One-year efficacy of a lifestyle behavioural intervention on physical and mental health in people with severe mental disorders: results from a randomized controlled trial.

This multicentric randomized controlled trial (RCT), carried out in six Italian University mental health sites, aims to test the efficacy of a six-month psychosocial intervention (LYFESTYLE) on Body Mass Index (BMI), body weight, waist circumference, fasting glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, Framingham and HOmeostasis Model Assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) indexes in patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Moreover, the efficacy of the intervention has also been tested on several other physical and mental health domains. Patients were randomly allocated to receive the six-month experimental intervention (LIFESTYLE) or a behavioural control intervention. All enrolled patients were assessed at baseline and after one year. We recruited 401 patients (206 in the experimental and 195 in the control group) with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder (29.9%), bipolar disorder (43.3%), or major depression (26.9%). At one year, patients receiving the experimental intervention reported an improvement in body mass index, body weight, waist circumference, HOMA-IR index, anxiety and depressive symptoms and in quality of life. Our findings confirm the efficacy of the LIFESTYLE intervention in improving physical and mental health-related outcomes in patients with severe mental illnesses after one year.

Evaluation of reproterol's effectiveness in preventing exercise-induced bronchospasm in children.

The authors have evaluated the effectiveness of the protection of a new beta 2-adrenergic compound, reproterol, against broncho-constriction induced by physical exercise in a group of individuals of paediatric age sensitive to broncho-stimulation. This study has been carried out comparing reproterol with salbutamol, using placebo as a control, following a randomized single-blind crossover trial. The provocation test has been performed following the instructions of the Italian Society of Paediatrics. The drugs have been administered in the oral liquid form at the dose of 0.28 mg/kg and 0.1 mg/kg of reproterol and salbutamol, respectively. The two substances have shown a similar preventive effectiveness in controlling exercise-induced asthma up to 2 hours from administration with reproterol having a stronger action at the beginning of the observation.

[Chronotherapy of obesity. I. Effect of fenfluramine on the decrease of adipose mass in the obese, in relation to the time of administration]. / Cronoterapia dell'obesita. I. Effetto della fenfluramina sulla diminuzione della massa adiposa nell'obeso, in relazione all'ora di somministrazione.

In order to evaluate if a weight-reducing drug,-fenfluramine-(F.), administrated in different times of a day, provokes different rates of body weight reduction, it has been given in a group of obese patients according to 3 protocols: in the morning as a single dose of 80 mg. (Pr. M.); in the afternoon as a single dose of 80 mg. (Pr. A); and three times a day, at 08.00, 13.00 and 20.00 (Pr. T.T.). The administration of a single dose in the morning for 4 weeks provokes a higher decrease of body weight compared with the administration of the drug in the afternoon or three times a day for an equivalent period of time, (p less than 0.01; p less than 0,05). In addition the decrease in body weight appears significantly correlated with the decrease of adipose mass, obtained according to Hume and Weyers formulae. These preliminary results suggest to study the eating behaviour in order to observe if fenfluramine, which is known to affect the eating behaviour, changes its efficacy according to the time of administration and consequently its activity on body weight and adipose mass.

[Chronotherapy of obesity. II. Variations in eating behavior in the obese after fenfluramine treatment in relation to time of administration]. / Cronoterapia dell "obesita'. II. Variazioni del comportamento nell'assunzione del cibo in obesi sottoposti a trattamento con fenfluramina in relazione all'ora di somministrazione.

The administration of Fenfluramine (F.) in a single dose in the morning provokes a different effect on eating behavior (E.B.) in comparison with the administration of the same dose three times/day. It is observed a shorter duration of eating (p less than 001); a decrease of total kcalories ingested during the day, and hunger feeling. These results are reviewed on the basis of present knowledge on drug-kinetic and on previous work in our laboratory which documented higher decrease of body weight and adipose mass when the F. was administered in a single dose in the morning than in the afternoon or three times a day.