Altered Resting State Functional Connectivity and Its Correlation with Cognitive Functions at Ultra High Risk for Psychosis.

The aim of this study is to identify robust resting state-functional connectivity (rs-FC) alterations and their correlations with the neuropsychological characteristics of Ultra-High Risk (UHR) for psychosis subjects compared to healthy controls (HCs). Twenty individuals with UHR and sixteen HCs underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and a cognitive battery evaluating attention, episodic memory and executive functions. Compared to HCs, UHR individuals showed working memory and set-shifting impairments. In functional connectivity (FC) analyses, the Default Mode Network (DMN) of the UHR subjects displayed increased FC with the visual areas and decreased FC with the Dorsal Attention Network (DAN). Additionally, the salience network (SN) of the UHR subjects displayed increased connectivity with wide posterior cortical areas in the temporal, parietal and occipital lobes, corresponding to posterior nodes of the SN itself, the Somato-Motor Network (SMN) and the DAN. The SN connectivity with the left SMN and DAN was positively correlated with the Trail Making Test - B scores of the UHR subjects. These findings show that the SN and DMN, which mostly show abnormal connectivity patterns in psychosis, are also affected in UHR subjects, while the SN plays a more central role with its hyperconnectivity to the DAN and SMN.

History of childhood physical trauma is related to cognitive decline in individuals with ultra-high risk for psychosis.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between childhood trauma (CT) and cognitive functioning in individuals with ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR). Fifty-three individuals at UHR for psychosis were administered a neurocognitive battery that assessed attention, processing speed, verbal learning, memory, working memory, interference inhibition, and sustained attention. The CT was assessed using the short-version Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). We dichotomized the sample by using cut-off scores for the presence of emotional, physical and sexual trauma, and physical and emotional neglect. Those with a history of physical trauma performed worse on the Digit Span Forward test, Trail making B (time), Stroop test (difference between color and word reading times), and completed categories of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Physical trauma scores were correlated with WCST-completed categories, Digit Span Forward and Stroop test scores. Physical neglect scores were negatively correlated with Digit Span Forward Test scores. Most of the significant dose­response relationships between cognitive impairment and different subtypes of CT were found only in men. There was no difference between those with and without other kinds of childhood abuse or neglect in terms of cognitive impairment. Our findings suggest that a history of physical trauma has a negative impact on cognitive function in individuals at UHR for psychosis.