Antipsychotic-Associated Weight Gain and Clinical Improvement Under Clozapine Treatment.

Background: Antipsychotic-associated weight gain is a common adverse effect with several negative outcomes in the clinical evolution of patients, which might also affect patients' self-identity from physical appearance and imply treatment discontinuation. However, recent research has drawn attention to an unexpected clinical improvement associated with weight gain, mostly in patients under treatment with clozapine or olanzapine.

Methods: Twenty-three treatment-resistant psychosis patients initiating clozapine were evaluated.

Do FSH/LH ratio and gonadal hormone levels predict clinical improvement in postmenopausal schizophrenia women?

Menopause is a process characterized by a decline in estrogen levels and is therefore a period of biological vulnerability for psychotic relapse in women with schizophrenia. Our goal was to correlate not only gonadal hormone levels but also follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) levels with improvement in specific clinical symptoms. Thirty-seven acutely ill postmenopausal schizophrenia women with a newly initiated, clinically determined change in antipsychotic medication participated in a 12-week prospective observational outcome study.

Antipsychotic Response Worsens With Postmenopausal Duration in Women With Schizophrenia.

Background: The loss of estrogens in the menopause may lead to increased vulnerability for psychotic relapse, poor clinical outcome, and a need for increased antipsychotic dose. However, confounders such as cumulative estrogen exposure and time since menopause have been inadequately studied. Our aim was to investigate potential variables capable of influencing antipsychotic response in a sample of postmenopausal women with schizophrenia.

Heuristic optimization for the design of plasmonic nanowires with specific resonant and scattering properties.

In this contribution, we propose a computational tool for the synthesis of metallic nanowires with optimized optical properties, e.g. maximal scattering cross-section at a given wavelength.

Backscattering measurements from double-scale randomly rough surfaces.

We present experimental measurements of light backscattered from double-scale randomly rough surfaces (oceanlike surfaces) with different statistical parameters illuminated at small and large angles of incidence. The surfaces are composed of a small-scale roughness superimposed on a slowly (large-scale) varying surface. The large-scale surfaces are diamond-machined periodic surfaces made on aluminum substrates and have either a sinusoidal or a Stokes wave profile.