BACKGROUND Tolerance towards the effects of benzodiazepines is observed in various animal and human studies. Therefore, it is assumed that patients who use benzodiazepines for a longer period of time need to increase their dose over time to experience the same effect. OBJECTIVE To observe whether long-term benzodiazepine users increase their dose over time. METHODS From the Dutch National I...

In benzodiazepine (BZ)-dependent animals, the effects of negative GABA(A) modulators at BZ sites are not clearly related to differences in negative efficacy (i.e., inverse agonist activity). A flumazenil discriminative stimulus in diazepam (5.6 mg/kg/day)-treated rhesus monkeys was used to test the hypothesis that the effects of negative GABA(A) modulators at BZ sites do not vary as a function ...

Benzodiazepines are an important class of heterocyclic compounds in organic chemistry. They known for their diverse physicochemical and biological properties. Some benzodiazepine derivates well-known drugs with strong pharmacophoric moiety. An immense number pharmacological research on heterocycles derivatives have recently been conducted to explore its numerous potentials as better therapeutic...

BACKGROUND Benzodiazepine withdrawal programmes have never been experimentally compared with a nonintervention control condition. AIMS To evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of tapering off long-term benzodiazepine use in general practice, and to evaluate the value of additional group cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). METHOD A 3-month randomised, 3-month controlled trial was conducted ...

There are well-recognised harms from long-term use of benzodiazepines. These include dependency, cognitive decline and falls. It is important to prevent and recognise benzodiazepine dependence. A thorough risk assessment guides optimal management and the necessity for referral. The management of dependence involves either gradual benzodiazepine withdrawal or maintenance treatment. Prescribing i...

BACKGROUND French general practitioners (GPs) were enrolled in a new payment system in January 2012. As part of a national agreement with the French National Ministry of Health, GPs were asked to decrease the proportion of patients who continued their benzodiazepine treatment 12 weeks after its initiation and to decrease the proportion of patients older than 65 who were prescribed long half-lif...

TO THE EDITOR Catatonia is a well known psychomotor disturbance, commonly associated with mood disorders followed by schizophrenia; mutism being the most common symptom. Patients with catatonia often respond to high dose of benzodiazepine or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT); however, the combination of benzodiazepine and ECT is also reported to be safe and effective in patients of catatonia. A 2...

Introduction: Searching for new compounds with anti-anxiety activity resulting from the combination of privileged scaffolds is a promising direction in medicinal chemistry and development drugs. Anxiolytic potential cytotoxic properties previously synthesized molecules, containing fragments 2,3-benzodiazepine 1,2,4-triazole – 6-(4-methoxyphenyl)-7H-[1,2,4]triazolo[3,4-A][2,3]benzodiazepines und...