At the Neurological Department of Maryknoll Hospital in Busan, Korea, a total of 16, 805 cases were treated over a 10 year period, and of these 28 cases were considered to be cases of multiple sclerosis. The cases were classified according to the 1972 Japan National MS Research Committee. As stated in previous literature, MS is an uncommon disease in the orient. The present report gives a review of the clinical characteristics observed in the cases studies. The chief complaints at onset were found to be numbness and paresthesia, visual impairment, gait disturbance, motor weakness, sphincter disturbance and so forth, in that order, which differ slightly from the Asian series. A comparison was made between the present study and that of C.S.Park in 1968, showing a 0.1% decrease in frequency in the present study. The number of ALS and MG cases diagnosed during the same period was also reported.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Busan* ; Gait ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Japan ; Korea* ; Multiple Sclerosis* ; Paresthesia ; Prevalence* ; Vision Disorders

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate demographic, clinical, behavioral and metabolic-endocrine factors related to weight gain in patients with schizophrenia treated with serotonin-dopamine antagonists(SDA). METHODS: Forty-two in-patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia were recruited from Samsung Seoul Hospital and St. Andrew Neuropsychiatric Hospital. The subjects were first-episode patients or patients who did not take any antipsychotics for the previous two months. All the patients were administered with one of the SDAs for 8 weeks. Body weights and body mass index (BMI) were measured weekly during the treatment period. The mean levels of daytime activities were evaluated at baseline and 4 weeks and 8 weeks after the treatment. To assess the clinical response to the medication, the Krawiecka Rating Scale (KRS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) were applied before and after the treatment. Fasting blood levels of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL), and serum level of prolactin were measured before and after the treatment. RESULTS: The body weight and BMI were significantly increased through the treatment periods. There were significant increases in the blood levels of cholesterol, TG and prolactin after 8 weeks. KRS total score showed significant decrease and the mean level of daytime activities showed significant increase by the treatment. Significant negative correlations were observed between the weight gain indices and the baseline BMI. The level of clinical improvement was significantly correlated with the degree of weight gain. Gender, age, smoking, daily dosages of antipsychotics, level of daytime activity and changes in appetite did not show any association with the weight gain indices. Neither the baseline biochemical variables nor their changes after the treatment were significantly correlated with the indices of weight gain. CONCLUSION: This result implies that low baseline BMI could be a risk factor of weight gain in short-term treatment of schizophrenia with SDAs. And it is also suggested that the effects of SDAs on weight gain and the clinical improvement might be developed through the same pharmacodynamic pathway.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Appetite ; Body Mass Index ; Body Weight ; Cholesterol ; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ; Fasting ; Glucose ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Prolactin ; Risk Factors ; Schizophrenia* ; Seoul ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Triglycerides ; Weight Gain*

OBJECTIVES: Leptin, the product of ob gene, is secreted by adipocytes and signals the size of peripheral fat stores to the brain. Several evidences indicate that a polymorphism in the promoter region (-2548A/G) of leptin gene is associated with antipsychotics-induced weight gain. This study aims at investigating the association between the -2548A/G polymorphism of leptin gene and antipsychotics-induced weight gain in Korean schizophrenia patients. METHODS: Seventy one patients with schizophrenia were recruited. All of the subjects were antipsychotics-naive or free of antipsychotic drugs for the previous 3 months. Genotyping was done for the -2548A/G polymorphism of leptin gene. Body mass index (BMI) was measured at baseline, after 4 weeks and after 8 weeks of antipsychotic drug treatment. The subjects were grouped on the basis of the presence or absence of the G allele (AA vs. AG/GG) and two-sided t tests for independent samples was used to analyze the relationship between two genotype groups and BMI change. And a chi-square analysis was conducted to test the association between the allele type and BMI change. RESULTS: We could not find any association between the -2548A/G polymorphism of leptin gene and antipsychotics-induced weight gain. CONCLUSION: Our data do not support the involvement of the -2548A/G polymorphism of leptin gene in antipsychotics-induced weight gain in the acute treatment phase.
Adipocytes ; Alleles ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Body Mass Index ; Brain ; Genotype ; Humans ; Leptin* ; Promoter Regions, Genetic ; Schizophrenia ; Weight Gain*

OBJECTIVE: Several lines of pharmacological evidences including the data of animal studies indicate that serotonin 2C receptor (5HT2C) is involved in the pharmacodynamic process of serotonin dopamine antagonists (SDA)-induced weight gain. Controversial data have been reported on the association between the polymorphisms of 5HT2C receptor gene and antipsychotics-induced weight gain. This study aims at investigating the association between the polymorphisms of 5HT2C receptor gene and SDA-induced weight gain in korean schizophrenic patients. METHODS: Seventy-seven schizophrenia patients in their first episode or patients who did not take any antipsychotics for the previous two months were recruited. All the patients were administered with one of the SDAs (risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, clozapine) for 8weeks. Body mass index (BMI) were measured weekly during the 8weeks. The subjects were genotyped for the -759 C/T and -697 G/C polymorphism of the 5HT2C receptor gene. RESULTS: The degree of linkage disequilibrium between the two polymorphic loci genotyped are almost 100%. Significant association was not observed between polymorphisms of the 5HT2C receptor gene (-759 C/T and -697 G/C) and SDA-induced weight gain after 8 weeks of treatment. CONCLUSION: Our data do not support the involvement of the polymorphisms of 5HT2C receptor gene (-759 C/T and -697 G/C) in SDA- induced weight gain. Further studies with sufficient sample size are warranted to follow up on the trend of high weight gain in the male patients having -759 T (-697 C) allele.
Alleles ; Animals ; Antipsychotic Agents ; Body Mass Index ; Dopamine Antagonists ; Dopamine* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Linkage Disequilibrium ; Male ; Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2C ; Sample Size ; Schizophrenia* ; Serotonin* ; Weight Gain* ; Quetiapine Fumarate