BackgroundBoth impairment and sex differences in social cognition and neurocognition have been documented in schizophrenia. However, whether sex differences exist in the association between social cognition and neurocognition are not known. We aimed to investigate the contribution of areas of neurocognition to theory of mind and hostility bias, representing social cognition, according to sex in early course schizophrenia.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we assessed neurocognition using the Japanese version of the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia and assessed the ToM and (...) hostility bias subdomains of social cognition using the Social Cognition Screening Questionnaire in 131 participants diagnosed with schizophrenia within 5 years of onset. Sex differences were analyzed using t-tests. The associations of neurocognitive subdomains with ToM and hostility bias according to sex were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Results were adjusted by age, estimated premorbid intelligence quotient, and symptomatology.ResultsNo sex differences were found in ToM or hostility bias. Higher verbal fluency was significantly associated with higher ToM in females, whereas higher executive function was significantly associated with higher ToM in males. Higher verbal fluency was significantly associated with lower hostility bias in females, whereas neurocognition and hostility bias were not significantly associated in males.ConclusionThe results suggest that neurocognition associated with social cognition differ according to sex. These differences should be considered for more effective treatment of social cognition. (shrink)

The neuromodulatory effects of brain stimulation therapies notably involving repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on nocturnal sleep, which is critically disturbed in major depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders, remain largely undetermined. We have previously reported in major depression patients that prefrontal rTMS sessions enhanced their slow wave activity power, but not their sigma power which is related to sleep spindle activity, for electrodes located nearby the stimulation site. In the present study, we focused on measuring the spindle density to investigate cumulative (...) effects of prefrontal rTMS sessions on the sleep spindle activity. Fourteen male inpatients diagnosed with medication-resistant unipolar or bipolar depression were recruited and subjected to 10 daily rTMS sessions targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. All-night polysomnography data was acquired at four time points: Adaptation, Baseline, Post-1, and Post-2. Clinical and cognitive evaluations were longitudinally performed at Baseline, Post-1, and Post-2 time points to explore associations with the spindle density changes. The PSG data from 12 of 14 patients was analyzed to identify sleep spindles across the sleep stages II–IV at four electrode sites: F3, F4, P3, and P4. Statistical analysis by two-way ANOVA revealed that spindle density at F3 increased at Post-1 but decreased at Post-2 time points. Moreover, the local and transient increase of spindle density at F3 was associated with the previously reported SWA power increase at F3, possibly reflecting a shared mechanism of thalamocortical synchronization locally enhanced by diurnal prefrontal rTMS sessions. Clinical and cognitive correlations were not observed in this dataset. These findings suggest that diurnal rTMS sessions transiently modulate nocturnal sleep spindle activity at the stimulation site, although clinical and cognitive effects of the local changes warrant further investigation. (shrink)

dai 1-kan. Kōshitsu hen. Kokka shakai hen. Gunji hen. Shisō hen. Kyōkun hen. Shūkyō hen -- dai 2-kan. Gakugei hen. Keizai sangyō hen. Shūyō hen. Ningen hen -- dai 3-kan. Undō kyōgi shumi hen. Katei hen. Daihyō ijin jūninin kun.

日本人は「死」にどう向き合うべきなのか。西洋との違い、仏教の影響、私たちの古層にある死生観―社会思想の大家による渾身の論考.