Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23671197›Full record

SynthesisSchizophrenia bulletin2014

Neurological soft signs are not "soft" in brain structure and functional networks: evidence from ALE meta-analysis.

Qing Zhao, Zhi Li, Jia Huang, Chao Yan, Paola Dazzan, Christos Pantelis, Eric F C Cheung, Simon S Y Lui, Raymond C K Chan

Open access · bronzeAbstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Schizophrenia bulletin, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 62 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
62citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
8.2field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

62 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 145 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Neurological soft signs in neurodegenerative dementias: Results of the DemeNSS study.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Neurological soft signs are increased in migraine without aura: relationship with the affective status.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022
    Article
  19. Characterizing the sensorimotor domain in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2022
    Article
  20. Review

2 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Qing Zhao*To whom correspondence should be addressed; 4A Datun Road, Beijing 100101, China; tel/fax: +86(0)10 64836274, e-mail: rckchan@psych.ac.cn.
Zhi Li
Jia Huang
Chao Yan
Paola Dazzan
Christos Pantelis
Eric F C Cheung
Simon S Y Lui
Raymond C K Chan
Castle Peak Hospital · CNInstitute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences · CNUniversity of Chinese Academy of Sciences · CNMelbourne Health · AUPsychiatry Research Trust · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundNeurological soft signs (NSS) are associated with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. NSS have been conventionally considered as clinical neurological signs without localized brain regions. However, recent brain imaging studies suggest that NSS are partly localizable and may be associated with deficits in specific brain areas.

methodWe conducted an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis to quantitatively review structural and functional imaging studies that evaluated the brain correlates of NSS in patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Six structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and 15 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies were included.

resultsThe results from meta-analysis of the sMRI studies indicated that NSS were associated with atrophy of the precentral gyrus, the cerebellum, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the thalamus. The results from meta-analysis of the fMRI studies demonstrated that the NSS-related task was significantly associated with altered brain activation in the inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral putamen, the cerebellum, and the superior temporal gyrus.

conclusionsOur findings from both sMRI and fMRI meta-analyses further support the conceptualization of NSS as a manifestation of the "cerebello-thalamo-prefrontal" brain network model of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.

Indexed as

Likelihood FunctionsBrainCerebellumFrontal LobeFunctional NeuroimagingHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingNeural PathwaysPrefrontal CortexPutamenSchizophreniaTemporal LobeThalamusactivationbrainestimationimaginglikelihoodmeta-analysisneurologicalpsychosisschizophreniasignssoft

Identifiers

PMID23671197
PMCPMC3984512
OpenAlexW2134871804

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.