Minocycline as adjunctive therapy for schizophrenia: an open-label study.

Minocycline is a caspase inhibitor, decreases inducible nitric oxide synthase, and has been shown to delay disease in a mouse model of neuropsychiatric disorders. Recently, we reported the antipsychotic effects of minocycline in patients with schizophrenia. In a pilot investigation, we administered minocycline (150 mg/d) for 4 weeks as an open-label adjunct to antipsychotic medication to 22 patients with schizophrenia.

Increased urinary excretion of biopyrrins, oxidative metabolites of bilirubin, in patients with schizophrenia.

During periods of psychological stress, excess amounts of free radicals are produced, and they play an important role in the pathophysiological process. Bilirubin oxidative metabolites, biopyrrins, are generated from bilirubin as a result of this scavenging action against free radicals. We investigated whether the urinary excretion of biopyrrin is altered during the psychotic state in patients with schizophrenia.

Possible antipsychotic effects of minocycline in patients with schizophrenia.

We present two cases of patients with schizophrenia treated with minocycline. Minocycline (a second-generation tetracycline) is an established and safe broad-spectrum antibiotic that crosses the blood-brain barrier, with additional efficacy for diseases such as acne and rheumatoid arthritis. Animal studies have suggested that minocycline may prevent progression of some neurological disorders.

Factors disturbing treatment for cancer in patients with schizophrenia.

Patients with schizophrenia who develop cancer often have a variety of complicated medical and psychiatric problems. Problems associated with receiving a diagnosis of cancer and with understanding or cooperating with medical treatment may develop. Research in managing and treating schizophrenia patients with cancer is scarce.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the anterior cingulate gyrus, insular cortex and thalamus in schizophrenia associated with idiopathic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (Gilbert's syndrome).

Objective: To examine whether patients with schizophrenia associated with idiopathic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (Gilbert's syndrome [GS]) have specific changes in brain metabolism.

Methods: We applied proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) to the anterior cingulate gyrus, insular cortex and thalamus of patients with schizophrenia and GS (n = 15) or without GS (n = 15), all diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV), and healthy subjects (n = 20).

Results: In the anterior cingulate gyrus, patients with schizophrenia and GS showed significant decreases in N-acetyl aspartate/creatine-phosphocreatinine (NAA/Cr), choline/creatine-phosphocreatinine (Cho/Cr) and myoinositol/creatine-phosphocreatinine (ml/Cr) ratios compared with healthy subjects and compared with patients with schizophrenia without GS.

Fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery MR imaging in schizophrenia-associated with idiopathic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (Gilbert's syndrome).

Background: Patients with schizophrenia show a significantly higher frequency of hyperbilirubinemia the patients suffering from other psychiatric disorders and the general healthy population. The objective of the current study was to determine whether patients with schizophrenia-associated idiopathic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (Gilbert's syndrome, GS) have specific changes in signal intensities on fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance (MR) images.

Methods: Axial 5-mm-thick FLAIR MR images from schizophrenia patients with GS (n=18) and schizophrenia patients without GS (n=18), all diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria, were compared with age- and sex-matched non-psychiatric controls (n=18).

Urinary excretion of biopyrrins, oxidative metabolites of bilirubin, increases in patients with psychiatric disorders.

Several authors have suggested that psychological stress induces the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Several studies have supported the idea that bilirubin exerts antioxidative effects in vivo, and it was reported psychological stress provokes bilirubin oxidation in vivo [Yamaguchi T., Shioji I.

Late-onset persistent visual hallucinations with epileptiform discharge.

We report the case of a 58-year-old female without a history of psychosis or epilepsy presenting with abrupt late-onset persistent visual hallucinations that had prominent epileptiform discharges with a diffuse sharp and slow wave complex on electroencephalography. Except for the visual hallucinations, other psychotic symptoms and epileptic seizures, such as disturbance of consciousness and convulsion, were not observed. The epileptiform discharge disappeared within 20 days after initiation of treatment with sodium valproate.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of hippocampus, basal ganglia, and vermis of cerebellum in schizophrenia associated with idiopathic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (Gilbert's syndrome).

Objective: Whether patients with schizophrenia-associated idiopathic unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia (Gilbert's syndrome, GS) have specific changes in brain metabolism was examined in this study.

Method: This study applied proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to the hippocampus, basal ganglia, and vermis of the cerebellum of schizophrenic patients with GS (n=15) or without GS (n=15), all diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria, and healthy subjects (n=15).

Results: In the hippocampus, schizophrenic patients with GS showed a significant decrease of N-acetyl aspartate/creatine-phosphocreatinine (NAA/Cr) and myoinositol/creatine-phosphocreatinine (mI/Cr) ratios compared to healthy subjects and schizophrenic patients without GS, while schizophrenic patients without GS showed only a significant decrease of NAA/Cr compared to healthy subjects.

Successful electroconvulsive therapy in major depression with fluvoxamine-induced bruxism.

A 61-year-old patient with major depression and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor-induced bruxism was successfully treated with a course of bilateral electroconvulsive therapy. Both the depressive symptoms and bruxism completely remitted after six treatments. Possible mechanisms of this effect are discussed.

Sleep disturbances and depression in the elderly in Japan.

Unlabelled: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between sleep disturbances and depression in the Japanese elderly.

Methods: These investigations in the Japanese elderly were carried out with the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and questions on restless legs syndrome and nocturnal eating disorder. A total of 2023 people (male: 1008; female: 1015; average age: 74.

Successful treatment of nocturnal eating/drinking syndrome with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Nocturnal eating/drinking disorder (NE/DS) is a rare syndrome that includes disorders of both eating and sleeping. It is characterized by awakening in the middle of the night, getting out of bed, and consuming large quantities of food quickly and uncontrollably, then returning to sleep. This may occur several times during the night.