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Samsung Unveils Industry's First Memory Module With New CXL Interconnect Standard | Business
By Jessie M. Curtis	 Last updated May 11, 2021
SEOUL, South Korea – (BUSINESS WIRE) – May 10, 2021 –
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, today unveiled the industry's first memory module that supports the new Compute Express Link (CXL) interconnect standard. Integrated with Samsung's Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5) technology, this CXL-based module will allow server systems to dramatically increase memory capacity and bandwidth, thereby accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) workloads and high performance computing (HPC) in data centers.
This press release contains multimedia. View the full version here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210510005792/en/
Industry's first DRAM memory solution that runs on the CXL interface (Photo: Business Wire).
The rise of AI and big data has fueled the trend towards heterogeneous computing, where multiple processors work in parallel to process huge volumes of data. CXL – an open, industry-supported interconnect based on the PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0 interface – enables high-speed, low-latency communication between the host processor and peripherals such as accelerators, memory buffers and intelligent I / O devices, while increasing memory capacity and bandwidth far beyond what is possible today. Samsung has been working with several data center, server, and chipset manufacturers to develop next-generation interface technology since the creation of the CXL consortium in 2019.
"This is the industry's first DRAM memory solution running on the CXL interface, which will play a critical role in delivering data-intensive applications including AI and machine learning in data centers. data as well as in cloud environments, "said Cheolmin Park, vice president. Chairman of the Memory Product Planning Team at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung will continue to raise the bar with innovation in memory interfaces and scaling of capacity to help our customers, and the industry as a whole, better manage real-time workload demands." larger, more complex, and critical to AI and data centers. of tomorrow. "
Dr. Debendra Das Sharma, Intel Fellow and Director of I / O Technology and Standards at Intel, said: "The data center architecture is evolving rapidly to support the growing demand and workloads for AI and ML, and CXL memory is expected to expand memory usage to a new level. We continue to work with industry companies such as Samsung to develop a robust memory ecosystem around CXL. "
Dan McNamara, senior vice president and general manager, Server Business Unit, AMD, added, "AMD is committed to driving the next generation of performance in cloud and enterprise computing. Memory research is a critical part of unlocking this performance, and we are excited to work with Samsung to provide advanced interconnect technology to our data center customers. "
Unlike conventional DDR memory, which has limited memory channels, Samsung's CXL compatible DDR5 module can scale memory capacity to the terabyte level, while dramatically reducing system latency caused by caching. Memory.
In addition to CXL hardware innovation, Samsung has incorporated several controller and software technologies such as memory mapping, interface conversion, and error handling, which will allow processors or GPUs to recognize memory based. on CXL and use it as main memory.
Samsung's new module has been successfully validated on Intel's next-generation server platforms, ushering in an era of high-bandwidth, low-latency CXL memory using the latest DDR5 standard. Samsung is also working with data center and cloud providers around the world to better meet the need for more memory capacity that will be critical in the management of big data applications, including in-memory database systems. .
As the DDR5-based CXL memory module is released, Samsung intends to become the industry leader in meeting the demand for next-generation high-performance computing technologies that rely on memory capacity and extensive bandwidth.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of televisions, smartphones, portable devices, tablets, digital devices, network systems and memory, LSI system, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com.
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KEYWORD: SOUTH KOREA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA ASIA PACIFIC CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGY MOBILE / WIRELESS SOFTWARE NETWORKS INTERNET HARDWARE
SOURCE: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Back to Journals » Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment » Volume 12
Long-term outcomes of antipsychotic treatment in patients with first-episode schizophrenia: a systematic review
Authors Karson C, Duffy RA, Eramo A, Nylander A, Offord S
Accepted for publication 23 November 2015
Published 6 January 2016 Volume 2016:12 Pages 57—67
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S96392
Peer reviewers approved by Prof. Dr. Roumen Kirov
Editor who approved publication: Dr Roger Pinder
Craig Karson,1 Ruth A Duffy,2 Anna Eramo,3 Anna-Greta Nylander,4 Steve J Offord5
1CNK Consultants, Delray Beach, FL, 2Medical Affairs – Neuroscience, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., Princeton, NJ, 3Medical Affairs & Phase IV Clinical Affairs, Lundbeck LLC, Deerfield, IL, USA; 4Medical Affairs Aripiprazole, H Lundbeck A/S, Valby, Denmark; 5Medical Affairs, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., Princeton, NJ, USA
Background: Treatment during first-episode psychosis (FEP) or early schizophrenia may affect the rates of relapse and remission, as well as cognitive functioning, over time. Prolonged duration of psychosis is associated with a poor prognosis, but the effects of treatment in patients with FEP or early schizophrenia on the long-term outcomes are not well defined.
Objective: To understand the long-term effects of treatment with antipsychotic agents on remission, relapse, and cognition in patients with FEP or early schizophrenia.
Methods: Using PubMed and Scopus databases, a systematic review was undertaken of articles published between January 1, 2000, and May 20, 2015, that reported randomized and nonrandomized prospective clinical trials on the long-term effects of oral or long-acting injectable antipsychotics on measures of relapse, remission, or cognition in patients with FEP or early schizophrenia. For comparative purposes, trials reporting the effects of later intervention with antipsychotics in patients with longer disease history were also evaluated. Titles, abstracts, and full-text articles were independently screened for eligibility by all the authors based on the predefined criteria.
Results: Nineteen studies met inclusion criteria: 13 reported long-term outcomes of relapse, remission, or cognition following antipsychotic treatment in patients with FEP and six reported on patients with a longer disease history. Antipsychotic treatment in patients with FEP produced high rates of remission in the year following treatment initiation, and untreated FEP reduced the odds of later achieving remission. Maintenance therapy was more effective than treatment discontinuation or intermittent/guided discontinuation in preventing relapse. Initiating antipsychotic treatment in patients with FEP also produced sustained cognitive improvement for up to 2 years. Antipsychotic therapy also reduced the risk or rate of relapse in patients with a longer disease history, with outcomes in one study favoring a long-acting injectable formulation over an oral antipsychotic.
Conclusion: Treatment of patients with FEP is associated with benefits in the long-term outcomes of remission, relapse, and cognition. More long-term studies of treatment in patients with FEP are needed to confirm these findings.
