Dr Philip G. Winkelaar raises the issue of drug diversion by the father of a child being prescribed methylphenidate. He correctly advises that assessment of the child’s condition is one method of confirming proper use of the medication. A more reliable method would be to randomly test the child’s urine, with parental consent, for the presence of methylphenidate. Absence of the drug in the child...

This article analyzes appropriate public policies for enhancement use of two most important stimulant drugs: Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts). The author argues that appropriate regulation of cognition enhancement drugs cannot be a result of a general discussion on cognitive enhancements as such, but has to be made on a case-by-case basis. Starting from the recen...

Methylphenidate is a centrally acting sympathomimetic used for the treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents and for narcolepsy in adults. Despite the growing use among adult women, no reliable data on the prevalence of use during pregnancy have been published, and safety during pregnancy has not been established. We systematically reviewed available data...

Transdermal technology is currently approved in the US for the administration of more than 20 medications. This current review describes the clinical research pertaining to the use of a methylphenidate patch in the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents. PubMed searches were conducted using the search term 'methylphenidate transdermal system', a...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate a 3-week, randomized, double-blind, methylphenidate placebo-controlled trial (MPT) in routine practice for children with attention-deficit disorder. PATIENTS AND METHODS School-aged children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria) who enrolled an "N of 1" trial at a pediatric tertiary ...

Throughout this decade, there has been significant research into pharmacotherapies for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This article considers the efficacy and safety of five of the more novel long-acting pharmacological treatments recently approved by the FDA for marketing in the US for paediatric ADHD, along with an alpha(2)-adrenoceptor agonist in preparation. Reviewed treatm...

Gainetdinov et al. (1) reported that in dopamine transporter (DAT) knockout (KO) mice, which have elevated dopamine (DA) tone and are hyperactive, both psychostimulants and drugs that increase serotonin concentration in the brain decreased locomotor activity. They therefore suggested that the calming effects of psychostimulants in the DAT-KO mice are due to their ability to increase serotonin c...

Methylphenidate, a psychomotor stimulant with a weak sympathomimetic action, completely suppresses the muscular spasticity and tremor which may occur during the recovery from halothane anaesthesia. It is suggested that the spasticity is due to the recovery of spinal reflex activity before the upper motor neurones have recovered from the inhibition of anaesthesia and that methylphenidate acts by...

Literature on the association of methylphenidate and obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) is sparse. This report discusses a case of a 14-year-old boy, who developed OCS (in the form of need for symmetry, obsessive doubts; compulsive symptoms included the need to order/arrange articles and repeated checking behavior), within 10 days of starting methylphenidate at the dose of 15 mg/day. Stoppage ...

BACKGROUND The ability to wait and to weigh evidence is critical to behavioral regulation. These behaviors are known as waiting and reflection impulsivity. In Study 1, we examined the effects of methylphenidate, a dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, on waiting and reflection impulsivity in healthy young individuals. In study 2, we assessed the role of learning from feedback in disor...