R.J. Wyatt

Rationale for the study of early intervention

Consistent but relatively weak evidence exists that treating patients with schizophrenia early in the course of their illness can decrease long-term morbidity. Relatedly, it is possible that treating individuals even earlier might produce better results. The findings presented set the stage for early and even earlier formal intervention studies, where the potential benefits are thought to outweigh the potential risks.

Search for evidence of herpes simplex virus, type 1, or varicella-zoster virus infection in postmortem brain tissue from schizophrenic patients

The highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to search for herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV‐I) or varicella‐zoster virus (VZV) in the DNA extracted from postmortem temporal cortex samples of 8 schizophrenic subjects, 8 nonschizophrenic suicide victims and 8 normal controls. HSV‐I or VZV‐specific DNA amplification was not detected in any of the samples studied.

DMT—A possible relationship to schizophrenia

anxiety attacks, multiple somatic complaints.) Only two patients of the 43 originally considered to have primary affective disorder and followed up had an illness incompatible with the index diagnosis of primary affective disorder. To our knowledge this is the first prospective follow-up study over any considerable time period of patients diagnosed by explicit criteria for primary affective disorder. At the most conservative, diagnostic validity is demonstrated to be 86 per cent. At best, it is 95 per cent. This study offers evidence that the diagnosis of primary affective disorder, when carefully made by explicit criteria is stable over time.