|
|
Cursor trajectory analysis in schizophrenia research
Vaňková, Michaela Elen ; Provazník, Ivo (referee) ; Schwarz, Daniel (advisor)
By using game controllers in experiments of functional magnetic resonance, we can obtain not only valuable neuroimaging data, but also important behavioral data and data related to the process of experiment. This thesis deals with the use of joystick in schizophrenia research. Furthermore, the thesis deals with the processing and classification of acquired data and their preparation for analysis.
|
|
|
Interactions of drugs used to treat schizophrenia and their accompanying symptoms
Musilová, Jana ; Janoušek, Oto (referee) ; Cicková, Pavlína (advisor)
The thesis studies interactions and side effects of antipsychotic drugs. It describes the drug discovery and related scientific fields - especially the field of biological network analysis. The thesis also describes schizophrenia and its treatment. The aim of the work is creating script in R language for automatic data download from open source databases and a search of the most significant drug interactions in data from the open source databases, based on the visualisation and analysis of networks with Cytoscape software and its plugins, and a specification of similar pharmacological features of the most important medicaments.
|
|
|
Cognitive flexibility in selected animal models of psychiatric disorders
Janíková, Martina ; Stuchlík, Aleš (advisor) ; Rokyta, Richard (referee) ; Ježek, Karel (referee)
Cognitive flexibility is the ability to adjust thinking and behavior based on changing conditions. Cognitive rigidity has been described in a variety of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders and has been suggested to contribute to symptom maintenance. Therefore, we aimed to study cognitive flexibility and other behavioral characteristics in several rodent models relevant to schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and autism spectrum disorder. In a two-hit mice model relevant to schizophrenia, we found the between-group difference in set- shifting and decreased number of parvalbumin interneurons in the hippocampus of stressed female mice. Interestingly, we found no impairment in any other behavioral task. In two pharmacological rat models relevant to OCD, we showed that sensitization to D2/D3 receptor agonist quinpirole and serotonin 1A/7 agonist 8-OH-DPAT produced severe spatial learning and memory impairment in the Active Allothetic Place Avoidance task. The impairment was so severe that the reversal couldn't be tested. Surprisingly, drugs decreasing glutamatergic neurotransmission, memantine and riluzole, further impaired the performance in both models, although no such effect was observed when they were applied alone. Lastly, we showed that the knockout of a collapsin response...
|
|
|
Altered morphology of white and grey matter in patients with Alzheimer disease and Schizophrenia on MRI
Lahutsina, Anastasiya ; Zach, Petr (advisor) ; Horáček, Jiří (referee) ; Němcová, Veronika (referee)
Cortical folding of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), particularly the cingulate (CS) and the paracingulate (PCS) sulci, represents a neurodevelopmental marker. Deviations in in utero development in schizophrenia can be traced using CS and PCS morphometry. In the present study, we measured the length of CS, PCS, and their segments on T1 MRI scans in 93 patients with first episode schizophrenia and 42 healthy controls. Besides the length, the frequency and the left-right asymmetry of CS/PCS were compared in patients and controls. Distribution of the CS and PCS morphotypes in patients was different from controls. Parcellated sulcal pattern CS3a in the left hemisphere was longer in patients (53.8 ± 25.7 mm vs. 32.7 ± 19.4 mm in controls, p < 0.05), while in CS3c it was reversed-longer in controls (52.5 ± 22.5 mm as opposed to 36.2 ± 12.9 mm, n.s. in patients). Non parcellated PCS in the right hemisphere were longer in patients compared to controls (19.4 ± 10.2 mm vs. 12.1 ± 12.4 mm, p < 0.001). Therefore, concurrent presence of PCS1 and CS1 in the left hemisphere and to some extent in the right hemisphere may be suggestive of a higher probability of schizophrenia. Measurement of an hippocampal area or volume is useful in clinical practice as a supportive aid for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease....
|
|
|
Genetic factors influencing the characteristic facial features of people with psychical disorders
Frajbišová, Aneta ; Šolc, Roman (advisor) ; Kočandrlová, Karolina (referee)
The facial part of the head of the embryo is formed alongside with the brain from the same precursors. The face is formed from the neural crest cells, which arise from the neuroepithelium. This means that if there is some kind of disruption in the early development of the brain, it will be shown in the face. The neuroepithelium induces the expression of many important genetic factors for the formation of the face. For example PAX3, Dsl-1, HMGN1. However, environmental factors also have an impact on the final look of the face. The environmental factors are for example diet or the way of breathing. Persons with the syndromatic psychic disorders have well known and researched facial morphology compared to persons with asyndromatic psychic disorders such as schizophrenia, ASD, OCD and bipolar disorder, which are still the object of many studies. Genetic factors that have an impact on facial dysmorphology, are usually genes that have their main role in the central nervous system or they indirectly impact through signalling pathways on other genes, which are known to have an impact on the face such as Fgf genes. The goal of this thesis is to determine these genetic factors.
