Y Barak

..In elderly schizophrenia patients remission is difficult to determine due to long disease duration, exposure to differing treatments, long-standing side-effects, non-adherence, cognitive decline and physical comorbidity...

..abstract:..

..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...

..To evaluate the rate of adverse medical outcomes for elderly exposed to antipsychotic treatment...

..The absence of correlation with total EDSS score coupled with significant correlation with the mental functional system suggests that the CDT may be useful for screening MS patients...

..2%, P<.05), whereas gastrointestinal side effects, sweating and headache were less prevalent in the elderly. The age-related differences in the side effect profile may be attributable to altered sensitivity of the serotonergic system...

..Intensive case-management succeeded in achieving return to permanent housing in the majority of subjects...

..This study is limited in scope but adds a unique viewpoint related to the possible positive effect of increased antidepressant prescribing in primary care on suicide...

..This study aims to assess these effects in elderly patients with schizophrenia...

..The aim of the present study was to investigate, among a large cohort of elderly Holocaust survivors, whether their WWII experiences confer an increased risk of suicidal behavior...

..Clinically meaningful change was observed in positive and negative psychotic symptomatology but not in depressive symptoms...

..An effort was made in the last decade to evaluate the antisuicide effects of pharmacological treatment in schizophrenia with emphasis on the role of the newer second-generation antipsychotics (SGA)...

..However, the relationship of fatigue to cognitive functions and its impact on quality of life have not been widely studied...

..Among the homeless there are high rates of mortality and a significant number of attempted and completed suicides. In Tel-Aviv, Israel, there is an ongoing municipal outreach program for the homeless...

..The current study was performed to evaluate the frequency of cancer in a large cohort of patients with schizophrenia and to determine the standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) of any malignancy in this group...

..In conclusion, elderly depressed patients treated with antidepressants may be at reduced risk of attempting suicide. These findings need support from prospective randomized trials...

..Associated risk factors were both family and personal history of psychiatric morbidity. Further studies are needed to establish our findings...

..There is a need for further study, intervention and resource allocation among the growing numbers of elderly persons who suffered traumatic events in earlier phases of their lives. This is especially critical for Holocaust survivors...

..Primary outcome measure was rating on the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale and the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS)...

..AAT proved a successful tool for enhancing socialization, ADLs, and general well-being...

..Higher levels of anxiety were found among the combatants. Factor analysis revealed three differing factors: arousal symptoms, numbing and distraction. We discuss the possible explanations for these differences...

..Multiple sclerosis (MS) is recognised as a central nervous system disease also affecting cognition. The rate of cognitive dysfunction in MS is in the range of 45-65% and adversely affect the quality of life...

..Weight gain has been reported in younger patients treated with most atypical neuroleptics. The goal of this study was to examine whether elderly schizophrenic patients gain weight while being treated with risperidone...

..Psychoeducation was significantly correlated with level of satisfaction with services. These findings further emphasize the importance of psychoeducation by service providers in mental health...

..16/25 patients, p < 0.01). The results of this study demonstrate that in elderly chronic schizophrenic patients, switching from typical antipsychotics to risperidone is effective and well tolerated...

..068). Physicians should be aware that suicide attempts are not rare in elderly AD patients. Higher level of daily functioning and previous suicide attempts are associated with increased suicidal risk...

..Future research is needed to expand our knowledge of the physiological and immune interactions of positive emotional states and their beneficial effects on health...

..Donepezil inhibits cholinesterase, thus enhancing cholinergic neurotransmission. We tested the efficacy of donepezil in elderly patients with chronic schizophrenia and severe cognitive impairment...

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..The present study aimed to identify correlations between cognitive tests and disease duration, construct longitudinal cognitive curves, and assess pattern of change over time...

..The pineal hormone melatonin is a potent antioxidant and attenuates dopaminergic activity in the striatum and dopamine release from the hypothalamus. Thus, it may have a beneficial effect for both the treatment and prevention of TD...

..Quetiapine is an atypical antipsychotic agent that warrants further investigation...

..However, there is paucity of data regarding suicide attempts by schizophrenia patients. The aim of the present study was to characterize a large sample of schizophrenia patients in tertiary care who had attempted suicide...

..To investigate the rate of progression from probable to clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS) and to define patients who had rapidly (within 1 year) progressed to a definite diagnosis...

