Schizophrenia and Heart Health: Are Antipsychotics a Friend or Foe?

Schizophrenia is one of the most disabling of the psychiatric diseases. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale Extended (BRSE) is used to evaluate the severity of psychiatric symptoms. Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics are commonly used and are preferred over oral antipsychotic medications. A two-center-based cross-sectional study was performed on 130 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder based on the International Classification of Diseases 10 criteria. We studied the relation between the development of cardiovascular risk factors and the antipsychotic medication that was administered in these patients. Our study demonstrates strong links between several cardiovascular risk factors and the duration of psychosis; the duration of the LAI antipsychotic treatment; the duration between the onset of the disease and the start of LAI antipsychotic treatment; and the use of specific LAI antipsychotic medications.

The efficacy and safety of sodium nitroprusside in the treatment of schizophrenia: a meta-analysis.

Objective: Schizophrenia is a serious mental disease that brings not only serious burdens to patients and their families but also serious challenges to society. More research is needed to find better drugs to treat schizophrenia. This meta-analysis investigated the efficacy and safety of sodium nitroprusside in the treatment of schizophrenia. Methods: Randomized controlled trials comparing the efficacy and safety of sodium nitroprusside in the treatment of schizophrenia were searched via English and Chinese databases. The outcomes, including the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), were recorded. RevMan 5.3 was used for the meta-analysis. Results: A total of six randomized controlled trials (174 patients) were included. The overall quality of the included studies was good. No statistically significant benefit of sodium nitroprusside over placebo was found when combined PANSS total and BPRS-18 (95% CI: -1.40, 0.02). Except for PANSS positive (95% CI: -1.86, -0.01), there was no significant difference in the scale score after sodium nitroprusside treatment compared with the control group in PANSS total (95% CI: -4.93, 0.23), PANSS general (95% CI: -2.53, 1.33), and PANSS negative (95% CI: -4.44, 0.89). The results of the sensitivity analysis excluding the study with clinical heterogeneity showed that sodium nitroprusside had no statistical benefit for the score of PANSS positive (95% CI: -2.19, 0.46). Moreover, there was also no significant difference in the BPRS-18 (95% CI: -3.23, -0.43). Conclusion: We conservatively believe that sodium nitroprusside does not alleviate the symptoms of schizophrenia compared with placebo. The subjects tolerated sodium nitroprusside well. Our findings provide a new idea for researchers to explore and solve the drug treatment of schizophrenia.

Isoniazid-Induced Psychosis in a Patient with Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Case Report.

Isoniazid is one of the most important drugs in the management of pulmonary tuberculosis; of all the antituberculous drugs, it is one of the most commonly implicated drugs in drug-induced psychosis. We report a case of isoniazid-induced psychosis in a 31-year-old patient with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Lurasidone for Treating Schizophrenia and Bipolar Depression: A Review of Its Efficacy.

Lurasidone is an antipsychotic medication that blocks dopamine D2 and serotonin 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (5-HT)2A receptors and affects other serotoninergic and noradrenergic receptors. It has rapid absorption and linear pharmacokinetics. The rates of metabolic syndrome for patients taking lurasidone are comparable to placebo groups. Lurasidone is a safe and effective treatment for patients with acute schizophrenia and bipolar depression. It has been found to improve the brief psychiatric rating scale and other secondary measures in schizophrenic patients and reduce depressive symptoms in bipolar I depression. The once-daily administration of lurasidone is generally well-tolerated and does not cause clinically significant differences in extrapyramidal symptoms, adverse effects, or weight gain compared to a placebo. However, lurasidone's effectiveness in combination with lithium or valproate has been mixed. Further research is needed to determine optimal dosing, treatment duration, and combination with other mood stabilizers. Long-term safety and effectiveness and its use in different subpopulations should also be evaluated.

Sexuality and Quality of Life in Eastern Taiwan People With Schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Patients with schizophrenia are living at the border of society and their sexuality is often neglected. The aim of the study is to explore the association among The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), quality of life (QoL), Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire, and Sexual Desire Inventory in people with schizophrenia (PwS). METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional design with 277 psychiatric inpatients. A descriptive analysis, difference analysis, and logistic regression model were presented to identify relevant variables that may affect the probability of good QoL. RESULTS: The study showed that male PwS had higher scores of standard deviation (SD) than females in PwS. The study also showed that smoking, early illness onset age, and shorter illness duration demonstrated a significantly higher SD. The logistic regression analysis showed that BPRS, depression, and SD significantly affected the probability of QoL. By structural equation model, SD would be positively correlated with mental status and SD would indirectly influence QoL. CONCLUSION: Our results showed psychological and sociological factors interactions may contribute to the QoL and SD for PwS. This study also demonstrated a close relationship between SD, depression, and BPRS. These factors may predict the probability of good life quality for the PwS.

