Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, venlafaxine and duloxetine are associated with in hospital morbidity but not bleeding or late mortality after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Background: No Australian study has reported the association between selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery morbidity and mortality.

Methods: 4136 patients underwent CABG surgery between January 1996 and December 2008 and 105 (2.5%) were SSRI/SNRI users.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Beck Depression Inventory-II and the association with cardiac morbidity and mortality after coronary revascularization.

This study examined the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) with Confirmatory Factor Analysis and followed up cardiac morbidity and mortality for a median of 4.9 years among 226 coronary artery bypass graft patients. Cardiac morbidity and mortality events (n = 65, 28.

Neuropsychological function 5 years after cardiac surgery and the effect of psychological distress.

Research has shown conflicting results with regard to the influence of depression and anxiety on neuropsychological performance following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Notably, the independent effects of depression and anxiety have not been examined among CABG candidates in the longer term where it is has been suggested that these patients show marked cognitive deterioration. A neuropsychological test battery and measures of psychological distress were completed by 86 CABG patients and 50 nonsurgical control participants at baseline and 6 months, whereas 75 patients and 36 controls, respectively, completed a 5-year follow-up.

Influence of intestinal flora on the development of fibrosis and cirrhosis in a rat model.

Background And Aims: The gut flora play a significant role in the disposition of many foreign substances, as well as producing nutrients and toxins that may be absorbed and reach the liver. This study examines the influence of antibiotic-induced alterations in gut flora on the development of hepatic fibrosis in a rat model.

Methods: Thirty-six male Porton rats were fed alcohol (3.

Effects of inter-alpha-inhibitor and several of its derivatives on calcium oxalate crystallization in vitro.

The bikunin peptide chain of the protease inhibitor inter-alpha-inhibitor (IalphaI) has been reported to be an inhibitor of calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystallization, and hence has been proposed as having a role in CaOx kidney stone formation. However, further experimental evidence is required to assess if fragments of IalphaI other than bikunin may play a role in the regulation of crystallization events in stone formation. The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of IalphaI and several of its derivatives on CaOx crystallization in a seeded inorganic system and to compare these effects with those of a known inhibitor of crystallization, prothrombin.

Interaction between dextromethorphan and norpethidine in rats.

With increasing interest in the application of dextromethorphan in pain control, it is probable that patients will receive this drug in combination with analgesics such as opioids, giving rise to the potential for previously unobserved drug interactions. The interaction between dextromethorphan, and its pharmacologically active metabolite dextrorphan, and norpethidine, a toxic metabolite of pethidine, was examined in rats. Rats were assigned to receive dextromethorphan (0, 20 or 40 mg/kg) or dextrorphan (0, 15 or 30 mg/kg) combined with norpethidine (0, 28 or 42 mg/kg).