Long-term treatment with long-acting risperidone in Korean patients with schizophrenia.

Objectives: We evaluated the efficacy and safety of long-acting risperidone for 48-week period in Korean patients.

Methods: This was a non-randomized, open-label, single-centered, 48-week study. Each of the participants visited the hospital every 2 weeks, and injections were given at each visit.

Estrogen, cognitive function and negative symptoms in female schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship of serum reproductive hormone levels with cognitive function and negative symptoms in schizophrenic women during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. Thirty-five women with chronic schizophrenia who had minimal positive symptoms participated in this study. We evaluated the correlation of serum reproductive hormone levels with the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and cognitive function tests such as the Immediate Visual Recognition Scale, Oral Fluency Test, List Recall Scale with List Acquisition Scale, Trail Making Tests A and B, and Digit Symbol Test.

Effect of hormone replacement therapy on cognitive function in women with chronic schizophrenia.

Objective. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the cognitive effects of adjuvant hormone replacement therapy (HRT) when used to treat premenopausal women with chronic schizophrenia using an 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial. Method.

Modulation of IFN-gamma production by TNF-alpha in macrophages from the tumor environment: significance as an angiogenic switch.

Background: The role of macrophages in tumor angiogenesis has been known to influence in the production of angiogenic cytokines and growth factors including TNF-alpha. Recently, macrophages were also found to produce INF-gamma, which were found to be involved in angiogenic inhibition. Thus, the importance of macrophages in tumor angiogenesis might be the angiogenic switch.

G-protein beta3 subunit C825T polymorphism tends to be associated with seasonal variation in young male college students.

This study investigated the relationship between G-protein beta(3) subunit (GNB3) C825T polymorphism and seasonal variation in 189 young male college students. The subjects were genotyped for C825T and were evaluated by the Seasonality Pattern Assessment Questionnaire. The Global Seasonality Score (GSS) between the three genotypes revealed a marginal difference.

Topiramate as an adjuvant treatment with atypical antipsychotics in schizophrenic patients experiencing weight gain.

Schizophrenic patients commonly suffer weight gain, which is often associated with widely prescribed antipsychotic medicines. It is distressing to most patients who experience it and may affect their response to treatment of schizophrenia. Weight gain is also associated with treatment noncompliance and several medical conditions.

Latency of auditory P300 correlates with self-control as measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire.

The reception, processing, and storage of information about experience define personality. The present study investigated the relationship between auditory event-related potentials (AERP) and personality traits. The AERP were recorded using a standard auditory oddball paradigm, and personality was evaluated by Cattell's Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) in 20 healthy young male subjects.

The assessment and treatment of nasal obstruction after rhinoplasty.

Complaints of nasal obstruction after rhinoplasty and nasal surgery are disheartening for both the patient and the surgeon. When a patient presents with complaints of nasal obstruction after rhinoplasty and nasal surgery, the surgeon must reassess the history of symptoms and physical attributes contributing to nasal airway narrowing. The patient's expectations from surgery must also be discussed.

Neurocognitive function and quality of life in relation to hematocrit levels in chronic hemodialysis patients.

Objective: We examined the putative association between the levels of hematocrit and improvement of cognitive function as well as quality of life in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Methods: Fifty-six ESRD patients were divided into two groups according to their hematocrit levels: Group A consisted of 28 patients with hematocrit levels lower than the median (27.2 g%), while Group B, the remaining 28 patients, with higher than the median level.

Cancer incidence in Suriname from 1980 through 2000 a descriptive study.

Background And Aims: Current data on the epidemiology of cancer in the Republic of Suriname are scant and incomplete. In this study, incidence rates of the histopathologically confirmed malignancies in the country from 1980 through 2000 were inventoried.

Patients And Methods: Numbers of diagnoses, as well as patient information, were acquired from the Pathology Laboratory.

Insertional mutation in the intron 1 of Unc5h3 gene induces ataxic, lean and hyperactive phenotype in mice.

Mice carrying a mutation in the first intron of Unc5h3 were accidentally produced by transgenic insertion and characterized for their homozygous mutant phenotypes. Morphological and histological analysis revealed cerebellar and midbrain abnormalities, which are similar to the previously reported phenotypes of the Unc5h3 mutant. Behavioral analysis showed higher ambulatory activity and circling, and defects in habituation in a novel environment.

Allelic variants interaction of dopamine receptor D4 polymorphism correlate with personality traits in young Korean female population.

Polymorphism in exon III of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene has been implicated to be associated with the human personality trait of novelty seeking (NS). For this study, we have investigated the possible association between 48-bp VNTR in exon III and -521 C/T SNP of the DRD4 and personality traits among young ( approximately 14 years of age) Korean female population. We found that the interaction between the two alleles of DRD4 polymorphism, 48-bp VNTR and -521 C/T, were significantly high on NS (F = 4.

Effects of season and climate on the first manic episode of bipolar affective disorder in Korea.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a seasonal pattern existed for the first manic episodes in Korea. The first manic episodes out of 152 bipolar disorder patients were investigated, in subjects who were admitted in two hospitals in Seoul between 1996 and 1999. Correlations between the monthly climate variables and the first monthly manic episodes indicated that the first manic episodes peaked in 25 cases during March.

Multiple developmental defects derived from impaired recruitment of ASC-2 to nuclear receptors in mice: implication for posterior lenticonus with cataract.

ASC-2, a recently isolated transcriptional coactivator molecule, stimulates transactivation by multiple transcription factors, including nuclear receptors. We generated a potent dominant negative fragment of ASC-2, encompassing the N-terminal LXXLL motif that binds a broad range of nuclear receptors. This fragment, termed DN1, specifically inhibited endogenous ASC-2 from binding these receptors in vivo, whereas DN1/m, in which the LXXLL motif was mutated to LXXAA to abolish the receptor interactions, was inert.

Changes in premenstrual symptoms in women with schizophrenia: a prospective study.

Objective: We investigated whether the psychiatric symptoms and clinical features of schizophrenia change during the premenstrual phase in female patients.

Methods: We observed 30 female schizophrenic inpatients over one menstrual cycle. All subjects met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia, and all had a regular menstrual cycle.

Suppression of collagen-induced arthritis in rats by continuous administration of dae-bang-poong-tang (da-fang-feng-tang).

Although dae-bang-poong-tang (an herbal formula of 15 herbs)-treated rats exhibited a mild inflammation, the significant histological changes including a marked infiltration of inflammatory cells in the synovium and damaged articular cartilages were not observed. The staining abilities of the cartilage such as periodic acid Schiff s reaction in the interterritorial matrix of hyaline cartilage, alcian blue and aldehyde fuchsin staining in the capsule of chondrocytes and in the interterritorial matrix of articular cartilage and Con A, sWGA and BSL-1 affinities of chondrocytes tended to decrease in the rats with collagen-induced arthritis compared with normal rats. Decreased stainabilities and affinities were almost recovered in the dae-bang-poong-tang-treated rats.