The Comparison Between Positive and Negative Symptoms Severity in Prolonged Methamphetamine-induced Psychotic Disorder and Schizophrenia.

Introduction: This study aims to compare the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia in patients who had psychotic symptoms more than one month after discontinuation of methamphetamine abuse. These factors were analyzed by the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) questionnaire. Methods: Sixty participants were selected from patients referred to Iran Psychiatric Hospital with psychotic symptoms (delusions or hallucinations, disorganized behavior, and speech). The control group was 30 patients with schizophrenia based on a semi-structured interview according to DSMIV-TR (SCID). Thirty patients with a prolonged methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder were also placed in the case group. For both groups of patients, questionnaires of PANSS, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), and Global Assessment Of Functioning (GAF) were filled out after obtaining the companions' consent. The scale scores were compared between groups. We used the Mann-Whitney and the Chi-square test to evaluate the mean values of PANSS, BPRS, and GAF scores between the two groups. Results: here was an insignificant difference in positive and general pathology scores between the two groups, but the total score of negative symptoms in the schizophrenia group was significantly higher than in the group of prolonged methamphetamine psychotic disorders (P=0.034). Average scores of uncooperativeness (0.008), difficulty in abstract thinking (0.004), motor retardation (0.002), unusual thought content (0.001), and hostility (0.011) in the schizophrenia group were significantly higher than those in the prolonged methamphetamine psychosis. Conclusion: The results showed that most of the disturbances in patients with schizophrenia might be more influenced by the expression of cognitive disabilities than those with methamphetamine psychosis. The difference in negative symptom scores suggests that schizophrenia and prolonged methamphetamine psychotic disorder can be two different disorders. Highlights: General and positive symptoms scores don't have significant differences.Negative symptoms are much more in schizophrenia.Uncooperativeness, unusual thought content and, motor retardation have more scores in schizophrenia. Plain Language Summary: In clinical practice, Schizophrenia and prolonged methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder have some similar mental presentations. Additionally, in scientific literature, there is scarce evidence about these similarities. In this regard, this research was designed to investigate the aforementioned obscurity. Determination of similarities and differences between them helps us to address these disorders in terms of treatment and follow-up and awareness of their prognosis of them. This research is a case-control study in which we examine positive and negative psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia and prolonged methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder. Researchers investigated psychotic symptoms with positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS), and global assessment of functioning (GAF) questionnaires. Moreover, results demonstrate general and positive symptoms scores don't have many differences but negative symptoms are much more in patients with schizophrenia than in patients with a prolonged methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder. Also, other features like uncooperativeness, unusual thought content, motor retardation, difficulty in abstract thinking, and hostility have higher scores in schizophrenia than the others. In conclusion, this research showed that these disorders are two distinct disorders with some similarities in positive symptoms but not in all features. So, some studies can be designed about why there are similarities between them?

Validation of a novel Psychosis-Implicit Association Test (P-IAT) as a diagnostic support tool.

Despite significant advances in early-intervention services for psychosis, delays in identifying patients continue to impede the delivery of prompt and effective treatments. We sought to develop and preliminarily validate a self-administered psychosis implicit association task (P-IAT) as a screening and diagnostic support tool for identifying individuals with psychotic illness in community settings. The P-IAT is a response latency task, designed to measure the extent to which individuals implicitly associate psychosis-related terms with the "self." The P-IAT was administered to 57 participants across 3 groups: healthy controls (N=19), inpatients hospitalized with active psychosis (N=19), and outpatients with psychotic disorders (N=19). Mean D-scores (the output of the task) differed significantly between the illness groups and healthy controls (Mann-Whitney U=138, p<.001). A receiver operating curve was plotted to assess the performance of D-scores in predicting a psychosis diagnosis, yielding an area under the curve of 0.81. When participant D-scores exceeded -0.24, the test achieved a specificity of 100% (sensitivity: 47%), with all 18 participants scoring above this threshold belonging to the illness groups. The discriminant performance of the P-IAT suggests its potential to augment existing screening instruments and inform referral decision making, particularly in settings with limited access to specialist providers.

