Physical capacity, respiratory quotient and energy expenditure during exercise in male patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy controls.

Background: Despite massive research on weight gain and metabolic complications in schizophrenia there are few studies on energy expenditure and no current data on physical capacity.

Aim: To determine oxygen uptake capacity, respiratory quotient (RQ) and energy expenditure during a submaximal exercise test in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls.

Method: Ten male patients and 10 controls were included.

Aberrant amino acid transport in fibroblasts from patients with bipolar disorder.

Aberrant tyrosine transport is a repeated finding in fibroblasts from schizophrenic patients. The transport aberration could lead to disturbances in the dopaminergic and noradrenergic neurotransmitter systems. Tyrosine and tryptophan are the precursors of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.

Deconstructing the 'black box' of the Camberwell assessment of need score in mental health services evaluation.

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine an alternative way of scoring the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN) for the purpose of service evaluation, using the by us defined Social Services (SI) and Psychiatric Services (PI) subindices.

Methods: CAN assessments in 1997 and 1999 of 262 outpatients (mean age 45 years, 77.1% psychotic disorders) were reanalysed to fit the SI and the PI, which were compared to the full CAN.

Functional characterization of tyrosine transport in fibroblast cells from healthy controls.

Human fibroblast cells are an advantageous model to study the transport of amino acids across cell membranes, since one can control the environmental factors. A major problem in all earlier studies is the lack of precise and detailed knowledge regarding the expression and functionality of tyrosine transporters in human fibroblasts. This motivated us to perform a systematic functional characterization of the tyrosine transport in fibroblast cells with respect to the isoforms of system-L (LAT1, LAT2, LAT3, LAT4), which is the major transporter of tyrosine.