Chronic atypical psychosis associated with MDMA ("ecstasy") abuse.
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3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine↗
Biomedical subjects
F Schifano
Publications and source records attributed to F Schifano.
Models of memory dysfunction? A comparison of the effects of scopolamine and lorazepam on memory, psychomotor performance and mood.
The effects on memory, psychomotor functions and mood of intramuscular scopolamine (0.3 mg, 0.6 mg) were compared with those of oral lorazepam (2 mg) and placebo. Thirty-six volunteers took part in a double-blind, independent groups design. Subjects completed a battery of tests 1 and 3 h after drug administration. Both doses of scopolamine produced levels of sedation comparable to that produced by lorazepam. The time course of effects of scopolamine and lorazepam differed but the pattern of psychomotor impairments and amnestic effects produced was very similar. In terms of mood, lorazepam had an anxiolytic effect whereas scopolamine increased ratings of anxiety. Levels of sedation, indexed by either subjective ratings or motor retardation (tapping speed), were related more to psychomotor performance than to performance on memory tasks. The results suggest that benzodiazepines and scopolamine have similar amnestic and sedative effects and as such may not offer distinct models of memory dysfunction.
Adult↗
Can pharmacological intervention aid in the prevention of suicidal behavior?
The paper reviews the efficacy of various psychotropic drugs (antidepressants, neuroleptics, benzodiazepines, carbamazepine, lithium) in th prevention of suicidal behavior, dealing with the issue from both treatment and research perspectives. The clinical pharmacology of aggressive behavior is also briefly reviewed, as an understanding of this aspect is likely to shed some light on the main topic of the paper.
Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
Lithium alone or in combination with carbamazepine for the treatment of rapid-cycling bipolar affective disorder.
The authors retrospectively examined the clinical outcome (after 1, 2 and 5 years of beginning the therapeutic protocols) for 16 rapid-cycling bipolar affective disorder patients given either lithium alone or lithium plus carbamazepine. The results suggest that both therapeutic protocols have been safe and clinically effective. However, improvement was observed earlier in the patients given lithium and carbamazepine.
Adult↗
Excessive use of anticholinergic drugs in a sub-sample of Italian schizophrenics.
Compliance to the prescription of anticholinergic drugs in 274 consecutive schizophrenic outpatients has been assessed retrospectively from their clinical records. Ten point four percent of the sample (22 patients) took these drugs in amounts greater than those prescribed. Some possible explanations of this excessive use are discussed.
Adult↗
A double-blind comparison of mianserin and maprotiline in depressed medically ill elderly people.
A double-blind, randomized 4-week mianserin vs maprotiline trial was conducted in 48 depressed geriatric medical inpatients. The drug dosages were up to 90 mg of mianserin and up to 150 mg of maprotiline per day. Efficacy was measured by the Geriatric Depression Scale, the Hopkins Symptom Check List depression subscale and the Clinical Global Impression Scale. The overall dropout figure was 27% of the sample. Side effects were relatively similar in the two treatment groups and suggested a safety profile somewhat better than that of the first-generation antidepressants. Mianserin showed some advantages in efficacy over maprotiline, particularly by the 4th week of the trial, but the overall figures of treatment responders were rather small (Geriatric Depression Scale: mianserin 48%, maprotiline 30%). Clinical trials vs placebo are needed to clarify the role of antidepressant pharmacotherapy in depressed geriatric medical inpatients.
Aged↗
Naltrexone for heroin addiction: encouraging results from Italy.
This report provides preliminary data regarding compliance rates of naltrexone (NTX) treatment for 99 consecutive heroin addicts. NTX was administered orally after a 3-13-day drug induction period. Fifteen out of the 99 patients who underwent naloxone challenge are still being treated (having taken NTX for less than 6 months to date). Of the 52 patients who completed the drug induction period, 22 (41.31%) showed satisfactory results (in terms of treatment compliance and/or opiate-free conditions at 6-month follow-up). The 52 patients who properly started regular NTX assumption stayed with the treatment for a mean 17.04 +/- 8.2 weeks. These results would demonstrate a higher than average success with NTX treatment of randomly selected heroin addicts with respect to the literature and would seem related to particularly favorable socio-cultural conditions in northern Italy (where the study was carried out).
Adult↗
[Viral hypothesis of schizophrenia. Critical reflections].
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Adolescent↗
OKT4/OKT8 ratio in asymptomatic heroin addicts.
The OKT4 (helper) and OKT8 (suppressor) lymphocytic subpopulations were enumerated in a sample of 60 asymptomatic drug addicts and in 17 controls. No significant differences in the ratio could be found that could not be explained by the action of HIV. It can be concluded that heroin itself was not responsible for any alteration in the T4/T8 ratio in the population considered.
AIDS-Related Complex↗
Panic attacks and major depression after discontinuation of long-term diazepam abuse.
A case is described of a patient with a history of several years of diazepam abuse (in the last 24 months at dosages of 120 mg/d). A tapering schedule was carried out during a 12-day stay in the hospital in which the diazepam dosage was reduced by a fixed quantity every day, corresponding to about ten percent of the initial dosage. Five days after discharge from the hospital the patient experienced panic attacks, for the first time, which continued until 13 days after discharge. By the 40th day, the patient was experiencing a major depressive episode, which improved after administration of clomipramine therapy. We suggest that a relatively quick withdrawal schedule (ten percent per day) is probably inadequate in preventing withdrawal reactions to long-acting benzodiazepines taken in high doses for an extended period of time.
Adult↗
[Prevalence of HIV infection and changes in CD4/CD8 ratio in asymptomatic drug addicts].
HIV infection prevalence and CD4/CD8 ratio alterations in asymptomatic heroin abusers. Authors evaluated HIV infection prevalence and presence of possible CD4/CD8 ratio alteration in a asymptomatic heroin abusers' sample. Drug addicts consecutively arrived to Local Health Unit No 12-Drug Addicts Advisory Unit. In this sample, there was a 41% prevalence of HIV infection and significant changes, not attributable to HIV infection, in the CD4/CD8 ratio were not found by comparison with 17 healthy controls.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
[Headache and "masked" depression].
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Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic↗
Results of dexamethasone suppression test in early Alzheimer dementia.
The frequency of an abnormal response to the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) was examined in 24 non-depressed patients in the early stages of Alzheimer dementia. Results were compared with those obtained in 51 geriatric medical inpatients: 15 with major depression, 18 with dysthymic disorder and 18 normal controls. As an abnormal lack of suppression was found in 9 demented patients, in 9 with major depression, 1 with dysthymic disorder and in 2 the normal controls, it appears that DST alone is not useful in distinguishing dementia, even in its early stages, from major depression. In our experience abnormal DST results in demented patients were unrelated to mood.
Aged↗
Psychological distress in geriatric and adult medical in-patients.
Psychological distress was evaluated in two groups of medical in-patients, one composed of geriatric subjects (178), the other of adults (201). The instrument used for this purpose was the SCL-90. The predominant pattern of emotional response among the geriatric patients was depression; although this pattern was also present among the adult patients, reactions of an anxious type were more common in these subjects. Women of both groups of patients scored significantly higher than men on many of the subscales of the SCL-90. No significant differences emerged in relation to the type of organic disease among the adult patients, while among the geriatric patients, subjects with disorders of the CNS, muscular-skeletal system and blood scored significantly higher than those with other diseases.
Adult↗