Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

The purpose of this study is to assess if access to an electronic nicotine delivery device, or e-cigarette, in addition to nicotine patch (21 mg) can help reduce cigarette smoking among individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia compared to nicotine patch alone.

The purposes of this study are to determine if there is a difference in how SB-773812 is distributed through the bloodstream before and after multiple doses of ketoconazole have been given and to determine if there is a difference in how safe and well tolerated SB-773812 is when given on its own and given with ketoconazole.

The TURNS is a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) funded contract for the evaluation of new compounds for the treatment of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia (HHSN 27820044 1003C; P.I.: Steve Marder, M.D.). Despite advances in the safety, tolerability, and effectiveness of antipsychotic medications for the treatment of schizophrenia, many patients continue to be plagued by impairments in social and work functioning. Persons with schizophrenia commonly show deficits in a number of areas of cognition that include impairments in attention, memory, and executive functioning (the ability and organize one's behavior). Importantly, a large body of literature now shows a link between cognition and community functioning in schizophrenia. It is believed that treatments that improve cognitive deficits may lead to improvements in work and social functioning. A promising approach to improve the community functioning of patients with schizophrenia is to develop new agents that treat the cognitive deficits of the illness. One type of pharmacological compound that has shown promise at improving cognition is a group of drugs called ampakines. These drugs are believed to improve the activity of a neurotransmitter system in the brain called the glutamate system. Increased activity of this system has been linked to improvements in cognitive functioning. The current study is an eight-week trial comparing two doses of the ampakine drug, Org 24448, that will be added to patients' current atypical antipsychotic medication. One hundred thirty-five patients with schizophrenia, drawn from seven sites, will participate in the study. Cognition will be measured using a variety of paper-and-pencil and computerized measures from the consensus-derived NIMH Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) cognitive battery. Psychiatric symptoms and the ability to perform community-based tasks of daily living will also be measured. Because previous trials with this drug and other similar drugs have detected lasting cognitive benefits, this trial will also repeat clinical assessments four weeks after completion of the study medication.

In this study, we will compare cue-reactivity in smokers with and without schizophrenia and the influence of smoking cues on responding for cigarette puffs under a PR schedule of reinforcement. Given the high prevalence of smoking among individuals with schizophrenia, understanding some of the environmental factors that serve to maintain nicotine dependence is a critical step in improving smoking cessation treatment outcomes. Establishing and validating a laboratory model of cue-elicited responsivity and cigarette self- administration will allow the investigation of the efficacy of anti-craving medications in people with schizophrenia. Specific Aims 1) To compare the effects of smoking versus neutral cues on craving, mood, and autonomic responsivity in smokers with schizophrenia and smokers without schizophrenia. 2) To compare the effects of smoking versus neutral cues on the reinforcing efficacy of tobacco cigarettes in smokers with schizophrenia and smokers without schizophrenia. Outcome Measures During cue trials, primary measures include craving (TCQ-SF, VAS), mood (mood form, VAS), and autonomic (heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance and temperature) responsivity. During self-administration trials, primary measures include breakpoint (final ratio completed), total number of responses, and number of cigarette puffs earned and taken. Secondary measures include baseline smoking history, mood form, TCQ-SF, CO, FTND, and urinary cotinine and 3-hydroxycotinine (3-HC). The ratio of 3-HC/cotinine is a phenotypic biomarker of the rate of nicotine metabolism, which has been shown to be associated with level of nicotine dependence, various smoking behaviors, and treatment outcome (Ho & Tyndale, 2007). We will correlate the primary measures with the 3-HC/cotinine ratio to explore possible relationships for future study.

"No clinical differences will be found between the three antipsychotics under study - olanzapine, risperidone and haloperidol - on the patients' metabolic profile and weight. "

The purpose of this study is to determine whether preventative treatment with sarcosine can reduce symptoms and delay/avoid disease progression in individuals defined as being in a prodromal stage of schizophrenia.

This is a parallel-group, placebo-controlled trial examining the cognitive effects at weeks 1, 4, & 8 of once-weekly oral D-cycloserine 50 mg added to a stable dose of antipsychotic for 8 weeks in adult outpatients with schizophrenia.

Background: schizophrenia is a debilitating mental disorder affecting about 1% of the general population. About 30% of patients will not react to current drug treatment and defined as treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients (TRSP). The best studied therapeutic option for this population is clozapine therapy. Clozapine was shown to be effective than any other antipsychotic drug in TRSP. Moreover, augmentation of clozapine was not demonstrated to be more effective than clozapine monotherapy. Albeit Clozapine superiority in TRSP, its use may be involved with many adverse effects, some of them are life-threatening, and need for routine blood tests. Amisulpride is an atypical antipsychotic drug with a different mechanism of action than clozapine, with less adverse effects. No study compared directly amisulpride and clozapine in TRSP. Study objective: to compare, for the first time, the broad clinical effectiveness of clozapine and amisulpride and their combination in TRSP. Study Design: a clinical, prospective, naturalistic, randomized, comparative study simulating a real-world approach of clinical decision making. Methods: a total of 140 TRSP will be recruited from a large regional mental health center. Participants will be randomized into two treatment groups (70 in each group): clozapine monotherapy and amisulpride monotherapy. Assessment will be done following 10 and 20 weeks of treatment. In case of treatment failure (insufficient clinical response or severe adverse effect) participants will be offered either to switch to clozapine treatment (for failed amisulpride treatment) or to augment clozapine with amisulpride (for failed clozapine monotherapy patients). Thereafter, participants will be followed-up for a year. Assessment will be made using clinician rated scales and self-completed questionnaires, rating the broad phenomenology of schizophrenia (psychosis, mood, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, cognitive and quality of life) and drug-related adverse effects (objective and subjective). Analysis: comparison of the effectiveness of the three treatment groups: amisulpride, clozapine and their combination, in the various dimensions of TRSP.

We want to relate disturbances in first-episode schizophrenic patients in serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, brain structure, brain function, and information processing to each other and to psychopathology. Additionally, we want to examine the influence of 5-HT2A receptor blockade on these disturbances. We expect disturbances in the serotonergic system at baseline to correlate with specific structural and functional changes and with disruption in information processing as measured with psychophysiological and neurocognitive methods - and we expect 5-HT2A receptor blockade to reverse some of the functional and cognitive impairments. We do not expect any effect of treatment on brain structure

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of paliperidone palmitate compared with placebo in the prevention of recurrence of the symptoms of schizophrenia and to assess the safety and tolerability of paliperidone palmitate in patients with stable and symptomatic schizophrenia. The placebo used in this study was a nutritional substance known as 20% Intralipid emulsion given to patients requiring intravenous feedings.