30, 2017. Main Outcomes and Measures Measures covered psychopathologic variables, neurocognition, social cognition, functional capacity, real-life functioning, resilience, perceived stigma, incentives, and service engagement. Results Of 740 patients (221 women and 519 men; mean [SD] age, 40.0 [10.9] years) with complete data on the 27 study measures, 163 (22.0%) were remitted (with a score of mild or better on 8 core symptoms). The network analysis showed that functional capacity and everyday life skills were the most central and highly interconnected nodes in the network. Psychopathologic variables split in 2 domains, with positive symptoms being one of the most peripheral and least connected nodes. Functional capacity bridged cognition with everyday life skills; the everyday life skills node was connected to disorganization and expressive deficits. Interpersonal relationships and work skills were connected to avolition; the interpersonal relationships node was also linked to social competence, and the work skills node was linked to social incentives and engagement with mental health services. A case-dropping bootstrap procedure showed centrality indices correlations of 0.75 or greater between the original and randomly defined samples up to 481 of 740 case-dropping (65.0%). No difference in the network structure was found between men and women. Conclusions and Relevance The high centrality of functional capacity and everyday life skills in the network suggests that improving the ability to perform tasks relevant to everyday life is critical for any therapeutic intervention in schizophrenia. The pattern of network node connections supports the implementation of personalized interventions.
Marta Serati, Jennifer L. Barkin, Giulia Orsenigo, Alfredo Carlo Altamura, and Massimiliano Buoli
Wiley
BACKGROUND
Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized by an inability to sustain attention, activity levels and impulse control, and, according to the latest studies, the prevalence is about 8% and in some countries less than 1%. Currently, it is well-known that complications during the perinatal period have significant implications on child's physical and mental health. Purpose of the present paper is to review the literature about the association between perinatal complications and future risk of an ADHD diagnosis.
METHODS
A research in the main database sources has been conducted to obtain a systematic review on the perinatal risk factors of ADHD.
RESULTS
Among perinatal complications, available data indicate low birth weight (LBW) (Cohen's d effect size range: 0.31-1.64-small effect size) and preterm birth (PB) (range d: 0.41-0.68) as the most important factors associated with a future diagnosis of ADHD.
CONCLUSIONS
PB and LBW children should be carefully monitored for an early diagnosis of ADHD limiting the impact of the disease in life span. A systematic review focusing on these risk factors have not been published until now, in the next future preventive strategies should be developed in order to minimize ADHD onset.
Marta Serati, Giuseppe Delvecchio, Giulia Orsenigo, Cinzia Perlini, Marco Barillari, Mirella Ruggeri, Alfredo Carlo Altamura, Marcella Bellani, and Paolo Brambilla
S. Karger AG
Background: In the last decades, there has been increasing interest in investigating the role of the vermis in bipolar disorder (BD), especially because of its involvement in cognitive processes. The main aims of this study were to explore the integrity of the vermis and elucidate the role of demographic and clinical variables on vermis volumes in BD patients, stratified according to gender. Methods: T1-weighted images were obtained for 38 BD patients and 38 healthy controls using a 1.5-T MRI scanner. Images were analyzed with a PC workstation with BRAINS2 software on a Linux system. Anatomical regions were traced manually from a blinded operator, with respect to subject identity and other clinical variables. Results: The direct comparison between the 2 groups showed no significant gray matter differences in vermis volumes. Interestingly, vermis volumes were significantly inversely associated with chronological age and age of BD onset, particularly in male subjects. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence of the impact of aging on the vermis in BD, potentially related to earlier and faster gender-related neurodegenerative phenomena occurring during the progression of the disease.
Elisabetta Caletti, Riccardo A. Paoli, Alessio Fiorentini, Michela Cigliobianco, Elisa Zugno, Marta Serati, Giulia Orsenigo, Paolo Grillo, Stefano Zago, Alice Caldiroli,et al.
Frontiers Media SA
This study aimed to determine the extent of impairment in social and non-social cognitive domains in an ecological context comparing bipolar (BD), schizophrenic (SKZ) patients and healthy controls (HC). The sample was enrolled at the Department of Psychiatry of Policlinico Hospital, University of Milan; it includes stabilized SKZ patients (n = 30), euthymic bipolar patients (n = 18) and HC (n = 18). Patients and controls completed psychiatric assessment rating scales, the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) and the Executive and Social Cognition Battery (ESCB) that contains both ecological tests of executive function and social cognition, in order to better detect cognitive deficits in patients with normal results in standard executive batteries. The three groups differed significantly for gender and substance abuse, however, the differences did not influence the results. BD patients showed less impairment on cognitive performance compared to SKZ patients, even in “ecological” tests that mimic real life scenarios. In particular, BD performed better than SKZ in verbal memory (p < 0.0038) and BACS symbol coding (p < 0.0043). Regarding the ESCB tests, in the Hotel task SKZ patients completed significantly less tasks (p < 0.001), showed a greater number of errors in Multiple Errands Test (MET-HV) (p < 0.0248) and a worse performance in Theory of Mind (ToM) tests (p < 0.001 for the Eyes test and Faux pas test). Both patients' groups performed significantly worse than HC. Finally, significant differences were found between the two groups in GAF scores, being greater among BD subjects (p < 0.001). GAF was correlated with BACS and ESCB scores showing the crucial role of cognitive and ecological performances in patients' global functioning.