Browsing by Author "Therrien, François"

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    Improvement of functioning in patients with schizophrenia: real-world effectiveness of aripiprazole once-monthly (REACT study)
    (2023-05-31) Oluboka, Oloruntoba; Clerzius, Guerline; Janetzky, Wolfgang; Schöttle, Daniel; Therrien, François; Wiedemann, Klaus; Roy, Marc-André
    Abstract Background Functional impairment affects many patients with schizophrenia. Treatment with the long-acting injectable antipsychotic aripiprazole once-monthly (AOM) may help improve functioning. Objectives To explore changes in functioning in patients with schizophrenia who received AOM treatment in observational studies. Methods Here we report functional outcomes in the form of Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores in a pooled analysis of data from two observational studies from Canada (NCT02131415) and Germany (vfa non-interventional studies registry 15960N). Data from 396 patients were analyzed. Results At baseline, the mean GAF score was 47.7 (SD 13.4). During 6 months of treatment with AOM, the mean GAF score increased to 59.4 (SD 15.8). Subgroups stratified by patient age (≤35 years/>35 years), sex, disease duration (≤5 years/>5 years) and disease severity at baseline had all significantly improved their GAF at month 6. 51.5% of the patients showed a GAF score increase of at least 10 points, which was regarded as clinically meaningful, and were considered responders. Conclusions These data show that treatment with AOM may help improve patient functioning in a routine treatment setting. Trial registration NCT02131415 (May 6, 2014), vfa non-interventional studies registry 15960N.
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    Juvenile specimens of Prosaurolophus maximus (Hadrosauridae, Saurolophinae) from the marine Bearpaw Formation (upper Campanian, Upper Cretaceous) of southern Alberta, Canada reveal ontogenetic change in crest morphology
    (2019-01-25) Drysdale, Eamon Thomas; Zelenitsky, Darla K.; Therrien, François; Theodor, Jessica M.; Dutchak, Alexander
    Three juvenile specimens of Prosaurolophus maximus, represented by both articulated and disarticulated skeletal material, are the smallest known individuals for the taxon. Their cranial anatomy indicates that the diagnostic characters of P. maximus are ontogenetically variable. In the smallest specimen, the crest and deeply-excavated fossa at the caudal margin of the circumnarial depression are poorly-developed or absent. In the larger specimens, the crest approaches the morphology observed in subadult and adult specimens but lacks the robusticity and deep excavation of the circumnarial depression typical of P. maximus. In contrast, the shape of the caudal end of the circumnarial depression is ontogenetically consistent, potentially making it a reliable character for taxonomic identification. Histological sections from the three juvenile specimens and one large individual indicate that the minimum biological age of the known specimens of P. maximus ranges from two to five years. Given that the large P. maximus individual has yet to reach skeletal maturity, the species may reach a maximum body size larger than represented by currently known specimens, perhaps with a skull length approaching the size of Saurolophus angustirostris. The lack of positive allometric growth associated with the P. maximus crest, which undergoes isometric growth from age three onward, differs from that observed in lambeosaurine hadrosaurs suggesting that the crest may not have been the result of sexual selection. However, positive allometric growth of the circumnarial region and the rugosity of the bony crest suggests that soft tissue structures associated with the narial-crest region, rather than the bony crest itself, may have been selected for sexual display in P. maximus. The juvenile specimens were recovered from sediments of the Bearpaw Formation deposited during the Baculites compressus ammonite zone and magnetochrons 33n.3n to 33n.2n. They are stratigraphically younger than P. maximus specimens from the Dinosaur Park Formation, and contemporaneous to 100,000 years younger than specimens from the Two Medicine Formation, extending the taxon’s temporal range. The occurrence of P. maximus in the marine deposits of the Bearpaw Formation and well-drained upland terrestrial deposits of both the Dinosaur Park and Two Medicine formations suggests that this taxon inhabited various palaeoenvironments.
