Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica
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Acta Psychiatr Scand · Jun 1984
Comparative StudySeizure duration in unilateral electroconvulsive therapy. A comparison of the anaesthetic agents etomidate and Althesin with methohexitone.
Seizure duration in unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was recorded by means of EEG in an intraindividual comparison of etomidate (dissolved in a soy-bean oil emulsion) 0.3 mg/kg and Althesin (alphaxalone 9 mg and alphadolone 3 mg/ml) 0.6 mg/kg with methohexitone 1 mg/kg body weight. The patients were intubated and alveolar CO2- and O2-concentrations kept constant at 3% (3 kPa) and 92% (92 kPa) respectively. ⋯ Local pain on injection and a subsequent superficial thrombophlebitis occurred frequently with methohexitone. This did not occur with etomidate or Althesin.
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Acta Psychiatr Scand · Feb 1984
Seizure duration in unilateral electroconvulsive therapy. The effect of hypocapnia induced by hyperventilation and the effect of ventilation with oxygen.
Seizure duration in unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was recorded by means of EEG in an intraindividual comparison under different alveolar O2- and CO2-concentrations. Hypocapnia induced by hyperventilation to an alveolar CO2-concentration of 2% (2 kPa) resulted in a highly significant increase in seizure duration compared to a normal CO2 of 5%, when the alveolar O2-concentration was constant at 92%. Oxygen ventilation to an alveolar O2-concentration of 92% gave no significant increase in seizure duration compared to 15%, obtained by ventilation with air, when the CO2-concentration was kept constant at 5%. Seizure duration seems to augment progressively with decreasing alveolar CO2-concentration.
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Acta Psychiatr Scand · Aug 1982
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialA double blind comparison of lofepramine, imipramine and placebo in patients with depression.
The results of double blind trial in which 139 patients with primary depression were randomly assigned to either lofepramine (46), imipramine (48), or placebo (45) are discussed. After treatment with either active drug, lofepramine or imipramine, the clinical outcome was significantly greater than with placebo. ⋯ With regard to reported side effects, however, a statistically significant lower number of severe and/or moderate side effects were reported for the lofepramine group than for the imipramine group. In particular, for severe and/or moderate occurrences of dry mouth, the statistically significant lower incidence in favor of lofepramine is by almost a factor of 3 (8 lofepramine vs 21 imipramine patients).
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The hypothesis that puerperal affective psychosis (PAP) is genetically related to manic-depressive disorder was tested by comparing the morbidity risks for puerperal and non-puerperal affective disorders in the relatives of 17 PAP subjects and 20 parous manic-depressives (PMD) with no history of puerperal illness. The risk for affective disorder (mania, depression or suicide) and puerperal affective disorder was the same in the two groups of relatives and the test hypothesis was accepted, although the sample size was small. The frequencies of HLA-A, B and C locus antigens, nine blood group antigens and 10 red blood cell isoenzymes were not significantly different in the PAP and PMD subjects, showing that in this series genetic markers do not distinguish puerperal from non-puerperal affective psychoses.
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Acta Psychiatr Scand · Oct 1980
Stepwise regression analysis of an intensive 1-year study of delirium tremens.
An intensive 1-year study was carried out on 41 male patients, mean age 49, mean hospitalization time 49 days, admitted to a special ward of the Beckomberga Hospital with the diagnosis of delirium tremens and 50 concomitant somatic and psychiatric diagnoses (1--9 per capita), and given a standardized treatment. The mean duration of delirium tremens after admission was 2 days; 76% recovered within 48 h. The duration after admission was positively correlated to age, number of previous delirium tremens, negatively correlated to B-haemoglobin and B-haematocrit for laboratory data obtained within the first 24 h and was positively correlated to blood sugar and S-creatinine on data taken within 40 h (Pearson correlation matrix). ⋯ In view of this knowledge, it is reasonable to assume that the lack of statistical significance is due to the small sample size rather than to the alternative that no explanation is offered by S-magnesium. Furthermore, B-haemoglobin, S-potassium, S-ASAT, and S-ALAT, known to be characteristically altered in delirium tremens, were found on forcing (a variant of SWR) to be of secondary importance to S-magnesium as explaining factors, whereas blood sugar and S-creatinine derived part of their explaining power from S-magnesium. In conclusion, extensive use of SWR analysis based on 46 potential explaining variables points to serum magnesium concentration as the most important factor in predicting the duration of delirium tremens.