Background: About 25% of schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations are refractory to pharmacotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy. We conducted a deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pilot study in order to evaluate the potential clinical benefit of repeated left temporoparietal cortex stimulation in these patients. The results were encouraging, but a sham-controlled study was needed to rule out a placebo effect.
Methods: A total of 18 schizophrenic patients with refractory auditory hallucinations were recruited, from Beer Yaakov MHC and other hospitals outpatient populations. Patients received 10 daily treatment sessions with low-frequency (1 Hz for 10 min) deep TMS applied over the left temporoparietal cortex, using the H1 coil at the intensity of 110% of the motor threshold. Procedure was either real or sham according to patient randomization. Patients were evaluated via the Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale, Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms-Negative Symptoms, Clinical Global Impressions, and Quality of Life Questionnaire.
Results: In all, 10 patients completed the treatment (10 TMS sessions). Auditory hallucination scores of both groups improved; however, there was no statistical difference in any of the scales between the active and the sham treated groups.
Conclusions: Low-frequency deep TMS to the left temporoparietal cortex using the protocol mentioned above has no statistically significant effect on auditory hallucinations or the other clinical scales measured in schizophrenic patients.
Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00564096.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-11-13 | DOI Listing |
Cureus
November 2024
Medicine, Hospital Vila Franca de Xira, Vila Franca de Xira, PRT.
Buckwheat () is a seed increasingly used as a gluten-free alternative, particularly by individuals with gluten-sensitive enteropathy. While rich in vitamins and minerals, it may also contain toxic secondary metabolites. The authors present a case of a 49-year-old female patient, admitted to the emergency department with a four-hour history of psychomotor agitation, confusion, and mydriasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
December 2024
Department of Neurology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, 3-25-8 Nishi-Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8461, Japan.
Visual hallucinations (VH) and pareidolia, a type of minor hallucination, share common underlying mechanisms. However, the similarities and differences in their brain regions remain poorly understood in Parkinson's disease (PD). A total of 104 drug-naïve PD patients underwent structural MRI and were assessed for pareidolia using the Noise Pareidolia Test (NPT) were enrolled.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Introduction: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) are common in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) but their neurobiological mechanisms are poorly understood.
Methods: NPSs and cognition were assessed annually in participants (DLB n = 222; Alzheimer's disease [AD] n = 125) from the European DLB (E-DLB) Consortium, and plasma phosphorylated tau-181 (p-tau181) and p-tau231 concentrations were measured at baseline.
Results: Hallucinations, delusions, and depression were more common in DLB than in AD and, in a subgroup with longitudinal follow-up, persistent hallucinations and NPSs were associated with lower p-tau181 and p-tau231 in DLB.
Sci Rep
December 2024
College of Nursing, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, Shandong Province, China.
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women worldwide. Although large language models (LLMs) can provide breast cancer nursing care consultation, inherent hallucinations can lead to inaccurate responses. Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology can improve LLM performance, offering a new approach for clinical applications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pers Med
November 2024
Department of Radiation Oncology, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea.
Large language models (LLMs) show promise in healthcare but face challenges with hallucinations, particularly in rapidly evolving fields like diabetes management. Traditional LLM updating methods are resource-intensive, necessitating new approaches for delivering reliable, current medical information. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a novel retrieval system to enhance LLM reliability in diabetes management across different languages and guidelines.
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