|
|
|
Dietary habits of patients in the schizophrenic spectrum
Krůčková, Dominika ; Kalinová, Nelly (advisor) ; Pehr, Martin (referee)
The thesis deals with the dietary habits of schizophrenic patients and the effect of anti- inflammatory food on the levels of inflammatory markers in the blood. Patients suffering from schizophrenia are observed to have poorer eating habits compared to healthy controls. These patients are more likely to consume saturated and trans unsaturated fatty acids and less likely to include fruit and vegetables, unsaturated fatty acids or fibre in their diet. At the same time these patients have a higher consumption of foods involved in promoting chronic inflammation and thus possibly worsening the symptoms of the disease. The aim of this study is to evaluate the dietary habits of schizophrenic patients using a semi-quantitative frequency questionnaire and to compare them with a control group without a psychiatric diagnosis. Furthermore, based on the findings from the DII to select foods from the questionnaire that contain components of or are themselves included in the anti-inflammatory food index and to determine whether the frequency of consumption of these foods correlates with blood levels of inflammatory markers. According to the results of this work the diet of schizophrenic patients can be considered less healthy compared to the control group due to lower consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables,...
|
|
|
How to work with film didactically in high school psychology teaching
MICHL EGRIOVÁ, Simona
This diploma thesis deals with the topic of how to do didactically work with films in the teaching of psychology at high schools. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part, which deals with the theoretical foundations of teaching psychology at high schools in the Czech Republic and abroad and it also deals with films as a didactic tool for teaching psychology and with selected mental disorders and mental illnesses. The goal of practical part was to create a specific methodology for teaching psychology at high schools using a film as a didactic tool on the topic of dissociative identity disorder, bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia. One topic was taught in each lesson. To map what students already know about the topic, a questionnaire is designed to identify preconceptions in the field of psychology. In order to map what the students already know about the topic a questionnaire was created to find out preconceptions from the field of psychology. Students were given this questionnaire to fill in before and after class. The answers were then evaluated and compared. With the help of descriptive statistics, it was found out that all students (N=59) were better at answering questions of type "B" at the end of the lesson than they were with questions of type "A". For the "B" type of questions, there was an overall improvement in responses from 59,3 % (N=35) at the beginning of the lesson to 93,2 % (N=55) at the end of the lesson. In the case of question type "A", the success rate in the answers worsened from 74,6 % (N=44) before the lesson to 69,5 % (N=41) after the lesson. In the empirical part, an alteration of teaching is proposed after this finding.
|
|
|
Cognitive, structural and functional brain changes in a model of psychotic relapses
Ledvinková, Michaela ; Nekovářová, Tereza (advisor) ; Telenský, Petr (referee)
Schizophrenia is a serious nerodevelopmental disease with many sophisticated symptoms. One of its characteristics are relapses which are currently surrounded by consensus that each relaps causes further structural and functional defecits and can even lead to loss of grey matter. Recently, studies of cognitive deficit became prominent and increased the number of possible methods to study schizophrenia. Animal models are used for studying this phenomenon and focuses on neurobiological processes and cellular metabolism and its research is crucial to developing new ways of treatment and understanding schizophrenia. This review mainly focuses on relapses and how they affect progression of this desease. Key words: schizophrenia, psychosis, relaps, neurobiological progression, energy metabolism, cognitive deficit, animal models
|
|
|
The effect of the molecular weight of poly(I:C) on the development and behavior of offspring in the maternal immune activation model
Cmarková, Nathalie ; Brožka, Hana (advisor) ; Petrásek, Tomáš (referee)
Maternal inflammation during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of the development of psychiatric disorders in offspring, especially schizophrenia and autism. Prenatal treatment with poly(I:C), a viral mimetic, is a widely used model of maternal immune activation leading to developmental and behavioral alterations in offspring. However, results of studies are inconsistent possibly due to the differences in the molecular weight of used poly(I:C). In this thesis, the effect of different molecular weights of poly(I:C) was assessed. Pregnant Wistar rat females were treated by either high molecular weight (HMW) or low molecular weight (LMW) poly(I:C) on gestational day 14 to assess developmental and behavioral deficits relevant to schizophrenia and autism in offspring on postnatal day 12 and at three months. Prenatal exposition to the HMW poly(I:C) led to significantly reduced social behavior in the Homing test and a trend towards reduced USV vocalization in pups. The LMW pups showed significantly impaired negative geotaxis. In adulthood, the HMW and LMW offspring both exhibited significant social deficits and reduced anxiety. Anxiety was reduced mainly in the LMW group. This thesis revealed differences in behavioral outcomes between prenatal exposition to HMW and LMW poly(I:C). These...
|
|
|
The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Clients of Fokus Český Krumlov. Reactions of People with Mental Illness
KOLAROVÁ, Soňa
The thesis examines how selected clients of FOKUS in Český Krumlov perceived and coped with the Covid- 19 pandemic and related government measures. The theoretical part describes the needs of people with specific diagnoses such as schizophrenia, depression, neurotic, stress and somatoform disorders, and their functioning in everyday life. It also describes the FOKUS organization, the Covid- 19 pandemic and all the related government measures. The practical part analyses the research based on interviews with selected clients of FOKUS in Český Krumlov. The practical part summarises how these clients perceived their mental health during the pandemic and whether they felt the impact of government measures through the lens of their illness.
|
guest ::
