This paper presents the case of a 67-year-old woman who visited the Psychiatry Department complaining of persecutory ideas and auditory hallucinations after a buccal cancer operation. On neuropsychological testing, she demonstrated paranoid psychosis and bizarre thoughts. Hospital admission was recommended for supportive care and treatment with antipsychotics. She was initially treated with olanzapine, but this medication had little effect and was replaced with amisulpride, which reduced the residual symptoms. The aim of this report was to discuss the diagnostic process and treatment of very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis.
Aged ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Benzodiazepines ; Female ; Hallucinations ; Humans ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Psychotic Disorders ; Sulpiride

OBJECTIVE: Sinapic acid (SA, Sinapine), small naturally occurring hydroxycinnamic acid, has a GABA(A) receptor agonistic property and free radical scavenging activity. We examined potential neuroprotective effects of sinapic acid (SA) using global cerebral ischemia animal model. METHODS: MTT assay was performed to determine cytotoxic effects of SA. To examine the neuroprotective effects of SA, SA was administrated for 14 d before 4-vessel occlusion. Also, to determine whether SA prevents cognitive impairment, Morris water maze was performed. RESULTS: In this study, the efficacy of SA for the prevention of neuronal damage and for the reduction of memory impairment was investigated. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that SA confers significant neuroprotection especially for ischemic hippocampal neurons.
Animals ; Brain Ischemia ; Coumaric Acids ; Glycosaminoglycans ; Hippocampus ; Ischemia ; Maze Learning ; Memory ; Neurons ; Neuroprotective Agents ; Rats ; Receptors, GABA-A

OBJECTIVE: We examined how psychotropic medications affected quantitative EEG (qEEG) results among patients with a schizophrenia-spectrum disorder. METHODS: The drugs were clustered into nine groups depending on their mechanism. We hypothesized that drugs would affect the relative power shown in qEEG results independently and investigated the effect of each drug group on relative power using multiple linear regression analysis and independent samples t-tests. RESULTS: We found that antipsychotics other than clozapine induced an increase in the relative power of alpha activity. Clozapine markedly increased slow waves and decreased alpha activity in the occipital area. The main findings for antidepressants and antiepileptic drugs were the beta increment and lithium increased the power of delta and theta activity. However, we found no evident changes in power due to benzodiazepine. CONCLUSION: Our results are generally consistent with previous pharmaco-EEG studies, despite some differences. Therefore, the EEG effect in each drug group could be singled out even under the polypharmacy condition, with the possible exception of benzodiazepines. Our results support using a new methodological approach to identify the qEEG effects of various psychotropic drugs in clinical settings.
Anticonvulsants ; Antidepressive Agents ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Benzodiazepines ; Clozapine ; Electroencephalography ; Humans ; Linear Models ; Lithium ; Polypharmacy ; Psychotropic Drugs

OBJECTIVE: Some patients with schizophrenia may need mirtazapine augmentation to improve negative and cognitive symptoms. However there have been a few studies about the tolerability of mirtazapine augmentation to antipsychotics such as akathisia, extrapyramydal symptoms, weight gain, and body mass index (BMI). METHODS: This study was an eight-week double-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) of mirtazapine augmentation to risperidone. Twenty-one stabilized participants diagnosed with schizophrenia and undergoing treatment with risperidone were randomized to adjunctive treatment with mirtazapine (15 mg/day for the first two weeks, 30 mg/day for the next six weeks) or placebo. Eleven patients were assigned to the mirtazapine group, and nine patients were given placebo. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the mirtazapine and placebo groups with respect to Barnes Akathisia rating Scale (BAS) and Sympsom-Angus Scale (SAS). However, the mirtazapine group exhibited a statistically significant increase in weight and BMI (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that mirtazapine augmentation can be tolerable in schizophrenic patients treated with risperidone; however, we should pay attention to the weight gain with mirtazapine. Our results should be replicated in a large-scale lengthy trial.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Body Mass Index ; Humans ; Mianserin ; Neurobehavioral Manifestations ; Psychomotor Agitation ; Risperidone ; Schizophrenia ; Weight Gain

