Psychopharmacology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
A randomized, double-blind, duloxetine-referenced study comparing efficacy and tolerability of 2 fixed doses of vortioxetine in the acute treatment of adults with MDD.
Vortioxetine has reduced depressive symptoms in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) in multiple clinical trials. ⋯ ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01153009; www.clinicaltrials.gov/ .
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Comparative Study
Improved cognition without adverse effects: novel M1 muscarinic potentiator compares favorably to donepezil and xanomeline in rhesus monkey.
The standards of care for Alzheimer's disease, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil (Aricept®), are dose-limited due to adverse side-effects. These adverse events lead to significant patient non-compliance, constraining the dose and magnitude of efficacy that can be achieved. Non-selective muscarinic receptor orthosteric agonists such as Xanomeline have been shown to be effective in treating symptoms as well, but were also poorly tolerated. Therefore, there is an unmet medical need for a symptomatic treatment that improves symptoms and is better tolerated. ⋯ These data suggest M1 positive allosteric modulators have the potential to improve cognition in Alzheimer's disease with a greater therapeutic margin than the current standard of care, addressing an important unmet medical need.
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Treatment with positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) of the GABAB receptor (GABAB PAMs) inhibits several alcohol-motivated behaviors in rodents, including operant, oral alcohol self-administration. ⋯ GS39783 and rac-BHFF (a) reduced alcohol reinforcing properties when given repeatedly, with no development of tolerance, and (b) potentiated baclofen effect. Both sets of data possess translational interest, as they suggest potential effectiveness of GABAB PAMs under chronic treatment and selective potentiation of baclofen effect.
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Several studies provide evidence that nicotine alleviates the detrimental effects of distracting sensory stimuli. It is been suggested that nicotine may either act as a stimulus filter that prevents irrelevant stimuli entering awareness or by enhancing the attentional focus to relevant stimuli via a boost in processing capacity. ⋯ The findings suggest that nicotine acts primarily as a stimulus filter that prevents irrelevant stimuli from entering awareness in situations of high distractor interference.