Jumping to conclusions correlates with negative symptoms, poor response inhibition, and impaired functioning in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: The jumping to conclusions (JTC) bias is the tendency to make immediate decisions based on little information. There are few studies that have investigated the relationship between JTC and frontal lobe function. We examined the association between JTC and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale in individuals with schizophrenia. METHODS: In total, 50 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and 50 healthy control individuals were administered the beads task. Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were assessed using the FAB, BPRS, and GAF. RESULTS: There was a significant negative correlation between JTC and the negative symptoms of the BPRS (rs=-.368, p = .008). There was a significant positive correlation between JTC and the Go/No-Go task of the FAB (rs=.319, p = .026), and the GAF (rs=.433, p = .002). CONCLUSION: JTC in individuals with schizophrenia may be categorized according to several causes, including negative symptoms and poor response inhibition.

Network Analysis-Based Disentanglement of the Symptom Heterogeneity in Asian Patients with Schizophrenia: Findings from the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns for Antipsychotics.

The symptom heterogeneity of schizophrenia is consistent with Wittgenstein's analogy of a language game. From the perspective of precision medicine, this study aimed to estimate the symptom presentation and identify the psychonectome in Asian patients, using data obtained from the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns for Antipsychotics. We constructed a network structure of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) items in 1438 Asian patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, all the BPRS items were considered to be an ordered categorical variable ranging in value from 1-7. Motor retardation was situated most centrally within the BPRS network structure, followed by depressive mood and unusual thought content. Contrastingly, hallucinatory behavior was situated least centrally within the network structure. Using a community detection algorithm, the BPRS items were organized into positive, negative, and general symptom clusters. Overall, DSM symptoms were not more central than non-DSM symptoms within the symptom network of Asian patients with schizophrenia. Thus, motor retardation, which results from the unmet needs associated with current antipsychotic medications for schizophrenia, may be a tailored treatment target for Asian patients with schizophrenia. Based on these findings, targeting non-dopamine systems (glutamate, γ-aminobutyric acid) may represent an effective strategy with respect to precision medicine for psychosis.

Response efficacy and heterogeneity of antipsychotic drugs in schizophrenia: Systemic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUNDS: This meta-analysis aimed to assess antipsychotic and placebo effects in patients with schizophrenia at the level of symptom factors. METHODS: A systematic literature search up to June 2020 was undertaken and 62 studies were included, with 23,478 patients with schizophrenia at the study baseline point. We calculated mean differences with 95% confidence intervals. The comparison was made according to the study content using a continuous method with a random-effects model. RESULTS: Patients with schizophrenia treated by antipsychotic drugs had a significantly lower psychiatric rating scale total score; lower clinical global impression of severity; lower positive and negative syndrome scale; and lower assessment of negative symptoms total score, when compared to placebo treated patients. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with schizophrenia treated with an antipsychotic drug show a much greater improvement and lower inconsistency in the level of symptom factors when compared to the effects of placebo. Our findings evidence for a comparatively homogeneous outcome of the antipsychotic-treatment in improving schizophrenia symptoms. This opposes the notion of the presence of patient sub-groups with treatment non-responsive schizophrenia.

Correlation between Post-Acute Electroconvulsive Therapy Alpha-Band Spectrum Power Increase and Improvement of Psychiatric Symptoms.

The results of quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) studies on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) have been inconsistent, and indicators of the efficacy of ECT have not been clearly identified. In this study, we examined whether qEEG could be used as an indicator of the effect of ECT by measuring it during the course of treatment. We analyzed qEEG data before and after acute-phase ECT in 18 patients with schizophrenia, mood disorders, and other psychiatric disorders. We processed the qEEG data and compared the spectral power between the data acquired before and after ECT. The spectral power increased significantly after ECT in the delta, theta, and alpha bands. There was a strong significant correlation between the increase in the spectral power of the alpha band after acute ECT and improvement in the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale score. Our results suggest that an increase in the alpha-band spectral power may be useful as an objective indicator of the treatment effect of acute ECT.

