BACKGROUND Three warnings of serious adverse events associated with the use of atypical antipsychotic drugs among elderly patients with dementia were sent to health care professionals in Canada. We assessed the impact of these warnings on prescription rates of antipsychotic drugs in this patient population. METHODS We used prescription drug claims data from Ontario to calculate prescription r...

Parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia can coexist in patients taking antipsychotic drugs. Persistence of both parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia during a two year follow up period after discontinuation of antipsychotic drugs is reported. Etiological significance of antipsychotic treatment is discussed.

Authors' objectives The main objectives were to assess the clinical effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of 'atypical' antipsychotic drugs in schizophrenia in comparison with conventional antipsychotic drugs, placebo and other atypical antipsychotic drugs. The secondary objectives of the review were to investigate response in those with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, with predominan...

The cornerstone in treatment of psychosis is antipsychotic drugs. Treatment options have increased over the years; newer antipsychotic drugs with a proposed increased efficacy regarding negative and cognitive symptoms, but also a shift in side-effects from neurological side-effects to metabolic side-effects have arisen as the new challenge. The basis of successful pharmacological treatment is a...

539 books, and those outside the field who need to look up terms related to medicine. While the scientific terms are not described at such a basic level to suggest a lay audience, there is a wide range of medically related issues referenced. This volume certainly has its own unique niche among reference books, but it is not, and cannot substitute for, a traditional dictionary. The field of schi...

To the Editor: Psychopathology is changed by antipsychotic-type medications, but Ruggero et al1 did not account for effects of exposure to medication on diagnosis. Diagnosis of functional disorders per DSM requires absence of medical effects—including effects from medications—that can cause or suppress disorder criteria contents. Antipsychotic-type drugs tend to suppress symptoms, including tho...

Monitoring gene expression has been intensively used to identify neurobiological and neuroanatomical substrates associated with administration of antipsychotic drugs. Transcription factors of the Nur family (Nurr1, Nur77, and Nor-1) are orphan nuclear receptors that have been recently associated with dopamine neurotransmission. Nurr1 is involved in midbrain dopamine neuron development. Nur77 an...