Association between family history of dementia and hallucinations in Parkinson disease.

Objective: To identify familial risk factors for hallucinations in patients with Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods: Two hundred seventy-six outpatients with PD participated in the study. The presence of hallucinations was determined using a validated questionnaire, including items regarding the occurrence of visual, auditory, or other types of hallucinations.

Patients with very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis: a follow-up study.

Objective: The topic of course and outcome of very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis (VLOSLP) has not received the research attention it deserves. The aim of this study was to evaluate the course of clinical symptoms and functional status of patients with VLOSLP in comparison with patients with life-long schizophrenia.

Methods: Telephone interviews were conducted on primary caregivers of 21 patients with VLOSLP who had recently been released from inpatient care.

Effect of neuroleptic administration on serum levels of soluble IL-2 receptor-alpha and IL-1 receptor antagonist in schizophrenic patients.

Activation of the inflammatory response system has been reported in schizophrenia. Levels of serum IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) and soluble IL-2 receptor (sIL-2R(alpha)) were studied in 32 schizophrenic and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects before and after an 8-week treatment protocol. Psychopathology was assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

Psychiatric services in nursing homes in Israel: should the American legislation be adopted?

Background: Nursing homes provide care for the elderly who require medical, nursing or rehabilitation services. Legislation for the public health model of mental health care for nursing home residents in the USA was enacted in 1987.

Objective: To determine whether the USA act regulating psychiatric care for nursing homes may be applied in Israel.

Patients' satisfaction with psychiatric inpatient care.

Background: Patient satisfaction with medical treatment is important, and although in mental health the literature on the topic is scant, awareness of the issue is rapidly growing.

Aim: Evaluation of patient satisfaction among hospitalized psychiatric patients.

Methods: 100 consenting patients (47 men and 53 women) were surveyed and completed a questionnaire regarding satisfaction with psychiatric care.

Tetrabenazine treatment in movement disorders.

Tetrabenazine (TBZ) is a catecholamine depletor used for the treatment of a variety of movement disorders. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of TBZ in a retrospective chart review in 3 tertiary care movement disorders centers over long-term treatment. Of 150 patients to whom TBZ was prescribed, 118 were followed up and assessed using the Clinical Global Impression of Change (CGIC), (-3 to +3), a composite grade from a patient and caregiver scale over variable periods.

Characteristics of district psychiatric committee decisions regarding discharge from compulsory hospitalization.

Unlabelled: In 1991 the authority of psychiatric committees responsible for judicial decisions concerning mentally ill individuals hospitalized compulsorily was greatly extended. The committees' work procedures have gradually been established despite lack of binding rules and regulations, often evolving from the dynamics of the field.

Methods: The study population included 92 hospitalized patients.

Donepezil for the treatment of behavioral disturbances in Alzheimer's disease: a 6-month open trial.

Behavioral and psychological signs of dementia (BPSD) are common clinical characteristics of Alzheimer's disease (AD). They result in patient and caregivers distress, decreased quality of life and placement in nursing homes. Treatment of BPSD with antidepressant and antipsychotic medications is not without complications and serious adverse effects.

Effects of discontinuation of long-term anticholinergic treatment in elderly schizophrenia patients.

Anticholinergic medication (ACM) is frequently used in psychiatry to treat the side-effects of D2 blocking agents. However, ACM is not without adverse effects and, in the elderly, cognitive and memory impairments have been emphasized. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of discontinuation of ACM on cognitive functions in a group of elderly chronic schizophrenia patients.

An open-label trial of sildenafil addition in risperidone-treated male schizophrenia patients with erectile dysfunction.

Background: Sexual dysfunction frequently occurs in treated and untreated patients with schizophrenia. Sildenafil is used for treatment of erectile dysfunction caused by diverse factors. The aim of our study was to evaluate its potential value, safety, and effect on compliance with anti-psychotic medications in risperidone-treated male schizophrenia patients suffering from erectile dysfunction.

