齐拉西酮与利培酮治疗首发精神分裂症的疗效和安全性

目的观察齐拉西酮与利培酮对首发精神分裂症患者的治疗效果和不良反应,以更好地为精神分裂症患者进行治疗。方法选择2010年8月-2012年8月广州市脑科医院收治的首发精神病患者64例为研究对象,随机分为两组。对照组给予利培酮治疗,实验组给予齐拉西酮治疗,对比观察两组疗效和不良反应。结果实验组患者经治疗,其PANSS优于对照组患者,组间比较差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);实验组不良反应发生率明显低于对照组(32例患者共发生14例),组间比较差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论使用齐拉西酮对首发精神病患者进行治疗可取得更好的治疗效果,且患者不良反应少,值得临床推广应用。     

Group cognitive behavioural therapy for first episode psychosis: who's referred,who attends and who completes it?

Aim: Most national guidelines recommend psychological therapy for people with first‐episode psychosis (FEP) but interventions proven effective in randomized control trials (RCTs) conducted in research settings do not always translate effectively to real‐world clinical environments. In a limited health system, it is important to understand the system and patient barriers to participation in effective treatment. We sought to determine what patient characteristics influenced clinicians' decision to refer or not to refer to group cognitive behavioural therapy for FEP and what characteristics were associated with those referred attending/not attending and adhering/not adhering to the programme. Methods: Between 2006 and 2008, all cases of confirmed FEP from a defined geographical region were examined using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV‐TR Axis I Disorders for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM‐IV) diagnoses, the Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms, Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms, Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia and Birchwood Insight Scale. Duration of untreated psychosis was established using the Beiser Scale. Results: Of the 124 (77 males, 47 females) people in the final sample, 88 (72%) were referred for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), 52 (59%) attended and 12 (23%) did not complete CBT. Those with higher levels of insight into the need for treatment (U = 740.00, z = −2.63, P = 0.008) and higher levels of positive symptoms (t (120) = −3.064, P = 0.003) were more likely to be referred to CBT. Those with higher educational attainment (χ² = 9.48, P = 0.03) and fewer negative symptoms, particularly in relation to global attention (t (85) = 2.32, P = 0.03), were more likely to attend and complete CBT. Conclusion: Within an early intervention service for FEP, it appears that individuals with less education, more negative symptoms and less insight experienced significant barriers to successfully completing group CBT. More information for referring clinicians about the benefits of CBT for FEP could help increase referral rates. Assertive outreach for people at risk of disengaging or non‐adherence should also be considered.     

Management of incomplete remission and treatment resistance in first-episode psychosis

Background: Incomplete remission and treatment resistance are common even in first-episode psychosis patients. Objective: The aim of this review was to provide an overview of the available interventions and treatment pathways for the management of incomplete remission and treatment resistance in first-episode psychosis. Methods: The review undertook a computerized and manual literature search for relevant articles published within recent years. Results: Standard therapy has to be optimized in order to prevent treatment non-response. The early detection strategies of incomplete remission and treatment resistance include re-evaluation of the diagnosis and optimization of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions including the treatment of co-morbid disorders. If partial or non-response is confirmed, pharmacological and psychosocial treatment adaptations should be applied stepwise as presented in the current review. Interventions have to be offered in a timely manner because early adaptation of treatment is associated with a greater probability of remission.     

Correlates of insight with symptomatology and executive function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorder: A longitudinal perspective

The present study aimed to examine the relationships of insight with symptomatology and executive function, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally in patients with first-episode schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Ninety-two medication-naïve patients were recruited and 71 completed the assessments. Insight, symptoms and executive function were assessed at baseline, 6 months and 1 year. Insight was measured with the abridged version of Scale of Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD). Symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Executive function was measured with the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MCST). The most significant improvement of insight and symptomatology was found over the first 6 months, whereas the perseverative errors of MCST were significantly improved between 6 and 12 months. Differential correlations of perseverative errors of the MCST and PANSS scores with SUMD were found at different time points. This suggests the involvement of different mechanisms in insight deficit at different stages of the illness. The baseline MCST perseverative errors were correlated significantly with the SUMD total score at 6 months and the change of SUMD scores over the first 6 months. Although the variance explained was small, it suggests better set-shifting capacity facilitates the improvement of insight at an early stage of the illness.     

Psychosis-proneness correlates with expression levels of dopaminergic genes

Psychosis-proneness or schizotypy is a personality organisation mirroring individual risk for schizophrenia-development. Believed to be a fully dimensional construct sharing considerable geno- and phenotypal variance with clinical schizophrenia, it has become an increasingly promising tool for basic psychosis-research. Although many studies show genetic commonalities between schizotypy and schizophrenia, changes in regulation of gene expression have never been examined in schizotypy before. We therefore extracted RNA from the blood, a valid surrogate for brain tissue, of a large sample of 67 healthy male volunteers and correlated the activities of all genes relevant for dopaminergic neurotransmission with the positive schizotypy-scale of the O-LIFE. We found significant negative correlations regarding the expression of the genes COMT, MAOB, DRD4, DRD5 and FOS, indicating that increased schizotypy coincides with higher levels of dopaminergic dysregulation on the mRNA-level. Considering the advantages of this method, we suggest that it be applied more often in fundamental psychosis-research.