Anxiety sensitivity does not predict fearful responding to 35% carbon dioxide in patients with panic disorder.

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between anxiety sensitivity, as measured by the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), and four dimensions of behavioural reactivity to a single inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide (CO(2)) in 31 patients with panic disorder. ASI scores correlated positively with baseline State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores but did not correlate with post-CO(2) scores. Correlational analyses revealed a significant, albeit modest, correlation between anxiety sensitivity and cognitive symptoms induced with CO(2).

Electroencephalographic coherence in Alzheimer's disease: comparisons with a control group and population norms.

Previous research from independent laboratories has shown reduced electroencephalographic coherence in patients diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). This study added to this work by comparing interhemispheric and intrahemispheric coherence in nonmedicated DAT patients (n = 35) with that of a normal control group (n = 30), as well as with a data bank of population norms. Raw and Z-score transformed values showed reduced coherence, interhemispherically (in delta, theta, alpha, and beta bands) and intrahemispherically (delta and theta bands) in DAT patients with both comparison procedures.

Serotonin and dopamine antagonism in obsessive-compulsive disorder: effect of atypical antipsychotic drugs.

Background: Previous reports suggest that some atypical antipsychotics may have obsessogenic as well as antiobsessional effects. Given their higher affinity for serotonin 5HT2 receptors than dopamine D2 receptors, it has been speculated that atypical antipsychotics may induce obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms, even at low doses, due to high 5HT2 antagonism, whereas improvement in OC symptoms is thought to occur only at high doses due to high D2 antagonism.

Method: In this open case series, the dose-response relationship of atypical antipsychotic augmentation in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and the dose-severity relationship in atypical anti psychotic-induced OC symptoms were examined.

Pre-treatment EEG and it's relationship to depression severity and paroxetine treatment outcome.

An array of variables have been assessed as potential early predictors of antidepressant response in depressed patients. This exploratory study examined the relationship of clinical outcome, following pharmacotherapeutic treatment, with quantitative electroencephalographic (EEG) features assessed prior to treatment onset. In 70 major affective disorder patients, pre-treatment spectrum-analysed topographic EEG indices (absolute power, relative power, mean frequency, inter-hemispheric power asymmetry and coherence for 4 frequency bands) were assessed in relation to baseline HAM-D ratings and HAM-D rating changes following 6 weeks of open-label paroxetine treatment.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled study on the effects of Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) on acoustic startle response in healthy subjects.

Investigations of the pharmacologic profile of medicinal plants have revealed that a number of plants with purported anxiolytic activity bind to cholecystokinin (CCK) receptors. This finding is intriguing in view of the proposed involvement of CCK in the pathophysiology of fear and anxiety. This double-blind, placebo-controlled study was undertaken to evaluate the anxiolytic activity of Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica) in healthy subjects.

EEG hemispheric asymmetry as a predictor and correlate of short-term response to clozapine treatment in schizophrenia.

In search of early neuroleptic response predictors in schizophrenia, functional interhemispheric and intrahemispheric asymmetry indices, derived from spectrally analyzed resting electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, were examined in 17 schizophrenic patients prior to open label treatment with the atypical neuroleptic clozapine. Compared to EEG asymmetry indices derived from a normative data bank, patients exhibited significant interhemispheric (left greater than right) and intrahemispheric (anterior greater than posterior) deviations in delta, theta, alpha and beta frequency bands. Intrahemispheric indices were positively correlated with clinical ratings of positive symptoms and global psychopathology.

Pharmaco-EEG test dose response predicts cholinesterase inhibitor treatment outcome in Alzheimer's disease.

Previous investigations have indicated that a single dose pharmaco-EEG may predict the outcome of 4-7 weeks of tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA) treatment in dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). This open trial study further examined the relationship of quantitative EEG in relation to treatment response by assessing 24 probable DAT patients at baseline, 2 h after their first oral dose (30 mg), and after 12 weeks of THA treatment. Compared to EEG norms, patients, in general, evidenced EEG slowing, as shown by excessive slow (theta) and diminished fast (alpha and beta) wave power as well as reduced mean frequencies which were present prior to treatment as well as at the end of treatment.

Carbohydrate craving by alcohol-dependent men during sobriety: relationship to nutrition and serotonergic function.

Background: Several studies report reduced serotonin (5HT) in alcohol-dependent subjects. Furthermore, alcohol increases 5HT in animals. Thus, alcohol dependence may be an attempt to self-medicate reduced 5HT.

Acute nicotine administration in Alzheimer's disease: an exploratory EEG study.

Previous findings of cognitive deficits and EEG slowing in Alzheimer's patients, together with independent reports of the performance enhancing and electrocortical activating properties of nicotine in normal adults, stimulated this study to examine the acute effects of nicotine on spectrum-analyzed EEG in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). Thirteen patients, 6 currently receiving cholinesterase inhibitor treatment and the remaining being medication free, were administered 2 mg of nicotine polacrilex under randomized, placebo-controlled conditions. Compared to age-regressed EEG norms, the pretreatment EEG spectrums of patients in general were characterized by excessive slow (delta and theta)-wave power, diminished fast (alpha and beta)-wave power and slow mean alpha and total band frequencies.

An examination of the sensitivity of the six-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression in a sample of patients suffering from major depressive disorder.

Objectives: To compare the sensitivity of the 6-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD6) with the more widely used 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD17) in patients suffering from major depressive disorder, with or without melancholia and/or dysthymic disorder. A secondary objective was to compare the sensitivity of the HRSD6 to the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS).

Design: Retrospective analysis of 4 clinical trials that tested antidepressant therapies.

Outcome and follow-up study of an adolescent psychiatric day treatment school program.

