introduction: olanzapine (zyprexa) has become one of the most commonly prescribed atypical antipsychotic drug in iran, at least in part due to its low potential to cause extra-pyramidal side effects. case: a 54-year-old man, who was a known case of schizophrenia from 10 years ago and within the recent years, was under periodic medical treatment by antipsychotic drugs. conclusion: neurologists a...

Suggested citation for this article: McGinn E. Medical treatment and weight gain [letter to the editor]. Prev Chronic Dis [serial online] 2007 Jul [date cited]. Available from: " Addressing the Obesity Epidemic: A Genomics Perspective " in your April 2007 (1) issue speaks of the importance of considering all aspects of obesity. However, one aspect overlooked in the article is weight gain associ...

According to the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, symptoms of psychosis arise, in part, from dysregulation of central dopaminergic pathways. The activity of dopaminergic neurons is in turn modulated by several neurotransmitters, including, most prominently, serotonin and glutamate. The first generation of antipsychotic drugs (ie, typical antipsychotics) are characterized by potent D2 dopam...

Objective: To choose typical or atypical antipsychotic drugs for treatment of schizophrenic patients in a psychiatric hospital. Method: A standard method was used; this method considers 4 main evaluation criteria and 4 secondary criteria. The typical antipsychotic drug, perphenazine, was compared with the atypical antipsychotic drugs (olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone). The m...

Effectiveness of currently available antipsychotic medications is far from satisfactory with many patients showing incomplete therapeutic response even after many trials with different antipsychotic drugs. Hence, there is an ongoing interest in searching for pharmacological mechanisms, which could potentiate therapeutic response to antipsychotic drugs and/or reduce its typical side effects. The...

BACKGROUND Atypical antipsychotic drugs have been reported to cause fewer incidences of extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) than typical antipsychotic drugs, but adverse events such as akathisia have been observed even with atypical antipsychotic drugs. Although understanding of the pathophysiology of akathisia remains limited, it seems that a complex interaction of several neurotransmitter syste...