Sleep in obsessive compulsive disorder: polysomnographic studies under baseline conditions and after experimentally induced serotonin deficiency.

Several lines of evidence suggest that brain serotonergic systems may be disturbed in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The serotonergic system strongly affects sleep and characteristic abnormalities of sleep are documented in depression. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate sleep structure of OCD patients in order to evaluate whether similar changes as in depression are present.

Diagnosis of primary aldosteronism: value of different screening parameters and influence of antihypertensive medication.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the utility of different screening techniques for primary aldosteronism (PA), including serum aldosterone (SA), plasma renin activity (PRA) and the SA/PRA ratio in hypertensive patients of a tertiary-care centre. Furthermore, the influence of antihypertensive medication on SA and the SA/PRA ratio were studied.

Design: Clinical records of 425 hypertensive patients who had SA and PRA measurements over a 27-month period were analysed retrospectively.

Is the antidepressive effect of sleep deprivation stabilized by a three day phase advance of the sleep period? A pilot study.

Sleep deprivation (SD) induces a rapid amelioration of mood in about 60 % of depressed patients. After the next night of sleep, however, most patients experience a relapse. Previous studies demonstrated that a six day sleep-phase advance protocol prevents relapses in about 60 % of patients who responded positively to SD.

A double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled study on the polysomnographic withdrawal effects of zopiclone, zolpidem and triazolam in healthy subjects.

Rebound effects after withdrawal from hypnotics are believed to trigger their chronic use and to enhance the risk of tolerance and dependence. It was the purpose of this study to investigate the acute polysomnographic withdrawal effects after a 4 week treatment with standard doses of the non-benzodiazepine hypnotics zopiclone and zolpidem compared with triazolam and placebo. Healthy male subjects between 22 and 35 years of age participated in a parallel study design.