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Biomedical subjects

M Ansseau

Publications and source records attributed to M Ansseau.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Personality patterns of anxiety during occupational deep dives with long-term confinement in hyperbaric chamber.

Extreme environments are generally thought to be stressful situations. Occupational deep diving inflicts periods of long-term confinement in hyperbaric chambers and high-pressure exposure on divers. Such extreme environmental conditions have been demonstrated to produce acute responses of anxiety in individual divers. Although these studies have mentioned personality as a factor explaining why some divers reported an increase in ratings of anxiety, the role of personality traits still remains unclear. The present study examines the possible role of personality traits in the development of diving anxiety. Results confirm that diving anxiety remains at the individual level and relatively transient and suggest that personality factors, such as low self-control and emotional instability, that reflect an incapacity to control and express tension in an appropriate manner would play a crucial role in the occurrence of diving anxiety.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

A double-blind comparison of the efficacy and safety of milnacipran and fluoxetine in depressed inpatients.

This double-blind, randomised, multicentre study compared the antidepressant efficacy and safety of two doses of milnacipran (100 mg/day and 200 mg/day) and fluoxetine (20 mg/day) in 289 inpatients with endogenous depression. After a placebo washout period of 4-7 days, assessments were performed weekly during the first 4 weeks, and then after 6, 8 and 12 weeks, using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI). HDRS total score was reduced by a mean of 14.8 in the milnacipran 100 mg/day group, 12.9 in the milnacipran 200 mg/day group and 12.1 in the fluoxetine 20 mg/day group. MADRS total score decreased by 17.4, 15.8 and 14.6, respectively. No significant difference could be shown between the three treatment groups for either the HDRS or MADRS total scores. However, the time-by-time change showed a trend in favour of milnacipran 100 mg/day, which was found significantly superior to fluoxetine at day 28 for several converging parameters (MADRS, CGI-3). Overall, efficacy ratings for all parameters were highest for milnacipran 100 mg/day, followed by milnacipran 200 mg/day and fluoxetine 20 mg/day. Side-effect profiles were not significantly different between groups except for a significantly greater frequency of dose-related increase in heart rate > or = 100 bpm in milnacipran recipients and a significantly greater weight loss in fluoxetine recipients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

[Pharma-Clinics. The drug of the month. Venlafaxine (Efexor)].

Venlafaxine (Efexor) is the first representative of a new class of antidepressants: serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors. Its usual dose is 75 mg/d in two intakes but can be progressively increased until a maximal daily dose of 375 mg/d in severe or resistant depression, particularly among inpatients. The efficacy of venlafaxine is at least equivalent to reference antidepressants. At high doses, venlafaxine could even exhibit a better efficacy and a shorter latency than current compounds. Its profile of side-effects is quite similar to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors with mainly nausea, with the exception if an increase in blood pressure which can appear at high doses. In total, venlafaxine represents an interesting innovation in the pharmacological treatment of depression.

Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation↗
PubMed1998

[The socio-economics of depression].

Depression is a very frequent illness with a lifetime prevalence of 33.6% in the population of the Province of Liege. In addition to the marked personal and family suffering which is associated, depression is responsible for important socio-economic costs evaluated to more than 40 billions Belgian francs per year in Belgium, what makes it the most expensive illness after cardio-vascular disorders. Depressive illness is associated to particularly high indirect costs, depending on sick leaves, loss of productivity and suicide. These indirect costs are about 6 times more important than direct costs resulting from the treatment of the illness. Depressive illness remains unsatisfactorily treated and the use of available therapeutical methods should be optimized.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed1997

[Recurrent brief depressions].

Recurrent brief depression is a new diagnostical entity recently individualized among depressive disorders and characterized by repeated brief depressive episodes of a few days duration at least once a month over one year. The disorder generally of early onset seems to be present in 14.6% of the population up to 35 years and is associated with marked family and social disturbances as well as with a high rate of suicide attempts. The adequate treatment of recurrent brief depression has still to be defined and fluoxetine-type antidepressants appear devoid of efficacy.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Considering the P450 cytochrome system as determining combined effects of antidepressants and benzodiazepines on actual driving performance of depressed outpatients.

