Inflammatory markers in outpatients with schizophrenia diagnosis in regular use of clozapine: a cross-sectional study.

It is known that inflammation worsen the course of schizophrenia and induce high clozapine serum levels. However, no study evaluated this change in function of clozapine daily dose in schizophrenia. We assessed the correlation between inflammation and severity symptoms in patients with schizophrenia that take and do not take clozapine.

Proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory biomarkers in schizophrenia and influence of simvastatin on the interleukin-6.

The present study sought to assess biomarkers of inflammation in stable patients with schizophrenia (SZ) on clozapine therapy. We recruited 60 outpatients with SZ and 60 healthy controls, matched for sex and age. Compared with controls, patients had significantly increased concentrations of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α.

Resveratrol Supplementation Did Not Improve Cognition in Patients with Schizophrenia: Results from a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Schizophrenia (SZ) is associated with psychotic experiences and cognitive deficits. Therefore, cognitive function is one of the most critical determinants of quality of life in this pathology. Resveratrol has been related to neuroprotective action, but there are no studies evaluating resveratrol in SZ.

Resveratrol Supplementation in Schizophrenia Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating Serum Glucose and Cardiovascular Risk Factors.

Background: Patients with schizophrenia (SZ) are generally overweight or obese and have several metabolic disorders. Additionally, such patients have a lower life expectancy and the main cause of their increased mortality is cardiovascular disease (CVD). The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of resveratrol supplementation on serum glucose and CVD risk factors in individuals with SZ.

Severity but not comorbidities predicts response to methylphenidate in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: results from a naturalistic study.

Although the identification of reliable predictors of methylphenidate response in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is necessary to guide treatment decisions, very few data exist on this issue. Here, we assessed the predictors of clinical response to immediate-release methylphenidate hydrochloride (IR-MPH) in a naturalistic setting by analyzing the influence of demographic factors, severity, and a wide range of comorbid psychiatric disorders. Two hundred fifty adult patients with ADHD were evaluated and completed a short-term treatment with IR-MPH.

Serum concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in patients with gender identity disorder.

Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is characterized by a strong and persistent cross-gender identification that affects different aspects of behavior. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a critical role in neurodevelopment and neuroplasticity. Altered BDNF-signaling is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of psychiatric disordersand is related to traumatic life events.

Concurrent Validity and Reliability of the Brazilian Version of the Functioning Assessment Short Test in Patients with Schizophrenia.

Objective: Many studies have documented the high rates of functional impairment among patients with schizophrenia. The majority of the available instruments used to assess functioning, however, focus on global measures of functional recovery rather than specific domains of psychosocial functioning. Most of these instruments have important limitations regarding use in psychiatry.

Similarities in serum oxidative stress markers and inflammatory cytokines in patients with overt schizophrenia at early and late stages of chronicity.

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder that strikes at a critical period of a young person's life. Its pathophysiology could be the result of deregulation of synaptic plasticity, with downstream alterations of inflammatory immune processes regulate by cytokines, impaired antioxidant defense and increased lipid peroxidation. The aim of this study was to examine serum oxidative stress markers and inflammatory cytokines in early and late phases of chronic SZ.

Reduced serum non-enzymatic antioxidant defense and increased lipid peroxidation in schizophrenic patients on a hypocaloric diet.

Introduction: Growing evidence suggests that oxidative stress (OS) may be associated with the pathophysiology underlying schizophrenia (SZ). Some studies indicate that nutritional supplements offer protection from OS, but there is no data about the effect of a hypocaloric diet on OS in this population. Therefore, we aimed to study the effect of a hypocaloric dietary intervention on OS in subjects with SZ.

Altered oxygen metabolism associated to neurogenesis of induced pluripotent stem cells derived from a schizophrenic patient.

Schizophrenia has been defined as a neurodevelopmental disease that causes changes in the process of thoughts, perceptions, and emotions, usually leading to a mental deterioration and affective blunting. Studies have shown altered cell respiration and oxidative stress response in schizophrenia; however, most of the knowledge has been acquired from postmortem brain analyses or from nonneural cells. Here we describe that neural cells, derived from induced pluripotent stem cells generated from skin fibroblasts of a schizophrenic patient, presented a twofold increase in extramitochondrial oxygen consumption as well as elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), when compared to controls.

Serum levels of IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α in patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia: differences in pro- and anti-inflammatory balance.

Objective: Previous reports suggest that cytokines act as potential mediators of the interaction between the immune and neuroendocrine systems, and that a proinflammatory state may be associated with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The aim is to compare cytokine levels in both disorders.

Method: Twenty euthymic bipolar disorder patients, 53 chronic stabilized schizophrenia patients and 80 healthy controls were recruited.

Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor and clozapine daily dose in patients with schizophrenia: a positive correlation.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a critical role in neurodevelopment and neuroplasticity. Altered BDNF signaling is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia (SZ) especially in relation to cognitive deficits. Clozapine (CLZ) has been shown a beneficial effect on cognition in SZ in some studies and a detrimental effect in others.

Improvement of negative and positive symptoms in treatment-refractory schizophrenia: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with memantine as add-on therapy to clozapine.

Background: Glutamate deregulation may be involved in the neuropathology of schizophrenia, mainly through N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor dysfunction. Memantine, a drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease, acts as a weak nonselective NMDA receptor antagonist. The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of memantine as an adjunctive treatment to clozapine in patients with refractory schizophrenia.

[Electroconvulsive therapy in major depression: current aspects].

Objective: The efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy in treating depressive symptoms has been established by means of innumerable studies developed along the last decades. Electroconvulsive therapy is the most effective biological treatment for depression currently available. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the role of electroconvulsive therapy in the treatment of depression and highlight present aspects related to its practice.

Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is not associated with response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): a pilot study in drug resistant depressed patients.

Refractory depression is a highly debilitating mental condition that originates major social and economic burden. About 50% of the patients experience a chronic course of illness and up to 20% show an insufficient response to drug treatments. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment method in refractory depression, although its mechanism of action is still unknown.

Elevated serum superoxide dismutase and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in different phases of bipolar disorder and in schizophrenia.

Unlabelled: There is an increasing body of evidence suggesting that oxidative stress may play a role in the pathophysiology of both schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD).

Methods: We compared the antioxidant enzyme, serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the lipid peroxidation product, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) as assessed in depressed (N=21), manic (N=32) and euthymic (N=31) bipolar patients, and in chronically medicated patients with schizophrenia (N=97), all fulfilling DSM-IV diagnostic criteria, and a group of healthy controls (N=32).

Results: Serum SOD (U/mg protein) activity was significantly increased (p<0.

Decreased serum neurotrophin 3 in chronically medicated schizophrenic males.

There is evidence that major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia (SZ) are associated with deregulation of synaptic plasticity with downstream alterations of neurotrophins. NT3 is an important neurotrophin in the central nervous system, and performs key biological functions, such as promoting the survival, differentiation, and plasticity of neurons. NT3 has a central role in the early neuronal development; enhancing the survival of dopaminergic neurons, suggesting possible involvement in the physiopathology of dopamine related neuropsychiatric disorders such as SZ.