The introduction of clozapine at the Nathan Kline Institute in New York and its long-term consequences.

Nathan S. Kline was a pioneer in psychopharmacology in the United States (US). In 1952, Kline started a research unit at Rockland State Hospital, New York.

Liminal spaces, seasonal faces: Challenging drug market assumptions via an exploration of naturally occurring magic mushroom markets in rural Kent.

Background: This article presents an exploration of naturally occurring Class-A magic mushroom markets in the UK. It aims to challenge some of the mainstream narratives about drug markets and to identify features of this specific market, which will extend our understanding of how illegal drug markets operate and are structured more generally.

Methods: The research presented comprises a three year ethnography of sites of magic mushroom production in rural Kent.

Gene Expression in Patient-Derived Neural Progenitors Implicates WNT5A Signaling in the Etiology of Schizophrenia.

Background: Genome-wide association studies of schizophrenia have demonstrated that variations in noncoding regions are responsible for most of the common variation heritability of the disease. It is hypothesized that these risk variants alter gene expression. Therefore, studying alterations in gene expression in schizophrenia may provide a direct approach to understanding the etiology of the disease.

Olfactory neuroepithelium-derived neural progenitor cells as a model system for investigating the molecular mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Objective: Most expression profiling studies of neuropsychiatric disorders have used RNA from postmortem brain tissue. Such studies are confounded by terminal events, environmental variables, such as drug use or abuse, postmortem interval, and tissue pH. To address these limitations, we have explored the use of cultured neuronal cells derived from olfactory neuroepithelium (CNON) from nasal biopsies as an alternate source of RNA.

A double-blind study of paliperidone palmitate and risperidone long-acting injectable in adults with schizophrenia.

This 13-week double-blind study was designed to assess noninferiority of the recently approved (in the U.S.) injectable atypical antipsychotic paliperidone palmitate (PP) versus risperidone long-acting injectable (RIS-LAI) in adult patients with schizophrenia.

One-year open-label safety and efficacy study of paliperidone extended-release tablets in patients with schizophrenia.

Introduction: This 52-week open-label extension (OLE) to a double-blind placebo-controlled recurrence prevention study examined the long-term safety and efficacy of flexibly-dosed paliperidone extended-release (ER) tablets in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: Patients entering the OLE either entered from the double-blind phase (placebo or paliperidone ER treatment) or entered directly from the run-in or stabilization phase (paliperidone ER) of the earlier study. During the OLE, patients were treated with flexibly-dosed paliperidone ER (3-15 mg/day; 9 mg starting dose).

Long-term improvement in efficacy and safety after switching to ziprasidone in stable outpatients with schizophrenia.

Introduction: The long-term efficacy and tolerability of treatment with ziprasidone following a switch from prior antipsychotics was evaluated in outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder in three open-label, flexible-dose, 1-year extension studies.

Methods: These studies enrolled completers of 6-week trials in which subjects were switched to ziprasidone from conventional antipsychotics, olanzapine, or risperidone. Identical study designs and the small number of patients entering the extensions supported pooling of the data.

Paliperidone extended-release tablets in schizophrenia patients previously treated with risperidone.

To assess the effect of paliperidone extended-release (ER) tablets in patients with acute symptoms who had previously received risperidone. Data for this post-hoc analysis were pooled from three 6-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in patients treated with paliperidone ER 3-12 mg/day or placebo. Patients had to have received risperidone for > or =4 weeks within 2 weeks of study entry.

The impact of insight on functioning in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder receiving risperidone long-acting injectable.

This post hoc analysis explored the role of insight as a mediator of functioning in a 52-week, double-blind, international trial of 323 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder receiving risperidone long-acting injectable. Measures included the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) insight item, PANSS factors, Clinical Global Impressions-Severity (CGI-S), Strauss-Carpenter Levels of Functioning (LOF), Personal and Social Performance (PSP) scale, and a cognitive test battery. Correlation/regression analyses examined associations between demographic and clinical characteristics, including insight, and functional measures.