Urban-rural disparities in mild cognitive impairment and its functional subtypes among community-dwelling older residents in central China.

BACKGROUND: Substantial variations in the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its subtypes have been reported, although mostly in geographically defined developed countries and regions. Less is known about MCI and its subtypes in rural areas of less developed central China. AIMS: The study aimed to compare the prevalence of MCI and its subtypes in residents aged 65 years or older in urban and rural areas of Hubei Province, China. METHODS: Participants aged 65 years or older were recruited between 2018 and 2019. Inperson structured interviews and clinical and neuropsychological assessments were performed at city health community centres and township hospitals. RESULTS: Among 2644 participants without dementia, 735 had MCI, resulting in a prevalence of 27.8% for total MCI, 20.9% for amnestic MCI (aMCI) and 6.9% for non-amnestic MCI (naMCI). The prevalence of MCI in urban and rural areas was 20.2% and 44.1%, respectively. After adjusting for demographic factors, the prevalence of total MCI, aMCI and naMCI differed significantly between rural and urban areas (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.10, 1.44 and 3.76, respectively). Subgroup analysis revealed an association between rural socioeconomic and lifestyle disadvantage and MCI and its subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the prevalence of MCI among urban residents in central China is consistent with that in other metropolis areas, such as Shanghai, but the prevalence in rural areas is twice that in urban areas. Prospective studies and dementia prevention in China should focus on rural areas.

Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio Is Independently Associated With Severe Psychopathology in Schizophrenia and Is Changed by Antipsychotic Administration: A Large-Scale Cross-Sectional Retrospective Study.

Background: Immunological and inflammatory mechanisms play an important role in schizophrenia. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a value obtained by dividing the absolute number of neutrophils by the absolute lymphocyte count and represents a biomarker of systemic inflammatory response. There are studies investigating NLR association with psychopathology. However, the relationship has been only studied in small numbers of patients with schizophrenia, which leads to conflicting results and makes the meta-analytic data difficult to interpret. The aim of this study is to perform large-scale cross-sectional analysis on the potential correlation between NLR and disease severity in schizophrenic patients with or without medication. Methods: This cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted in Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Brain Hospital. We identified inpatients with schizophrenia between July 12, 2018 and March 27, 2019 and collected data of NLR, the Clinical Global Impression Severity scale (CGI-S) score and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) score. Results: The records of 1,144 identified patients (10.8% drug-free patients) were analyzed. We found that NLR was significantly decreased in schizophrenic patients after antipsychotic administration and there was the discrepant correlation between NLR and psychiatric symptoms in patients with or without antipsychotic medication. The results of multivariate logistic regressions showed that NLR was positively associated with the severity of disease (i.e., the CGI-S score and the BPRS total score) in drug-free patients, and it was negatively associated with the BPRS negative symptoms (i.e., the BPRS negative symptoms score) in drug-therapy patients. Conclusion: The study is the first to confirm the hypothesis that NLR is independently associated with severe psychopathology in schizophrenia and is changed by antipsychotic administration.

Anti-NMDA-receptor antibody in initial diagnosis of mood disorder.

Anti-NMDAR encephalitis is increasingly recognized as one etiology of psychiatric symptoms, but there is not enough evidence on patients with mood disorder. We assayed anti-NR1/NR2B IgG antibodies in serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid of 62 patients initially diagnosed with mood disorder by a cell-based assay. We also investigated the specific patient characteristics and psychotic symptoms. At first admission, the patients showed only psychiatric symptoms without typical neurological signs or abnormal examination findings. Four of the 62 patients had anti-NR1/NR2B IgG antibodies. The anti-NR1/NR2B IgG antibody-positive patients showed more super- or abnormal sensitivity (P = 0.00088), catatonia (P = 0.049), and more conceptual disorganization (P < 0.0001), hostility (P = 0.0010), suspiciousness (P < 0.0001), and less emotional withdrawal (P < 0.0001) and motor retardation (P < 0.0001) on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale than the antibody-negative patients. During the clinical course, anti-NR1/NR2B IgG antibody-positive patients showed more catatonia (P = 0.0042) and met Graus's criteria for diagnosis of anti-NMDAR encephalitis, but negative patients did not. Immunotherapy was effective for anti-NR1/NR2B IgG antibody-positive patients, and there was the weak relationship (R²â€¯= 0.318) between the anti-NR1/NR2B IgG antibody titer in the cerebrospinal fluid and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale score.