Switching elderly chronic psychotic patients to olanzapine.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether elderly chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder patients would clinically improve if switched to olanzapine from previous neuroleptic treatment. Twenty-one hospitalized patients, aged 6088 yr, with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were being treated with typical neuroleptic medication were switched to olanzapine. The Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and Clinical Global Impression Severity (CGI-S) Scale were completed while patients were on their previous medication regimen and again 6 months after the last patient had been started on olanzapine.

Hepatotoxicity, leucopenia and neutropenia associated with olanzapine therapy.

Hepatotoxicity, leukopenia and neutropenia are rarely associated with atypical antipsychotic drug therapy. The authors describe a case of a schizophrenic patient, who was treated twice with olanzapine, and who developed an increase of hepatic enzymes, jaundice, reduced WBC, neutropenia, and a high temperature. The patient was diagnosed as suffering from hepatocellular hepatitis, neutropenia and leucopenia.

The peculiarity of the right-hemisphere function in depression: solving the paradoxes.

Depression is characterized by functional insufficiency of the right hemisphere combined with its physiological overactivation. This paradox can be solved in the frame of the general concept of brain laterality. According to the present assumption, the left hemisphere organizes any information in an unambiguous monosemantic context, and this process requires an additional activation of the brain cortex in order to restrict natural relationships between objects and events.

Overproduction of neutrophil radical oxygen species correlates with negative symptoms in schizophrenic patients: parallel studies on neutrophil chemotaxis, superoxide production and bactericidal activity.

Defective neutrophil function in schizophrenic patients has recently been reported. There are several lines of evidence to support the contribution of oxygen free radicals in schizophrenia, including increased lipid peroxidation, fatty acids and alterations in blood levels of anti-oxidant enzymes. Eighteen schizophrenic patients (DSM-IV) and 15 healthy controls were studied.

Effects of olanzapine on lipid abnormalities in elderly psychotic patients.

Introduction: Recently concern regarding the cause or worsening of diabetes mellitus by some of the second-generation antipsychotics and their adverse affects on lipid metabolism has caused growing concern amongst physicians and patients. This study aims to assess these effects in elderly patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: In a prospective 6-month follow-up study of elderly inpatients experiencing an acute psychotic exacerbation and exposed to olanzapine for the first time, patients underwent physical and psychiatric assessments including: routine laboratory tests (including serum cholesterol and triglycerides levels), and bodyweight and clinical rating scale measurement.

The concept of severe mental disorder and the amended law of reduced punishment for murder.

According to the 1995 amendment 300a of the Israeli Penal Law 1977, punishment for murder may be reduced in cases where "a severe mental disorder" is present. As a consequence, psychiatrists are called upon to define the mental disorder and to assess its impact on the actions of the murderer. This constitutes a major challenge both for the courts and for forensic psychiatrists who are still in the process of learning the ramifications of this medico-legal issue.

Characterizing the elderly homeless: a 10-year study in Israel.

Since 1980s there is a noticeable change in the homeless population in Western countries. Some researchers titled the change as the "new" homeless that are distinctly different than the "skid row" population described in the past. Among the "new" homeless there are increasing numbers of elderly subjects.

The implication of transcultural psychiatry for clinical practice.

This article deals with the main concepts of Transcultural Psychiatry and their applications to everyday psychiatric practice. Transcultural psychiatry has undergone a conceptual reformulation in the last two decades. Having started with a comparative approach, which focused on the diverse manifestations of mental disorders among different societies, it broadened its scope, aiming at present to incorporate social and cultural aspects of illness into the clinical framework.

Age-related differences in the side effect profile of citalopram.

The authors evaluated the autonomic and cardiovascular side effects of citalopram with particular emphasis on their relation to the age of treated patients. The data that formed the basis for the U.S.

Concordance for cognitive impairment: a study of 50 community-dwelling elderly female-female twin pairs.

The present study sought to determine concordance of cognitive impairment among elderly female twins. Cognitive testing was performed by telephone interview in a sample of 100 female-female twins older than 65 years. The participants were 32 monozygotic (MZ) and 18 dizygotic (DZ) female twin pairs, all between the ages of 65 and 86 years; their mean age was 70.