Effects of memantine added to risperidone on the symptoms of schizophrenia: A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

The "glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia" has changed attitudes in the development of new medications. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of 20mg of memantine per day (as a NMDA receptor antagonist) added to risperidone among male patients with schizophrenia. In a randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial, 46 adult male patients with schizophrenia were evaluated in both intervention and control groups at weeks 0, 6 and 12. The positive and negative symptoms scale and the mini mental status examination were used to assess positive, negative and cognitive symptoms and general psychopathology. The mean age of the patients was 44.8 for the intervention group and 45.3 for the control group, and the mean times since diagnosis were 23.5 and 25.7 years in the intervention and the control group, respectively. Positive and general psychopathologic symptoms showed no significant differences between the two groups at baseline or after treatment; while negative symptoms improved significantly in the intervention group at week 12. Cognitive function was also significantly improved in the intervention group at weeks 6 and 12. Memantine is supported as an effective adjunct treatment to improve negative and cognitive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia.

The Effect of Group Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and Consciousness Yoga Program on Quality of Life and Fatigue Severity in Patients with MS.

Introduction: The chronic nature of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), have can leave devastating effects on quality of life and fatigue. The present research aimed to study the effect of group Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and conscious yoga program on the quality of life and fatigue severity among patients with MS. Methods: This study was quasi-experimental with intervention and control groups. The statistical population included all members to MS Society of Tehran Province, 24 of whom diagnosed with MS were selected as the sample based on the inclusion criteria. The subjects were randomly assigned into the test group (12 patients) and the control group (12 patients). MS Quality of Life-54 (MSQOL-54) and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) were used for data collection. Subjects in the test group underwent a MBSR and conscious yoga program in 8 two-hour sessions. The data were analyzed using the SPSS ver.13 software. Results: The study findings showed that there was a significant difference between subjects in the experimental and control groups in terms of mean score of some subscales of quality of life including physical health, role limitations due to physical and emotional problems, energy, emotional well-being, health distress, health perception, and satisfaction with sexual function, overall quality of life, and fatigue severity. Conclusion: The results show that the program is effective in reduction of fatigue severity and improving some subscales of quality of life in MS patients. Hence, this supportive method can be used as an effective way for improving quality of life and relieving fatigue in MS patients.

Effect of Group Mindfulness-Based Stress-Reduction Program and Conscious Yoga on Lifestyle, Coping Strategies, and Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressures in Patients with Hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Healthy lifestyle and ineffective coping strategies are deemed significant variables among patients with hypertension. This study attempted to determine the status of these variables following intervention via the mindfulness-based stress-reduction program (MBSRP) in patients with hypertension. METHOD: This study was a randomized clinical trial. The study sample, consisting of 30 patients referring to the Hypertension Clinic of Imam Hossein Hospital in 2013, was assigned either to the intervention (recipient of the MBSRP and conscious yoga) or to the control group (recipient of yoga training). The intervention group had 8 training sessions over 8 weeks. Lifestyle and coping strategies as well as blood pressure were measured in the intervention group before intervention and then immediately thereafter and at 2 months' follow-up and were compared to those in the control group at the same time points. RESULT: The mean age of the patients in the intervention (40% women) and control (53% women) groups was 43.66 ± 5.14 and 43.13 ± 5.04 years, respectively. The results showed that the mean scores of lifestyle (p value < 0.05), emotion-focused coping strategies (p value < 0.001), problem-focused coping strategies (p value < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (p value < 0.001), and systolic blood pressure (p value < 0.001) were significantly different between the intervention and control groups after the intervention. CONCLUSION: Applying an intervention based on the MBSRP may further improve the lifestyle and coping strategies of patients with hypertension.

Healthy and Unhealthy Dietary Patterns Are Related to Depression: A Case-Control Study.

OBJECTIVE: Major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability around the world. The relationship between depression and dietary patterns has been reported in a few studies but with controversial results. This study aimed to investigate this relationship in an Iranian population. METHODS: In our study, 330 depressed patients (cases) and healthy people (controls) (1:2) were individually matched according to age, sex and area of residence. New cases of depression were recruited from two psychiatric clinics in Tehran. Interviewers went to each patient's residential area, and invited qualified individuals to participate in the study as controls. Food intake over the past year was collected using a validated semi quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Dietary patterns were determined by the principal components method. Binary logistic regression was used to test the effect of dietary patterns on depression. RESULTS: We identified two major dietary patterns by using factor analysis: the healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns. We categorized the scores of these patterns to quartiles. After adjusting for non-depression drug use, job, marital status, children number, and body mass index, the relations of depression and quartiles of two dietary patterns are significant (p=0.04 & p=0.01, respectively). Compared with participants in the lowest quartile, those in the highest quartile had significantly lower odds ratio (OR) for depression in healthy dietary pattern, and higher OR for depression in unhealthy dietary pattern. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns may be associated with the risk of depression. The results can be used for developing interventions that aim to promote healthy eating for the prevention of depression.

A Placebo-Controlled Study of Raloxifene Added to Risperidone in Men with Chronic Schizophrenia.

Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) such as raloxifene have already shown beneficial effects on negative, positive and general psychopathology symptoms in postmenopausal women with schizophrenia. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess the efficacy of raloxifene as an adjuvant agent in the treatment of men with chronic schizophrenia in an 8-week double-blind and placebo-controlled trial. In a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study, forty-six male patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM-IV-TR), were randomized to either raloxifene (120 mg/day) or placebo in addition to risperidone (6 mg/day) for eight weeks. The assessment was performed using the positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS) at baseline, and at weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8. Extrapyramidal symptom rating scale (ESRS) at baseline, weeks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) at baseline and week 8 were also used to assess extrapyramidal symptoms and depression simultaneously. Forty-two patients completed the trial. The raloxifene group showed significantly greater improvement on the negative subscale (P<0.001), the general psychopathology subscale (P=0.002) and total PANSS score (P<0.001) in comparison to the placebo group at the endpoint. There was no significant difference in the reduction of positive symptoms score between the two group (P=0.525). Extrapyramidal symptom rating scale and Hamilton depression rating scale and frequency of other adverse effects were comparable between two groups.This study indicates raloxifene as a potential adjunctive treatment strategy for chronic schizophrenia in men.