Early access to clozapine in Early Intervention in Psychosis: Hope vs reality. A mixed method service analysis.

Aim: Improving access to clozapine is a recognized priority nationally across Early Intervention in Psychosis Services (EIPS) in the UK. Treatment resistance (TR) may be identifiable from early episode psychosis and appears to be characterized by negative symptoms and younger age of onset. This mixed method cross-sectional snapshot analysis of antipsychotic (AP) prescribing in an EIPS, explored clozapine eligibility (CE) and prioritization of AP prescribing based on choice, selectivity and appropriateness.

Effectiveness of antipsychotics used in first-episode psychosis: a naturalistic cohort study.

Background: One year of antipsychotic treatment from symptom remission is recommended following a first episode of psychosis (FEP).

Aims: To investigate the effectiveness of commonly used antipsychotic medications in FEP.

Method: A retrospective cohort study of naturalistic treatment of patients (=460) accepted by FEP services across seven UK sites.

Clinical outcome following acute ischaemic stroke relates to both activation and autoregulatory inhibition of cytokine production.

Background: As critical mediators of local and systemic inflammatory responses, cytokines are produced in the brain following ischaemic stroke. Some have been detected in the circulation of stroke patients, but their role and source is unclear. Focusing primarily on interleukin(IL)-1-related mechanisms, we serially measured plasma inflammatory markers, and the production of cytokines by whole blood, from 36 patients recruited within 12 h and followed up to 1 year after acute ischaemic stroke (AIS).