Keywords: cognition, first-episode psychosis, long-term outcome, relapse, remission, schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic illness associated with periods of relapse and remission and poor long-term outcomes.1 The period surrounding the first episode of psychosis represents a critical juncture in the natural course of the disease, particularly in young patients for whom symptoms and impaired functioning may be less well established.2,3 Untreated psychosis may have untoward effects on neurobiologic function, and lack of intervention in first-episode psychosis (FEP) or early schizophrenia may lead to prolonged times to remission later in the course of the disease, as well as reduced recovery and potential treatment resistance.2 At least 50% of patients with schizophrenia receiving either intermittent or continuous antipsychotic treatment experience occasions of unremitting hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, and negative symptoms >10 years after disease onset, and this can disrupt the development of interpersonal and occupational skills.2,4
A recently published systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrated that a long duration of untreated psychosis has small but statistically significant correlations with poor overall symptomatic outcome as well as more severe positive and negative symptoms, failure to achieve remission, impaired social functioning, and decreased global outcome (eg, combined clinical/social outcome or outcome on Global Assessment of Functioning scale).5 These results suggest that intervention in FEP or early schizophrenia may benefit long-term outcomes.
A number of recent systematic reviews and meta-analyses have evaluated the efficacy of antipsychotics in relapse prevention and in FEP or early schizophrenia.6–10 However, none have addressed the long-term impact of intervention in FEP or early schizophrenia on the key outcomes of remission, relapse, or cognition. Ventura et al11 demonstrated that the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale comprehension score, a measure of cognition, was a good predictor of functional outcome at 6 months following FEP in schizophrenia. This is consistent with prior studies associating cognition with functional outcome.12–14 We chose to focus on cognition because it is a pervasive aspect of schizophrenia; cognitive deficits may contribute to poor functional and social outcomes and diminished quality of life.15 Cognitive impairment may worsen with disease duration but may be amenable to long-term improvement accompanying control of psychopathology. Thus, it was of interest to assess whether evidence was available showing that starting antipsychotic treatment early in the disease course could improve or stabilize cognitive functioning. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the effect of treatment with oral and long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics on long-term outcomes in patients with FEP or early schizophrenia. For comparing and contrasting the differences when treatment is started later in the course of the disease, studies assessing long-term outcomes when treating patients with a longer disease history were also examined.
Search methodology
Systematic searches of the PubMed and Scopus databases were performed on May 20, 2014, and again on May 20, 2015, using the following search string: (schizophrenia OR psychosis) AND antipsychotic AND ("first episode" OR "first-episode" OR "new onset" OR "early schizophrenia" OR "early intervention" OR "long-term" OR "chronic schizophrenia" OR "chronic unstable schizophrenia") AND (cognition OR cognitive OR relapse OR remission OR recovery). The searches were limited to English language articles and the title/abstract (PubMed) or abstract (Scopus) fields; for Scopus, the source type was limited to journals. To avoid double counting of studies, meta-analyses identified during the search were not included in the analysis. All publications that did not include the search terms in the title or abstract were excluded from the review.
Study selection
All authors independently evaluated the articles for eligibility, beginning with the titles and proceeding sequentially to abstracts and full text. Studies of interest reported data from prospective randomized and nonrandomized clinical trials, evaluating the effect of an oral or LAI antipsychotic in patients with FEP or early schizophrenia with respect to long-term relapse, remission, and/or cognition. The references cited in studies that met inclusion/exclusion criteria were also reviewed for additional potentially eligible articles. For comparative purposes, studies of patients with longer disease history that met all other inclusion/exclusion criteria were included in the review.
By mutual author agreement, studies focused on study design, health economics, and outcomes research were excluded. Studies reporting cross-sectional, retrospective, or secondary analysis were also excluded. All publications that did not include measures of remission, relapse, or cognition as primary end points or were within primary publications were excluded. Other exclusion criteria included studies with a low number of patients (ie, n<50), duration ≤12 weeks, publication date before 2000, drug no longer used as an antipsychotic, polypharmacy or augmentation therapy, neural or biochemical outcomes, elderly patients, comorbid substance abuse, depression, and multiple treatment indications without separation of data reporting. The authors agreed that studies involving <50 patients would yield less robust data and conclusions than those with at least 50 patients. The year 2000 was chosen as a cutoff to keep the review timely because many treatment advances have been implemented since then, which have in turn affected the clinical practice. Disagreements among the authors were resolved by group discussion. Majority rule was applied to conflicting opinions to determine the eligibility. Statistical analysis of the data was not performed.
Search results: study characteristics
Study identification, screening, and eligibility are summarized in Figure 1. Database searching yielded 785 unique references; 511 references were excluded after title screening and 179 were excluded after abstract screening. The remaining 95 articles were subjected to full-text review, during which another seven potential articles were identified and subsequently reviewed for inclusion. Of the 102 articles reviewed in full, 83 were excluded, leaving 19 articles: 13 included analysis of long-term outcomes of remission or relapse16–20 (Table 1) or cognition21–27 (Table 2) in patients with FEP and six reported on patients with a longer disease history28–33 (Table 3).
Figure 1 Flow diagram of article selection.
Note: aAdditional full-text articles (n=7) were identified from the references cited in studies that met inclusion/exclusion criteria and were also assessed for eligibility.
Abbreviation: HEOR, health economics and outcomes research.
Table 1 Remission and relapse in long-term treatment studies of FEP
Notes: aPatients had schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophreniform disorders. bUnivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze potential predictors of relapse. Relative risk was calculated as the ratio between the outcome (relapse) rate in the population exposed to the risk factor (placebo) divided by the outcome rate in the population not exposed to the risk factor (maintenance quetiapine).
Abbreviations: DB, double blind; FEP, first-episode psychosis; HR, hazard ratio; OL, open-label; LAI, long-acting injectable; R, randomized.
Table 2 Cognitive improvement in long-term treatment studies of FEP
Note: aPatients had schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophreniform disorders.
Abbreviations: CATIE, Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness; DB, double blind; FEP, first-episode psychosis; LAI, long-acting injectable; NS, not statistically significant difference between groups; OL, open-label; R, randomized.
Table 3 Relapse and cognitive improvement in studies of patients with longer disease history
Note: aPatients had schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; DB, double blind; ER, emergency room; LAI, long-acting injectable; OL, open-label; R, randomized; NS, not statistically significant; RBANS, Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status; RR, relative risk.
