Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia"

Involuntary mental health care is permitted because it is believed to make people with severe mental disorders (SMD) better and prevent them from getting worse or even dying In this study we will investigate whether low levels of coercion in an area is connected with poorer outcomes in Norway. It can be assumed that too little involuntary care might lead to the opposite outcomes to those intended by the Norwegian Mental Health Act. The same law applies all over Norway, but the rate of involuntary care varies: there is up to five-fold difference between the catchment areas of the 69 Community Mental Health Centers. The investigators will estimate rates of involuntary care and adjust for age, sex, urbanity and area deprivation. The data source is the Norwegian Patients Registry, and all patients in treatment for a severe mental disorder in 2015 and their use of mental health care until 2018 will be followed. Model 1 follows all patients who were treated for a severe mental disorder in 2015. The model will test whether the rates of involuntary care in the area they live can predict the length of time to death. Model 2 follows patients with treatment for severe mental disorders that had no episode of voluntary care in 2015. The model will test whether the rate of involuntary care in their area predicts their use of mental health inpatient care in 2016 and 2017. Model 3 tests how long time patients with severe mental disorders that received only voluntary care in 2015 remain without a period of involuntary care in 2016-17, as a function of the rate of involuntary care in their area. Model 4 estimates changing the total number of patients with severe mental disorders in the catchment area in 2016-17 as a function of time and the rate of involuntary in 2015. Model 5 tests whether suicide rates for a catchment area varies as a function of its rate of involuntary care. Because suicides are rare, we will observe the variables over longer time periods, using involuntary care rates from 2015 to 2018 and suicide rates for 2015-2019. The study was evaluated by the Research Ethics Committee (ref 2018/795), who approved use of registry data, and by the Privacy Ombudsman at Akershus University Hospital (ref 2018-090).

Background: - Smoking is associated with serious health risks. People who have mental illness are more likely to smoke. Researchers are studying the brain circuits linked with smoking and nicotine craving. This study will look at whether a specific brain circuit can explain the high rate of smoking in people with schizophrenia. Objectives: - To study brain activity in smokers and nonsmokers with and without schizophrenia, as well as their family members. Eligibility: Current smokers (at least 100 cigarettes in the past year) and nonsmokers between 18 and 62 years of age in one of the following groups: Have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Family members of those with schizophrenia. Healthy adults with no history of severe mental illness or brain trauma. Family members of the healthy adults. Design: People in the study will be screened with a physical exam, medical history, questionnaires, and blood tests. They will have up to three visits: the screening visit and two study visits (each given 1 year apart). At the first study visit, those taking part will be trained in the tests they will do during the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Then they will have the MRI scan. After the first study visit, current smokers will receive phone calls from the study researchers every other month for 1 year. They will be asked about their smoking habits. At the second study visit, current smokers and some nonsmokers will have another MRI scan and the same tests as before. Current smokers will receive a final phone call 1 year after the second study visit. They will be asked to give information about their smoking habits.

The purpose of this protocol is to collect serum zonulin levels in people with schizophrenia. This one time visit will collect zonulin levels, antibodies to gliadin (tissue transglutaminase and antigliadin antibodies) and other information that may relate to increased intracellular tight junction permeability as it related to the immune and stress system and the immune association with kynurenic acid pathway 50. Data will be collected for use in future grant applications and published reports.

Background: Patients with severe mental illness (SMI) have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) than the general population and a control of these risk factors poorer. Serious mental illness often causes health teams to focus interventions in mental illness and put aside the CVRF. Objectives: This project aims to assess the CVRF, stratify the cardiovascular risk, adequate drug treatment to reduce this risk and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention by professional community nurses in patients with SMI. Materials and Methods: Prospective study of a cohort of patients over 18 years with a diagnosis of SMI with two cross sections to evaluate the cardiovascular risk and adequacy of drug treatment. The investigators calculate the risk to the cardiovascular risk tables with the SCORE (Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation) for countries of low cardiovascular risk and the of Framingham REGICOR (Heart registry of Girona, Spain). The adequacy of pharmacotherapy will be assessed contrasting it with the recommendations of the Program of Preventive Activities and Health Promotion of Family medical association. The intervention will be conducted by professional nurses and consist of an initial psycho-educational intervention, and two more reinforcement throughout twelve months, of duration less than 30 minutes that will be addressed in an integrated manner the clinical situation with regard to cardiovascular risk. If necessary, pharmacological treatment will be prescribed. Twelve months after the first intervention, a second evaluation on cardiovascular risk and the effectiveness of the intervention will be performed.

A Phase I, Bioequivalent Study between 2 Formulations of Lurasidone HCl

A Phase I, Drug-Drug Interaction Study between Midazolam and Lurasidone HCl.

