The effect of associative strength on semantic priming in schizophrenia.

The present research was designed to investigate the pattern of semantic priming in schizophrenia as a function of strength of association (or semantic distance between concepts in the semantic network). Thirty schizophrenia patients, without formal thought disorder, and twenty-nine healthy controls participated in a lexical decision task in which prime-target associative strength (strong, weak and not related) and stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA: 250ms and 750ms) were manipulated. Patients and controls showed the same associative strength effect on RTs.

Impact of ornithine phenylacetate (OCR-002) in lowering plasma ammonia after upper gastrointestinal bleeding in cirrhotic patients.

Background: Ornithine phenylacetate (OP) has been proven effective in lowering ammonia plasma levels in animals, and to be well tolerated in cirrhotic patients. A trial to assess OP efficacy in lowering plasma ammonia levels placebo in cirrhotic patients after an upper gastrointestinal bleeding was performed. The primary outcome was a decrease in venous plasma ammonia at 24 hours.

Effects of intravenous albumin in patients with cirrhosis and episodic hepatic encephalopathy: a randomized double-blind study.

Background & Aims: Episodic hepatic encephalopathy is frequently precipitated by factors that induce circulatory dysfunction, cause oxidative stress-mediated damage or enhance astrocyte swelling. The administration of albumin could modify these factors and improve the outcome of hepatic encephalopathy. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of albumin in a multicenter, prospective, double-blind, controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.

Safety of ornithine phenylacetate in cirrhotic decompensated patients: an open-label, dose-escalating, single-cohort study.

Aims: Confirm in patients with cirrhosis and gastrointestinal bleeding the safety of ornithine phenylacetate (OP) and assess the pharmacokinetic profile of OP and its effects on plasma ammonia.

Background: OP is a drug that has shown experimentally to decrease hyperammonemia and improve hepatic encephalopathy. OP is safe in healthy subjects and in stable patients with cirrhosis, but there are no data in decompensated cirrhosis.

Effectiveness of the cognitive differentiation program of the integrated psychological therapy: group versus individual treatment.

The aim of the current pilot study was to compare two strategies in the application of the cognitive differentiation program of Integrated Psychological Therapy for people with schizophrenia. Twenty-six outpatients were randomly assigned to the application of the program in group sessions (CDg), or to its application in individualized sessions (CDi). The program provides cognitive exercises to promote better performance in cognition, and both groups of participants completed the same number of exercises following the same number of sessions per week.

Perceptual priming in schizophrenia evaluated by word fragment and word stem completion.

Implicit memory seems to be preserved in schizophrenia as a whole, but dissociations between conceptual and perceptual tasks and between accuracy and reaction time measures have appeared. The present research has revealed some methodological limitations in many studies to date that are focused on the study of perceptual implicit memory in schizophrenic patients using accuracy measures. The review of these studies revealed that limitations are related to an inadequate definition of performance and priming measures, a lack of control over the characteristics of the stimuli, and the absence of information on the experimental procedures used in data collection.

Consent in clinical trials: what do patients know?

Objective: To assess participants' knowledge of key aspects about the clinical trials in which they are enrolled, describe the consent process, and assess the importance that investigators give to various aspects of trial information when verbally informing candidates.

Design: Prospective study based on a structured questionnaire interview of participants within 3 months after trial enrollment and an anonymous questionnaire sent to clinical trial investigators.

Subjects: A total of 140 participants included in 40 clinical trials were interviewed, and 51 investigators answered the questionnaire.

The DEC-net European register of paediatric drug therapy trials: contents and context.

Objective: To describe the results and conclusions of DEC-net, an international, publicly available register of paediatric drug therapy clinical trials, and to assess which paediatric health areas are covered by research and by which trial types.

Methods: The contents of the register, which was set up by four groups (Italy, UK, France, Spain) who searched for paediatric trials and collected data between 2004-2006, were analysed. The disease areas reflected were compared with those covered by published trials and Burden of Disease (BD) data.

Intellectual functioning and memory deficits in schizophrenia.

Background: There is converging evidence about the existence of different subgroups of patients with schizophrenia in relation to intellectual ability (intelligence quotient [IQ]). Studying cognitive deficits in such patients in relation to IQ, and more specifically to memory, could help determine the patterns of preserved and impaired functioning in cognitive abilities in association with patterns of preserved and compromised intellect. This information could serve to delimit the possibilities of treatment and rehabilitation in those patients.