BACKGROUND Rapid cycling among patients with bipolar affective disorders is important because of its implications for long-term prognosis and for the use of antidepressants. To our knowledge, no prospective study has, as yet, described the course of this phenomenon beyond 5 years. METHODS From 345 patients with bipolar I or bipolar II disorder followed up for a mean (SD) of 13.7 (6.1) years a...

Availability of drugs with high lethality has been hypothesized to increase the risk of self-poisoning suicides. A literature search concerning deliberate self-poisoning and the effect of restricting access to drugs was conducted, and the effect of restrictions in availability of barbiturates, tricyclic antidepressants, dextropropoxyphene, and weak analgesics was reviewed. The correlations betw...

OBJECTIVE This study reviewed the evidence from randomized, controlled trials on the efficacy and safety of antidepressants in the short-term treatment of bipolar depression. METHOD The authors performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials. They searched the Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety, and Neurosis Controlled Trials Register, incorporating re...

PURPOSE Several studies have found that depression and the use of antidepressant medications are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. We assessed the association between the use of antidepressant drugs and myocardial infarction, and whether that association differs between the tricyclic and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) classes of medication. PARTICIPAN...

BACKGROUND Antidepressant prescribing has been increasing in England. Studies in other countries suggest that while this may be associated with reduced suicide rates, it may also be associated with increased fatal poisoning from antidepressant drugs. We therefore conducted an ecological study to assess the association between prescription rates for antidepressants and suicide or fatal antidepre...

The cardiotoxicity of the tricyclic antidepressants amitriptyline and doxepin were compared in an animal with acute overdose. The mean repetitive extrasystole threshold (RET) decreased 71.5% with amitriptyline and 27.5% with doxepin (mean blood levels 933 ng/ml and 1889 ng/ml). Physostigmine reversed these effects. Sodium bicarbonate had a variable effect on the lowered RET. The toxic arrhythmo...

Die Starke-Perfekte-Graphen-Vermutung, ein seit 40 Jahren offenes und herausragendes Problem der Graphentheorie, scheint gelöst zu sein. Nach über zwei Jahren intensiver Forschung kündigten Ende Mai 2002 Maria Chudnovsky (Princeton), Neil Robertson (Ohio State), Paul Seymour (Princeton) und Robin Thomas (Georgia Tech) einen Beweis der Vermutung an. Das noch unveröffentlichte Manuskript soll ca....