An SPR-Based In Situ Methane Sensor for the Aqueous and Gas Phase.

This paper presents a fast, low-cost, precise methane sensor based on refractive index changes in a cryptophane A (CryptA)-doped polystyrene membrane. For the realization of this sensor, we built a surface plasmon resonance sensor with a refractive index resolution of 4.31 × 10 and investigated the optimal membrane thickness, i.

Abundance and characteristics of microfibers detected in sediment trap material from the deep subtropical North Atlantic Ocean.

Plastics and microplastics increasingly gain importance due to their perils and wide distribution in the marine environment. Microfibers account for the largest percentage of anthropogenic-induced microparticles, which inter alia, consist of plastic, and are found in deep-sea sediments. However, the sinking of fibers from the surface through the water column to the seafloor is still poorly understood.

Sensing dissolved methane in aquatic environments: an experiment in the central baltic sea using surface plasmon resonance.

A new sensor for in situ, real time methane (CH4) measurements in aqueous environments is based on the refractive index (RI) modulation of a sensitive film composed of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer incorporating molecules of cryptophane-A. The RI varies according to the amount of CH4 bound to the cryptophane-A in the film and is determined using surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Tests of the sensor in the summer of 2012 reveal the expansive range of conditions of the Central Baltic Sea with CH4 concentrations varying from 5 nM up to a few hundred nanomolar.

A curbstone consult to applicants for National Institute of Mental Health grant support.

With research budgets tight and review procedures being streamlined, applicants for research funds, especially newer investigators, may become disheartened. This article provides advice that we believe improves the quality of a written application. We detail ideas for how to develop applications that are complete and most easily understood by reviewers.

From scientific knowledge to the clinical practice of psychopharmacology: can the gap be bridged?

This paper examines the nature and types of information and syntheses relevant to the strategic and tactical decisions required in the treatment of depression with medication. Strategic decisions (What to do?) include determining what is wrong, defining treatment objectives, selecting the first treatment, deciding the next best treatment (should the first treatment fail), and deciding when to discontinue a successful treatment. Tactical decisions (How to do?) include determining where and by whom treatment is conducted, and the specific steps involved (e.

Psychopharmacology of child and adolescent major depression: present status and future directions.

ABSTRACT Current concerns about antidepressant efficacy in children and adolescents are reminiscent of the history of adult studies. Such awareness should temper these concerns, especially in view of the enormous progress in the last two decades of studies of adult depression. A number of methodologie, nosologie, developmental, and validity considerations may have hampered the child and adolescent studies to date; thus, with more careful consideration of past problem areas, future studies may yield more promising results.

Conceptualization and rationale for consensus definitions of terms in major depressive disorder. Remission, recovery, relapse, and recurrence.

In 1988, the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on the Psychobiology of Depression convened a task force to examine the ways in which change points in the course of depressive illness had been described and the extent to which inconsistency in these descriptions might be impeding research on this disorder. We found considerable inconsistency across and even within research reports and concluded that research on depressive illness would be well served by greater consistency in the definition change points in the course of illness. We propose an internally consistent, empirically defined conceptual scheme for the terms remission, recovery, relapse, and recurrence.

The definition and operational criteria for treatment outcome of major depressive disorder. A review of the current research literature.

A review of research articles published in nine journals over a 2-year period was conducted to determine how critical changes in the clinical course of depressive disorder are defined in the research literature. These change points, labeled by terms such as response, recovery, and relapse, are critical for evaluation and communication of study results. The review focused on studies of unipolar depression that used a criterion-based diagnostic system and involved some form of therapeutic maneuver.

Methodologic issues in maintenance therapy clinical trials.

In the early 1980s, the National Institute of Mental Health supported a multicenter, randomized, controlled, clinical trial on unipolar and bipolar disorder to evaluate the comparative efficacies of lithium carbonate, imipramine hydrochloride, a lithium-imipramine combination, and placebo in preventing the recurrence of affective disorders. The objective of this report is to present a reanalysis of the relative efficacies of these treatments in patients with unipolar disorder to focus attention on general issues related to the design and conduct of maintenance therapy trials. We show that the earlier conclusions of that study that imipramine and the combination therapy are more effective than lithium and placebo in preventing the recurrence of depression in unipolar patients can be accounted for by alternative explanations that are a consequence of the design of the study.

Efficacy of continuation drug therapy of depression and anxiety: issues and methodologies.

Continuation treatment is the continued administration of a drug after disappearance of acute symptoms for the purpose of maintaining control over the episode. This critical phase of treatment constitutes a neglected area of research concerned with depression and anxiety disorders. Most therapeutic studies focus on the treatment of acute symptoms, using designs of only 4-8 weeks' duration.

Alternatives to lithium for preventive treatment of bipolar disorder.

The authors review the research literature on drug treatment for the prevention of recurrences in bipolar disorder, emphasizing the available alternatives to lithium therapy. They discuss the need for alternative treatments and the current status of promising agents. Carbamazepine receives special attention because of its status as the most promising backup treatment for lithium.

Treatment of mixed mania.

Mixed mania (i.e., a manic syndrome accompanied by depressive symptoms) and its response to long-term preventive drug treatment was studied as part of a larger NIMH collaborative study.

Bipolar disorder: are there manic-prone and depressive-prone forms?

Descriptive studies from the prelithium era and lithium prophylactic studies were reviewed to look for evidence that there are manic-prone and depressive-prone subtypes of bipolar illness. The manic-prone subtype has a high ratio of manic to depressive episodes, and a depressive-prone subtype has the reverse. Although data from the prelithium era are suggestive, the evidence is insufficient to accept or reject the relevance of this hypothesis.

Continuation drug therapy for major depressive episodes: how long should it be maintained?

A major problem for the practitioner is the lack of satisfactory guidelines as to how long continuation drug treatment of depressive episodes must be maintained to ensure that the episode is over. This often leads to either premature withdrawal of the drug and subsequent relapse or unnecessarily prolonged treatment. Results from a collaborative project of the National Institute of Mental Health provide the first study-derived guidelines on the length of continuation therapy.

Antidepressant drug therapy: the role of the new antidepressants.

Three new antidepressants have been marketed in the United States since 1980, and about two dozen more are being evaluated. In a 1983 workshop convened by the National Institute of Mental Health, participants examined the claims made for the newer antidepressants in relation to clinical efficacy, speed of onset, cardiovascular effects, and other adverse reactions. In this summary report of the workshop, primarily covering amoxapine, maprotiline, trazodone, and the investigational drug bupropion, the authors note that none of the new antidepressants demonstrate greater effectiveness than standard tricyclics, although some produce a different profile of side effects.