CORE--CLINICAL

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The goal of the Clinical Services Core is to support a range of projects that examine the clinical phenotypes and the endophenotypes that may be associated with the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia. Specifically, we will study 1) a series of treatment-naive, first-episode schizophrenia patients; 2) first-episode non-schizophrenia psychotic subjects as a psychiatric comparison group; 3) adult first-degree family members of the first-episode schizophrenia patients; 4) adolescent offspring of schizophrenia patients at high risk for developing schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders; and 5) healthy comparison subjects from the same community as the patient and relative subjects. To address these goals, the Clinical Services Core will recruit and characterize the study subjects using a comprehensive diagnostic and psychopathological assessment battery, including laboratory and neuroradiological evaluations. The patients will be followed for six months to establish diagnostic stability. All data will be stored in a database managed by the Statistical and Data Management Core-D and will be accessible to Center investigators. The Core will also staff and conduct case conferences for the Brain Bank Core-B to achieve consensus diagnoses for all cases from whom post-mortem brain specimens are obtained. Data from the Clinical Services Core will be used to test the specific hypotheses regarding the etiopathophysiology of schizophrenia in Project 7-Carter and related projects funded through other mechanisms.