An evaluation of the use of olanzapine pamoate depot injection in seriously violent men with schizophrenia in a UK high-security hospital.

Background: Oral olanzapine is a well-established treatment for patients suffering from schizophrenia. Advantages of depot olanzapine may include improved compliance. However, it is expensive, causes metabolic side effects, and carries a risk of postinjection syndrome.

Effects of antidepressant drug exposure on gene expression in the developing cerebral cortex.

To clarify the basis of limited responses in children and adolescents to antidepressant treatments considered standard in the treatment of adult major depressive disorder, juvenile Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to 21-day treatment with dissimilar antidepressant drugs fluoxetine, imipramine, or vehicle control. Total RNA was extracted from brain frontal cortices and hybridized to the Affymetrix 230.2 chip.

Augmentation of clozapine with amisulpride: an effective therapeutic strategy for violent treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients in a UK high-security hospital.

Objective: Clozapine is used in the management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia and is effective in reducing aggression; however a subgroup of patients is poorly responsive. For violent patients in this group, there is limited literature on the use of strategies to augment clozapine with other agents. Here we present a case series of 6 schizophrenia patients, within a high-security hospital, who have a history of serious violence and who were treated with clozapine augmented with amisulpride.

Pharmacogenetics and psychiatry.

Genetic factors play a significant role in predicting an individual's response to a drug. The response may be the desired therapeutic effect of the drug and also may be the undesirable development of adverse effects. This relationship between genes and drug response interests the pharmacogeneticist.