Decision aid development and its acceptability among adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders regarding treatment discontinuation after remission.

Aim: Current clinical guidelines for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) put shared decision making (SDM) at the center of care. However, there remain challenges in SDM in ADHD management, particularly regarding the decision to continue or discontinue medication after ADHD remission in adult patients. We aimed to develop a decision aid (DA) for adult patients with ADHD regarding the continuation or discontinuation of their ongoing ADHD medications after they have attained remission.

Effect of Continuing and Discontinuing Medications on Quality of Life After Symptomatic Remission in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effect of continuing and discontinuing medications on quality of life of patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Data Sources: PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases were searched using generic terms for ADHD, discontinuing, continuing, pharmacotherapy, and randomized controlled trials without date or language restrictions.

Study Selection: Of the 3,672 screened studies, 9 met the predefined inclusion criteria on patients with ADHD; 5 of these 9 studies reporting on 1,463 patients (children and adolescents, n = 894; adults, n = 569) measured quality of life and were included in this meta-analysis.

Glucose and Prolactin Monitoring in Children and Adolescents Initiating Antipsychotic Therapy.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate glucose and prolactin monitoring in children and adolescents initiating antipsychotic therapy using a nationwide claims database.

Methods: A retrospective 15-month cohort study was conducted using the National Database of Health Insurance Claim Information and Specified Medical Checkups in Japan. Patients aged ≤18 years, who were newly prescribed antipsychotics between April 2014 and March 2015, were followed up for 450 days.

Embodied conversational agents for multimodal automated social skills training in people with autism spectrum disorders.

Social skills training, performed by human trainers, is a well-established method for obtaining appropriate skills in social interaction. Previous work automated the process of social skills training by developing a dialogue system that teaches social communication skills through interaction with a computer avatar. Even though previous work that simulated social skills training only considered acoustic and linguistic information, human social skills trainers take into account visual and other non-verbal features.

Automated social skills training with audiovisual information.

People with social communication difficulties tend to have superior skills using computers, and as a result computer-based social skills training systems are flourishing. Social skills training, performed by human trainers, is a well-established method to obtain appropriate skills in social interaction. Previous works have attempted to automate one or several parts of social skills training through human-computer interaction.

Two-year prognosis after residential treatment for patients with alcohol dependence: three chief guidelines for sobriety in Japan.

Background: In Japan, the three chief traditional guidelines for sobriety (3CGS) are regular medical checkups, participation in self-help groups, and pharmacotherapy with antidipsotropics. However, the official record of the origins of 3CGS is not clear. The aim of this current study was to assess 3CGS by an examination of the prognosis of patients with alcohol dependence 2 years after their discharge from a residential treatment program.

Experiences with Patient Refusal of Off-Label Prescribing of Psychotropic Medications to Children and Adolescents in Japan.

Objective: In child and adolescent psychiatry, the off-label prescribing of psychotropic medications is common. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of Japanese child and adolescent psychiatrists with off-label prescribing to children and/or adolescents (hereafter referred to as "children") and to identify the factors associated with these experiences.

Methods: A prospective questionnaire was sent to 1628 psychiatrists belonging to the Japanese Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Increased prefrontal hemodynamic change after atomoxetine administration in pediatric attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy.

Aim: Atomoxetine, approved in Japan for the treatment of pediatric attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in April 2009, is a nonstimulant that is thought to act presynaptically via the inhibition of norepinephrine reuptake. Near-infrared spectroscopy is a non-invasive optical tool that can be used to study oxygenation and hemodynamic changes in the cerebral cortex. The present study examined the effects of a clinical dose of atomoxetine on changes in prefrontal hemodynamic activity in children with ADHD, as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy using the Stroop Color-Word Task.

Reduced prefrontal hemodynamic response in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy.

Recent developments in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) have enabled non-invasive clarification of brain functions in psychiatric disorders. Functional neuroimaging studies of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have suggested that the frontal cortex and subcortical structures may play a role in the pathophysiology of the disorder. Twelve treatment-naïve children with OCD and 12 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects participated in the present study after giving consent.

Comparison of pervasive developmental disorder and schizophrenia by the Japanese version of the National Adult Reading Test.

Objective: In adults, it is sometimes difficult to discriminate between pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) and schizophrenia (SCH) when positive symptoms are not outstanding. We examined whether the Japanese version of the National Adult Reading Test (JART), is a valid scale for evaluating pre-morbid intelligence quotient (IQ) in patients with SCH, and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) are useful for helping to discriminate between PDD and SCH.

Methods: Sixteen patients with adult PDD and 16 age-, education- and sex-matched patients with SCH participated in the present study.

Effects of osmotic-release methylphenidate in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as measured by event-related potentials.

Aim: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a relatively common central nervous system disorder in school-age children, which may involve a specific disorder in cognition and/or information processing. Event-related potentials (ERP) are commonly used as physiological measures of cognitive function as they are easily measured and non-invasive. Thus, in the present study, we examined the effects of osmotic-release methylphenidate (MPH) (Concerta), a common treatment for childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in ADHD children as measured by ERP.

Prefrontal dysfunction in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy.

Recent developments in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) have enabled non-invasive clarification of brain functions in psychiatric disorders with measurement of hemoglobin concentrations as cerebral blood volume. Twenty medication-naïve children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects participated in the present study after giving consent. The relative concentrations of oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) were measured with frontal probes every 0.

Increased acoustic startle responses in IBS patients during abdominal and nonabdominal threat.

Background And Aims: Visceral hypersensitivity and symptom severity in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) are both exacerbated by stress. The eye-blink startle response represents a noninvasive measure of central defensive responding. Evidence for central hyperexcitability was studied in IBS patients by examining potentiation of the startle reflex to a nociceptive threat.

Pervasive developmental disorder with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder-like symptoms and mismatch negativity.

The present study examined the correlation between the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Rating Scale-IV Japanese version (ADHD RS-IV-J) score and mismatch negativity (MMN), in 10 pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) children with ADHD-like symptoms, and examined whether MMN become the objective measure to assess the severity of ADHD-like symptoms in PDD children. Consequently, score of ADHD RS-IV-J had a positive correlative tendency with MMN latency and had a significant strong negative correlation with MMN amplitude. Therefore, MMN may become an objective measure to assess the severity of ADHD-like symptoms in PDD children.

Developmental changes in startle reactivity in school-age children at risk for and with actual anxiety disorder.

The present study examined the development of elevated startle reactivity in anticipation of mild anxiogenic procedures in school-age children with current anxiety disorders and in those at-risk for their development due to parental anxiety. Startle blink reflexes and skin conductance responses were assessed in 7 to 12 year old anxious children (N=21), non-anxious children at-risk for anxiety by virtue of parental anxiety disorder status (N=16) and non-anxious control children of non-anxious parents (N=13). Responses were elicited by 28 auditory startle stimuli presented prior to undertaking mild anxiogenic laboratory procedures.

Is aversive learning a marker of risk for anxiety disorders in children?

Aversive conditioning and extinction were evaluated in children with anxiety disorders (n=23), at-risk for anxiety disorders (n=15), and controls (n=11). Participants underwent 16 trials of discriminative conditioning of two geometric figures, with (CS+) or without (CS-) an aversive tone (US), followed by 8 extinction trials (4 CS+, 4 CS-), and 8 extinction re-test trials averaging 2 weeks later. Skin conductance responses and verbal ratings of valence and arousal to the CS+/CS- stimuli were measured.