Caracterización de la Aplicación del Test MINI para Evaluar Salud Mental. Cuenca - Ecuador, 2017 / Characterization of the MINI Test Application to Evaluate Mental Health. Cuenca-Ecuador, 2017

INTRODUCCIÓN: La evaluación de la salud mental en los servicios de salud no se realiza de forma regular, generando un subregistro diagnóstico que afecta la planificación y distribución de recursos. El Test Mini Entrevista Neuropsiquiátrica Internacional es una entrevista breve y estructurada que permite diagnosticar los principales trastornos psiquiátricos; su confiabilidad es alta al compararla pruebas similares. El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo caracterizar la aplicación de éste instrumento entre la población que acude a las unidades de primer nivel de atención. MÉTODOS: Estudio descriptivo-transversal con una muestra de 155 personas que acudieron a los centros de primer nivel de las parroquias urbanas y rurales del cantón Cuenca en el mes de abril de 2017. Se aplicó el test Mini Entrevista Neuropsiquiátrica Internacional y una encuesta para recolectar información relacionada con las variables estudiadas. Los resultados fueron analizados en SPSS versión 25.0 RESULTADOS: El tiempo promedio de aplicación del Test fue 21.6 minutos sin diferencia importante entre sexo, edad e instrucción; y 20.93 minutos en quienes presentaron trastornos psiquiátricos. La depresión mayor fue la patología más frecuente, presente mayormente en personas viudas, sin instrucción y con discapacidad. CONCLUSIÓN: No existe diferencia importante entre el tiempo de aplicación del Test considerando las distintas variables demográficas respecto al modelo estándar; se lo considera como una herramienta útil para ser utilizado en el primer nivel de atención.(au)

BACKGROUND: The evaluation of mental health in health services is not carried out on a regular basis. This led to an underreport diagnosis that affected the planning and distribution of resources. The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview is a brief and structured interview that allows diagnosing the main psychiatric disorders with high reliability when compared similar evaluations. The aim of this study was to characterize the application of this instrument in the population that went to the first level care units. METHODS: Cross-sectional descriptive study with a sample of 155 people who attended the first level centers of the urban and rural communities in Cuenca. The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview and a survey were applied to collect additional information related to the studied variables. The results were analyzed in SPSS 25.0. RESULTS: The average time of application of the test was 21.6 minutes without significant difference between sex, age and instruction; and 20.93 minutes in those with psychiatric disorders. Depressive disorder was the most frequent and it was present in widowed, uneducated and disabled people. CONCLUSION: No significant difference was found between the test application times considering the different demographic variables with respect to the standard model, so it is considered as a useful tool to be used in the first level of care.(au)

Early recovery and employment outcome 13 years after first episode psychosis.

175 cases of first episode psychosis were recruited to the Parachute project in 1996-97. The program offered highly available and continuous psychosocial support and a cautious use of antipsychotic medication for 5 years from inclusion. Outcome-data for year 13 after inclusion, were retrieved from Swedish population registries on 161 of the original cases. During the first year after inclusion the cohort improved in the scores of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Global Assessment of Function (GAF) to median levels that later remained rather stable. By month 12 the median GAF score was 65. 68% of the cases were in remission from psychotic symptoms as assessed with BPRS. 38% of the cases in remission and 60% not in remission had prescriptions of antipsychotic medication by month 12. By year 13 after inclusion, 42% were in employment and 55% had any dispensation of antipsychotic medication. 70% of the cases with employment had no dispensations of antipsychotic medication. In conclusion, Many first episode psychosis cases that were offered extensive psychosocial support and cautious use of antipsychotic medication had good early recovery and good late employment outcome.