Background: - Although second-generation antipsychotic medications have fewer serious side effects and complications than first-generation ones, they are strongly associated with weight gain for reasons that are as yet unknown. Comparing the effects of second-generation antipsychotics with a high weight-gain liability (HWGL) low weight-gain liability (LWGL) antipsychotics may provide more information on which medications are best suited for different individuals. Researchers are interested in studying how people taking various antipsychotics compare with controls in regard to food craving and eating behavior. This knowledge should help to guide practitioners when advising patients about the weight-gain effects of these medications. Objectives: - To examine eating behavior and food craving in patients with schizophrenia who are taking HWGL antipsychotics compared with those taking LWGL antipsychotics and with healthy controls taking no antipsychotics. Eligibility: Individuals between 18 and 45 years of age who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia or a related disorder, have a body mass index between 25 and 29.9, and have never had an eating disorder. Healthy individuals between 18 and 45 years of age who have a body mass index between 25 and 29.9 and have never had an eating disorder. Design: This study involves an initial screening visit and four study visits. Participants will be screened with a medical history and physical examination, as well as questionnaires about stress levels, food cravings, smoking, exercise, and eating habits; a taste test; and saliva collection (to measure stress hormones). Visit 2: Participants will have an optional overnight stay, and will provide blood samples before having a breakfast beverage and answering questions about tiredness, anxiety, hunger, and alertness during a 1.5 hour session. Visit 3: Participants will have an optional overnight stay and a light breakfast, followed by blood draws and questions about hunger and food cravings. Visit 4: Participants will have an optional overnight stay, followed by questions about food preference. Participants will not be allowed to eat until mid-morning of the next day. Visit 5: Participants will eat normally before arriving at the research site, and will have tests to measure food craving and questionnaires about mood and feelings.

People with schizophrenia often have problems with negative symptoms; expressing and identifying their emotions, their amount of speech, motivation and interests, feelings of purpose, social skills, and experiencing enjoyment. For this reason, new interventions are being developed to treat these problems. One new intervention is the Motivation and Engagement (MOVE) Program. The MOVE program is a new program which consists of weekly meetings for 9 months between a patient and a trainer. The weekly meetings will consist of goal setting and organization of the home to make daily tasks more manageable. During the weekly meetings the patient and trainer will discuss emotions and the trainer will help the patient identify their emotions. The researchers hope to learn whether MOVE will help improve the problems. If it works the researchers will do a larger study comparing MOVE to other treatments that have addressed some of the problems already. The therapist will ask you if the sessions can be audio taped to ensure that the therapist is doing a helpful job for you. They will also ask if the session can be video taped so that the tapes can be used to train other therapists learning about MOVE. The choice to do either of these is voluntary and you can continue to participate in the study if you choose not to have the session be audio and/or video taped.You will be provided a University Release document to provide that permission if you so choose.

Family physicians are the primary health care providers for complex patients such as persons with serious mental illness. The psychiatric needs of these patients could take attention away from management of health problems and from usual health promotion services. For example, Schizophrenia is associated with a higher than normal incidence of diabetes, and first line treatments of Schizophrenia have also been found to increase risk for diabetes. As such, this high-risk group requires targeted diabetes strategies. In London Ontario, services are provided to this high risk mental health population primarily by two community agencies: The Western Ontario Therapeutic Community Hostel (WOTCH) and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA). Accordingly, the goal of this project is to assess how these patients are currently being managed by their family physicians and to pilot a community-based, multidisciplinary diabetes clinic model within this population. If this delivery model proves feasible and effective, family physicians could be assisted by existing community agencies in the management of their patients' diabetes and patients will receive improved access to this vital multidisciplinary team.

Background: - Eye tracking, the ability to focus on and follow a moving target with the eyes, is often difficult for people who have schizophrenia. Research has shown that first-degree relatives of people with schizophrenia, such as parents and siblings, also tend to have difficulty with smooth eye movement and eye tracking. Researchers are interested in using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study brain activity during eye tracking tests in order to better understand the effect that schizophrenia has on brain function. Objectives: - To study eye-tracking and eye-tracking impairments in people with and without schizophrenia. Eligibility: - Individuals between 18 and 62 years of age in one of three groups: (1) patients who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder, (2) first-degree relatives of patients in group 1, and (3) healthy volunteers with no family history of psychosis. Design: The study will involve two visits, one screening session and one testing session. Each session will take about 3 hours. Participants will be asked to avoid consuming alcohol and restrict consumption of caffeine before the start of the study. Participants will provide urine and breath samples to be tested for chemicals that may interfere with the study. Participants will visit the clinical center the morning of the day before the scanning session to provide blood and urine samples as required. Participants will return and be admitted for an overnight stay later that afternoon or evening. During the screening session, participants will provide a medical and psychological history, provide blood samples, and learn the eye movement tasks they will do during the scanning session. During the scanning session, participants will have an fMRI scan. During the scan, they will perform eye movement tasks that involve following moving light targets on a screen, and will also perform other tasks that test the ability to think and pay attention.