Sao Jose, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Can Imagination Change Upsetting Memories of Trauma?

Smoking Cessation With Varenicline in Schizophrenia: Antipsychotic-Induced Neurological Symptoms as Correlates

1. Objectives(s): To study whether smoking cessation with varenicline treatment will be associated with a significant reduction in symptoms of antipsychotic-induced tardive dyskinesia without worsening acute extrapyramidal symptoms. 2. Research Design: To test the feasibility of studying effects of smoking cessation with varenicline on antipsychotic drug-induced neurological side effects, we propose a 12 week exploratory, open-label, proof-of-concept, pilot study of smoking cessation treatment with varenicline in 10 schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder patients who are actively smoking and have pre-existing TD while receiving stable doses of antipsychotics. Subjects will be followed after a 2 week baseline period to assess changes in smoking status and neurological symptoms using standardized rating scales. The aim is to examine clinically significant effects on antipsychotic-induced neurological side effects that may warrant further investigation. 3. Methodology: Patients will be evaluated at a Screening Visit 1 (Week 0) and at a Baseline Visit 2 (Week 2) two weeks apart. After the Baseline Visit, subjects will be asked to cease smoking completely by the target date four weeks after the baseline visit (Week 6) and will attend a clinic Cessation Visit 4 (Week 6) for medication check and resupply. Treatment with varenicline will start at Baseline Visit 2 (Week 2) with 0.5mg hs x 3 days, 0.5mg bid x 4 days, then start 1mg bid at Visit 3 (Week 3) for the remaining 9 weeks of the study. At the Screening and Baseline Visits, and at study visits thereafter (Visit 3-7), subjects will be evaluated for efficacy and safety, and changes in smoking or other tobacco use since the last visit. The following measures will be taken; Fagerstrom Test for Cigarette Dependence (FTCD) at screening only; Cigarette smoking will be assessed by a structured questionnaire of time-line follow-back (TLFB) usage; Expired carbon using a hand-held carbon monoxide monitor; Simpson-Angus Scale (SAS), Barnes Akathisia Scale (BAS), and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS); Global Clinical Impression Scale (CGI-S at baseline, CGI-I at final visit) for TD; C-SSRS; Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) at baseline and the final visit only; Brief smoking cessation counseling; Laboratory measures; Urine toxicology sample at the screening and final visits only, serum pregnancy test (women) at screening visit only; Changes in psychotropic medications; Varenicline compliance by pill counts; Adverse events.

Impact of Caregiver Beliefs on Adherence to Antipsychotic Medications in Patients With Schizophrenia

Non-interventional cross-sectional exploratory study with a single visit for patients with schizophrenia and their caregivers, who agreed to participate in the protocol.

Early Detection and Intervention for Women At-risk of Psychosis

Eligible subjects with informed consent provided will be randomly assigned to the cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) group or psychoeducation group. Each group consists of 8 session spanning for 8 week.

D-serine in Schizophrenia

Observational Study Evaluating the Safety of ADASUVE® in Agitation Associated With Schizophrenia or Bipolar I Disorder

This is a multicenter, prospective, observational study conducted to evaluate the safety of ADASUVE treatment when used in real-world clinical setting in patients with agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder. The primary objective of the study is to assess the safety of ADASUVE treatment in real-world clinical settings. The secondary objective of the study is to describe the characteristics of patients, including demographic and baseline characteristics, after administration of ADASUVE treatment in real-world clinical settings. The study population will consist of a non-randomized cohort of approximately 10000 adult men and women who have agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder (naïve and non-naïve to ADASUVE treatment).

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) for Cognitive Impairments in Patients With Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia patients (SZ) show profound and persistent cognitive deficits in attention, executive processing, and verbal and visuospatial memory, which persist even after psychotic symptoms are ameliorated. Cognitive deficits may be more important in preventing functional, occupational, and social recovery in SZ than other symptom domains and are not effectively treated by current pharmacological approaches. Alternating current stimulation (tACS) is less expensive than other modalities (e.g. repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; rTMS), easily available, and has a good safety profile in healthy controls (HC) and SZ. The ability to entrain γ oscillations with 40Hz tACS, might compensate more specifically for this deficit in γ oscillations in schizophrenia, and, may therefore, produce more robust behavioral improvements in working memory and other aspects of cognition.However, no studies have looked at the effects of multiple daily tACS stimulation at a 40HZ γ frequency on cognitive function and symptoms in schizophrenia. This provides a rationale for the current study, which proposes to investigate the effects of 10 sessions of 40HZ tACS on cognitive functions, symptoms in schizophrenia. Active vs. sham treatment will be randomly assigned in a 2:1 fashion (A:S) in groups using computer generated lists. Subjects and tDCS testers or evaluators will be blind to treatment. Subjects will be evaluated with cognitive, symptom and functional measures at baseline, within 1 day ( or 2 days fro some measures) after 10 sessions, 2 weeks after 10 sessions, 1 month after 10 sessions, and 2 months after 10 sessions.After the 1 month evaluation, subjects in the initial active tACS group will be randomly assigned to receive either 5 booster sessions of either active or sham tACS ( 25 subjects each), following parameters used in the initial treatment. Subjects in the initial Sham group will receive 5 booster session Sham tACS. Participants will be scanned once prior to tACS sessions, and within 3 days after the 10th tACS session, using our Siemens 3T Tim Verio MRI scanner with a standard 32-channel phased-array head coil.

Substance Misuse To Psychosis for Stimulants

rTMS Treatment for Positive and Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Metformin Treatment on Cognitive Impairment of Schizophrenia Co-morbid Metabolic Syndrome

In this study, the investigators will investigate the impact and the related mechanism of metformin treatment on cognitive impairment of schizophrenia with a high risk of metabolic syndrome. Patients will be randomized to the metformin group or non-metformin control group (40 patients per arm) . Clinical assessment will be done at screen/baseline, 4 week, 12 week and 24 week. The specific aims are to compare the metformin group versus controls on: 1) clinical core symptoms; 2) cognition. Biological samples also will be collected, and stored to research related mechanisms. Clinical symptoms will be measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (Chinese version). Cognitive function will be assessed by the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery. The investigators hypothesize that 1) metformin may improve the cognitive impairment of schizophrenia patients; 2) metformin may alter oxidative stress indexes or inflammatory biomarkers thus influencing the oxidative and inflammatory mechanism, and the structure and function of the hippocampus that may be significantly associated with cognitive function.