Antipsychotic News and Research

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Antipsychotics are medicines used to treat the symptoms of mental disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder (sometimes called manic-depressive illness), anxiety disorders, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Sometimes medications are used with other treatments such as psychotherapy.

Study compares aripiprazole and quetiapine for treatment of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a common cause of incapacity and is ranked as the third-most-disabling illness subsequent to dementia and quadriplegia.

15 Jul 2016

Scientists discover key cellular mechanism behind side-effects of antipsychotics

Since their development in the 1950s, antipsychotic drugs have been widely used to treat psychoses and neuropsychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. A debilitating side-effect of these drugs called parkinsonism limits their efficacy.

7 Jul 2016

Children in foster care still face quality challenges in antipsychotic medication use

Significant quality challenges persist in antipsychotic medication use for children in foster care and other Medicaid-insured children, according to a new Rutgers University-New Brunswick study published in Health Affairs.

8 Jun 2016

Video conference technology connects hospital specialists and nursing home staff to care for dementia patients

Nursing homes in the United States care for increasing numbers of people with dementia, yet many lack access to geriatric psychiatrists, behavioral neurologists and other specialists who may help manage symptoms associated with dementia, including behavioral issues.

7 Jun 2016

Taking vitamin D with quetiapine can help avoid new-onset diabetes risk

Atypical antipsychotics, though effective for treating disorders like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression, gives patients a heightened risk of developing new-onset diabetes.

3 Jun 2016

Majority youths with autism or intellectual disability receive antipsychotics, study finds

About one in ten youths treated with an antipsychotic are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability. Conversely, one in six youths diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder has been prescribed antipsychotics.

31 May 2016

Need for standardised guidelines to fight Alzheimer's disease

Some 47 million people worldwide suffer from some form of dementia. Scientists are working feverishly to find a cure for the most common form, Alzheimer's. At the Congress of the European Academy of Neurology in Copenhagen, Prof Gunhild Waldemar issued an appeal for researchers to work together and draw up standardised guidelines for early identification and treatment of the disease.

31 May 2016

Study finds gap in screening for lipid abnormalities among adults taking antipsychotic medications

Too few adults taking antipsychotic medications are being screened for abnormalities in lipids, which include cholesterol and triglycerides, new research from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus finds.

25 May 2016

Coprophagia linked to neurodegenerative dementia

Coprophagia, eating one's feces, is common in animals but rarely seen in humans. Mayo Clinic researchers reviewed the cases of a dozen adult patients diagnosed with coprophagia over the past 20 years and found that the behavior is associated with a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly neurodegenerative dementias.

20 May 2016

Antipsychotic drug users may twice as likely to experience heart attack than non-users

A review of nine observational studies found evidence supporting an increased risk of heart attacks in patients taking antipsychotic drugs.

17 May 2016

Drug-repositioning strategy could help combat Chikungunya virus

Since 2013, the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus has spread rapidly through South America and the Caribbean, and is now threatening Southern Europe and the southern US.

13 May 2016

Nuplazid (pimavanserin) tablets approved to treat hallucinations and delusions

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Nuplazid (pimavanserin) tablets, the first drug approved to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with psychosis experienced by some people with Parkinson's disease.

30 Apr 2016

Certain genetic markers linked with depression can also predict who may benefit from exercise

Call it personalized medicine for depression -- but the prescription in this case is exercise, which University of Florida Health researchers have found helps people with certain genetic traits.

28 Apr 2016

Existing non-antibiotic therapeutic drugs could help combat antibiotic-resistant pathogens

The rise of antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens is an increasingly global threat to public health. In the United States alone antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens kill thousands every year.

27 Apr 2016

Researchers examine effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs to prevent or treat delirium

In a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers examined whether or not antipsychotic drugs, which are sometimes used to prevent or treat delirium, are effective.

20 Apr 2016

Physical, mental training may improve health of young schizophrenia patients

In as little as a few months, antipsychotic medications can tame the delusions and hallucinations that characterize schizophrenia. But the medications do little to reverse the less familiar brain-based problems that accompany the illness.

7 Apr 2016

Clinical pharmacists in health care teams may improve quality, safety of patient care

Problems related to elderly patients' medical drug treatments are widespread and commonly result in hospital admissions for people with dementia. New research shows that including clinical pharmacists in health care teams might improve the quality and safety of patient care and halve the risk of drug-related hospital readmissions. This according to a dissertation at Umea University in Sweden.

6 Apr 2016

Janssen announces CHMP positive opinion for use of paliperidone palmitate 3-monthly injection for schizophrenia treatment

Janssen UK announced today that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has adopted a positive opinion recommending the use of paliperidone palmitate 3-monthly injection for the maintenance treatment of schizophrenia in the European Union.

4 Apr 2016

Lack of ARHGAP33 molecule causes neuropsychiatric disorders-related abnormal higher brain functions

A research group led by Osaka University and the University of Tokyo found that the intracellular protein trafficking is important for higher brain functions such as learning and memory. The research group showed that a molecule, ARHGAP33 regulates synaptic functions and behaviors via intracellular protein trafficking and that the lack of ARHGAP33 causes neuropsychiatric disorder-related impaired higher brain functions.

29 Mar 2016

Genetic syndrome may underlie some Parkinson's cases

Rare deletions at chromosome 22q11.2 are present at an increased rate in patients with Parkinson's disease, researchers report in The Lancet Neurology.

25 Mar 2016