Effects of 10 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on clinical global impression in chronic schizophrenia.

UNLABELLED: We conducted a randomized, sham-controlled repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) study in chronic schizophrenia in-patients (n=35) to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of 10 Hz stimulation. Patients, who were on stable antipsychotic treatment, were randomly assigned to the active or sham condition. In the active rTMS group, ten sessions with a total of 10,000 stimuli were applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex at 110% of motor threshold. The sham group received corresponding sham stimulation. Clinical improvement was measured by the Clinical Global Impression scale (primary outcome measure), the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) and the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS; secondary outcome measures). Between-group comparisons revealed no significant differences in clinical outcome variables. Only a subgroup of patients with pronounced negative symptoms developed some clinical improvement as indicated by significant changes in the GAF-scale. Besides there is some evidence for a more favourable clinical outcome within this subgroup after rTMS in the CGI-S and PANSS negative scale, too. In line with earlier investigations, our results suggest a moderate - potentially clinically relevant - treatment effect of prefrontal 10 Hz rTMS stimulation in chronic patients. However, in our study this beneficial effect was restricted to subjects with pronounced negative symptoms. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION INFORMATION: ClinicalTrial.gov Identifier: NCT00169689, http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

[The incidence of pathological eating behaviour among schoolchildren in a large urban area]. / Zur Verbreitung pathologischen Essverhaltens unter Schülerinnen und Schülern einer Grossstadt.

Clinical experience and international epidemiological studies indicate an increase in pathological eating behaviour as well as a shift towards increasingly younger children. In order to study its frequency in Germany a large random sample, 2,844 pupils of the 10 th class level were contacted as part of a school medical examination to take part in a questionnaire study using the Eating Disorder Inventory. Age, gender, BMI and the type of school were also recorded. From the statistical description of healthy matching samples, gender-specific cut-off values were established and this methodical approach was discussed critically. Of the predominantly 15/16-year-old schoolchildren, 83 % took part in the study. Regardless of gender and type of school, more than 7% had an anorexic body weight and 10% of female and 2% of male pupils had bulimic eating behaviour.