Among the studies including patients defined as having FEP, the patient populations varied broadly with respect to disease duration and prior antipsychotic exposure. Disease duration ranged from 1 month to 5 years. One study did not report disease duration or did not include adequate data to determine the disease duration.16 Duration of prior antipsychotic exposure ranged from none (treatment naïve) to a median of 21 months; when excluding the study of patients with remitted FEP,16 the maximum duration of exposure was ≤16 weeks. There were two studies that did not report duration of prior antipsychotic exposure,17,20 however, in one of the studies, the authors noted that 54% of the patients were treatment naïve at baseline.17 Of note, in one study, patients were not required to have FEP but had to be in the early phase of schizophrenia, defined as ≤5 years since their first exposure to neuroleptic treatment; the mean disease duration ranged from 2.45 years to 2.79 years among treatment groups.27 This particular study was included in the analysis of early schizophrenia because the authors specifically identified the patients as "in the early phase of schizophrenia," although it is possible that the patient population overlapped with those in the comparative, later phase studies.
For comparative purposes, there were six studies of patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and a longer disease history that met the inclusion criteria (Table 3).28–33 Disease durations ranged from 10 years to 17 years.28–30,32,33 One study did not report disease duration and did not include adequate data to determine the disease duration; however, patients were required to have diagnoses of schizophrenia ≥2 years prior to study entry as part of the study's inclusion criteria.31 Most of the studies in patients with longer disease history included clinically stable patients with residual symptoms;28,29,31–33 one study included patients who were currently experiencing a relapse.30 Relapse (risk, time to, or rate of) was reported as a primary outcome in five studies;28–32 and cognitive function was reported as a primary outcome in one study.33 Definitions of relapse were based on criteria that included psychiatric hospitalization, increased level of psychiatric care, predefined absolute or percentage increase on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total score, predefined increases on individual PANSS items, predefined decreases on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) – Improvement score of ≥5 (minimally worse), deliberate self-injury, clinically significant suicidal or homicidal ideation, violent behavior (ie, injuring someone or significant property damage), or an adverse event of worsening schizophrenia.
Remission and relapse
Remission as an outcome was examined in two FEP studies that met the inclusion criteria for this review (Table 1): a randomized, double-blind study that evaluated the onset and duration of remission in 160 treatment naïve patients with FEP after 1 year of treatment with clozapine or chlorpromazine18 and a single-arm, 2-year, open-label study that evaluated remission, time to remission, and maintenance of remission in 50 patients (54% treatment naïve) treated with risperidone LAI.17 Patients in the double-blind study18 had scored ≥4 (moderate severity) on one or more of the five psychosis items on the BPRS at the time of screening. The primary end point, time to first remission, was defined as meeting the following criteria: ≥50% reduction from baseline in the BPRS total score, no score >3 (mild) on the five BPRS psychosis items, and a CGI-severity score ≤3 (mildly ill); in this study, remission did not require that these criteria be met for a specified minimal duration. A high degree of treatment responsiveness was reported for both drugs at study end point, with no differences in the rates of achieving remission before discontinuing or completing the 52-week study (clozapine, 81%; chlorpromazine, 79%). However, time to remission was more rapid (hazard ratio [HR], 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18–2.44; P=0.005) and time spent in remission was longer (odds ratio [OR], 1.73; 95% CI, 1.20–2.50; P=0.003) with clozapine compared with chlorpromazine treatment. The median time to first remission was 8 weeks with clozapine versus 12 weeks with chlorpromazine, χ2(1) =5.56, P=0.02. Logistic regression modeling demonstrated that for every year of untreated psychosis, the odds of achieving remission decreased by 15% (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.75–0.95; P=0.006).18 The open-label risperidone LAI study used the Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group criteria of remission that require maintaining mild or lower levels (≤3) on eight key PANSS items for ≥6 months.17 The median time to remission was 301 days; 64% of patients achieved remission during the study and 62% maintained remission throughout the study.
Data on relapse prevention in patients with FEP were also scarce. Three articles evaluating relapse met the inclusion criteria for this review: two studies examined relapse rates and one study evaluated the risk of relapse and relapse rate (Table 1).16,19,20 Definitions of relapse were based on the criteria that included meeting predefined scores on PANSS items;20 meeting predefined scores on PANSS items and CGI-severity and improvement scores;16 or meeting predefined increases on PANSS total scores, CGI changes of "much worse" or "very much worse," and adverse events of deliberate self-injury, clinically significant suicidal or homicidal ideation, or violent behavior (ie, injuring someone or significant property damage).19
The time course of relapse was examined in a study of 555 patients with FEP who were randomized to receive treatment with haloperidol or risperidone and were followed for up to 4 years.19 In this cohort, the median time to relapse was 205 days in patients treated with haloperidol and 466 days in patients treated with risperidone (P=0.008); the overall relapse rates were 55% and 42%, respectively, in 400 of the patients who initially achieved clinical improvement.
Maintenance treatment in patients with FEP has also been compared with planned discontinuation. Maintenance treatment with antipsychotic agents for up to 1 year prevents relapse in patients with stable, remitted FEP and is more effective than the strategy of treatment discontinuation (Table 1). In the study reported by Chen et al, 178 patients with FEP who had completed ≥1 year of antipsychotic drug treatment with no relapses were randomized to 1 year of maintenance therapy with quetiapine or had a supervised treatment discontinuation (matched placebo).16 At baseline, patients had no psychotic symptoms for ≥8 weeks and had been treated with antipsychotics for a mean of 618 days. Univariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the potential predictors of relapse, and relative risk (RR) was calculated as the ratio between the outcome (relapse) rate in the population exposed to the risk factor (placebo) divided by the outcome rate in the population not exposed to the risk factor (maintenance quetiapine). Risk of relapse at 12 months was 41% for patients receiving maintenance therapy (95% CI, 29%–53%) and 79% for patients undergoing treatment discontinuation (95% CI, 68%–90%; P<0.001).
In a study reported by Wunderink et al, 131 stabilized patients with FEP with antipsychotic therapy for 6 months were randomly assigned to receive maintenance therapy or to undergo guided discontinuation (symptom-guided tapering).20 After 18 months follow-up, the relapse rates were 21% for patients receiving maintenance therapy and 43% among patients assigned to guided discontinuation (HR, 2.3; P=0.011).