OBJECTIVE: In humans, a single exposure to phencyclidine (PCP) can induce a schizophrenia-like psychosis which can persist for up to two weeks. In rats, an acute dose of PCP increases dopaminergic activity and causes changes in dopamine related behaviours some of which are sexually dimorphic. To better understand the effects of PCP on dopamine receptor adaptations in the short term we examined dopamine D1-like receptors (D1R) and D2-like receptors (D2R) in the mesolimbic and nigrostriatal dopamine pathways, 4 hours after exposure to PCP in female rats. METHODS: Animals received a single dose of 40 mg/kg PCP and were sacrificed 4 hours later. In vitro autoradiography was carried out using [3H] SCH 23390 and [3H] raclopride that target D1R and D2R respectively, in cryostat brain sections. RESULTS: Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA), revealed an overall effect of PCP treatment (F [1,63]=9.065; p=0.004) on D1R binding with an 18% decrease (p<0.01) in binding in the medial caudate putamen. PCP treatment also had an overall effect on D2R binding (F [1,47]=5.450; p=0.024) and a trend for an increase in D2R binding across all the brain regions examined. CONCLUSION: These results suggest opposing D1R and D2R adaptations in striatal subregions of female rats following acute exposure to PCP that may occur through indirect mechanisms.
Animals ; Autoradiography ; Benzazepines ; Brain ; Dopamine ; Female ; Humans ; Phencyclidine ; Psychotic Disorders ; Putamen ; Raclopride ; Rats ; Receptors, Dopamine

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia. Biomarkers such as levels of amyloid beta (Abeta) in cerebrospinal fluid and ApoE genotyping were suggested for the diagnosis of AD, however, the result is either non-conclusive or with invasive procedure. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for AD suggested single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in many genes are associated with the risk of AD, but each only contributed with small effect to the disease. By incorporating a panel of established genetic susceptibility factors, the risk of an individual in getting AD could be better estimated. Further research will be required to reveal if adding to the current well-developed clinical diagnosis protocol, the accuracy and specificity of diagnosis of AD would be greatly improved and if this might also be beneficial in identifying pre-symptomatic AD patients for early diagnosis and intervention of the disease.
Alzheimer Disease ; Amyloid ; Apolipoproteins E ; Biomarkers ; Dementia ; Early Diagnosis ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genetic Variation ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Humans ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Sensitivity and Specificity

"All-causes discontinuation" refers to discontinuation of treatment for any reason, and medication adherence is an important component of this measure. Similar to our previous results, we found that almost 30% of patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) discontinue medication in the first 9 months of treatment, a finding that has important implications for long-term outcomes. Many newer second-generation antipsychotics have not been studied in FEP. The self-reported Drug Attitude Inventory may help identify patients at heightened risk for medication discontinuation. In addition to vigilant monitoring for and adequate treatment of psychopathology and medication side effects, Relapse Prevention Therapy and the use of long-acting injectable agents may be effective interventions decrease discontinuation rates in FEP. There is currently no consensus on how long a patient should remain on an antipsychotic medication following remission of FEP. Studies are needed to identify predictors of which patients in remission from FEP are less likely to relapse when medication is discontinued. Taken together, our findings presented here underscore the importance of addressing medication discontinuation both as a means of preventing long-term morbidity and enhancing remission and functional recovery in FEP.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Consensus ; Humans ; Medication Adherence ; Patient Compliance ; Polytetrafluoroethylene ; Psychopathology ; Psychotic Disorders ; Recurrence ; Schizophrenia

The Editorial Office of Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci would like to correct the typographic errors.

No abstract available.
Paroxetine*

We describe a case of recurrent, life-threatening, catatonic stupor, without evidence of any associated medical, toxic or mental disorder. This case provides support for the inclusion of a separate category of "unspecified catatonia" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5) to be used to classify idiopathic cases, which appears to be consistent with Kahlbaum's concept of catatonia as a distinct disease state. But beyond the limited, cross-sectional, syndromal approach adopted in DSM-5, this case more importantly illustrates the prognostic and therapeutic significance of the longitudinal course of illness in differentiating cases of catatonia, which is better defined in the Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard classification system. The importance of differentiating cases of catatonia is further supported by the efficacy of antipsychotics in treatment of this case, contrary to conventional guidelines.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Catatonia* ; Classification ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders* ; Mental Disorders ; Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome ; Schizophrenia ; Stupor