Ecological monitoring of physical activity, emotions and daily life activities in schizophrenia: the DiAPAson study.

Background: Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) compromise psychosocial functioning, including daily time use, emotional expression and physical activity (PA).

Objective: We performed a cohort study aimed at investigating: (1) the differences in PA, daily activities and emotions between patients with SSD and healthy controls (HC); (2) the strength of the association between these variables and clinical features among patients with SSD.

Methods: Ninety-nine patients with SSD (53 residential patients, 46 outpatients) and 111 matched HC were assessed for several clinical variables, and levels of functioning by means of standardised clinical measures.

Antipanic efficacy of paroxetine and polymorphism within the promoter of the serotonin transporter gene.

Serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the drugs of choice in the treatment of panic disorder (PD). The serotonin transporter (5-HTT) is a prime target for SSRIs. A functional polymorphism within the promoter region of the 5-HTT gene, leading to different transcriptional efficiency, was repeatedly reported to influence the response to SSRIs in mood disorders while the response of patients with OCD seems unrelated.

Comparison of 35% carbon dioxide reactivity between panic disorder and eating disorder.

Patients with panic disorder (PD) are hyperreactive to carbon dioxide (CO(2)), but the specificity of this characteristic to PD is controversial. Anxiety and phobic symptomatology are common to both panic and eating disorders (ED). To investigate the specificity of CO(2) hyperreactivity to PD, the responses to inhalation of a 35% CO(2) and 65% oxygen (O(2)) gas mixture were assessed.