The width of the therapeutic window determines the clinical
significance of the plasma level changes associated with smoking
and caffeine intake. Compared with olanzapine, clozapine has a
much narrower therapeutic window. Several of clozapine’s side effects
are dose related: plasma levels higher than 1,000 ng per milliliter
have been associated with toxicity, including seizure risk and severe
sedation. …
The study has several implications. One, it’s more evidence that the atypicals,
once considered vastly superior to first-generation antipsychotics because of a
“favorable” side-effect profile, may not be that much better, just different.
Rather than risking tardive dyskinesia and akathisia as patients using first-gen
antipsychotics are, patients on atypicals risk major weight gain and metabolic
changes. …
Ray’s last forced electroshock was on USA tax day, 15 April 2009.
By
coincidence the 15th of April was also the date of the very first
forced
electroshock, back in 1938 in Italy, when the subject cried out:
“Non una
seconda! Mortifierel” which means in Italian, “Not another!
It’s deadly!” …
Previous research suggests that traditional cardiovascular risk factors may be
independent predictors of dementia, but this evidence is counterbalanced by
research findings that controlling chronic illness, such as maintenance of
normal blood pressure levels among older adults with hypertension, fails to
reduce the risk for dementia. The current study examines a large cohort of
adults followed up for more than a decade to better understand the relationship
between cardiovascular risk factors and the incidence of dementia. …
An association between neuropsychiatric or neurological disorders (e.g.
‘subacute combined degeneration of the cord’) and vitamin Bsize=2>12 (cobalamin) deficiency has been recognised since
pernicious anaemia was first described in 1849 …
MindFreedom International announced that its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
is being revitalized. The Board played a crucial role in the success of
MindFreedoms Fast for Freedom hunger strike in August, 2003.
Biological psychiatry involves examining the role of how the brain functions
in the production of psychiatric disorders. It could be chemical (such as in
depression), anatomical (such as in schizophrenia or brain trauma), or
genetic.
Those things are important in neuropsychiatry too, but biological psychiatry
does not focus on the treatment of those individuals with neurologic disorders.
Neuropsychiatry does.
Since depression can be a terminal illness, why would you want to take a drug
that would actually increase your risk of killing yourself or someone else? …
“Taken together with similar data that shows its importance in reducing
arthritis, osteoporotic fractures, as well as heart disease and some cancers,
this underscores the importance of vitamin D for humans and why evolution gave
us a liking for the sun. …
A three-second burst of 140 volts blasts through Sandford’s brain.
While
he’s totally unconscious, Sandford’s torso jerks up and down.
His arms and
legs writhe only slightly, steadied by muscle relaxants
coursing through his
veins. Sandford’s toes curl downward, as if his
feet were trying ball up
into fists. He’s experiencing a grand mal
seizure. …