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    Long-term effectiveness of aripiprazole once monthly on functioning and quality of life in schizophrenia: results of year 2 of the ReLiAM study
    (2024-11-14) Roy, Marc-André; Therrien, François; Boucher, Matthieu; Oluboka, Oloruntoba
    Abstract Background Aripiprazole once-monthly (AOM) has proven effective in the treatment of schizophrenia, although little is known about its impact on global functioning and quality of life beyond 1 year. Here, we investigate the continued impact of AOM on the participants of the ReLiAM study during the second year of follow-up. Methods The participants who were evaluated at ≥ 1 time point during the second year of the ReLiAM study (months 15, 18, 21, and 24; year 1 completers) were assessed via the GAF scale. Secondary outcomes were reported on the SOFAS, CGI-S, and QLS. Results 109 (86%) completed at least 1 post-12-month visit and 33 (30.3%) patients completed the final assessment at month 24. The improvements observed in the year 1 completers in GAF total score were maintained through to year 2 completers. The improvements in CGI-S and SOFAS that were observed at the end of year 1 were also maintained through the end of the second year. Similar trends of sustained improvement in GAF total score, CGI-S score, and SOFAS were observed in the post-hoc analyses of the year 2 completers. Seventy-four percent (74.3%) of year 1 completers experienced mild treatment-emergent adverse events during the second year, the most frequently reported being weight gain, akathisia, and insomnia. Seventeen percent (17.4%) experienced serious adverse events. Similar findings regarding effectiveness and tolerability were reported in the year 1 completers and in year 2 completers. Conclusions These findings suggest that the favorable effectiveness, including tolerability observed during the first year following AOM initiation, are maintained and may even continue to improve during the second year of treatment. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02131415, first posted on May 6, 2014. Overall trial status: Terminated.
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    Nesting and Egg Incubation in Dinosaurs: Morphological and Statistical Investigations into the Study of Eggs, Eggshells, and Nests
    (2016) Tanaka, Kohei; Zelenitsky, Darla Karen; Brinkman, Donald; Anderson, Jason; Therrien, François; Dutchak, Alexander; Theodor, Jessica
    Archosaurs (e.g., crocodylians, dinosaurs, and birds) are the most diverse and successful terrestrial vertebrates. An understanding of the nesting strategies in both extinct (e.g., non-avian dinosaurs) and extant archosaurs (i.e., crocodylians and birds) is crucial for advancement of our knowledge on the evolution and diversification of this group. However, nesting methods and behaviors of non-avian dinosaurs are still poorly understood due to the limitations of the fossil record. In this dissertation, certain features of eggs and nests in dinosaurs (e.g., clutch size, egg mass, substrates of nests, water vapor conductance of eggs, and eggshell porosity) are compared with those of their closest living relatives (i.e., birds and crocodylians) and aspects of dinosaur nesting (i.e., nest type, incubation behavior, incubation heat source, and incubation period) are inferred and reconstructed. Findings in this dissertation suggest that nests and nesting styles among non-avian dinosaurs were diverse, and that bird-like traits were acquired throughout their evolution. Analyses of eggs and eggshell porosity indicate that more basal dinosaurs (i.e., ornithischians, sauropodomorphs, Lourinhanosaurus) completely covered their eggs with nest materials during incubation, although more derived forms (e.g., oviraptorosaurs, troodontids) used open nests, like modern birds, in which the eggs were not fully buried. The lithologies of the clutches of basal dinosaurs reveal their nests were probably incubated with external heat sources (e.g., microbial respiration, solar radiation), like those of modern crocodylians and megapode birds. Distribution and lithologies of some ornithischian and some sauropodomorph clutches show that heat from microbial respiration, in particular, was used for incubation, whereas other sauropodomorphs may have used inorganic heat sources, such as solar radiation. More derived dinosaurs (i.e., maniraptorans) had eggshell porosities and clutch lithologies that indicate their nests were partially open, indicating that these taxa brooded their eggs. Regardless of the type of nest, heat source, or incubation behavior, incubation period of most non-avian dinosaurs examined was relatively short, more comparable to that of birds than crocodylians. Major dinosaur (and archosaur) clades show diversity in their nesting and incubation, and also reveal a transition to more bird-like nesting features through evolution.
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