Parallel groups of depressed (DSM III-R) outpatients received moclobemide (n = 22) and fluoxetine (n = 19), double blind, for 6 weeks. Respective starting doses were 150 mg twice a day and 20 mg q.a.m. These could be doubled after 3 weeks for greater efficacy. Chronic users of benzodiazepine anxiolytics continued taking them as comedication. Therapeutic and side effects were assessed using conventional rating scales. Actual driving performance was assessed during the week before therapy and at 1, 3 and 6 weeks thereafter using a standardized test that measures standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP). Similar remissions in depressive symptoms and side effects occurred in both groups. Patients drove with normal and reliable (r = 0.87) SDLPs before treatments. Most continued to do so but a few drove with progressively rising SDLPs and the overall trends were significant in both groups (p < 0.03). A post-hoc multiple regression analysis was applied for identifying factors that correlated with SDLP in separate tests after the beginning of therapy. At 3 and 6 weeks there were significant (p < 0.03) relationships involving the same factor; patients who drove with progressively higher SDLPs appeared to be those using benzodiazepines that are metabolized by a P450 isozyme subject to inhibition by their particular antidepressant.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Suicidal behavior in depressive disorder: an event-related potential study.

P300 and contingent negative variation (CNV) were recorded in depressive inpatients with and without history of suicide attempt. The results showed a significant reduction of P200, P300, and CNV and a significant increase of postimperative negative variation (PINV) in patients who had attempted suicide compared to patients with a negative history. Moreover, P300 amplitude was negatively related with the Suicidal Risk and the Hopelessness but not with the Hamilton scales. These results stress the need to differentiate clinical subgroups of patients to assess the psychophysiology of depression, and indicate that patients who attempted suicide exhibit lower cortical resources and poorer cortical performance than patients without history of suicide attempt.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

[Benzodiazepines].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1996

Growth hormone response to apomorphine in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Several lines of evidence suggest that dopamine plays a role in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Indeed, some trials have shown the efficacy of neuroleptic addition in the treatment of OCD patients. In this study, we assessed the growth hormone (GH) response to 0.5 mg apomorphine(sc) in 8 drug-free inpatients (6 male, 2 female; mean age +/- SD = 34.7 +/- 12.6) meeting DSM-III-R criteria for OCD without major depression and compared their responses with those of 8 healthy male volunteers (mean age = 27.1 +/- 8.5). The groups did not differ in their mean GH peak response: 12.4 +/- 9.7 ng/mL in OCD patients versus 21.1 +/- 14.2 ng/mL in normal controls (F = 0.9, df1, 14, P = 0.37). These results do not support the hypothesis of dopaminergic overactivity in OCD. In fact, the completely blunted GH response to apomorphine in 2 OCD patients suggests the biological heterogeneity of OCD. Some dopaminergic disturbances could be observed in patients with comorbid diagnoses or patients unresponsive to serotonin reuptake inhibitors, but the results of this study require confirmation from a larger sample with a precise assessment of comorbidity.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Growth hormone response to apomorphine in panic disorder: comparison with major depression and normal controls.

Several lines of evidence suggest that dopamine might be involved in anxiety states. In the present study we assessed the growth hormone (GH) response to 0.5 mg apomorphine (a dopaminergic agonist) in 10 male drug-free inpatients meeting Research Diagnostic Criteria for panic disorder who were compared with 10 male major depressive inpatients and 10 male normal controls. The three groups differed significantly in the GH peak response (mean +/- SD): 27.8 +/- 12.5 ng/ml in panics, 5.4 +/- 4.0 ng/ml in major depressives, and 25.8 +/- 11.3 ng/ml in normal controls (F(2,27) = 15.3; P = 0.00003). Although there were significant differences between panics and major depressives (P = 0.00004), and between major depressives and controls (P = 0.00004), panics did not significantly differ from controls. These results do not support the hypothesis of an overlap between panic and affective disorders, and suggest that the hypothalamo-GH-somatomedin axis could be intact in panic disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Catecholaminergic function and P300 amplitude in major depressive disorder (P300 and catecholamines).

The neurobiology of P300 is still a subject of controversy. P300 amplitude appears to be modulated by multiple neurotransmitter systems, especially dopaminergic, noradrenergic as well as cholinergic and GABAergic. In this study, we investigated the relationship between P300 amplitude and catecholaminergic neurotransmission as assessed by the growth hormone (GH) response to clonidine and apomorphine challenges in 20 major depressive patients. Results showed a correlation of P300 amplitude with the apomorphine test (r = 0.54; P = 0.01), but not with the clonidine test (r = 0.22; NS). This study supports a role for dopamine in the neurobiological modulation of P300 amplitude.

Adult↗