The oral risperidone group had persistent symptoms or side effects. Patients had high scores in the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), even though they were considered stable. However, these patients

could not be considered refractory to antipsychotics. Subjects were switched to RLAI from their previous therapeutic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical medications as follows. Subjects were given an initial dose of RLAI 25 mg in addition to their previous therapeutic medications, and received gluteal injections at 2-week intervals, alternating the left and right sides. After 4 weeks, by which point the blood concentration had started to rise, the dosages of the subjects’ previous therapeutic medications were reduced so that the subjects received total dosages equivalent to the dosages of their previous therapeutic medications. After 6 weeks, the RLAI dosage was increased as necessary to optimize the dose, and all subjects were receiving RLAI monotherapy. It was therefore possible to investigate the intrinsic effect of cognitive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical function of RLAI. Following RLAI Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical optimal dose adjustment, wherever possible the dosages of any concomitant medications, including anti-Parkinson’s medications, were reduced. When switching subjects to RLAI, the antipsychotic equivalents calculation

table of Inagaki and Inada was used as a guideline for calculating antipsychotic equivalents [Inagaki and Inada, 2010], and the subjects’

daily dosages was calculated in terms of risperidone equivalents. Only patients who had provided voluntarily informed consent in writing to participate in this study upon receiving a full explanation of the purpose and method of the study were enrolled, while patient Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical confidentiality was afforded all due consideration, as were ethical considerations. Clinical and cognitive assessments The following clinical and cognitive assessments were performed both at baseline and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical at 24 weeks by the psychiatrist providing the actual therapy. There were no reliability tests for those who applied the PANSS and cognitive tests. However, assessor training was provided to ensure a certain degree of reliability. PANSS was used to investigate efficacy [Kay et al. 1987]. Cognitive function was assessed using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test: Keio Version (KWCST) [Kashima, 2002], and St heptaminol Marianna University School of Medicine’s Computerized Memory Test (STM-COMET) [Suzuki et al. 2011] as the executive function test and verbal memory function and attention function tests, respectively. The KWCST is the WCST [Heaton et al. 1993], which is the most widely used test of frontal lobe function, with several revisions made by Kashima [2002], the most significant of which are the reduction in the number of response cards from Milner’s 128 to 48, and the reorganization of the method used to give Etoposide instructions in two stages.