Biomedical subjects

S Ericksen

Publications and source records attributed to S Ericksen.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1985

Efficacy of ECT: a meta-analysis.

The authors analyzed several rigorously controlled studies that compared the efficacy of ECT with that of simulated ECT, placebo, and antidepressants. The data from these studies were combined statistically (with the Mantel-Haenszel method for the combination of fourfold tables), showing ECT's clear superiority over all these other forms of treatment for severe depression. The authors similarly analyzed the data from several studies comparing the efficacy of unilateral nondominant ECT with that of bilateral ECT and found no significant difference in their efficacy.

Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic↗

PubMed1979

Lithium transport across red cell membrane: a cell membrane abnormality in manic-depressive illness.

In the families of manic-depressive patients, relatives with a history of affective disorders had a significantly higher ratio of mean red cell lithium to plasma lithium in vitro than relatives with no such history. A genetically controlled abnormality in lithium-sodium transport, the mechanism that determines the lithium ratio, may play a role in the etiology of some forms of affective disorders.

Biological Transport↗

PubMed1977

Neuroleptic drug levels and therapeutic response: preliminary observations with red blood cell bound butaperazine.

The authors studied neuroleptic concentration-therapeutic response curves for butaperazine (BPZ), a piperazine phenothiazine, in 10 schizophrenic patients during the first 12 days of treatment. BPZ bound to red blood cells (RBC) was more strongly correlated with therapeutic response than was plasma BPZ. RBC BPZ concentrations could be used to define a "therapeutic window", an optimun concentration for therapeutic response, above and below which favorable response diminishes. The authors emphasize the preliminary nature of the data but suggest that levels of RBC-bound neuroleptic may provide an important guide for dosage regulation in schizophrenic patients.

Administration, Oral↗

PubMed1977

Postsynaptic supersensitivity in schizophrenia.

In the context of the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, the authors examined postsynaptic dopamine (DA) receptor sensitivity in schizophrenic patients by means of a neuroendocrine strategy using the DA receptor agonist apomorphine and growth hormone (GH) release as the measurable postsynaptic event. The activity of platelet adenylate cyclase, an enzyme intimately associated with catecholamine receptor activity, was also studied following stimulation by prostaglandin E1 (PGE1). Patients diagnosed as having acute schizophrenia had significantly higher GH responses and adenylate cyclase activity than normal control subjects and patients diagnosed as having chronic schizophrenia. Chronic schizophrenic patients with and without tardive dyskinesia showed GH responses slightly lower than but not significantly different from those of control groups.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed1976

Dystonic reactions following neuroleptics: time course and proposed mechanisms.

The occurrence of acute dystonic reactions was studied relative to drug pharmacokinetic parameters following a single dose of the phenothiazine, butaperazine. Dystonias occurred more than one half-life from peak butaperazine levels, 23 to 56 h after drug administration. The authors postulate that the appearance of dystonias on falling plasma concentrations may be due to disruption of dopaminergic-cholinergic balance caused by differential antidopaminergic and anticholinergic potencies of the drug.

Acetylcholine↗