A patient with schizophrenia presenting with post-lobotomy catatonia treated with olanzapine: a case report.

A 79-year-old Japanese woman with schizophrenia was hospitalized because of idiopathic duodenal stenosis. Three days after discontinuing ingestion, including the administration of psychotropic drugs, the patient demonstrated incoherent behaviour and strong general muscle tension, and was unable to engage in conversation. Computed tomography indicated bilateral regions of low density in the frontal lobes, subsequent to which she was diagnosed with post-lobotomy catatonia.

Impaired heart rate variability in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies: Efficacy of electrocardiogram as a supporting diagnostic marker.

Objective: It has been suggested that impaired heart rate variability (HRV) may be an early sign of Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of this study was to determine whether HRV can be employed in order to differentiate between dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: We examined HRV in 30 probable DLB patients (16 men and 14 women; mean age, 79.

No correlation between plasma NMDA-related glutamatergic amino acid levels and cognitive function in medicated patients with schizophrenia.

Objective: Disrupted glutamatergic neurotransmission and cognitive functions are key components in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Changes in levels of serum/plasma glutamatergic amino acids, such as glutamate, glycine, and L- and D-serine may be possible clinical markers. Following our recent findings that peripheral blood levels of endogenous glycine, alanine, and especially D-serine may reflect the degree/change in symptoms in schizophrenia, here we investigated whether these plasma amino acid levels may also reflect the status of cognitive functions in schizophrenia.

No Associations Found between PGBD1 and the Age of Onset in Japanese Patients Diagnosed with Sporadic Alzheimer's Disease.

Background/aims: PiggyBac transposable element derived 1 (PGBD1) encodes a molecule involved in epigenetic mechanisms that have been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and recent genome-wide association studies and meta-analyses have indicated that a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs3800324, in PGBD1 could be associated with AD and the age of onset. However, no Japanese patients were examined in these studies. The aim of the present study was to replicate the previous finding in Japanese AD cases.

No associations found between the genes situated at 6p22.1, HIST1H2BJ, PRSS16, and PGBD1 in Japanese patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Recent GWAS demonstrated an association between candidate genes located at region 6p22.1 and schizophrenia. This region has been reported to house certain candidate SNPs, which may be associated with schizophrenia at HIST1H2BJ, PRSS16, and PGBD1.

Early detection of dementia with Lewy bodies in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment using 123I-MIBG cardiac scintigraphy.

Increasing clinical attention has been focused on cardiac sympathetic denervation for the differential diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD) with the development of [123I] metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy. Decreased MIBG uptake, which reflects cardiac sympathetic denervation, has been detected in DLB, but not in AD. However, the time course of detected cardiac sympathetic degeneration is poorly understood in DLB.

No genetic association between SLC7A10 and Japanese patients with schizophrenia.

Disrupted glutamatergic neurotransmission may be a pathophysiological feature in the brains from patients with schizophrenia, and glutamatergic amino acids including D-serine have been found to be involved in pathophysiology. Endogenous and exogenous D-serine have shown potential as biological markers for the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and especially as a therapeutic strategy in treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). This is the first study investigating whether SLC7A10, a d-serine transporter gene, is associated with schizophrenia in Japanese patients.

Association study between Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia-1 (DISC1) and Japanese patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS).

Treating the 20-30% of patients with schizophrenia whose symptoms are resistant to antipsychotic treatment, a condition known as treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), can be problematic. Recently, an association between Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia-1 (DISC1), a candidate susceptibility gene for schizophrenia, and TRS was reported. Associations between three missense SNPs, rs3738401 (Q264R), rs6675281 (L607F), and rs821616 (S704C) in DISC1, especially rs3738401, showed strong significance.

No association between glutathione-synthesis-related genes and Japanese schizophrenia.

Aims: Schizophrenia is a major psychiatric disorder with complex genetic, environmental, and psychological causes, and oxidative stress may be involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Glutathione (GSH), one of the main cellular non-protein antioxidants and redox regulators, and altered GSH levels have been reported in various regions in patients with schizophrenia. Three enzymes are responsible for GSH synthesis: glutamate cysteine ligase modifier (GCLM), glutamate cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC), and glutathione synthetase (GSS).