Five studies met our search criteria for studies that reported relapse and/or remission in patients with chronic schizophrenia: one placebo-controlled trial, three studies comparing second-generation antipsychotic (SGA) and first-generation antipsychotic (FGA), and one study comparing an LAI with an oral SGA (Table 3).28–32 A 26-week, randomized, controlled trial in patients with chronic (≥2 years), stable (no significant improvement or worsening ≤3 months prior to study entry) schizophrenia reported significantly higher estimated Kaplan–Meier survival rates at week 26 with oral aripiprazole compared with placebo (relapse rate, 62.6% vs 39.4%, respectively; P<0.001; RR, 0.50, 95% CI, 0.35–0.71). The median time to relapse and 95% CIs were not estimable because <50% of patients in the aripiprazole treatment group relapsed.31 In one study of patients with chronic schizophrenia (mean age at onset, ~25 years; mean age at study entry, ~37 years) who were experiencing an acute relapse, high and comparable response rates were observed with the SGA aripiprazole (72%) and the FGA haloperidol (69%) (P=0.362).30 The relapse rates were also comparable between the SGA risperidone (13.9%) and FGA flupentixol (18.1%) in a randomized, double-blind study in patients with chronic schizophrenia (mean time since diagnosis, ~11 years) with predominantly negative symptoms.32 In another study, in which patients had a mean illness duration of >10 years, the Kaplan–Meier estimated risk of relapse at 1 year was significantly lower with risperidone (34%) compared with haloperidol (60%) (P<0.001).28 Switching to a second-generation LAI formulation was shown to provide further benefit in a 2-year, randomized clinical trial in patients with a mean (±standard deviation) time since diagnosis of 9.9 (±9.9) to 10.0 (±10.1) years. In that study, the RR of relapse in patients who switched to risperidone LAI was less than half for those who switched to oral quetiapine from other oral antipsychotics (HR, 0.46; 97% CI, 0.32–0.67).29
In summary, two studies reported remission as a primary outcome in patients with FEP: a double-blind, randomized, 1-year trial in which a similar proportion of patients achieved remission but achieved it earlier and sustained it longer with clozapine versus chlorpromazine18 and an open-label, 2-year, single-arm study with risperidone LAI in which almost two-thirds of patients achieved remission and remained in remission through the end of the study.17 Another three studies16,19,20 assessed relapse rate, timing of relapse, or the risk of relapse in patients with FEP. In one of these studies, relapse rates were lower and median time to relapse was longer for risperidone versus haloperidol.19 In two studies assessing discontinuation versus maintenance treatment in patients in remission after FEP, maintenance treatment halved the risk of relapse versus placebo (discontinuation)16 and halved relapse rates versus guided discontinuation.20
Neurocognitive deficits are an established clinical dimension associated with both early and chronic schizophrenia.15 Treatment with atypical antipsychotic agents has been shown to reduce long-standing cognitive deficits in some patients with chronic, treatment-resistant schizophrenia; however, improvements are modest, although statistically significant.34,35
Durable cognitive benefits from atypical antipsychotics have been observed in patients with FEP following treatment ranging from 6 months to 2 years (Table 2). Cognition was examined as a primary outcome in seven articles that met the inclusion criteria.21,23–27 Primary end points included changes in individual tests or composite scores derived from cognitive tests across multiple domains (eg, verbal memory, visual memory, executive functioning, working memory, speed of processing, and attention). All but one of the studies included one or more motor speed/coordination tests in the composite score.23–25,27
Four of the seven studies that examined cognitive functioning included comparisons of FGAs with SGAs,21,23,24,27 and all but one of the studies27 reported comparable improvements in cognitive assessments between the FGA and SGA treatment groups. In three of the four studies that assessed multiple SGAs, comparisons between SGAs revealed no within-group differences.21,23,25 The one study that found between-group differences in cognitive functioning with SGAs versus FGAs was conducted in patients with early phase schizophrenia, where significant improvements from baseline at 54 weeks on a composite score of cognitive functioning were observed with olanzapine and risperidone but not with haloperidol.27 However, in alternate analyses using a repeated-measures model, results for risperidone were no longer statistically significant in patients who completed the study. Between-group comparisons revealed significantly greater improvement in the composite score with olanzapine compared with haloperidol and risperidone, but no significant difference between haloperidol and risperidone. In general, poor baseline performance on neuropsychologic tests predicted greater cognitive improvement.22,23
There was one study of patients with chronic schizophrenia that included measures of cognition and that met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. This open-label, 28-week, randomized, controlled pilot study examined the impact of dose reduction on cognitive function in stable patients with schizophrenia who were treated for ≥3 months with oral risperidone (>2 mg/d) or oral olanzapine (>5 mg/d).33 Patients were randomized to 50% dose reduction (or one-third dose reduction, if needed to remain within the lower limit of the recommended dose range) or treatment at their usual dose (standard treatment) and assessed for cognitive function with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) total score. Compared with the standard treatment, the reduced dose significantly improved patients' cognitive function at 28 weeks, and exploratory analyses revealed that the difference between the two groups in the RBANS total score was driven by improvements in immediate memory and language scores.
Treatment of early schizophrenia results in favorable long-term outcomes. Treatment with atypical antipsychotics may result in a faster and more sustained remission compared with FGAs.18 In general, treatment in patients with FEP has a markedly positive effect on the likelihood of remission18 and risk16 or rate20 of relapse. Although the effect is associated with both oral and LAI antipsychotics, one study reported a rate of remission sustained for ≥6 months with LAIs that compared favorably relative to that reported in FEP treated with oral antipsychotics.17 Patients with a longer duration of schizophrenia (ie, chronic schizophrenia) also demonstrated reduced risk of relapse with antipsychotic therapy versus placebo in one study included in our review,31 and in another study, a second-generation LAI conferred greater protection from relapse than an oral FGA.29 Regardless, given the reduced likelihood of remission with longer duration of untreated psychosis,18 earlier intervention may be best for achieving treatment goals over the long term.
Long-term relapse prevention is an important goal of schizophrenia treatment.7 Given the chronic course of schizophrenia, the typical early age at onset, and the adverse events associated with antipsychotic treatment,36 it would seem rational to attempt trials of drug discontinuation over the course of the disease. However, the results of two studies of treatment discontinuation or intermittent/guided discontinuation identified in this systematic review demonstrate that uninterrupted maintenance therapy for up to 2 years is a significantly more effective option for preventing relapses in patients with FEP.16,20 These findings are in concordance with the observation that, in patients with recent-onset schizophrenia who underwent supervised discontinuation of antipsychotic treatment, exacerbation or relapse of schizophrenia occurs in 78% of patients in the first year and 96% of patients by the second year.37 Nonadherence with antipsychotic medication may also contribute to poor long-term outcome in patients with FEP.38 The results from a nationwide cohort study in Finland show poor antipsychotic treatment adherence in FEP and a significantly lower risk of rehospitalization associated with LAI versus oral formulations.38 Early treatment and patient discharge with LAI antipsychotics versus oral formulations may improve outcomes in patients with FEP.
