Frontal cortex reactivity differentiates between schizophrenic subtypes: auditory ERP-evidence.

Objectives: To extend the hypothesis that late auditory EP shifts represent pathophysiologcial markers in schizophrenia.

Methods: Early negative (±100 μs) and late positive (>300 ms) auditory oddball and CNV responses are topographically compared in 3 medicated schizophrenic subtypes.

Results: Only late cortical responses differentiate between paranoid, residual and disorganised schizophrenia.

Impaired early visual processing in disorganised schizophrenia.

Topographic differences in flash/pattern shift VEP data are evaluated in paranoid (n: 38), disorganized (n: 23) and residual (n: 23) schizophrenic subtypes and compared to normal controls. Increased early P1 and a restricted diffusion of the late P2 responses suggest dopaminergic over- and cholinergic underactivity in paranoid and residual schizophrenia. A distinctive pattern N145 reflects well-preserved attentional resources in the paranoid subtype.

Auditory information processing in schizophrenia.

Early N1P2 and late N2P3 responses generated in an auditory oddball paradigm are topographically compared in three psychiatric patient groups. In schizophrenia N1 and N2 amplitude is comparable with dementia and significantly decreased with respect to affective disorder. In contrast, P3 amplitude does not allow discriminating schizophrenia from affective disorder but is significantly diminished in dementia.

Controlled comparison of nefazodone and amitriptyline in major depressive inpatients.

Nefazodone, a phenylpiperazine antidepressant, exhibits novel dual activity on serotonin (5-HT) neurons; it binds to 5-HT2 receptors and inhibits 5-HT reuptake. Flexible doses of nefazodone (100-400 mg/day) and amitriptyline (50-200 mg/day) were compared in 106 major depressive inpatients in a 6-week double-blind study. Results showed significant superiority of amitriptyline over nefazodone on all rating instruments: Montgomery and Asberg depression rating scale (P < 0.