..122 and 0.072, respectively). Further study is needed to assess possible associations between long-term exposure to the novel immunomodulatory treatments in MS and rate of cancer...

..However, it has been argued that psychiatric morbidity itself may be the confounding factor that affects cancer incidence and not particularly schizophrenia...

..Using five different instruments examining remission, we report that aging did not adversely affect remission in the elderly. Management of elderly schizophrenia patients should thus be targeted towards remission...

..No adverse events or emergent extrapyramidal symptoms were noted. Discontinuation of ACM may be warranted in chronic schizophrenia patients since it may improve cognitive functioning with no adverse effects...

..To evaluate and characterise cognitive impairment in the very early stage of multiple sclerosis (MS), in which patients are still diagnosed as suffering from probable MS...

..Switching schizophrenia patients from typical antipsychotic treatment to olanzapine is safe and does not increase the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease...

..The authors suggest that VLOSLP is a valid diagnostic entity and that its features imply that involvement of neurodegenerative process may be etiologically relevant to psychosis with onset in late life...

..The present review proposes a framework aimed to help neurologists in approaching cognitive impairment in early MS and stimulate discussions and evaluations of the suggested recommendations...

..Two 'Indian mutation' carriers were identified among 53 Indian Jews. All carriers within each ethnic group had the same haplotype, suggesting a common founder for each mutation...

..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...

..Elderly depressed patients resistant to previous treatments had responded to a trial of paroxetine or venlafaxine. Remission rates were higher for venlafaxine and tolerability was acceptable for both compounds...

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..These findings suggest that among adolescents with ADHD symptoms, the severity of symptoms of depression may contribute to the degree of sleep disturbance in addition to the effect of their primary disorder and MPH treatment...

..The co-morbid occurrence of anxiety disorders and schizophrenia has recently begun to be investigated. Social anxiety may be especially important to diagnose and manage among patients with schizophrenia...

..Remission, both symptomatic and psychosocial, is now an achievable goal in a substantial proportion of patients. Thus, the development of handy tools to quantify outcomes is called for...

..Psychiatric morbidity in Werner's syndrome is rarely reported. This syndrome can serve as a possible model for aging-associated development of psychosis...

..FISH analysis shows that hKCa3/KCNN3 is located on chromosome 1q21...

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..Identifying the rate of progression of disability for an individual patient early in the disease process can influence treatment decisions as well as enable monitoring of the disease overtime...

..8%). Preliminary investigation shows that high-dose escitalopram is an efficacious and well tolerated treatment for patients suffering from severe OCD. Randomized, blinded studies are needed to reinforce these findings...

..001). CONCLUSION: Intramuscular ziprasidone in this series of elderly patients suggests acceptable safety and efficacy in the management of acute psychotic agitation among elderly patients with schizophrenia...

..8 to 32.2 kg/m2 over the study period. No significant side effects were noted. We conclude that patients suffering from steroid-induced obesity respond to fluoxetine treatment of overweight by significant weight loss...

..TCV could serve as a potential alternative therapy for this subgroup of nonresponders patients...

..01). Intravenous Ig therapy seems to be highly potent for inducing rapid improvement in refractory myasthenia during acute deterioration as well as for maintaining remission...

..3 years, 33% were diagnosed as suffering from dementia, 24% were suffering from depression and 57% were living alone. We conclude that we could not find any "characteristic" of elderly subjects at risk of folic acid deficiency...

..However, there is paucity of data regarding suicide attempts by elderly schizophrenia patients. The aim of the present study was to characterize elderly schizophrenia patients who had attempted suicide (AS)...

..Four patients discontinued treatment due to clinical exacerbation or sedation. There was no increase in abnormal movements or body weight...

..Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors should be considered for the treatment of BPSD before neuroleptic treatment is instituted in AD patients with low levels of irritability and agitation...

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..05). Bone strength was preserved in MS patients. In a subgroup of female patients increased SOS was conceivably related to spasticity...

..This effect was preserved at follow-up 1 month later. Additional benefits for the hypnotherapy group were decreases in intrusion and avoidance reactions and improvement in all sleep variables assessed...

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..Schizophrenia patients frequently engage in unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. The adverse effects of sun exposure on the human skin are well studied but only sparse data in this area have been focused on schizophrenia patients...