Remission in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A randomized trial of amisulpride, aripiprazole and olanzapine.

Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder, and monitoring remission is a widely used measure of effectiveness of the treatment provided. It is very important to identify possible factors correlating with remission. In our substudy of BeSt InTro, a randomized controlled trial of three antipsychotic drugs, 126 patients with ICD-10 diagnoses F20-29 (F23 excluded) were randomized to one of the second-generation antipsychotic drugs amisulpride, aripiprazole or olanzapine.

Cellular adhesion molecules in drug-naïve and previously medicated patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Background: Endothelial inflammation may be involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and cellular adhesion molecules (CAMs) on endothelial cells may facilitate leukocyte binding and transendothelial migration of cells and inflammatory factors. The aim of the present study was to assess levels of soluble cellular adhesion molecules, including intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, vascular adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1, mucosal addressin cell adhesion molecule (MADCAM), junctional adhesion molecule (JAM-A) and neural cadherin (N-CAD) in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls.

Methods: The study population consists of 138 patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder, of whom 54 were drug-naïve, compared to 317 general population controls.

Risk factors for mortality in patients admitted to a psychiatric acute ward: A prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Associations between psychiatric disorders and mortality have been extensively studied, but limited evidence exists regarding influence of clinical characteristics on mortality risk, at the time of acute psychiatric hospitalization.

Methods: A prospective total-cohort study included all patients consecutively admitted to Haukeland University Hospital's psychiatric acute ward in Bergen, Norway between 2005 and 2014 (n = 6125). Clinical interviews were conducted at the first admission within the study period, and patients were subsequently followed for up to 15 years in the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry.

Unmasking patient diversity: Exploring cognitive and antidepressive effects of electroconvulsive therapy.

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an established treatment for depression, but more data on effectiveness and safety in clinical practice is needed. The aim of this register-based study was to investigate short-term effectiveness and cognitive safety after ECT, evaluated by clinicians and patients. Secondary, we investigated predictors for remission and cognitive decline.

Electroconvulsive therapy triggers a reversible decrease in brain N-acetylaspartate.

Introduction: Based on previous research on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) we have proposed a model where and occur in sequence and serve as the underlying therapeutic mechanism of ECT. This model implies that a temporary disturbance of neuronal networks (disruption) is followed by a trophic effect (potentiation), which enables the rewiring of neuronal circuits to a more euthymic functioning brain. We hypothesized that disruption of neuronal networks could trigger biochemical alterations leading to a temporary decrease in N-acetylaspartate (tNAA, considered a marker of neuronal integrity), while choline (a membrane component), myo-Inositol (mI, astroglia marker), and glutamate/glutamine (Glx, excitatory neurotransmitter) were postulated to increase.

Patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder display a similar global gene expression signature in whole blood that reflects elevated proportion of immature neutrophil cells with association to lipid changes.

Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) share clinical characteristics, genetic susceptibility, and immune alterations. We aimed to identify differential transcriptional patterns in peripheral blood cells of patients with SCZ or BD versus healthy controls (HC). We analyzed microarray-based global gene expression data in whole blood from a cohort of SCZ (N = 329), BD (N = 203) and HC (N = 189).

Trajectories of response in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: A one-year prospective cohort study of antipsychotic effectiveness.

Background: Antipsychotic drugs remain the mainstay of schizophrenia treatment; however, their effectiveness has been questioned, and it is not possible to predict the response to a specific antipsychotic drug in an individual patient. Thus, it is important to compare the effectiveness of the various antipsychotics and search for possible response predictors.

Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs, we examined response trajectories and predictors for belonging to different trajectory groups.

The association between cytokines and psychomotor speed in a spectrum of psychotic disorders: A longitudinal study.

Background: In schizophrenia, impaired psychomotor speed is a common symptom predicting worse functional outcome. Inflammation causes changes in white matter integrity, which may lead to reduced psychomotor speed. Therefore, we wanted to investigate if peripheral inflammation assessed with cytokines affected performance on psychomotor speed in patients with a spectrum of psychotic disorders.

