Use of high doses of quetiapine in bipolar disorder episodes are not linked to high activity of cytochrome P4503A4 and/or cytochrome P4502D6.

The use of quetiapine for treatment of bipolar disorders at a higher dosage than the licensed range is not unusual in clinical practice. Quetiapine is predominantly metabolised by cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) and to a lesser extent by CYP2D6. The large interindividual variability of those isozyme activities could contribute to the variability observed in quetiapine dosage.

Off-label utilization of antidepressants.

Unlabelled: While antidepressant prescription rules are established for approved indications by large-scale studies, off-label utilization naturally often lacks the validation by large scientific databases, and is at its best based on expert consensus. The aim of the present survey was to study the prescription habits of hospital psychiatrists with regard to antidepressants, comparing patients treated for depressions and anxiety disorder with patients receiving off-label antidepressant treatment.

Methods: Data on drug use for this study were based on 6 reference days from April 1999 to November 2001 in the 98-bed psychiatric hospital of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Topiramate for smoking cessation.

Due to its AMPA (alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid)/kainate antagonism, topiramate would be particularly interesting in addiction treatment. Flexible-dose topiramate was prescribed to 13 smokers (10 smokers who wanted to stop smoking, and three who received topiramate for other reasons). Six out of 13 smokers were abstinent at 2 months and two more subjects had reduced their cigarette consumption by >50%.

Serum lipoprotein(a) and coronary artery disease in uremic patients on chronic hemodialysis.

There is convincing clinical and experimental evidence to support the notion that lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is atherogenic. Patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis have an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular complications. In the present study, we investigated the possible relation between the alteration, if any, in serum Lp(a) and coronary artery disease in such patients.

Serum alpha-1-antitrypsin in hemodialysis patients with dialysis arthropathy.

Dialysis arthropathy is the most prominent dialysis-related amyloidosis feature. Alpha-1-antitrypsin (alpha-1-proteinase inhibitor) is the major circulating antiprotease. Twenty-three otherwise uncomplicated hemodialysis patients with well-documented dialysis arthropathy had a significantly (p < 0.