Improvements in cognitive impairment are another key target in the treatment of schizophrenia.36 There is substantial evidence that impaired cognition is present in many patients with FEP.39–41 Treatment of FEP does confer cognitive benefits, with relatively modest effects observed from 6 months23 to 2 years.24 Practice effect may account for some of the observed gains. Crespo-Facorro et al reported that most changes in cognitive score were similar to those attributed to practice effects observed in healthy controls, but in some cognitive variables, the performance gains in patients exceeded those in controls.21 In a study that included patient-matched healthy volunteers, improvements observed in controls were of a smaller magnitude than those in the patients.26 Cuesta et al, who did not include a control group in the study design, noted that cognitive improvements were observed not only in tests prone to familiarity and procedural learning but also across the spectrum.22 Practice effect cannot be completely excluded from interpretation of neurocognitive tests; however, it is reasonable to conclude that at least part of the reported cognitive improvement is related to the antipsychotic intervention, especially in studies with long elapsed time between testing.23
Although antipsychotics improve patients' neurocognitive function, the deficit is still notable compared with healthy controls.21,24,26 The magnitude of improvement in neurocognitive test performance appears to be greater in antipsychotic naïve patients relative to those exposed to antipsychotics prior to baseline assessment24,25 and also in patients with more severe baseline cognitive deficits compared with those having less severe dysfunction.22,23 Patients previously treated with antipsychotics may have a reduced neurocognitive response to further treatment as suggested by results demonstrating that initial cognitive improvements at early time points are not followed by additional gains at later time points.25,26 Although such a possibility is not addressed by the studies in our review, identifying patients who may develop schizophrenia through genotyping42,43 or other means44 may provide an opportunity to intervene before cognitive deficits become pronounced or irreversible.
How long-term cognitive improvements associated with FGA or SGA antipsychotics may differ between patients with recent-onset schizophrenia and patients with a longer course of disease remains unknown, although there is evidence that cognitive performance of patients with schizophrenia may be negatively affected by high dosing of antipsychotics.45 It is noteworthy that cognitive function, processing speed in particular, improved in patients with chronic schizophrenia when their doses of atypical antipsychotics were reduced to the lower limit of currently recommended doses.33 However, this finding requires confirmation in a larger and longer double-blind study, and its results preclude generalization, especially to FEP, because of the particular characteristics of the study population. The study population comprised clinically stable patients with a long history of the illness and without significant positive symptoms; such patients may be at a relatively low risk of relapse when treated with reduced doses of antipsychotics.
The objective of our systematic review, to determine the impact of early intervention (ie, in FEP or early schizophrenia) on long-term outcomes of remission, relapse, and cognitive functioning, was clearly defined and entailed careful selection of manuscripts that met the objective. However, the meticulous criteria also narrowed our search to a selected number of journal articles that may not represent all studies in patients with FEP and thus may limit the generalizability of our findings. The small number of articles meeting our criteria emphasizes the need for additional rigorous studies designed to assess long-term outcomes in patients with FEP in schizophrenia. We included studies for which the primary outcome was assessed after 6 months, although a longer time frame would likely provide a stronger indication of long-term outcomes. Moreover, within the FEP studies, the specific patient inclusion criteria were highly variable, indicating a lack of uniformity in the terminology that could also affect the generalizability of the conclusions. It should also be noted that, overall, among the studies, there was a high degree of heterogeneity in the patients' characteristics, and treatment effects may have been influenced by factors such as the disease severity or genetic variation.46 To provide context for the results in patients with FEP, we assessed similar studies in patients with chronic symptomatic schizophrenia. It is notable that there were no studies identified in our search that directly compared outcomes in patients with FEP and those with a longer history of symptomatic schizophrenia; such studies would provide the opportunity to draw conclusions about the potential differences between early and later treatments.
Antipsychotic treatment of patients with FEP appears to confer long-term benefit with regard to maintenance of remission, prevention of relapse, and improvement in cognitive deficits. Delaying treatment may reduce the odds of achieving remission. Primary analyses of long-term outcomes with treatment of FEP are needed to inform clinical decision making during this important period in the course of schizophrenia.
This research was supported by Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., and H Lundbeck A/S. Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., and H Lundbeck A/S also funded editorial support for the preparation of this manuscript, provided by C4 Med Solutions LLC (Yardley, PA), a CHC Group company.
Craig Karson is a paid consultant for Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. Ruth A. Duffy and Steve J Offord are employees of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. Anna-Greta Nylander is an employee of H Lundbeck A/S. Anna Eramo is an employee of Lundbeck LLC. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.
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Sheitman BB, Lieberman JA. The natural history and pathophysiology of treatment resistant schizophrenia. J Psychiatr Res. 1998;32(3–4):143–150.
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Leeson VC, Barnes TR, Hutton SB, et al. IQ as a predictor of functional outcome in schizophrenia: a longitudinal, four-year study of first-episode psychosis. Schizophr Res. 2009;107(1):55–60.
Robinson DG, Woerner MG, McMeniman M, et al. Symptomatic and functional recovery from a first episode of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Am J Psychiatry. 2004;161(3):473–479.
Keefe SE, Harvey PD. Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. In: Geyer MA, Gross G, editors. Novel Antischizophrenia Treatments, Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology 2013. Heidelberg: Springer Verlag; 2012:11–39.
Chen EY, Hui CL, Lam MM, et al. Maintenance treatment with quetiapine versus discontinuation after one year of treatment in patients with remitted first episode psychosis: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2010;341:c4024.
Emsley R, Oosthuizen P, Koen L, et al. Remission in patients with first-episode schizophrenia receiving assured antipsychotic medication: a study with risperidone long-acting injection. Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 2008;23(6):325–331.
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Schooler N, Rabinowitz J, Davidson M, et al. Risperidone and haloperidol in first-episode psychosis: a long-term randomized trial. Am J Psychiatry. 2005;162(5):947–953.
Wunderink L, Nienhuis FJ, Sytema S, et al. Guided discontinuation versus maintenance treatment in remitted first-episode psychosis: relapse rates and functional outcome. J Clin Psychiatry. 2007;68(5):654–661.