Sex differences in antipsychotic efficacy and side effects in schizophrenia spectrum disorder: results from the BeSt InTro study.

Current guidelines for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disease do not take sex differences into account, which may result in inappropriate sex-specific treatment. In the BeSt InTro study, a total of 144 patients (93 men and 51 women) with a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis and ongoing psychosis were included and randomized to amisulpride, aripiprazole, or olanzapine in flexible dose. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.

Differential Effectiveness of Atypical Antipsychotics on Hallucinations: A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Most studies investigating antipsychotic effectiveness report either total psychopathology or symptom cluster findings. Studies focusing on a separate symptom, such as hallucinations, a hallmark symptom in schizophrenia, are scarce.Therefore, the current study aims to compare the antihallucinatory effectiveness of 3 pharmacologically different antipsychotics: olanzapine, amisulpride, and aripiprazole.

Personalized estimation of one-year mortality risk after elective hip or knee arthroplasty for osteoarthritis.

Aims: To develop and validate patient-centred algorithms that estimate individual risk of death over the first year after elective joint arthroplasty surgery for osteoarthritis.

Methods: A total of 763,213 hip and knee joint arthroplasty episodes recorded in the National Joint Registry for England and Wales (NJR) and 105,407 episodes from the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register were used to model individual mortality risk over the first year after surgery using flexible parametric survival regression.

Results: The one-year mortality rates in the NJR were 10.

Amisulpride, aripiprazole, and olanzapine in patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (BeSt InTro): a pragmatic, rater-blind, semi-randomised trial.

Background: Amisulpride, aripiprazole, and olanzapine are first-line atypical antipsychotics that have not previously been compared head-to-head in a pragmatic trial. We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of these agents in a controlled trial.

Methods: This pragmatic, rater-blind, randomised controlled trial was done in three academic centres of psychiatry in Norway, and one in Austria.

Short-term Revision Risk of Patellofemoral Arthroplasty Is High: An Analysis from Eight Large Arthroplasty Registries.

Background: Patellofemoral arthroplasty (PFA) is one option for the treatment of isolated patellofemoral osteoarthritis, but there are limited data regarding the procedure and results. Because isolated patellofemoral arthritis is relatively uncommon, available case series generally are small, and even within national registries, sample sizes are limited. Combining data from multiple registries may aid in assessing worldwide PFA usage and survivorship.

Operating room ventilation-Validation of reported data on 108 067 primary total hip arthroplasties in the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register.

Rationale, Aims, And Objectives: The true effect of laminar airflow (LAF) systems on postoperative infection is disputed, partly due to uncertainty regarding the validity of ventilation data in register studies. The aim of this study was to validate the information on operating room (OR) ventilation reported by the orthopaedic surgeons to the Norwegian Arthroplasty Register (NAR) after primary total hip arthroplasty (THA).

Method: Forty of the 62 public orthopaedic units performing primary THA in Norway during the period 1987-2015 were included.

Homogeneity in prediction of survival probabilities for subcategories of hipprosthesis data: the Nordic Arthroplasty Register Association, 2000-2013.

The four countries in the Nordic Arthroplasty Register Association (NARA) share geographic proximity, culture, and ethnicity. Pooling data from different sources in order to obtain higher precision and accuracy of survival-probability estimates is appealing. Nevertheless, survival probabilities of hip replacements vary between the countries.

Hospital volume and the risk of revision in Oxford unicompartmental knee arthroplasty in the Nordic countries -an observational study of 14,496 cases.

Background: High procedure volume and dedication to unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) has been suggested to improve revision rates. This study aimed to quantify the annual hospital volume effect on revision risk in Oxfordu nicompartmental knee arthroplasty in the Nordic countries.

Methods: 14,496 cases of cemented medial Oxford III UKA were identified in 126 hospitals in the four countries included in the Nordic Arthroplasty Register Association (NARA) database from 2000 to 2012.