Alex Hofer

..These results support the view that the successful episodic retrieval of newly learned faces is based on a dorsal visual stream mechanism...

..The present cross-sectional study examined the relationships of psychopathology, side effects, and sociodemographic factors with treatment outcomes in terms of patients' quality of life (QOL), functioning, and needs for care...

..Our findings suggest gender-related neural responses to emotional stimuli and could contribute to the understanding of mechanisms underlying gender-related vulnerability of the prevalence and severity of neuropsychiatric disorders...

..In this study, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate gender differences in regional cerebral activity during the perception of positive or negative emotions...

..Factors deemed relevant in this context include severity of symptoms, antipsychotic-induced side effects, sociodemographic variables, and patients' subjective response to medication...

..Associations have been found between the severity of cognitive deficits and social dysfunction, impairments in independent living, occupational limitations, and disturbances in quality of life (QOL)...

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..The same procedure was used in this study to investigate unmedicated patients during an acute episode of schizophrenia...

..With regard to side-effects, we could not find any significant difference between groups. Altogether, response and side-effects to clozapine treatment do not seem to be determined by the chronicity of the disorder...

..Verbal memory deficits are among the most severe cognitive deficits observed in patients with schizophrenia. This study examined patterns of brain activity during episodic encoding and recognition of words in patients with schizophrenia...

..Our observations suggest that subjective and functional outcomes in highly compliant patients are mainly predicted by psychopathological symptoms and unchangeable sociodemographic variables...

..Treatment with second generation antipsychotics may improve executive performance in patients with schizophrenia and facilitate a normalization of functional hypofrontality after symptomatic improvement...

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..None of these parameters increased significantly in patients treated with amisulpride. This study indicates that treatment with clozapine appears to have a higher risk to lead to metabolic disturbances than amisupride...

..These findings suggest that affect recognition is an important aspect of psychosocial functioning in stable outpatients with schizophrenia...

..These results are important with regard to the increased risk for cardiovascular complications in patients with schizophrenia...

..Although much is known about the opinions of professionals concerning this issue, so far nothing is known about the opinions of patients who are most affected by the realization of placebo-controlled clinical trials...

..Difficulties in affect recognition and in emotional experience are a hallmark of BD, but there is little research investigating the consequences of this deficit on the psychosocial status of patients who are in remission...

..These results suggest that decreased language lateralization is also evident in unmedicated patients experiencing an acute episode of schizophrenia...

..This prospective, naturalistic study investigated the factors influencing physicians' choice of antipsychotic drug therapy in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia...

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..Thus, we investigated the correlation of SD and serum prolactin level in patients with schizophrenia during antipsychotic treatment...

..These data clearly show that clinical assessment of cognitive deficits by the PANSS is not a viable alternative to neuropsychological testing to obtain information about cognitive functioning in schizophrenia...

..We conclude that antipsychotic-induced elevation of liver enzymes is mostly transient and could be associated with weight gain...

..The authors' goals were to investigate the association between schizophrenia and a decrease in bone mineral density and to get more insight into potential underlying pathophysiological mechanisms...

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..These data indicate that high-functioning schizophrenia patients show a reduced language lateralization of the frontal cortex compared to healthy controls...

..The aim of this study was to compare glucose metabolism in patients with schizophrenia receiving olanzapine with that in control subjects...

..Our findings confirm and extend those of other groups. This should encourage psychiatrists at least in academic settings where most of this research has been done to approach patients to take part in clinical research...

..In this context, theory of mind (ToM) abilities are of special relevance, and deficits in this area may represent trait markers of schizophrenia...

..The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total score decreased, and all cognitive measures improved.Electroconvulsive therapy would seem to be a safe treatment option for treatment-refractory schizophrenia patients...

..CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that special attention should be paid to patients who experience positive symptoms or sedation and to those with relative absence of symptoms, who are therefore tempted to stop taking medication...