Season of birth in panic disorder Castrogiovanni, P; Iapichino, S; Pacchierotti, C ...
Neuropsychobiology
40, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Several studies have investigated the seasonal distribution of the birth dates of patients with psychiatric diseases. Our purpose was to verify if there is a specific distribution (by month) of birth ...dates in subjects with panic disorder (PD). The birth dates of 843 outpatients with a diagnosis of PD were compared with those of 1,181 subjects with other mental diseases. The birth dates of psychiatric patients were compared to those of the general Tuscane and Italian populations. The monthly distribution of birth in patients with PD (with and without comorbidity) peaked in September to December, while no relevant deviation in birth rate was observed in other mental diseases. Our results suggest a pathogenic role of birth seasonality in the development of PD.
Pain threshold is reduced in depression Marazziti, Donatella; Castrogiovanni, Paolo; Rossi, Alessandra ...
The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology,
07/1998, Volume:
1, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Pain and depression may share common neurochemical substrates,
therefore the study of pain sensation in
depression might be valuable in the investigation of the pathophysiology
of depression itself. ...In order to
investigate the sensation of pain in depression, we measured pain threshold
and sensory threshold by means
of a dental tester, comparing a group of depressed patients with healthy
volunteers. The results showed the
presence of a higher sensory threshold and pain threshold in patients than
in controls. This may be related to
a hyperfunction of the opiate system, which in turn might be primary or
secondary to a decreased modulatory
function of other neurotransmitters, in particular of serotonin, whose
abnormalities in depressive states are well-documented.
In 97 heroin addicts in a methadone maintenance treatment program (MMTP) with social services, urine screening for opioid metabolites identified groups with different treatment compliance. The ...positive correlation between compliance and methadone dosage confirms that MMTPs are effective in rehabilitating patients when 'adequate' dosage, i.e., capable of preventing relapse, is used.
INTRODUCTION: Long-term exposure to antidepressants is required to prevent relapses and recurrences in patients with recurrent major depression. Furthermore, a good pharmacological compliance is the ...key to successful long-term treatment. Since the early phases of a treatment influence long-term compliance and compliance is adversely affected by poorly tolerated treatments, efficacy and tolerability of paroxetine and amitryptiline over 12 weeks were compared as an introduction to the issue of long-term compliance to these two agents. METHOD: A 12-week, randomized, double-blind, doubledummy, parallel-group trial which involved 129 patients with recurrent major depression. RESULTS: Both paroxetine and amitriptyline were effective in controlling the symptoms of depression, as shown by the reduction in HAMD total score and CGI severity-of-illness score at endpoint compared to baseline. There was no statistically or clinically significant difference between the two treatments in terms of efficacy. However, marked numerical differences were noted in tolerability: the percentage of patients who reported treatment-emergent adverse experiences was greater in the amitriptyline group (40.0% vs 28.1%). This difference was mainly due to anticholinergic adverse events, which were six times more frequent with amitriptyline than with paroxetine. CONCLUSION: When compared with amitriptyline, paroxetine should allow patients with recurrent major depression to receive an equally effective treatment with a relatively lower incidence of adverse experiences.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A group of 33 sportsmen and 43 sportswomen and a group of 488 subjects (less than 30 years old) selected from a sample of 816 subjects representative of the general Italian population were compared ...using the factor scores and total scores on the Italian version of the Buss and Durkee questionnaire. Analysis suggests a positive correlation between aggressiveness and sport and are compatible with the hypothesis that sporting activities serve as a means of controlling aggressiveness of women and help the individual psychosocial development of men. The decision to practice sports would seem to be connected with the needs to conform to cultural stereotypes, which portray the man as aggressive and the women as gentle and submissive.
We evaluated platelet 3H-imipramine (3H-IMI) binding parameters (Bmax and Kd) at baseline (t0) and 2 months after (t1) treatment with fluoxetine in a group of outpatients affected by a major ...depressive episode, according to DSM-IIIR criteria. The possible relationships between biological parameters and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) total score were examined. The results confirmed previous reports that depressed patients possessed a lower density (Bmax) of platelet 3H-IMI binding sites than healthy controls, but the Bmax tended to decrease with fluoxetine. In addition, we observed a negative correlation between Bmax values at t0 and the HRSD total scores at t1 indicating that the patients who responded better to fluoxetine were those with a lower Bmax at t0. Future studies will substantiate this preliminary observation on the possible usefulness of platelet 3H-IMI binding as a predictor of pharmacological response.
Use of fluoxetine in heroin addiction Maremmani, I; Castrogiovanni, P; Daini, L ...
British journal of psychiatry,
04/1992, Volume:
160, Issue:
4
Journal Article
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