ACTION OF SIMVASTATIN IN IMPROVING COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN VASCULAR DEMENTIA.

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of statins in improving cognitive function in patients with vascular dementia. As the most important etiological factors of the disease are atherosclerotic vascular lesions, one of the important areas of treatment is lipid metabolism analysis and drug treatment for dyslipidemia. 31 patients were selected for the study, ages 65-65 years, 18 males, 13 females. Twenty patients were included in the study group, treated with Simvastatin (80 mg daily dose). 11 patients were included in the control group. They received placebo therapy. Patients were examined every 4 weeks for 12 weeks using a neuropsychological test with mini-mental scaling, and both groups had low-density lipoprotein and cholesterol levels before and after treatment. In the 12-week post-treatment group, low-density lipoprotein levels were reduced by 54% and cholesterol by 48%. Neuropsychological status examination revealed deterioration of cognitive functions and no difference was observed between study and control group data. Based on the data obtained from our study, it should be noted that correction of lipid metabolism by statins in patients with vascular dementia did not lead to a reduction in cognitive impairment and clinical improvement in patients with vascular dementia.

[EVALUATION OF NON-VERBAL INTELLIGENCE AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONING OF PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA MANIFESTED IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS].

The aim of the study was to study the relationship between non-verbal intelligence, education and the factor of social functioning, taking into account the gender of patients with schizophrenia in childhood and adolescence. It should be noted that no such study was conducted in Georgia. The article discusses one of the most serious mental illnesses - schizophrenia, in terms of social functioning, since social functioning is an indicator of the degree of degradation of the patient. 246 patients with schizophrenia aged 18 to 45 years were examined. Studies have shown that the premorbid intelligence of the patient increases the degree of social adaptation. The higher the non-verbal intelligence, which is an integral part of the intellectual development of patients, the higher the indicators of social activity and adaptation, especially for women. The coefficient of social functioning does not obey the law of normal distribution. Any level of patient education is not a positive factor, although it does not significantly affect the functioning of female patients. The higher the level of non-verbal intelligence, the better the indicators of social activity, especially among women, although in general this dependence is insignificant. The article notes that in accordance with a complex, biopsychosocial approach, along with drug treatment, rehabilitation and social support of patients are necessary. The role of the human environment and other life circumstances of the patient in the severity of schizophrenia is discussed. A number of recommendations are presented that contribute to stopping cognitive decline and, therefore, preserving adaptive skills.

[CORRELATION ANALYSIS OF MARITAL STATUS, EDUCATION, GENDER AND INTELLIGENCE COEFFICIENT IN PATIENTS WITH EARLY MANIFESTED SCHIZOPHRENIA].

The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between marital status, education, gender of patients and intelligence coefficient in patients in childhood and adolescence onset schizophrenia. We examined 250 patients with schizophrenia under the age of 45 years, in whom the disease began before the age of 18 and treatment was carried out in a psychiatric institution. Education of patients of any level received by patients significantly positively affects the intellectual level, although this effect increases for juveniles and those patients who were never married or were not married during the study period. The presence of patients in marriage not only negatively affects the positive effect of education, although slightly, but still negatively affects the intellectual level of patients. The level of non-verbal intelligence of patients, which is an integral part of the intellectual coefficient IQ does not depend on their gender.

[RESEARCH OF NON-VERBAL INTELLIGENCE IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH EARLY SCHIZOPHRENIA AND IN HEALTHY PEOPLE].

The purpose of the study is to determine the degree of decrease in the intellectual level of people under the age of 45 who have suffered from schizophrenia in childhood and adolescence in comparison with healthy individuals of the same age. 700 patients under the age of 45 years who had schizophrenia from 9 to 18 years old and underwent treatment at the Center for Mental Health and Prevention of Addiction (Tbilisi, Georgia) and 479 healthy people of the same age range were examined. In this work, the IQ intelligence coefficient was selected as the measured variable, which was determined both in the patient group and in the control group according to the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence method and its part concerning non-verbal intelligence was used. During statistical processing of control group data for comparison with a group of patients, the data of unrealistically low values and extremely high IQ values were withdrawn from consideration. For patients, a violation of the law of the normal distribution of the IQ coefficient was obtained. The degrading effect of schizophrenia in childhood and adolescence on IQ is very "significant" and is an explanation for the patients' IQ deviation fact from the normal distribution. The median IQ of the control group of healthy people is slightly more than 117, which can be explained by the influence of personal and contextual (modern social environment) factors.

[ASSESSMENT OF INTELLIGENCE IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA MANIFESTED IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE].

The aim of the study was to determine the level of intelligence in people with schizophrenia from childhood and adolescence. It is noteworthy that such studies were not conducted in Georgia. A total of 250 schizophrenic patients under the age of 45 who had the disease started before the age of 18 and who were treated in a psychiatric institution were examined. The study analyzed the obtained data on the level of intelligence from the point of view of age, sex, age of onset of the disease and its type, diagnosis and education. As a result of the study, it was found that a high premorbidal intellectual level contributes to combating the symptoms of the disease, high motivation, less resistance to the conducted drug and other treatment methods, the desire to cooperate with specialists, which helps maintain the level of functioning, including the desire to get an education. No correlation was discovered between the type of disease (negative or positive symptoms) and the IQ (intelligence quotient). To maintain the daily functioning of schizophrenic patients, it is very important to maintain intellectual abilities at the onset of the disease, for which, along with pharmacological treatment, it is necessary to provide cognitive exercises and psychosocial support.

Convergent lines of evidence support CAMKK2 as a schizophrenia susceptibility gene.

Genes that are differentially expressed between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls may have key roles in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. We analyzed two large-scale genome-wide expression studies, which examined changes in gene expression in schizophrenia patients and their matched controls. We found calcium/calmodulin (CAM)-dependent protein kinase kinase 2 (CAMKK2) is significantly downregulated in individuals with schizophrenia in both studies. To seek the potential genetic variants that may regulate the expression of CAMKK2, we investigated the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within CAMKK2 and the expression level of CAMKK2. We found one SNP, rs1063843, which is located in intron 17 of CAMKK2, is strongly associated with the expression level of CAMKK2 in human brains (P=1.1 × 10(-6)) and lymphoblastoid cell lines (the lowest P=8.4 × 10(-6)). We further investigated the association between rs1063843 and schizophrenia in multiple independent populations (a total of 130 623 subjects) and found rs1063843 is significantly associated with schizophrenia (P=5.17 × 10(-5)). Interestingly, we found the T allele of rs1063843, which is associated with lower expression level of CAMKK2, has a higher frequency in individuals with schizophrenia in all of the tested samples, suggesting rs1063843 may be a causal variant. We also found that rs1063843 is associated with cognitive function and personality in humans. In addition, protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis revealed that CAMKK2 participates in a highly interconnected PPI network formed by top schizophrenia genes, which further supports the potential role of CAMKK2 in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Taken together, these converging lines of evidence strongly suggest that CAMKK2 may have pivotal roles in schizophrenia susceptibility.