Crespo-Facorro B, Rodriguez-Sanchez JM, Perez-Iglesias R, et al. Neurocognitive effectiveness of haloperidol, risperidone, and olanzapine in first-episode psychosis: a randomized, controlled 1-year follow-up comparison. J Clin Psychiatry. 2009;70(5):717–729.
Cuesta MJ, Jalon EG, Campos MS, et al. Cognitive effectiveness of olanzapine and risperidone in first-episode psychosis. Br J Psychiatry. 2009;194(5):439–445.
Davidson M, Galderisi S, Weiser M, et al. Cognitive effects of antipsychotic drugs in first-episode schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder: a randomized, open-label clinical trial (EUFEST). Am J Psychiatry. 2009;166(6):675–682.
Keefe RS, Seidman LJ, Christensen BK, et al. Long-term neurocognitive effects of olanzapine or low-dose haloperidol in first-episode psychosis. Biol Psychiatry. 2006;59(2):97–105.
Keefe RS, Sweeney JA, Gu H, et al. Effects of olanzapine, quetiapine, and risperidone on neurocognitive function in early psychosis: a randomized, double-blind 52-week comparison. Am J Psychiatry. 2007;164(7):1061–1071.
Olivier MR, Killian S, Chiliza B, et al. Cognitive performance during the first year of treatment in first-episode schizophrenia: a case-control study. Psychol Med. 2015;45(13):2873–2883.
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Csernansky JG, Mahmoud R, Brenner R, et al. A comparison of risperidone and haloperidol for the prevention of relapse in patients with schizophrenia. N Engl J Med. 2002;346(1):16–22.
Gaebel W, Schreiner A, Bergmans P, et al. Relapse prevention in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder with risperidone long-acting injectable vs quetiapine: results of a long-term, open-label, randomized clinical trial. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010;35(12):2367–2377.
Kasper S, Lerman MN, McQuade RD, et al. Efficacy and safety of aripiprazole vs haloperidol for long-term maintenance treatment following acute relapse of schizophrenia. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2003;6(4):325–337.
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IFFL Events
Absences and (Im)possibilities. Traces of an experimental cinema in Ireland
Plus Q&A with project coordinator Aoife Desmond from the Experimental Irish Film Club, Soracha Pelan Ó Treasaigh from the IFI, and a representative from LUX
Venue: Picturehouse Hackney, E8 1HE
2014 / 93 Mins / Curated by LUX & IFI / (15)
This series of experimental Irish films, curated by the Experimental Film Club, commissioned by Irish Film Institute International and featuring a selection of films from 1897 to 2013, chosen for their relation to the possibility of an Irish experimental cinema. This touring programme, in partnership with LUX, presents a selection of films from the full programme. Filmmakers include the Lumiére brothers, Samuel Beckett, Vivienne Dick, Maximillian Le Cain, Dónal Ó Céilleachair and Jesse Jones.
IFI International provides Irish film programming services for over 100 cultural exhibitors in more than 40 countries annually. Drawing on the collections of the IFI Irish Film Archive and liaising with Irish film directors, producers and distributors, IFI International works to strategically develop a global audience for Irish film culture. Irish film programmes are presented in contexts which enhance understanding of Irish cinema and which provide new routes for audiences who may be unfamiliar with Irish culture.
LUX is an international arts agency for the support and promotion of artists' moving image practice and the ideas that surround it. LUX exists to provide access to, and develop audiences for, artists' moving image work; to provide professional development support for artists working with the moving image; and to contribute to and develop discourse around practice.
UK Premiere of 'Broken Song' plus Q&A with Director Claire Dix
Venue: Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn, NW6
2014 / 70 Mins / Dir: Claire Dix / (15)
Featuring: Willa Lee, James Costello, GI, Dean Scurry
GI, Costello and Willa Lee are street poets, hip-hop artists and songwriters from north Dublin. For these young men self-expression in the form of poetry, rap and song has become a spiritual experience. Their aim is simply to articulate the chaos that surrounds them and to fight it with their words and voices alone. Along the way it has become their identity, their religion and, as they claim themselves, they are its high priests.
Broken Song is a documentary film about music, redemption and the struggle to find and articulate meaning in an often chaotic world.
In the end, the place where they live and their words are one and the same, constantly in flux, full of darkness and light. It is proof that these suburbs – that have bred darkness, murder and hate – have also inspired poetry and these unlikely artists are using words alone to fight back.
Broken Song premiered at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival in 2013 where it won the Audience Award and the Dublin Critics Circle 'Discovery' Award.
'Broken Song' will be accompanied by a fantastic Irish Short Film: 'Doghouse'
2013 / 17 mins / Dir: Morgan Bushe
Cast includes: Peter Coonan, Lorcan Melia, Deirdre Mullins
The difficulties of being an estranged father overwhelm Doug (Peter Coonan) in this short
drama. Low on cash and hunted for unpaid debts, Doug is given the irreconcilable tasks of babysitting his young son whilst getting rid of family pet Mr. Dog. With Doug assailed by both his own failings and the relentless negativity surrounding recessionary Ireland Doghouse creates a sometimes comic portrayal of a luckless man.


Nick Jonas has got all the attention from the fans worldwide, thanks to his engagement with our desi girl Priyanka Chopra! The two have been giving the fans serious #couplegoals. Now when there is social media involved, there has to be debate ! After all, it's 2018 and everyone has a right to opine! Nick and PeeCee fell prey to this several times. First, they got trolled for their age gap, their different cultures and now it's Nick alone who is facing criticism. This time for his moustache!
Also Read | Ganesh Chaturthi 2018 Song Of The Day: Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone's Magnificent Presence Makes This 'Aarti' Really Striking!
The 25-year-old American singer has been the ultimate Disney crush for many out there. His dapper look made him look all the way more desirable. However, he was recently spotted sporting a thin moustache and Twitterati is already judging him and asking him to get rid of it ASAP!
Check Out Nick and PeeCee's recent outing!
And of course the reaction!
Meanwhile, Priyanka and Nick are reported to get married in Los Angeles in the month of November. There is obviously no particular confirmation on the news yet but the fans are already rooting for it. Karan Johar Just Made a Comment About Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas' 10-year Age Gap and You Simply Cannot Afford to Miss It.
In a recent interview, the 36-year-old Bollywood diva spilt the beans on her future plans. She revealed that she will be soon starting with her own show with celeb guests on it. She will also be seen in Shonali Bose directed The Sky is Pink. Coming back to the singing sensation's new look, tell us your opinion on it in the comments section below.


