The screening procedure appears to be feasible and trial participation seems to be acceptable to a relevant proportion of people at increased risk of developing psychosis.
Combined serotonin-2A (5-HT 2A ) and dopamine-2 (D 2 ) receptor blockade has been proposed as a candidate mechanism by which second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) improve both cognition and negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients, in contrast to antipsychotics of the first generation. The SGA amisulpride, however, only binds to D 2 /D 3 receptors, which makes it an interesting tool to test this assumption. In a randomized controlled trial, 52 schizophrenic patients were allocated to treatment with either olanzapine (10-20 mg/day) or amisulpride (400-800 mg/day). A comprehensive neuropsychological test battery and clinical ratings were used to assess participants at inclusion and after 4 and 8 weeks. Cognitive improvements of moderate size were observed, with effect sizes similar to those obtained in previous studies on the cognitive effects of SGAs. Importantly, amisulpride was not inferior to olanzapine for any cognitive domain. Combined 5-HT 2A /D 2 receptor blockade is probably not necessary for cognitive improvement by SGAs.
Judging from this data, sexual impairment appears to be a frequent and underestimated problem in psychiatric inpatients with a high prevalence across all diagnostic groups, particularly in depressed subjects. Female patients attribute this impairment mainly to their mental illness, whereas male patients tend to assign their impairments primarily to their medication.
In this double-blind, placebo-controlled 10-week trial, the anxiolytic properties of the nonbenzodiazepine buspirone were compared with the benzodiazepine lorazepam and placebo in 125 outpatients with generalized anxiety disorder according to DSM-III. After a 3-to 7-day wash-out period, patients were allocated at random to receive orally 3 × 5 mg buspirone (n = 58), 3 × 1 mg lorazepam (n = 57), or placebo (n = 10) over a 4-week period. The study also comprised a 2-week taper period and a 4-week placebocontrol period to assess the stability of clinical improvement. The patient´s clinical state was estimated on entry and at weekly intervals by general practitioners using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) assessment and by a self-rating scale (State Trait Anxiety Inventory X2 = STAI-X2). Lorazepam treatment resulted in descriptively, but not signiÞcantly, greater improvement on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety during the whole treatment (week 0 4) and taper period (week 5, 6) than did buspirone. After treatment with active drugs had been discontinued, the 4-week placebo control period showed buspirone-treated patients to display a stability of clinical improvement, while the symptoms of lorazepam-treated patients worsened at week 710. Both buspirone and lorazepam were more e¦cacious in reducing anxiety symptoms than placebo during the treatment and taper period; however, in contrast to the active drugs (buspirone, lorazepam), patients of the placebo group showed further clinical improvement during the control period, especially in the HAM-A score, so di¤erences between placebo and active drugs became smaller at the end of the study.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.