Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

The primary goal of the present study is to evaluate the utility of mGluR5 binding as measured by PET as biomarker of the CNTNAP2 mutation and related mTOR kinase pathway dysregulation.

The purpose of this study is to better understand brain function and psychiatric and neurological illness when taking Invega or Risperdal. The objective is to compare the brain effects of Invega to Risperdal in patients with Schizophrenia. This comparison will be evaluated with PET imaging, fMRI, and neurological ratings and assessments.

The purpose of this study is to determine if taking green tea capsules can help prevent weight gain in patients that start therapy with Zyprexa® (olanzapine).

This study is a multi-site study examining the use of Quetiapine XR for psychotic aggression in an acute psychiatric setting. The study aims to demonstrate that management with Quetiapine XR significantly reduces aggressive behaviour in acute patients with psychosis, significantly reduces psychotic symptoms and decreases the requirement for sedation using benzodiazepines.

The primary objective of this study is to assess the effects of 'Seroquel-XR' on the verbal learning ability in people with at-risk mental state (ARMS) over a 12 week period. The verbal learning ability will be indexed by delayed free recall score of CVLT(California Verbal learning Test), a standard neuropsychological verbal memory tests. The secondary objective is to assess the effects of 'Seroquel-XR' on other cognitive function and psychiatric symptoms including psychotic, anhedonic symptoms, and impulsivity. The cognitive function abilities will be measured by standard neuropsychological tests as follows; Working memory: verbal & spatial 2-back test Attention: Digit Span, 3-7 CPT(Continuous Performance Test) Executive function: WCST (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) Visuo-spatial ability: Rey Complex Figure Task copy Visuomotor speed and planning: Trail making test A & B Verbal fluency: Controlled Oral Word Association Test(COWAT) The scales of psychiatric symptoms which will be used are as follows; Psychotic symptoms: Scales of Prodromal scales (SOPS), Positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) Anhedonia: Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS), Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS) Social cognition: Ambiguous Intention Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ) Impulsivity: Barrett Impulsivity Scale (BIS)

Background: Several studies have suggested that clozapine has the greatest propensity of all available atypical antipsychotics to induce weight gain and metabolic dysregulation. So it is necessary to conduct some interventions to prevent or treat metabolic dysregulation induced by clozapine. Metformin has been reported to achieve weight loss in several groups of patients characterized by insulin resistance. Several studies evaluated the effects of metformin on antipsychotics-induced weight gain and study period lasted from 8 to 16 weeks. Long-term metformin use had more robust effect on metabolic dysregulation and body weight in non-psychiatric field. Goals: The study goals are two-fold. The first goal is to estimate the prevalence of metabolic dysregulation among clozapine-treated schizophrenic patients in Taiwan. The second goal is to assess the reversal effect of metformin on metabolic disturbance among clozapine-treated schizophrenic patients in a 24-week double-blind, placebo-control trial. The investigators will use metformin 1500 mg/d or placebo in the second phase trial. Methods: This study will be divided into two phases. The first phase is to estimate the prevalence of metabolic disturbances among clozapine-treated patients. The second will be a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled study of adjunctive metformin for non-DM clozapine-treated patients. The clozapine dosage was maintained unchanged during the study period. The eligible patients will be randomly assigned to either metformin or identical placebo pills. Metformin will be titrated to 1500 mg/day in 4 weeks. Patients' blood pressure (BP), waist circumference, body weight, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), insulin, and leptin will be measured at 2, 4, 8, 16, and 24 weeks after the start of metformin. In a 3-year period, the investigators estimate to recruit 150 clozapine-treated patients in the first phase and 75 fulfill the second phase criteria. The investigators estimate 60 patients complete the second phase intervention (staying in second phase at least 4 weeks). From this study, the investigators would like to know the prevalence of metabolic dysregulation among clozapine-treated schizophrenic patients and to know the effect of metformin on metabolic profile among non-DM clozapine treated patients.

Empathy constitutes one prominent ability of social cognition, which represents the human capability of understanding mental state of the other, and responding in sympathetic way. Two sets of theoretical mechanisms were designed in order to explain how empathy is possible. Theory of Mind (ToM)and Simulation.People who suffer from schizophrenia frequently exhibit social dysfunction, preventing them of a normal integration in healthy human environments. Recently it had been discovered that impairment in empathy and a specific impairment in effective TOM are mostly associated with the social malfunctioning of people who suffer from schizophrenia. One of the biological substances most connected to social cognition is the neuromodulator Oxytocin. Among its known involvement in uterine contractions and lactating females, numerous recent studies have found an indispensable role for Oxytocin in various complex prosocial behaviors such as maternal behavior, attachment, partner preference and trust. In the proposed study, we plan to examine the influence of a single dose of intranasal Oxytocin on the two primary mechanisms of empathy, namely mentalizing (Theory of Mind) and Simulation, both in healthy people and in people who suffer from schizophrenia.

Different compounds that might modify the glucose regulation in the central nervous system will be evaluated in healthy volunteers. Several examinations will be performed in order to get a detailed plan how these substances might work.

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS)in the first-episode Schizophrenic patients: the clinical and MRI findings

In the last decade cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches for patients with schizophrenia have been developed, which where especially designed to reduce severity of positive symptoms, readmission rates, treatment non-compliance and disability. Although CBT addresses the key problems of early onset psychoses (EOP)treatment and first evaluations of CBT in adults with schizophrenia are promising, no experience with CBT in adolescents with EOP are available. Therefore the present study is conducted to develop a modified CBT (mCBT) for adolescents with EOP, to explore its acceptance and feasibility and to provide data for a realistic estimation of achievable effect size. Patients are randomized to receive either mCBT+TAU or TAU over a 9 month period. mCBT is an individual outpatient treatment of 20 session and 5 psychoeducational sessions with parents. Follow-ups for two years every 6 months are planned.