[Clinical, diagnostic and forensic features of a REMS patient's sample].

Introduction: Residential Services for the Execution of Security Measures (REMS) are specialist psychiatric units for forensic patients created in 2015 after OPG (Italian Security Psychiatric Forensic Hospitals) have been closed.

Aims: to describe the clinical, diagnostic and forensic features of patients and evaluate the relevance of 3 elements: use of alcohol and substance, antisociality, cognitive disability. A further aim is the evaluation of the level of pre and post admission diagnostic concordance.

[Family psychoeducational interventions for schizophrenia in routine settings: impact on patients' clinical status and social functioning and on relatives' burden and resources].

Objective: This study explored the effectiveness of a psychoeducational family intervention for schizophrenia on patients' clinical status and disability and relatives' burden and perceived support.

Methods: The study has been carried out in 17 mental health centres. In each of them, 2 professionals were trained in a psychoeducational intervention and applied it for six months with families of users with schizophrenia.

[Benefits and difficulties in implementing family psychoeducational interventions for schizophrenia in mental health services: results from a multicentre Italian study].

Aims: This study aims to explore: a) the feasibility of psycho-educational interventions for families of users with schizophrenia in clinical practice by trained staff; b) the benefits and problems encountered by professionals in the use of these interventions.

Methods: 46 professionals from 23 Italian Mental Health Services (MHS) attended at a three-module training course in psycho-educational interventions and four supervisions in the subsequent year. Following the course, participants provided the intervention to families of users with schizophrenia.

Biphasic effects of ethanol on acetylcholine release in the rat prefrontal cortex.

Low doses of ethanol (0.5 g/kg i.p.

Vitamin A deficiency produces spatial learning and memory impairment in rats.

Vitamin A and its derivatives (retinoids) play important roles in many physiological processes. The recent finding of high levels of cellular retinol-binding protein type 1 immunoreactivity, cellular retinoic acid-binding protein type 1 immunoreactivity and the presence of nuclear retinoid receptors in the central nervous system of adult rodents suggests that retinoids may carry out important roles in the adult brain. In consideration of the role of the hippocampus in spatial learning and memory we evaluated the effect of vitamin A deprivation in adult rats on these functions.

Is olanzapine better than haloperidol in resistant schizophrenia? A double-blind study in partial responders.

Introduction: To compare the efficacy and safety of olanzapine and haloperidol in partial-responder paranoid schizophrenic patients.

Method: In this multi-centre, double-blind study, 28 patients with DSM-IV paranoid schizophrenia were randomized to receive 14 weeks treatment with either olanzapine or haloperidol at flexible doses. The pre- and post-treatment assessment included the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), the CGI, the Simpson-Angus Rating Scale, and the Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale.

Depressive symptomatology during clozapine treatment: two case reports.

We report the cases of two patients fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia, who developed a marked depressive symptomatology in the first period of a treatment with clozapine, and were treated successfully with serotonergic drugs (paroxetine, clomipramine). The AA. discuss the possible neurochemical determinants and implications of these clinical observations.