Electroconvulsive therapy improves antipsychotic and somnographic responses in adolescents with first-episode psychosis--a case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in pharmacotherapy-resistant neuropsychiatric conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ECT in adolescents with first-episode psychosis. METHOD: This case-control study was conducted in inpatients aged 13-20 years with first-episode psychosis. Every three similar age and same gender patients consecutively recruited were randomly allocated to control and ECT group at a ratio of 1:2, while they had antipsychotic treatment. ECT treatment was performed for 3 sessions per week with a maximum of 14 sessions. The endpoint was discharge from hospital. Clinical outcomes were measured using hospital stay days, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and response rate. Polysomnography (PSG) was conducted at baseline and at week 2. Safety and tolerability were also evaluated. RESULTS: Between March 2004 and November 2009, 112 eligible patients were allocated to control (n=38) and ECT (n=74) group. Additional ECT treatment significantly reduced hospital stay compared to controls (23.2±8.2 days versus 27.3±9.3 days, mean±SD, P=0.018). Survival analysis revealed that the ECT-treated group had a significantly higher cumulative response rate than controls (74.3% versus 50%, relative risk (RR)=1.961, P=0.001). Additional ECT also produced significantly greater improvement in sleep efficiency, rapid eye movement (REM) latency and density than control condition. The PSG improvement significantly correlated with reduction in scores on overall PANSS, positive symptoms, and general psychopathology. No patients discontinued ECT treatment regimen during hospital stay. The incidence of most adverse events was not different in the two groups, but ECT-treated group had more complaints of transient headache and dizziness than controls. CONCLUSIONS: ECT is an effective and safe intervention used in adolescents with first-episode psychosis. Its antipsychotic effects are associated with improved PSG variables. ECT can be considered as an early psychosis intervention.

Potential antiosteoporotic agents from plants: a comprehensive review.

Osteoporosis is a major health hazard and is a disease of old age; it is a silent epidemic affecting more than 200 million people worldwide in recent years. Based on a large number of chemical and pharmacological research many plants and their compounds have been shown to possess antiosteoporosis activity. This paper reviews the medicinal plants displaying antiosteoporosis properties including their origin, active constituents, and pharmacological data. The plants reported here are the ones which are commonly used in traditional medical systems and have demonstrated clinical effectiveness against osteoporosis. Although many plants have the potential to prevent and treat osteoporosis, so far, only a fraction of these plants have been thoroughly investigated for their physiological and pharmacological properties including their mechanism of action. An attempt should be made to highlight plant species with possible antiosteoporosis properties and they should be investigated further to help with future drug development for treating this disease.

Sertraline promotes hippocampus-derived neural stem cells differentiating into neurons but not glia and attenuates LPS-induced cellular damage.

Sertraline is one of the most commonly used antidepressants in clinic. Although it is well accepted that sertraline exerts its action through inhibition of the reuptake of serotonin at presynaptic site in the brain, its effect on the neural stem cells (NSCs) has not been well elucidated. In this study, we utilized NSCs separated from the hippocampus of fetal rat to investigate the effect of sertraline on the proliferation and differentiation of NSCs. The study demonstrated that sertraline had no effect on NSCs proliferation but it significantly promoted NSCs to differentiate into serotoninergic neurons other than glia cells. Furthermore, we found that sertraline protected NSCs against the lipopolysaccharide-induced cellular damage. These data indicate that sertraline can promote neurogenesis and protect the viability of neural stem cells.