Publications by authors named "Kerri A Pierz"

Background: Wellinks is a remote disease management solution that provides novel chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) care delivery.

Objective: This study evaluated the satisfaction, engagement, and clinical outcomes of Wellinks participants. This study also investigated the cadence of health coaching for patients with COPD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objectives: The University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) is commonly used to assess olfaction and screen for early detection of disorders including Parkinson (PD) and Alzheimer disease. Our objective was to develop updated percentiles, based on substantially larger samples than previous norms, to more finely discriminate age- and sex-specific UPSIT performance among ≥50-year-old adults who may be candidates for studies of prodromal neurodegenerative diseases.

Methods: The UPSIT was administered cross-sectionally to participants recruited between 2007-2010 and 2013-2015 for the Parkinson Associated Risk Syndrome (PARS) and Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) cohort studies, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are the mostly widely used treatment for major depressive disorders and also are prescribed for several anxiety disorders. However, similar to most antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors suffer from two major problems: They only show beneficial effects after 2 to 4 weeks and only about 33% of patients show remission to first-line treatment. Thus, there is a considerable need for development of more effective antidepressants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To review the mechanism of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)-mediated serotonergic neurotransmission, focusing on serotonin 1A (5-HT1A) autoreceptors, which are proposed to be involved in delaying therapeutic efficacy. Vilazodone was specifically designed to function both as an SSRI and a partial agonist at 5-HT1A receptors. This combined mechanism is proposed to decrease time to efficacy, minimize sexual side effects, and provide concomitant anxiolytic properties.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examined the effect of vilazodone, a combined serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitor and 5-HT(1A) receptor partial agonist, paroxetine and fluoxetine on the sensitivity of 5-HT(1A) autoreceptors of serotonergic dorsal raphe nucleus neurons in rats. These effects were assessed by determining the intravenous dose of (±)-8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)-tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) required to suppress the basal firing rate of these neurons by 50% (ID₅₀) in anesthetized rats using in vivo electrophysiology. 5-HT uptake inhibition was determined by the ability of the compounds to reverse (±)-p-chloroamphetamine (PCA)-induced rat hypothalamic 5-HT depletion ex vivo.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Clozapine is considered to be the most efficacious drug to treat schizophrenia, although it is underutilized, partially due to a side effect of agranulocytosis. This analysis of 74 candidate genes was designed to identify an association between sequence variants and clozapine-induced agranulocytosis (CIA).

Method: Blood and medical history were collected for 33 CIA cases and 54 clozapine-treated controls enrolled between April 2002 and December 2003.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF