G Kemmler

..Finally, the merits and drawbacks of MDS are discussed in the specific context of the example and in the general framework of QOL research...

..To determine the psychometric properties of the recently developed German version of the Multidimensional Quality of Life Questionnaire for HIV/AIDS (MQOL-HIV) and to test its performance in a sample of HIV-infected patients...

..Dropout rates in randomized clinical trials of antipsychotic drugs have consistently been reported to be high, and the use of a placebo-controlled design is hypothesized to be one of the reasons for this...

..We therefore conclude that neither of the two instruments can be replaced by the other in the assessment of QOL of BMT patients and that a direct comparison of results obtained with the two instruments is likely to be misleading...

..The results of the QoL investigations should not be interpreted independently of the instrument used and an interpretation of results must be based on the contents of items of the respective questionnaires...

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..We prospectively investigated schizophrenia patients treated with second generation antipsychotics with respect to alterations of white blood cell counts...

..The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency and course of sexual disturbances associated with clozapine and haloperidol and their potential influence on compliance with medication regimens in patients with schizophrenia...

..However, a subgroup of patients using many alternative therapies seem to have considerable adjustment problems. In dealing with cancer patients the treatment team should be aware of both these groups...

..Disturbed interactions with one's body and with other persons are two major features in eating disorders. This study was designed to assess current and childhood characteristics of eating-disordered men...

..In HIV-infected patients, depressive mood and impaired QoL appear to be related to clinical parameters like immune activation, haemoglobin values and viral load...

..2% left, -12.05% right) and chronic patients (-10.6% left, -10.5% right) compared to controls--irrespective of diagnostic subtype, family history for psychiatric diseases, psychopathology, duration of illness or age at onset...

..To compare male bodybuilders to men with eating disorders and control men regarding body image, psychopathology and sexual history...

..The ethnic suicide rates of Italian- and German-speaking people in South Tyrol were found to approximate each other, in comparison with the national rates for Italy and Austria, as a possible result of cultural interaction...

..The aim of this prospective study was to validate a new parameter for the early detection of an intraventricular infection...

..Future doubled-blind, placebo-controlled trials are warranted to confirm these findings...

..The results further suggest that buprenorphine treatment is as effective as methadone in effects on quality of life and physical symptoms...

..To compare the effects on quality of life (QOL) of oral methadone with sublingual buprenorphine...

..The improved relapse-free survival rates achieved by combined modality regimens must be carefully weighed against the accompanying reduced QoL, since lower relapse rates did not translate into a survival advantage...

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..In 61 patients with the ICD-10 diagnosis "heroin dependence" an evaluation of subjective well-being with consideration given to coexisting symptoms prior to and 4 months after initiation of methadone maintenance...

..These results demonstrate that the quality of life is preserved to a higher degree after orthotopic neobladder than after ileal conduit urinary diversion...

..To assess normalization in the lives of liver transplant patients and the impact of preoperative expectations on postoperative quality of life (QOL)...

..The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between hemoglobin (Hb) levels and the subjective experience of fatigue and quality of life in cancer patients with mild or no anemia undergoing chemotherapy...

..A shared deficient serotonergic transmission was postulated for both syndromes. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was argued to regulate eating behaviour and to be dysfunctional in eating disorders...

..The goal of this study was to explore the pathophysiology of weight gain during treatment with olanzapine for schizophrenia...

..The predominant effects of drug use appear to eclipse the gender-related role pattern. Further exploration of gender and QOL could have important theoretical and treatment implications...

..This study examined the influence of vitamin B12/folic acid intake on the conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia...

..The results suggest that rTMS as an "add on" strategy, applied in a unilateral and a bilateral stimulation paradigm, does not exert an additional antidepressant effect...

..To identify weather factors associated with an increased risk of suicide. In a number of prior studies an influence of meteorological conditions on the incidence of suicide or attempted suicide has been suggested...

..The reasons for this should be clarified in further studies...

..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...

..This linear increase (over 30% per decade) may then lead to an increased incidence of adverse effects in elderly patients...

..This study adds evidence to the existing literature about the co-occurance of alcohol and/or benzodiazepine consumption and accident-related injuries...

..5%; females=2.4%). In addition, this study shows that alcohol plays a more important role in patients up to 70 years in fall-related accidents when compared to accidents of other causes...

