title: The shine-through masking paradigm is a potential endophenotype of schizophrenia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To understand the genetics of schizophrenia, a hunt for so-called intermediate phenotypes or endophenotypes is ongoing. Visual masking has been proposed to be such an endophenotype. However, no systematic study has been conducted yet to prove this claim. Here, we present the first study showing that masking meets the most important criteria for an endophenotype.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We tested 62 schizophrenic patients, 39 non-affected first-degree relatives, and 38 healthy controls in the shine-through masking paradigm and, in addition, in the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Most importantly, masking performance of relatives was significantly in between the one of patients and controls in the shine-through paradigm. Moreover, deficits were stable throughout one year. Using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) methods, we show that the shine-through paradigm distinguishes with high sensitivity and specificity between schizophrenic patients, first-order relatives and healthy controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The shine-through paradigm is a potential endophenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Tbilisi State Medical University, Tbilisi, Georgia. echkonia@yahoo.ca
authors.forename: Eka
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chkonia
authors.forename: Maya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roinishvili
authors.forename: Natia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Makhatadze
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tsverava
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stroux
authors.forename: Konrad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010641:Phenotype; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012372:ROC Curve; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology