1,721,042 research outputs found
Infradian mood fluctuations during a Major Depressive episode
No full textWe investigated the predictability of infradian mood fluctuations during acute depressive episodes in patients affected by mood disorders. Previous findings showed that in a subgroup of patients the depressive symptomathology fluctuates with day-to-day changes which follow cyclical patterns (termed 'minicycles'). We applied time series analysis, by means of autocorrelation techniques, to time lagged serial recordings of perceived mood levels of 22 inpatients (13 Major Depressive Recurrent and 9 Bipolar Depressive Disorders). Five patients (22.7%) were shown to exhibit predictable cyclical patterns in their perceived symptomathology, ranging in length from 6 to 14 days. Our study confirms the existence and the predictability, in a subgroup of patients, of cyclical mood patterns. Preliminary evidence suggests that patients with minicycles receive more medication changes than patients without. and thus that cyclical mood fluctuations strongly interacts with both the clinical decision making process and the outcome of acute depressive episodes
Ongoing lithium treatment prevents relapse after total sleep deprivation
No full textForty bipolar depressed inpatients underwent three consecutive cycles of total sleep deprivation (TSD). At the beginning of the study, 20 patients were free of psychotropic drugs and 20 had been receiving Lithium medication for at least 6 months. Mood was rated on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression before and after TSD; perceived mood changes during treatment were evaluated with self-administered visual analog scales. Patients undergoing long-term lithium treatment showed a significantly better response to TSD as rated on both scales: 13 of 30 patients (rs. 2 of 20 patients without Lithium) showed a sustained response during a follow-up period of 3 months. This preliminary evidence of a positive interaction of TSD and long-term Lithium treatment could be explained by a synergistic effect of both treatments on brain serotonergic function, possibly via a desensitization of 5-hydroxytryptamine-1A inhibitory autoreceptors
Patterns of mood variation during antidepressant treatment
No full textPrevious findings showed that, ih a subgroup of patients administered heterogeneous antidepressant treatments, perceived mood levels during a major depressive episode fluctuate with day to day changes which follow cyclical patterns (termed "minicycles"). We investigated the predictability of infradian mood fluctuations during acute depressive episodes in patients standardly medicated with fluvoxamine. We applied time series analysis, by means of autocorrelation techniques, to time lagged serial recordings of perceived mood levels of 20 inpatients (13 Major Depression Recurrent, and 7 Bipolar Depressive Disorders). 5/20 patients exhibited predictable cyclical patterns in their perceived symptomathology, 8/20 exhibited an uneven, sawtooth pattern of progressive amelioration, and 7/20 showed an erratic pattern of unpredictable day-to-day variations. We confirmed the existence and the predictability of cyclical mood patterns in a subgroup of patients. The absence of a linear improvement in perceived mood did not worsen the final response to antidepressant therapy. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V
Sustained antidepressant effect of sleep deprivation combined with pindolol in bipolar depression - A placebo-controlled trial
No full textTotal sleep deprivation (TSD) shows powerful but transient clinical effects in patients affected by bipolar depression. Pindolol blocks the serotonergic 5-HT1A autoreceptor, thus improving the antidepressant effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. We evaluated the interaction of TSD and pindolol in the treatment of acute episodes of bipolar depression. Forty bipolar depressed inpatients were randomized to receive pindolol 7.5 mg/day or placebo for nine days in combination with three consecutive TSD cycles. Pindolol significantly improved the antidepressant effect of TSD, and prevented the short-term relapse after treatment. The response rate (HDRS scores <8) at the end of treatment was 15/20 for pindolol, and 3/20 for placebo. Coadministration of pindolol and TSD resulted in it complete response, which could be sustained for six months with lithium salts alone, in 65% of cases. This results suggest a major role for serotonergic transmission in the mechanism of action of TSD, and makes TSD treatment move effective in the treatment of bipolar depression. [Neuropsychopharmacology 20:380-385, 1999] (C) 1999 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Published by Elsevier Science Inc
Morning sunlight reduces length of hospitalization in bipolar depression
No full textBackground: Bright artificial light improves non-seasonal depression. Preliminary observations suggest that sunlight could share this effect. Methods: Length of hospitalization was recorded for a sample of 415 unipolar and 187 bipolar depressed inpatients, assigned to rooms with eastern (E) or western (W) windows, Results: Bipolar inpatients in E rooms (exposed to direct sunlight in the morning) had a mean 3.67-day shorter hospital stay than patients in W rooms. No effect was found in unipolar inpatients. Conclusions: Natural sunlight can be an underestimated and uncontrolled light therapy for bipolar depression. Limitations: This is a naturalistic retrospective observation, which needs to be confirmed by prospective studies. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
Dopamine agonist amineptine prevents the antidepressant effect of sleep deprivation
No full textIn a double-blind study, the effects of the interaction between the administration of amineptine versus placebo and repeated cycles of total sleep deprivation (TSD), which is thought to act through an enhancement in dopaminergic transmission, were analyzed. Twenty-two consecutively admitted patients with bipolar depression formed the study group. Repeated administrations of TSD significantly enhanced perceived mood levels in placebo-treated patients, while amineptine administration blocked the antidepressant action of TSD. Hypothesized changes in brain dopaminergic transmission attributable to amineptine pretreatment are discussed. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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