Objectives: To evaluate outcome and follow-up of 55 subjects who attended a classroom-based, adolescent psychiatric day treatment unit school program (ADTU) situated in a community high school by examining pre-post changes in emotional, behavioral, family, and academic functioning and to identify preadmission and family variables associated with outcome.

Method: Student-patients were assessed on clinical/academic variables at admission, discharge, and follow-up, using standardized assessment measures. Patient satisfaction was also evaluated.

Relationship between depression and cerebrovascular disease: conceptual issues.

Objectives: The association between cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and depression has been well described, but our understanding of various aspects of the relationship between these two disorders remains limited.

Method: Based on a selective literature review, this paper examines empirical evidence and discusses conceptual issues concerning hierarchical, interactive, and co-morbid relationships between CVD and depression.

Results: The concept of vascular depression minimizes the importance of the contribution of psychosocial factors.

Neurohormonal responses to D-fenfluramine in healthy elderly subjects. A placebo-controlled study.

Considering age-related changes in serotonin (5HT) function, we examined normative data of prolactin (PRL) and cortisol (CORT) responses to D-fenfluramine (D-FEN) in healthy elderly subjects. Twenty-three healthy male and female volunteers aged 60-86 participated in a single-blind, placebo-controlled, fixed-order, crossover-design challenge test. Two baseline PRL and CORT values and the responses of these hormones to 30 mg of oral D-FEN and placebo over a 4 h period were measured on two separate sessions.

Effects of CCK-4 infusion on the acoustic eye-blink startle and psychophysiological measures in healthy volunteers.

The acoustic startle response (ASR) and a range of psychophysiological parameters were evaluated during a continuous intravenous administration of cholecystokinin-tetrapeptide (CCK-4) in healthy volunteers. Subjects (n=28) were randomly assigned to double-blind infusion of either CCK-4 (0.5 mg/60 min) or placebo.

Treatment of primary dysthymia with group cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy: clinical symptoms and functional impairments.

Objective: This study assessed the efficacy of antidepressant treatment (sertraline) and group cognitive behavior therapy, alone or in combination, in primary dysthymia. The clinical features of dysthymia, as well as the functional impairments associated with the illness (e.g.

Norepinephrine transporter gene polymorphism is not associated with susceptibility to major depression.

The monoamine neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine have been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression, schizophrenia and mood disorders. The mechanism of action of certain antidepressant drugs, particularly the tricyclics and the newly available norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake inhibitors (NSRIs) drugs, venlafaxine and nefazodone, suggest that the norepinephrine transporter, which is a target for these antidepressant drugs, and its malfunction may be involved in major depression. In this association study, we tested the hypothesis that variants of the human norepinephrine transporter (NET) gene confer susceptibility to major depression.

Smoking history and aging-associated cognitive decline: An event-related brain potential study.

Although cigarette smoking has been associated with reduced risk for dementia of the Alzheimer type, relatively little is known about the central impact of a lengthy smoking history, particularly with respect to the cognitive effects, on the normal aging brain. Given that elderly adults have been reported to exhibit poor short-term memory in conditions requiring divided attention, this study utilized behavioral performance and event-related potential (ERP) measures to compare groups (n = 10/group) of young (18-39 years) and elderly (64-81 years) adult smokers and nonsmokers during a continuous visual word recognition task carried out alone and concurrently with an auditory (oddball) tone discrimination task. Young and elderly adult smokers had average smoking histories of 9.

The paraphilias, obsessive compulsive spectrum disorder, and the treatment of sexually deviant behaviour.

The paraphilias have been mostly ignored by psychiatry, even though psychiatrists are ideally suited to treat and diagnose these disorders by virtue of their medical and psychological training. The sexual deviations require an understanding of both biological and psychological causation and skills in psychological and pharmacological treatments. More recently the Supreme Court of the United States in Kansas v Hendricks (1997) upheld the constitutionality of the civil commitment of sexually deviant individuals for psychiatric treatment.

Patterns of DST positivity in remitted affective disorders.

Background: While the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) has been extensively used in cross-sectional observations of patients with major affective disorders, studies have tended to ignore the longitudinal application of the DST in patients stabilized on long-term prophylactic medication.

Methods: Monthly DST's were performed on 19 patients, 16 with bipolar disorder and 3 with recurrent major depression. All cases had an excellent response to lithium treatment, and family history positive for bipolar disorder.

EEG and the passive P300 in dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Quantitatively analyzed resting electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and P300 event-related potentials elicited with a passive tone sequence paradigm were examined in 30 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and 15 age matched controls. Background electrical rhythms of DAT patients evidenced slowing as shown by increased absolute and relative amplitudes in slow frequency bands and decreased amplitudes in fast frequency bands (relative to controls). Electrical slowing was more evident in patients with higher clinical ratings of global intellectual deterioration.

A neuroendocrine study of serotonin function in depressed stroke patients compared to non depressed stroke patients and healthy controls.

Objectives: We employed a neuroendocrine challenge paradigm to study serotonergic abnormalities associated with poststroke depression.

Method: Twelve depressed stroke patients (major depression N= 5, minor depression N = 7), 8 nondepressed stroke patients and 12 healthy volunteers completed a single-blind, placebo-controlled, challenge tests. Baseline cortisol (CORT) and prolactin (PRL) values, and these hormonal responses to 30 mg of oral d-FEN and placebo over a 4 hour period were measured in the three groups.

Circulating lymphocyte subsets in obsessive compulsive disorder, major depression and normal controls.

Background: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) shares several features with depressive illness (e.g., comorbidity, early escape from dexamethasone suppression, effectiveness of serotonergic pharmacotherapy).