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The Little Rock Audubon Center has been years in the making. Read on to learn more!
Photo: Ellen Fennell
History & Major Donors
In November of 2008, Audubon broke ground on a construction project to renovate the old Granite Mountain community center to serve as the Audubon state headquarters and as a nature education center. Besides the state offices, the building boasts a community room that will seat 100+ people and a science and technology lab. The Audubon Center is adjacent to a 400 acre park that is used for recreation and field science studies.
The City of Little Rock leased Audubon the center and grounds for 99 years for a nominal sum in exchange for Audubon establishing and operating the Audubon Center on site. The city's contribution is approximately a half million dollars. Audubon in turn raised approximately $1.4 million to renovate the center. Audubon is grateful to major donors to the center.
Major donors include:
$500,000 and above:
Winthrop Rockefeller Charitable Trust
City of Little Rock
Federal Appropriation
J.A Riggs Benevolent Fund
$50,000 and above:
Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable and Educational Fund
Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, LLP
Joyce and Ted Boswell
$5,000 and above:
Marilynn and Rob Porter
Millie and Don Nelms
4500 Springer Blvd.
Email | About Us
Donate to Audubon
Help secure the future for birds at risk from climate change, habitat loss and other threats. Your support will power our science, education, advocacy and on-the-ground conservation efforts.


Installation view of the exhibition, "Cindy Sherman: The Complete Untitled Film Stills"
June 24, 1997–September 2, 1997. Photographic Archive. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York. IN1777.1. Photograph by Thomas Griesel.


Travis Scott had a real trippy performance.
Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner were putting on some PDA at game 7.
2 Chainz drops a video for "4 AM," his Travis Scott collab from the Pretty Girls Like Trap Music album.


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David Strangway Full Tuition Scholarships at Quest University in Canada, 2018
Quest University Canada
David Strangway Full Tuition Scholarships at Quest University in Canada, 2018 is open for International Students . The scholarship allows Undergraduate level programm(s) in the field of All Subjects taught at Quest University Canada . The deadline of the scholarship is .
Scholarship Description: Quest University Canada is inviting applications for David Strangway Award for Excellence. The award provides full tuition for four years.
The goal of the award is to grant access to Quest's unique education to outstanding students regardless of their background, country of origin, or ability to pay.
About University: Quest University Canada is a private secular non-profit liberal arts and sciences university in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. The university opened in September 2007 with an enrollment of 74 students; its current enrollment is 700.
Degree Level: Scholarships are available for pursuing the undergraduate programme.
Available Subject: Scholarships are awarded to study the subjects offered by the university.
Scholarship Benefits: The award provides full tuition for four years.
Number of Scholarships: Up to six full-tuition awards are offered each year.
Eligibility: The recipients of this award will have achieved very high levels of academic excellence combined with an outstanding record of leadership and service. Students with a high school average above 90% (3.75 US or equivalent) are encouraged to apply.
Eligible Nationalities: Citizens of all nationalities are eligible to apply.
Application Procedure: Please complete this application form and submit it to admissions-at-questu.ca before March 1. In addition to this application form, a fully completed Admissions Application, including an interview with your Admissions Counsellor, is required prior to March 1. A resume of achievements and recommendation letters are not required, but are strongly encouraged.
Deadline: The application deadline is March 1, 2018.
David Strangway Full Tuition Scholarships at Quest University in Canada, 2018 is available to undertake Undergraduate level programs at Quest University Canada.
Graduate School of Science at University of Tokyo in Japan, 2018
Squamish Scholarships
Quest University Canada Scholarships


Land Rover font here refers to the font used in the logo of Land Rover, which is a British automaker founded in 1978. It is one of the oldest four-wheel-drive car brand in the world, just after Jeep.
The Land Rover logo is a green oval with beige letters on it that reads "Land Rover". It is said that the logo was inspired by a pilchard tin, which left a mark on the designer's drawing board. The font used in the Land Rover logo is very similar to a font called Gill Sans Bold Italic, which is a commercial font designed by Eric Gill around 1930. The font is available for download and purchase here.
In addition to Land Rover, Gill Sans typeface is also used in the following logos, movie posters or album covers etc., including: Comedy Network, Harry's Law, Great Clips Logo, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Tokyo Stock Exchange, The King's Speech, Save the Children, 13 Reasons Why, Chicken Little, Tag Heuer, BBC, Meerkat Manor, AMD, When in Rome, Happy-Go-Lucky.


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The Difference Between the Two Sides of Iguazu Falls (They're Both Impressive)
Clorinda had more Christmas decorations in January than Buenos Aires in December.
It was almost more surprising than ending up there in the first place.
That'd happened after Paraguay rejected us at the border.
Standing on The Triple Frontier in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. That's Paraguay to the left, Brazil's on the right.
In hindsight, by the time we'd walked back into Argentina, taken a cab to Clorinda, missed the last bus outta town, then booked a hotel for the night, we could of paid the outrageous visa fee at the border - but that's travel for ya.
So there we were, having breakfast in a hotel foyer in Clorinda, underneath flickering Christmas lights, all because we didn't know Paraguay's the only country in South America that Kiwi's need a visa to visit.
Except for the border, the closest we got to Paraguay was the view from La Triple Frontera (The Triple Frontier) in Puerto Iguazu.
The 3km chain of waterfalls at Iguazu Falls was worth the bounce back into Argentina though.
Even before you get to the Devils Throat, they're astounding.
We took a whole day to tour Iguazu Falls National Park.
The subtropical rainforest surrounding the falls is home to 2,000 species of plants. There's also tapirs, giant anteaters, howler monkeys, ocelots, jaguars and caymans.
Aside from one cayman, the most wildlife we saw were the dozens of coatis creeping around stealing everyone's food. They'd pop up from behind bushes or appear at our feet like furry Houdini's. They look like racoons but with longer noses and they'll eat anything they can get their claws on.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
You are now entering Never Never Land (Iguazu Falls National Park, Argentina)
Circuiting the trails that weave through the park was like walking through Never Never Land.
You have to yell to be heard over the water this close to the falls (Iguazu Falls National Park, Argentina
There was green forest all around us, plus the continuous sound of water pouring down into pools and rivers from varying heights.
The closer we got to one fall, the louder the water until we had to yell at each other to be heard.
As soon as we walked away, the roar of that fall would fade out into the one that was coming up.
