Cognitive performance of long-term institutionalized elderly patients with schizophrenia: A case control study.

Unlabelled: Cognitive impairment is inherent to the ageing process. Several studies suggest that patients with late-life schizophrenia have more marked cognitive impairment.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the cognitive performance of elderly institutionalized patients with schizophrenia and institutionalized elderly control patients without neurological or psychiatric diseases, matched for age, educational level and institutionalization time.

Muscle sympathetic nervous activity in depressed patients before and after treatment with sertraline.

Background: Sympathetic hyperactivity is one of the mechanisms involved in the increased cardiovascular risk associated with depression, and there is evidence that antidepressants decrease sympathetic activity.

Objectives: We tested the following two hypotheses: patients with major depressive disorder with high scores of depressive symptoms (HMDD) have augmented muscle sympathetic nervous system activity (MSNA) at rest and during mental stress compared with patients with major depressive disorder with low scores of depressive symptoms (LMDD) and controls; sertraline decreases MSNA in depressed patients.

Methods: Ten HMDD, nine LMDD and 11 body weight-matched controls were studied.

Prevention of Alzheimer disease. Encouraging evidence.

Objective: To review the evidence regarding prevention of Alzheimer disease (AD) in order to highlight the role of family medicine.

Quality Of Evidence: Most of the evidence relating to prevention of AD is derived from observational (cross-sectional, case-control, or longitudinal) studies. Evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is available only for blood pressure control and for hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women.

Hypertension and depression.

Despite the high prevalence of depression and hypertension, the relationship between the two diseases has received little attention. This paper reviews the epidemiological, pathophysiological, and prognostic aspects of this association, as well as its implications for treatment. A Medline search was conducted using the following key words: depression, blood pressure, blood pressure variability, physical morbidity, hypertension, mood, stress, hypertension, antidepressive agents, and genetics, from 1980 to 2004.