..All results were adjusted for smoking. Comedication did not significantly influence these results. In conclusion, age and sex are important variables to consider when prescribing olanzapine for women and in the elderly...

..All in all, the pharmacological management of schizophrenia patients is increasingly in tune with current treatment guidelines...

..Our results do not support the hypothesis that schizophrenia leads to progressive volume reduction in these areas, although there may be a subset of patients with morphologically visible disease progression...

..It is suggested that the increase in NGF depends on the extent of neurodegeneration of the AD type and the increase in MCP-1 on age...

..Our study was designed to examine alterations of tryptophan and its catabolic product kynurenine in the postpartum period and to compare them to neopterin as an immunological marker...

..The extent to which antipsychotics improve patients' well-being is uncertain...

..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)...

..016). In conclusion, older age, body weight and comedication with valproate have to be considered when prescribing quetiapine. Higher plasma levels in female patients need to be replicated in larger samples...

..Additional research is needed to further define the neurocognitive phenotypes associated with COMT polymorphisms...

..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...

..In this study, the rates, numbers and lengths of psychiatric hospitalizations of suicide victims during the last year before their suicide commission were assessed...

..The aim of the study is to examine eating behavior and body attitude in elderly women...

..So far, little is known about plasma concentrations and concentration-to-dose (C/D) ratios of these agents in children and adolescents compared to adults...

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

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

..In summary, neopterin concentrations correlated with cognitive decline in AD patients, which might be due to high CMV seropositivity in that population...

..This study investigated potential demographic and clinical risk factors for attempted suicide in alcohol-dependent patients taking serum lipids additionally into consideration...

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

..In summary, regarding QOL and health status, the present data indicate that buprenorphine is also a useful long-term alternative for maintenance treatment of opioid-dependent patients...

..e., 6% each of the present sample), and it may transiently increase, rather than decrease, smoking during early phases of treatment in continuing smokers...

..In addition we were interested in identifying variables that may be useful predictors of the relatives' quality of life...

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

..Cholesterol levels do not appear to be an appropriate biological marker for suicidality during the first 4 weeks of treatment in patients with a major depressive episode...

..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...

..Concerning alcohol or benzodiazepine use, females showed lower frequencies of both alcohol and benzodiazepine positive blood samples. The frequency of alcohol use was higher in patients <or= 60 years of age...

..Sample size requirements for various equivalence margins in noninferiority trials are provided. Scientific and ethical arguments should lead to a more frequent use of the active-control noninferiority trial design...

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..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...

..Psychiatric and behavioral symptoms associated with dementia or due to a major psychiatric disorder cannot be related to changes in the measured proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy parameters...

..Various olfactory deficits have been reported in the alcohol-induced amnestic syndrome (Korsakoff's syndrome). Less is known about olfactory functioning in nonamnesic and nondemented alcoholic patients...

..The aim of the present study was to make a precise analysis of social network and social support to patients with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (CEDE) in comparison with healthy controls...

..The main focus of the current study was to assess fatigue in these patients and to investigate the impact of fatigue and other clinical and psychosocial variables on their quality of life (QOL)...

..The aim of this longitudinal study was to determine the long-term quality of life (QoL) of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and to investigate the relationship between QoL and sociodemographic and clinical parameters...

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..Considering the increase of Abeta42 plasma levels as a risk factor for AD, any changes induced by medication by long-term use in the peripheral and possibly also in the central compartment, could be of clinical relevance...

..Olfactory dysfunctions were found across both nostrils. Results suggest specific dysfunctions in olfactory processing in schizophrenia patients, including early stages of the odor identification process...

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..Determination of clinically significant cross-cultural differences will require additional investigation...

..No indication was found of a deterioration of any of the five investigated neuropsychological functions during the 4-week treatment period with nabilone...

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..In this study, we examined the relationship between different olfactory functions and volumes of the hippocampus-amygdala complex (HAC) and the orbitofrontal brain region using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

..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...

..76 +/- 0.58 g/l) compared to other injuries (1.63 g/l +/- 0.74 g/l). No correlations were found concerning benzodiazepine use and demographic variables and all measured benzodiazepine plasma levels were within the therapeutic range...

..The aim of the study was to determine the impact of socioeconomic status on relapse-free survival (RFS) in patients with Hodgkin's disease...

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

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..To assess patient performance on different clock tasks...

..Furthermore, unless patient data are compared with normative values, phenomena such as adaptation and response shift might be missed or misinterpreted...

..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...