Effects of electrical stimulus composition on cardiac electrophysiology in a rodent model of electroconvulsive therapy.

Background: No electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) study on humans or in animal models has so far examined whether differently composed electrical stimuli exert different cardiac electrophysiological effects at constant electrical dose. The subject is important because cardiac electrophysiological changes may provide indirect information about ECT seizure quality as modulated by stimulus composition.

Materials And Methods: Adult female Wistar rats ( = 20/group) received fixed, moderately suprathreshold (18 mC) electrical stimuli.

Early and late postictal cardiac electrophysiological changes associated with low, moderate, and high dose electroconvulsive shocks.

Background: Studies have examined the effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on human cardiac electrophysiology. However, no study has so far examined whether these effects vary with the magnitude of the electrical dose used to elicit the seizure. Because the benefits and adverse effects of the ECT seizure are dose-dependent, we examined the effects of different electrical doses of electroconvulsive shocks (ECS) on cardiac electrophysiology in an animal model with a view to determine whether cardiac electrophysiology could be a useful proxy to evaluate the quality of the ECT seizure.

Impact of an educational module in antidepressant-naive patients prescribed antidepressants for depression: Pilot, proof-of-concept, randomized controlled trial.

Background: Patients are educated about their illness and its treatment at the time of diagnosis. However, little is known about how much of this education is retained and how it influences knowledge about, attitudes toward, and experiences with medication in antidepressant-naive patients with depression.

Methods: Antidepressant-naive outpatients with International Classification of Diseases-10 dysthymia or mild to moderate depression, who were advised antidepressant monotherapy, were randomized to control ( = 22) or intervention ( = 17) groups.

Feasibility, safety, and efficacy of the combination of D-serine and computerized cognitive retraining in schizophrenia: an international collaborative pilot study.

The combination of pharmacotherapy and cognitive retraining (CRT) for the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia may be more efficacious than either approach alone, but this has not yet been tested. This study evaluated the feasibility, safety, tolerability, and efficacy of 12 weeks of D-serine, combined with CRT in the treatment of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia at two academic sites in parallel, in India and the United States. In a randomized, partial double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group design, 104 schizophrenia subjects (US site=22, Indian site=82) were randomized to: (1) D-serine (30 mg/kg)+CRT (5 h/week), (2) D-serine+control CRT, (3) CRT+placebo D-serine, and (4) placebo+control CRT.

Systematic enhancement of functioning as a therapeutic technique in conversion disorder.

To explicitly outline a therapeutic technique for symptom removal in conversion disorder. We describe one patient with conversion dumbness and another with conversion paraplegia. The first patient was successfully treated in a single session, and the second was successfully treated across two weeks, both using systematic enhancement of functioning as a technique for symptom removal.

Celecoxib as an in vivo probe of cyclooxygenase-2 mechanisms underlying retrograde amnesia in an animal model of ECT.

Background: Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mechanisms are involved in glutamate-mediated learning and memory as well as in glutamatergic excitotoxicity. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-induced amnesia may arise from glutamatergic excitotoxicity; if so, COX-2 inhibition may attenuate retrograde amnesia with ECT.

Methods: Wistar rats which received celecoxib (15 mg/kg per day) or vehicle for 18 days were trained for 3 days on a passive avoidance task.

Possible glutamatergic and lipid signalling mechanisms in ECT-induced retrograde amnesia: experimental evidence for involvement of COX-2, and review of literature.

We sought to explore nonselective vs. selective COX mechanisms in ECS-induced retrograde amnesia using indomethacin and celecoxib as in vivo probes. Adult Wistar rats (n=72) which showed adequate learning on a passive avoidance task received 5 once-daily 30 mC true or sham ECS.

Melatonin in schizophrenic outpatients with insomnia: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Background: Low nighttime levels of melatonin have been demonstrated in patients with insomnia, and melatonin has been shown to have hypnotic properties in some groups of such subjects. Low melatonin levels have also been observed in patients with schizophrenia; however, there is little literature on the efficacy of exogenous melatonin in treating insomnia associated with schizophrenia.

Method: Stable DSM-IV schizophrenic outpatients (N = 40) with initial insomnia of at least 2 weeks' duration were randomly assigned to augment their current medications with either flexibly dosed melatonin (3-12 mg/night; N = 20) or placebo (N = 20).

Controversy revisited: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in paediatric depression.

Background: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently controversial treatments for paediatric depression. There have been several publications on the subject during recent years. This article summarizes their findings and provides some original thoughts, suggestions, and perspectives.