1,720,960 research outputs found
Cognitive remediation in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia or in subjects at-risk for psychosis.
No full textNew Strategies to Improve Cognitive Symptom Domain in the Treatment of Schizophrenia
No full textCognitive impairment, in past decades, has been consistently reported in patients with schizophrenia [1]. Neurocognitive disability appears early in the course of the disease, even in prodromal phases, and these deficits are widely present in different stages of the illness whether in patients or in their first-degree family members [2]. In 2004, the Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) project has identified seven distinct cognitive domains that are impaired in patients with schizophrenia: speed of processing, attention/vigilance, working memory, verbal and visual learning, reasoning and problem solving, and social cognition [3–5]. Moreover, in the third meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (CNTRICS) project, it was cleared that six areas of cognitive domains are damaged in patients with schizophrenia: perception, working memory, attention, executive functions, long-term memory, and social cognition [6]. Regarding social cognitive deficits, they include impairments in facial affect recognition, in perceiving and interpreting social cues, in theory of mind (ToM), and in the ability to make appropriate causal attributions for events [7]. Several studies have shown that both neurocognitive and social cognitive deficits are among the major causes of severe functional disabilities in patients with schizophrenia and they are also related to a worse outcome of the disorder [8–10]. In a comprehensive literature review, Green et al. [10] underlined that different cognitive deficits might have an impact on specific areas of psychosocial functioning. As a matter of fact, cognitive deficits seem to explain 20–60% of the variance of everyday functioning [3, 4, 11]. The influence of cognition on functional outcomes may happen through its influence on functional capacity, the ability to perform critical everyday living skills [12]. Thus, functional capacity may actually be considered as a proxy measure between neurocognition and everyday functioning and it has been found to be quite strongly associated with cognitive performance [13]. Recent studies have shown how cognitive impairment predicts functional outcomes even more than positive and negative symptoms and how it is associated with disability in phases of clinical remission too [2, 14]. From the greater and detailed knowledge of the role and meaning of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia, its improvement became an essential target in the treatment and in the clinical management of the illness [15]. In order to restore cognitive deficits in schizophrenic patients, there are different pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches developed. Whereas pharmacological interventions include approved treatments (e.g., antipsychotics and antidepressants) and under-study treatments, non-pharmacological interventions include cognitive remediation, noninvasive brain stimulation techniques, and physical activity techniques [16–20]
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Effectiveness, Core Elements, and Moderators of Response of Cognitive Remediation for Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials
No full textImportance: Cognitive impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, with negative consequences on functional outcomes. Although cognitive remediation (CR) is effective and mentioned in treatment guidance for schizophrenia, its active ingredients and ideal candidates are still debated. Objective: To provide a comprehensive update on CR effectiveness for cognition and functioning in schizophrenia and analyze the core ingredients of efficacy and role of patient characteristics. Data Sources: The reference list of the last comprehensive meta-analysis in 2011 was screened against eligibility criteria. Then, electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, and PsycInfo) were systematically searched for articles published from January 2011 to February 2020. Reference lists of included articles and relevant reviews were hand searched, and Google Scholar was manually inspected. Study Selection: Eligible studies were randomized clinical trials comparing CR with any other control condition in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (with an unrestricted clinical status). Screening was performed by at least 2 independent reviewers. Data Extraction and Synthesis: The PRISMA guidelines were followed. Study data were independently extracted and pooled using random-effect models. Cohen d was used to measure outcomes. Trial methodological quality was evaluated with the Clinical Trials Assessment Measure. Main Outcomes and Measures: Primary outcomes were changes in global cognition and overall functioning from baseline to after treatment, subsequently investigated through metaregressions, subgroup, and sensitivity analyses based on prespecified hypotheses, to identify potential moderators of response associated with treatment modality and patient characteristics. Results: Of 1815 identified reports, 358 full texts were assessed and 194 reports on 130 studies were included. Based on 130 studies with 8851 participants, CR was effective on cognition (d, 0.29 [95% CI, 0.24-0.34]) and functioning (d, 0.22 [95% CI, 0.16-0.29]). An active and trained therapist (cognition: χ21, 4.14; P =.04; functioning: χ21, 4.26; P =.04), structured development of cognitive strategies (cognition: χ21, 9.34; P =.002; functioning: χ21, 8.12; P =.004), and integration with psychosocial rehabilitation (cognition: χ21, 5.66; functioning: χ21, 12.08) were crucial ingredients of efficacy. Patients with fewer years of education (global cognition: coefficient, -0.055 [95% CI, -0.103 to -0.006]; P =.03; global functioning: coefficient, -0.061 [95% CI, -0.112 to -0.011]; P =.02), lower premorbid IQ (global functioning: coefficient, -0.013 [-0.025 to -0.001]; P =.04), and higher baseline symptom severity (global cognition: coefficient, 0.006 [95% CI, 0.002 to 0.010]; P =.005) emerged as optimal candidates. Conclusions and Relevance: These findings show that CR is an evidence-based intervention that should be included consistently into clinical guidelines for the treatment of individuals with schizophrenia and implemented more widely in clinical practice.
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