Maintenance therapy with once-monthly administration of long-acting injectable risperidone in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder: a pilot study of an extended dosing interval.

Background: Several clinical studies have established the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of long-acting risperidone administered once every 2 weeks in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. This report evaluates preliminary efficacy, safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetic data for a novel (once-monthly) administration of long-acting injectable risperidone 50 mg in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Methods: Clinically stable patients participated in a 1-year, open-label, single-arm, multicenter pilot study.

Weight gain during a double-blind multidosage clozapine study.

Possible variables associated with weight gain during clozapine treatment include dosing, treatment duration, baseline body mass index (BMI), sex, and plasma norclozapine concentrations. Weight gains during a double-blind, randomized clozapine study using 100-, 300-, and 600-mg/d doses were analyzed. It was hypothesized that weight gain was associated with baseline BMI, clozapine dosing, and demographic factors.

Review of antipsychotics in children and adolescents.

The use of antipsychotics in children and adolescents in the clinical setting is increasing. This article reviews 77 clinical trials published in the last 10 years, investigating their efficacy, effectiveness, safety and pharmacokinetic data in paediatric populations. The diagnostic categories in which the antipsychotics are commonly used (schizophrenia, pervasive developmental disorders, Tourette's disorder, mental retardation/subaverage intelligence, mood disorders and disruptive behaviour disorders) were used in order to review the evidence and effectiveness.

A 1-year double-blind study of 2 doses of long-acting risperidone in stable patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Objective: This study examined the effects of 2 doses of long-acting risperidone injection in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Method: This 52-week, prospective, randomized, double-blind, multicenter, international study included clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (DSM-IV criteria). Settings included physicians' offices and clinics.

Atypical antipsychotics and the burden of disease.

The atypical antipsychotics are defined by improved tolerability in comparison with conventional antipsychotics. Specifically, the atypicals are substantially less likely to cause troubling extrapyramidal symptoms and prolactin elevation. This reduction in adverse effects (AEs) is attributed to their short duration of occupancy at dopamine-2 receptors in the central nervous system and a high degree of activity at serotonin receptors of various subtypes.

Six-month, blinded, multicenter continuation study of ziprasidone versus olanzapine in schizophrenia.

Objective: The authors' goal was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of 6 months' treatment with flexible-dose ziprasidone and olanzapine in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Method: Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) severity scores were obtained for 126 responders to a 6-week acute study of olanzapine and ziprasidone during a blinded 6-month continuation study and optional extension study.

Results: Comparable improvements in BPRS and CGI severity scores were seen with both drugs.

High extinction ratio in-fiber polarizers based on 45 degree tilted fiber Bragg gratings.

We report a near-ideal in-fiber polarizer implemented by use of 45 degrees tilted fiber Bragg grating structures that are UV inscribed in hydrogenated Ge-doped fiber. We demonstrate a polarization-extinction ratio of 33 dB over a 100-nm operation range near 1550 nm. We further show an achievement of 99.

Does clozapine decrease smoking?

McEvoy et al.'s study in 1999, which used cotinine levels but had limited power, suggested that clozapine treatment may be associated with a mild smoking decrease (particularly when plasma clozapine levels are > 150 ng/ml). Some naturalistic studies also suggest that clozapine treatment may be associated with a mild smoking decrease.

An 8-week open-label trial of a 6-day course of mifepristone for the treatment of psychotic depression.

Objective: Several investigations suggest that mifepristone leads to the rapid amelioration of psychotic depression. However, these studies were of short duration (1 week or less) and included subjects who were taking other psychotropic medications. The goals of this study were to extend these findings by conducting an 8-week trial of mifepristone for subjects with psychotic depression who were taking no concomitant psychiatric medications.

Plasma clozapine concentration coefficients of variation in a long-term study.

Kurz et al. conducted the first study of the intra-individual variability of clozapine plasma concentrations but did not take into account the effect of smoking and co-medication. As patients were receiving varying doses, Kurz et al.