Aspects of Schizophrenia: An Update

Migration and Psychosis

Risk of psychosis is not uniformly distributed and migrant communities often have more than expected number of cases. Some communities in Yorkshire, surprisingly have lower risk of psychosis. 

This course aims to highlight the variability of risk of psychosis in various ethnic groups.

After attending this talk, delegates will be able to have...

• An overview of the epidemiology of psychosis...
• ... it's association with migration...
• ... and that it is not all doom and gloom!

Dr Tariq Mahmood MB, M Med Sc, FCPS, FRC Psych, Consultant Psychiatrist, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, has been an inpatient psychiatrist who in fifty years of psychiatric practice has developed a special interest in treatment, teaching and research into phenomenology, epidemiology, genetics, and neurobiology of psychoses and bipolar disorders.

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Neural Biomarkers of Schizophrenia

In order to improve our therapeutic approach to patients with schizophrenia we need to understand more fully the neurobiological basis for psychosis. Neuroimaging and other neural brain measures, such as corneal confocal microscopy, when combined with clinical assessments, advance our understanding of the brain basis for this illness, important for informing risk assessment and improved management of patients.

This talk will describe brain imaging findings in families at high risk of schizophrenia and those with high schizotypy to allow an evaluation of the gene-environment risk of this illness. The novel technique (corneal confocal microscopy) will be described with data that shows abnormal corneal nerves linked to brain changes in schizophrenia.

After attending this talk, delegates will be able to...

• Better understand gene-environment risk factors that underpin brain changes in schizophrenia, e.g. in families with high genetic risk.
• Learn about the relationship between schizotypy and brain changes linked to schizophrenia.
• Learn about a novel non-invasive technique for assessing neural biomarkers in schizophrenia (corneal confocal microscopy.)

Professor Peter Woodruff, MBBS., PhD., MRCP., FRCPsych. is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Sheffield University, UK where he was Professor and Head of Department for 16 years and where he set up the renowned Sheffield Cognition and Neuroimaging Laboratory (SCANlab.) He is past Chair of Psychiatry at Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar, and Professor of Psychiatry at Weil Cornell Medical College, Qatar.

He has extensive research interests in clinical psychiatry, neuroimaging and epidemiology and has published widely in these areas. He is particularly interested in schizophrenia, mechanisms of psychosis and prevalence of mental illness and risk factors for psychosis. He has also made global contributions to teaching and training in Psychiatry and currently sits on the International Advisory Committee and Academic Faculty of the Royal College of Psychiatrists which he previously chaired.

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Genetic Influences on Schizophrenia and Psychotic Symptom Dimensions

There is considerable evidence that schizophrenia has a multifactorial aetiology which includes substantial genetic effects. There is also evidence of partial overlap in genetic influences on schizophrenia and other disorders. Additionally, among people with schizophrenia and other psychoses, there is considerable variation in symptoms, often summarised into positive, negative and disorganised symptom dimensions, and evidence of genetic influences on these symptom dimensions.

The talk will discuss evidence of genetic influences on schizophrenia from family, twin and adoption studies including heritability, and molecular genetic investigations of commonly occurring and rarer risk variants, including polygenic risk scores (PRSs) as measures of genetic loading. It will discuss genetic relationships between schizophrenia and other disorders. It will also discuss investigations of familial/genetic influences on psychotic symptom dimensions, including in affected sibling and twin pairs, and associations with PRSs.

After attending this talk, delegates will be able to...

• Know the current evidence for genetic influences on Schizophrenia.
• Know the main genetic relationships between Schizophrenia and other disorders.
• Know the current evidence for genetic influences on psychotic symptom disorders.

Dr Alastair Cardno, Visiting Senior Lecturer, Division of Psychological and Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Leeds, has recently retired as a Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry at the University of Leeds. He has an interest in the causes and consequences of psychotic disorders, symptoms and experiences. He has worked with colleagues including on studies of affected sibling pairs and other samples at Cardiff University, on studies of the Maudsley Twin Register and other samples at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience in London, and on studies of multiply affected families in Yorkshire.

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Clinical Trials to Clinical Practice

Antipsychotic medications are the mainstay of treatment in schizophrenia and their efficacy is supported by variable quality of evidence. This talk will cover the quality of clinical trials in schizophrenia in particular on antipsychotic medications. It gives an overview of the important clinical trials of antipsychotics.

After attending this talk, delegates will be able to...

• Get an overview of quality of clinical trials in schizophrenia.
• Understand the evidence base supporting antipsychotics efficacy in schizophrenia.
• Have enhanced confidence in the decisions about antipsychotic use in clinical practice.

Dr Prakash Hosalli, Consultant Psychiatrist, Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, is a consultant in General Adult Psychiatry. He has research interest in schizophrenia, psychopharmacology and was involved in systematic reviews with Cochrane Schizophrenia Group. He has experienced of working as an investigator in clinical trials.

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Suitability

This course offers 3 CPD points and is suitable for Psychiatrists, trainees, medical students, Mental Health Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Social Workers and Psychologists.

A reduced rate is offered to Medical Students, Nurses, Occupational Therapists and Social Workers, please contact us directly for more information: andrewsimscentre.lypft@nhs.net