[The psyche of the aging man]. / Die Psyche des alternden Mannes.

The process of ageing is a very complex phenomenon which takes place on an individual basis. Therefore factors such as gender, personality, private and professional circumstances, state of health, level of activity, financial means, attitude towards and plans for the future play an important role. These factors determine--even to a larger extent than the biological process--whether ageing turns out to be a successful experience which enhances the feeling of being satisfied with one's life. All those, who professionally deal with men's health and the male process of ageing, should bear in mind that psychosocial aspects have to be an undisputable part of every conception of illness and therefore also of any treatment offered. Thus our medical attention is not only centred an adequate somatic therapy but leads to a global understanding of the concept of health for an advanced age.

Propofol and methohexital as anesthetic agents for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): a comparison of seizure-quality measures and vital signs.

In a randomized crossover study, the influence of the anesthetics methohexital and propofol on EEG seizure parameters, seizure-quality measures, vital signs, and oxygen saturation (SpO2) and end-tidal carbon dioxide tension (ETCO2) was investigated; 146 treatments of 31 patients were analyzed. Significant differences were observed between agents for mean postictal pulse and blood pressure values. With methohexital, there was a clear postictal increase of mean blood pressure from 126/78 mm Hg to 161/102 mm Hg, whereas there was no increase with propofol (p = 0.00), and with methohexital, a postictal increase of the mean pulse rate from 81 to 90 beats/min and a slight decrease with propofol (79 to 78 beats/min). There were no differences in the SpO2 and ETCO2. The mean seizure duration for unilateral treatments was significantly longer with methohexital (52.7 s) compared with propofol (34.1 s; p = 0.000), but there was no difference for the seizure-quality measures: postictal suppression index (propofol 79.7%, methohexital 77.4%) and mean integrated amplitude (30.2/31.8) were the same for both anesthetic agents. The results show that differences in seizure duration are unrelated to seizure-quality measures.