By the time we took Tren de la Selva up to the Devils Throat (Garganta del Diablo), all we could hear was the sound of masses of water gushing down the side of the cliffs.
When we got to the end of the walkway, there was a rainbow arcing across the falls like something out of National Geographic. It was mind blowing.
Garganta del Diablo - The Devils Throat (Iguazu Falls National Park, Argentina)
There's over 3km of waterfalls at Iguazu Falls National Park (Argentina)
By this stage of the trip, we'd gotten pretty good at jostling our way to the front of most tourist destinations.
Everyone at the Devils Throat was rammed up against the barrier, looking down on the falls because it's too dangerous to view them from underneath.
You can do that on a speed boat with some of the smaller falls at the beginning of the park.
It's worth taking a speed boat underneath the falls (Iguazu Falls National Park, Argentina)
It's a half-blind thunderous blur of a ride. We loved it.
We got so soaked we couldn't see anything past the film of water covering our eyes. Everything was still watery when the boat came speeding out the other side of the falls, spun around, then rushed back under for a second time.
After a full day on the Argentinian side, we crossed over to Foz do Iguaçu the next day.
The first thing we noticed about Brazil was the buffets. Because we were close to the border, the Spanish language was still working for us.
The scenery wasn't too different as we hadn't hit the beaches yet, but the one green buffet in town blew us away.
(It was only a hint of what was to come. As well as a never-ending supply of acai bowls, Brazil has the highest population of Japanese outside of Japan, so there's sushi everywhere. Plus, their supermarkets are amazing. There's entire sections of gluten free and the dairy free selection is next level).
We spent half a day on the Brazilian side of the falls. The Argentinian side of the park might be bigger than Brazils', but the lead up to the falls on the Brazilian side's more fun.
When we arrived, there was a huge birthday celebration going on. Even the news was there. Speeches were being made as pieces of cake were handed out to the crowd, so we took a slice for the bus ride.
On the way to the main viewing platform, we were thinking that if this was how they celebrated a birthday at Foz do Iguaçu, Carnaval was going to be unbelievable.
We'd spent the day before weaving through nearly two thirds of the falls in Argentina. In Brazil, we were able to take a step back to look out over where we'd been.
The difference between the two sides of the falls, is that you go from being amongst it on the Argentinian side, to overlooking it on the Brazilian side.
The bus dropped us off outside the souvenir shops next to the start of the trail. We got a panoramic view of the falls from the main platform there, before heading down the trail to get closer towards them.
Foz do Iguaçu (Brasil)
We wound up walking out onto a large platform at the base of the falls, so when we looked up we could almost see underneath the water pouring down into the river.
Further up the path, we hopped into elevators that let us out onto high platforms that extended out infront of the falls.
We were so close to the water that in some places, we could see through to the rocky cliff behind.
Just like on the Argentinian side, coatis followed our every move.
Foz do Iguaçu took half a day, so we had plenty of time to head back to town, grab some takeaway buffet, then repack our bags so our bikini's were at the top.
We may of been a little bit excited about heading to Florianopolis the next day.
Travel Writer AucklandDanielle Ramaekers June 25, 2018 argentina, brazil, placestogo, nature
Want The Best of Brazil? Start in Florianópolis
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Living It Up In Buenos Aires (A Christmas Special)
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Charting out "The Life of Pablo"
photo via wikipedia.org under Creative Commons license
Kanye West's newest album 'The Life of Pablo' is now out solely on the streaming service Tidal. The album will be available to the general public a week after the Tidal release.
Chelsea Santos, Yearbook Editor
No, it's not an up-and-coming indie film that premiered solely at the Sundance Film Festival. It's Kanye West's long-awaited successor to his 2013 record, Yeezus. The stakes were incredibly high for this album — there was a lot of hype built up around this 18-track project.
So much hype, in fact, that Martin Shkreli, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur, offered to pay Kanye West $10 million to release the album solely to him. His offer can be found here, on his Twitter. He was later scammed by someone, and paid $15 million in Bitcoin for the album to the scammer.
A lot of attention was put on this album, beginning in Dec. 2014, when West released "Only One" with Sir Paul McCartney (of the Beatles!), a song about his late mother Donda. It continued the following month with "FourFiveSeconds," featuring Rihanna and Sir Paul (again) — this particular song has reached 275 million plays on Spotify.
His wife, Kim Kardashian, has also used her prominent social media accounts to promote his album, often posting about it on Instagram and especially on Twitter. West finally played his album and performed a few songs during the sold-out showing of his Adidas Yeezy Season 3 collection at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 11.
West made an appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing "Highlights" and "Ultralight Beam." He later revealed that his album would be immediately available to stream or download for $20 on the music app Tidal, owned by friend and fellow rapper Jay-Z. However, the site was a flub and the music was unavailable, even though numerous credit cards were charged with the purchase of the album. The album is to be made available to the general public a week after its Tidal release.
He also disclosed that he is $53 million in debt due to his venturing into the fashion industry — Kim has been funneling millions of her own dollars into his projects, according to an article by Variety.
In the past few weeks, West has been surrounded by controversy after controversy. After many problems, a Twitter feud with rapper Wiz Khalifa and ex-girlfriend Amber Rose (who is Khalifa's ex-wife, incidentally), the allegations of new beef between him and Taylor Swift, and a Bill Cosby endorsement (note: he is GUILTY), it's about time he can now be judged based on his music rather than his side-jobs.
"The Life of Pablo" features writers such as Pharrell, Drake, Chris Brown, Scott Mescudi and producers such as Swizz Beatz, Rick Rubin and Metro Boomin. Additional vocals are provided by the likes of Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, Post Malone, Ty Dolla $ign, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar and André 3000. West himself was involved in the entire production process.
The album itself gives off very mellow vibes, with occasional gospel influences — it can make you feel like you're driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in an old Mustang convertible on a warm summer day, during the '70s. There are some bluesy undertones, and hints of old-school rap. It's all very nostalgic, and definitely different from its more electronic predecessor. It might be somewhat disappointing to those who were expecting Yeezus 2.
Notable tracks include "No More Parties in LA," "Facts (Charlie Heat Version)," "Famous" and "Highlights." The new Kanye might be different, but sometimes change is good.
Chelsea Santos, Yearbook Managing Editor
Hobbies/Interests: writing, being annoying, making to-do lists, reading the to-do lists, complaining about the to-do lists, sleeping
Favorite Movie:...