K.H. Nuechterlein

The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB): Co-norming and standardization in China

MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), packaging 10 tests selected from more than 90 nominated tests, is a method developed by the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) group to evaluate the efficacy of treatments targeting cognitive impairments in schizophrenia. MCCB had been translated into a number of languages, but only the US and Spain had normative data reported. Inconsistency in translation and cultural differences make direct application of MCCB in China problematic. In this study, we administered the battery to a representative community sample based on Chinese population census in 2005 and obtained normative data. The effects of age, gender, education level, and scale of residence area on test performance were examined. The sample included 656 healthy volunteers from six sites in China. At each site, sample was stratified according to age, gender, and educational level, and scale of the area one was born in, grew up in and currently living in was recorded. We found age, gender, and education had significant effects on the normative data for MCCB in China, which are comparable to those found for the original standardized English version in the U.S. and the Spanish version in Spain. Remarkably, the residence scale effects on neuropsychological performance were significant, which should be taking into account when calculating the standardized T score for each subject. The practice effects were minor and test-retest reliability of MCCB was good, which suggests MCCB as an appropriate measure for clinical and research usage in China.

The MCCB impairment profile in a Spanish sample of patients with schizophrenia: Effects of diagnosis, age, and gender on cognitive functioning

The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) was administered to 293 schizophrenia outpatients and 210 community residents in Spain. Our first objective was to identify the age- and gender-corrected MCCB cognitive profile of patients with schizophrenia. The profile of schizophrenia patients showed deficits when compared to controls across the seven MCCB domains. Reasoning and Problem Solving and Social Cognition were the least impaired, while Visual Learning and Verbal Learning showed the greatest deficits. Our second objective was to study the effects on cognitive functioning of age and gender, in addition to diagnosis. Diagnosis was found to have the greatest effect on cognition (Cohens d>0.8 for all MCCB domains); age and gender also had effects on cognitive functioning, although to a lesser degree (with age usually having slightly larger effects than gender). The effects of age were apparent in all domains (with better performance in younger subjects), except for Social Cognition. Gender had effects on Attention/Vigilance, Working Memory, Reasoning and Problem Solving (better performance in males), and Social Cognition (better performance in females). No interaction effects were found between diagnosis and age, or between diagnosis and gender. This lack of interactions suggests that age and gender effects are not different in patients and controls.

162. Exploring orbitofrontal dysfunction in schizophrenia: a neuropsychological assay

regions of interest were used, 5-HT2AR changes may have been missed in some brain areas. Therefore, data were analyzed further using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM), which compares all voxels of the brain. We also used this method to examine the relationship between 5-HT2AR binding potential (BP) and 5 PANSS-derived factors: negative, positive, activation, dysphoric and autistic preoccupation (Psychopathology 1997;30:263–274). Twelve antipsychotic-free schizophrenic patients (10M, 2F; age 30 6 6 y) and 24 age-matched controls (10M, 14F; age 29 6 6 y) were scanned. The 5-HT2AR BP was estimated for each voxel by the ratio to the cerebellum between 65 and 90 min after [F]setoperone bolus injection. The resulting parametric 5-HT2AR BP images were spatially normalized using a ligand specific template (NeuroImage 1999;9:545– 553). Analyses of covariance were done by SPM96 with age as covariate of no interest and applying no global normalization. Corrected p values ,0.05 at cluster or voxel level were considered significant. The patients and controls were compared using a 1-subject-2-conditions paradigm. Correlations between 5-HT2AR BP and the 5 factors were tested for patients only using a 1-subject-1-covariate-of-interest paradigm. No significant differences were detected between patients and controls and no significant correlations were observed between 5-HT2AR BP and any of the 5 factors. Thus, SPM analysis confirmed the lack of substantial 5-HT2AR BP differences between schizophrenic patients and controls.

A comparison of stressful life events that preceded psychotic, depressive, and negative symptom onsets

negative symptoms, disorganisation) was replicated in 65 young, recently hospitalized schizophrenic patients, who also showed evidence of a fourth dimension (depression). Distinct patterns of correlations were found for these symptom dimensions with cognitive and social variables. Longitudinal data are now available with repeated measures of symptoms and cognitive variables 3 and 1.5 months later, when most patients have moved to day-care and ambulatory care, respectively. Results show that the four-dimensional model is preserved in the longitudinal analysis, with satisfactory levels of internal consistency for each of the dimensions. These data further challenge the simple positive/negative dichotomy of schizophrenia. Rather few significant correlations be tween symptoms and cognitive measures were found. Change of cognitive deficits over time was also investigated. Results show that the performance on several cognitive tests, including Card Sorting, improves to normal levels.