A brief summary of the articles appearing in this issue of Biological Psychiatry

摘要

In order to develop more effective interventions and reduce the disability of schizophrenia, it is essential to have better measures of the prodromal phase of the disorder. Atkinson et al. (pages 98-104) examined the use of two neurophysiological markers of auditory deviance detection to sound durations in first-episode psychosis, ultra-high riskof schizophrenia, and healthy individuals. Results suggest auditory deviance detection is deficient early in the disease process and may provide a possible marker of the prodromal phase of schizophrenia.There is compelling evidence for hippocampal abnormalities in patients with chronic psychotic illness, but the timing of the emergence of these deficits during the course of illness remains unclear. Williams et al. (pages 105-113) evaluated hippocampal structure, function, and relational memory ability using a transitive inference task for patients in the early stage of a psychotic illness. They found no evidence of hippocampal dysfunction or memory impairment, indicating these deficits may not be present during the emergence of psychosis and therefore might be targeted by early intervention.