The observed time to relapse superiority of paliperidone palmitate over oral antipsychotics provides further evidence for the value of long-acting injectable antipsychotic therapies in the treatment of schizophrenia, including during the early stages of illness.

Key Points Question What are the physiological effects associated with abiraterone acetate plus various glucocorticoid regimens to treat metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer? Findings In this open-label, phase 2 randomized clinical trial, the 164 men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer treated with abiraterone acetate plus prednisone, 5 mg, twice or once daily, 2.5 mg twice daily, or dexamethasone, 0.5 mg, once daily showed no mineralocorticoid excess toxic effects (grade ≥1 hypokalemia or grade ≥2 hypertension) through cycle 6. Insulin resistance and loss of total body bone mineral density at the end of study were only significant with dexamethasone. Meaning Lowering glucocorticoid dose combined with abiraterone acetate requires careful monitoring for toxic effects related to mineralocorticoid excess.

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Topiramate was assessed in an open-label trial as broad-spectrum antiepileptic monotherapy, independently from the epilepsy type or syndrome. Adults and children aged 2 years and older, who were diagnosed with epilepsy within the last 5 years, treatment-naive or failing prior treatment with one antiepileptic drug (AED), received individually adjusted doses of topiramate, after escalation to 100mg/day over 4 weeks (maximum 400mg/day) or 3mg/kg/day over 6 weeks (maximum 9 mg/kg/day), respectively. Patients were followed for >or=7 months and optionally up to a maximum of 13 months. Data were analysed for all patients (n=692), as well as for focal (n=421) and generalized epilepsies (n=148). The median topiramate dose used was 125 mg/day in adults and 3.3mg/kg/day in children (or=50% reduction in mean monthly seizure frequency. Patients with focal and generalized epilepsies alike responded to treatment (73.9 and 83.8% with at least 50% seizure reduction): 39.4% of patients with focal epilepsy and 61.5% of those with generalized epilepsy were seizure-free. The mean monthly seizure frequency was significantly reduced versus baseline at all visits (p<0.001). Similar response rates were obtained from the 237 patients completing the 1-year observation period. During the mandatory 7-month period of study, 8.8% of patients reported insufficient tolerability as a reason for dropout. The most frequent adverse event was paraesthesia. Our results support findings that emerge from controlled studies that topiramate is effective and well tolerated when used as initial or second monotherapy. They also suggest that in a naturalistic setting, overall good retention on treatment and seizure freedom are observed at low doses in a broad spectrum of epilepsies.

PURPOSEIncreases in androgen receptor ( AR) copy number (CN) can be detected in plasma DNA when patients develop metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. We aim to evaluate the association between AR CN as a continuous variable and clinical outcome.PATIENTS AND METHODSPCR2023 was an international, multi-institution, open-label, phase II study of abiraterone acetate plus prednisolone (AAP) or abiraterone acetate plus dexamethasone that included plasma AR assessment as a predefined exploratory secondary end point. Plasma AR CN data (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01867710 ) from this study (n = 133) were pooled with data from the following three other cohorts: cohort A, which was treated with either AAP or enzalutamide (n = 73); the PREMIERE trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02288936 ) of biomarkers for enzalutamide (n = 94); and a phase II trial from British Columbia (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02125357 ) that randomly assigned men to either AAP or enzalutamide (n = 201). The primary outcome measures for the biomarker analysis were overall survival and progression-free survival.RESULTSUsing multivariable fractional polynomials analysis using Cox regression models, a nonlinear relationship between plasma AR CN and outcome was identified for overall survival, where initially for small incremental gains in CN there was a large added hazard ratio that plateaued at higher CN. The CN cut point associated with the highest local hazard ratio was 1.92. A similar nonlinear association was observed with progression-free survival. In an exploratory analysis of PCR2023, the time from start of long-term androgen-deprivation therapy to start of AAP or abiraterone acetate plus dexamethasone was significantly shorter in patients with plasma AR CN of 1.92 or greater than patients with plasma AR CN of less than 1.92 (43 v 130 weeks, respectively; P = .005). This was confirmed in cohort A ( P = .003), the PREMIERE cohort ( P = .03), and the British Colombia cohort ( P = .003).CONCLUSIONPatients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer can be dichotomized by a plasma AR CN cut point of 1.92. Plasma AR CN value of 1.92 or greater identifies aggressive disease that is poorly responsive to AR targeting and is associated with a prior short response to primary androgen-deprivation therapy.

The results indicate that elderly patients respond well to topiramate monotherapy. The high patient retention rate reflects a favourable tolerability profile in this population.

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