Influence of fluoxetine on olanzapine pharmacokinetics.

Conventional antidepressant treatment fails for up to 30% of patients with major depression. When there are concomitant psychotic symptoms, response rates are even worse. Thus, subsequent treatment often includes combinations of antidepressants or augmentation with antipsychotic agents. Atypical antipsychotic agents such as olanzapine cause fewer extrapyramidal adverse effects than conventional antipsychotics; for that reason, they are an advantageous augmentation strategy for treatment-resistant and psychotic depression. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential for pharmacokinetic interaction between olanzapine and fluoxetine, a popular antidepressant that is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. The pharmacokinetics of 3 identical single therapeutic doses of olanzapine (5 mg) were determined in 15 healthy nonsmoking volunteers. The first dose of olanzapine was taken alone, the second given after a single oral dose of fluoxetine (60 mg), and the third given after 8 days of treatment with fluoxetine 60 mg, qd. Olanzapine mean Cmax was slightly higher (by about 18%) and mean CL/F was slightly lower (by about 15%) when olanzapine was coadministered with fluoxetine in single or multiple doses. Olanzapine mean t((1/2)) and median t(max) did not change. Although the pharmacokinetic effects of fluoxetine on olanzapine were statistically significant, the effects were small and are unlikely to modify olanzapine's safety profile. The mechanism of influence is consistent with an inhibition of CYP2D6, which is known to control a minor pathway of olanzapine metabolism.Clinical TrialJournal ArticleScopus ID 52449095078info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Harmonia axyridis implicated in native European ladybird declines

Rates of global extinction are orders of magnitude higher than historical estimates and show no sign of slowing. The Convention on Biological Diversity and the 10th Conference of the Parties (Nagoya in 2010), identified invasive alien species (IAS) as one of five major pressures driving biodiversity loss, and ultimately extinction of species. However, there are few examples of causal relationships between IAS and species declines. IAS afford a unique opportunity to accurately assess threats to biodiversity because the time at which an IAS arrives within an ecosystem is often known, unlike other drivers of change. We examined trends in distribution of native ladybirds from large-scale and long-term annual citizen-science surveys before and after the arrival of the predatory harlequin (or Asian) ladybird Harmonia axyridis, an IAS that is rapidly expanding across North America and Europe. We report rapid, dramatic and ongoing declines in the distribution of formerly common and widespread native ladybirds in direct response to the arrival of H. axyridis in Belgium and Britain. The dramatic decline of A. bipunctata over the five years following the arrival of H. axyridis is of particular note. Trends in ladybird abundance revealed similar patterns of declines in ladybirds across Belgium, Britain and Switzerland. Together, these parallel analyses show H. axyridis to be displacing native ladybirds with a high niche overlap, probably through predation and competition. Such rapid biotic homogenisation at the continental scale could impact on the resilience of ecosystems and severely diminish the services they deliver

Influence of fluoxetine on olanzapine pharmacokinetics

Conventional antidepressant treatment fails for up to 30% of patients with major depression. When there are concomitant psychotic symptoms, response rates are even worse. Thus, subsequent treatment often includes combinations of antidepressants or augmentation with antipsychotic agents. Atypical antipsychotic agents such as olanzapine cause fewer extrapyramidal adverse effects than conventional antipsychotics; for that reason, they are an advantageous augmentation strategy for treatment-resistant and psychotic depression. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential for pharmacokinetic interaction between olanzapine and fluoxetine, a popular antidepressant that is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. The pharmacokinetics of 3 identical single therapeutic doses of olanzapine (5 mg) were determined in 15 healthy nonsmoking volunteers. The first dose of olanzapine was taken alone, the second given after a single oral dose of fluoxetine (60 mg), and the third given after 8 days of treatment with fluoxetine 60 mg, qd. Olanzapine mean Cmax was slightly higher (by about 18%) and mean CL/F was slightly lower (by about 15%) when olanzapine was coadministered with fluoxetine in single or multiple doses. Olanzapine mean t1/2 and median tmax did not change. Although the pharmacokinetic effects of fluoxetine on olanzapine were statistically significant, the effects were small and are unlikely to modify olanzapines safety profile. The mechanism of influence is consistent with an inhibition of CYP2D6, which is known to control a minor pathway of olanzapine metabolism

Harmonia axyridis implicated in native European ladybird declines

Rates of global extinction are accelerating and show no sign of slowing (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). Invasive alien species (IAS) are recognised as major drivers of biodiversity loss (Winter et al., 2009). IAS afford a unique opportunity to accurately assess threats to biodiversity because the time at which an IAS arrives within an ecosystem is often known, unlike other drivers of change. However, few causal relationships between IAS and species declines have been documented. We used data collated through extensive citizen-driven field surveys in Belgium and Britain spanning decades, as well as intensive monitoring by scientists in Belgium, Britain and Switzerland. The fine-scale data collection, replicated in time (over decades and including detailed observations before and after the arrival of an IAS) and with extensive coverage in three European countries, combined with powerful modern mixed-modelling (statistical) techniques, provided a uniquely rigorous test of the impacts of an IAS on biodiversity. We report rapid, dramatic and ongoing declines in the distribution of formerly common and widespread native ladybirds in Belgium and Britain following the arrival of Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), a globally rapidly expanding IAS (Roy et al., 2012). For example, the two-spot ladybird, Adalia bipunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), declined in both Belgium and Britain over five years after the arrival of H. axyridis