Analysis of efficacy of L-apigenin A in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease / 中国基层医药

Objective To evaluate the effects L-apigenin A on Alzheimer's disease(AD),and analyze the correlation between MMSE and ADAS-cog scores.Methods From January 2009 to December 2014,34 patients with AD were selected in Qinhuangdao Military Industry Hospital.They were treated with celery seed extract L-apigenin.The MMSE scores and ADAS-cog scores were evaluated before treatment and 18,36 and 72 d after treatment.The correlation between MMSE scores and ADAS-cog scores was analyzed.Results There were statistically significant differences in the MMSE scores between 72d after treatment [(22.59 ± 1.13)points] and before treatment [(20.53 ±1.42) points],18d after treatment [(20.44 ± 1.24) points] and 36d after treatment [(20.97 ± 1.17) points] (t =6.619,7.473,5.807,all P ＜ 0.05).There were statistically significant differences in ADAS-Cog scores between 72d after treatment[(17.09 ± 1.53) points] and before treatment [(20.47 ± 2.85) points],18d after treatment [(20.18 ± 2.34) points] and 36d after treatment [(20.18 ± 2.49) points] (t =6.093,6.445,6.165,all P ＜ 0.05).The MMSE score and ADAS-Cog score had negative correlation by Pearson analysis (r =-0.259,P =0.000).Conclusion L-apigenin A can significantly improve the cognitive function of patients with AD.There is significant negative correlation between the MMSE scores and ADAS-cog scores.

Effect of Shugan Jieyu capsule on depression in patients with schizophrenia / 中国基层医药

Objective To investigate the effect of Shugan Jiayu capsule on depression in patients with schizophrenia.Methods From January 28,2016 to January 24,2017,82 schizophrenic patients in Wenling Psychiatric Rehabilitation Hospital were selected in the study.All the patients had depressive symptoms and were divided into two groups by random number table method,with 41 cases in each group.Both two groups were treated with routine therapy.The control group was treated with quetiapine,and the observation group was given Shugan Jieyu capsule.The improvement of the disease and the occurrence of adverse events in the two groups were observed.Results At two weeks and one month after treatment,the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) scores of the observation group [(16.97 ± 2.23) points and (12.53 ± 1.88) points] were lower than those of the control group (t =3.06,5.52,all P ＜ 0.05).After one week,two weeks and one month of treatment,the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores of the observation group[(30.29 ±2.41)points,(25.47 ±2.59) and (21.03 ±2.77)points] were lower than those of the control group (t =6.17,6.60,10.20,all P ＜ 0.05).After one week,two weeks and one month of treatment,the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale(PANSS) scores of the observation group were (72.76 ± 3.83)points,(41.50 ±3.46) points and (33.94 ± 2.89) points,respectively,which were better than those of the control group (t =4.02,12.25,13.40,all P ＜ 0.05).The incidence rate of adverse events in the observation group [4.88％ (2/41)] was obviously lower than that in the control group[19.51％ (8/41)] (x2 =4.10,P ＜ 0.05).The recurrence rates of the observation group after 3 months and 6 months were 7.32％ (3/41) and 12.20％ (5/41),respectively,which were lower than those of the control group[26.83％ (11/41) and 34.15％ (14/41)] (x2 =5.51,5.55,P＜0.05).Conclusion Shugan Jieyu capsule can effectively improve the depressive symptoms of schizophrenia patients.

Analysis of efficacy of L-apigenin A in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease / 中国基层医药

Objective@#To evaluate the effects L-apigenin A on Alzheimer＇s disease(AD), and analyze the correlation between MMSE and ADAS-cog scores.@*Methods@#From January 2009 to December 2014, 34 patients with AD were selected in Qinhuangdao Military Industry Hospital.They were treated with celery seed extract L-apigenin.The MMSE scores and ADAS-cog scores were evaluated before treatment and 18, 36 and 72 d after treatment.The correlation between MMSE scores and ADAS-cog scores was analyzed.@*Results@#There were statistically significant differences in the MMSE scores between 72d after treatment[(22.59±1.13)points]and before treatment[(20.53±1.42)points], 18d after treatment[(20.44±1.24)points]and 36d after treatment[(20.97±1.17)points](t=6.619, 7.473, 5.807, all P<0.05). There were statistically significant differences in ADAS-Cog scores between 72d after treatment[(17.09±1.53)points]and before treatment[(20.47±2.85)points], 18d after treatment[(20.18±2.34)points]and 36d after treatment[(20.18±2.49)points](t=6.093, 6.445, 6.165, all P<0.05). The MMSE score and ADAS-Cog score had negative correlation by Pearson analysis (r=-0.259, P=0.000).@*Conclusion@#L-apigenin A can significantly improve the cognitive function of patients with AD.There is significant negative correlation between the MMSE scores and ADAS-cog scores.