59 research outputs found
Efficacy and safety of aripiprazole in the treatment of bipolar disorder: a systematic review
Abstract BACKGROUND: The current article is a systematic review concerning the efficacy and safety of aripiprazole in the treatment of bipolar disorder. METHODS: A systematic Medline and repositories search concerning the usefulness of aripiprazole in bipolar disorder was performed, with the combination of the words 'aripiprazole' and 'bipolar'. RESULTS: The search returned 184 articles and was last updated on 15 April 2009. An additional search included repositories of clinical trials and previous systematic reviews specifically in order to trace unpublished trials. There were seven placebo-controlled randomised controlled trials (RCTs), six with comparator studies and one with add-on studies. They assessed the usefulness of aripiprazole in acute mania, acute bipolar depression and during the maintenance phase in comparison to placebo, lithium or haloperidol. CONCLUSION: Aripiprazole appears effective for the treatment and prophylaxis against mania. The data on bipolar depression are so far negative, however there is a need for further study at lower dosages. The most frequent adverse effects are extrapyramidal signs and symptoms, especially akathisia, without any significant weight gain, hyperprolactinaemia or laboratory test changes
Nothing Lasts Forever: Environmental Discourses on the Collapse of Past Societies
The study of the collapse of past societies raises many questions for the theory and practice of archaeology. Interest in collapse extends as well into the natural sciences and environmental and sustainability policy. Despite a range of approaches to collapse, the predominant paradigm is environmental collapse, which I argue obscures recognition of the dynamic role of social processes that lie at the heart of human communities. These environmental discourses, together with confusion over terminology and the concepts of collapse, have created widespread aporia about collapse and resulted in the creation of mixed messages about complex historical and social processes
Hydrological Response of Desert Margins to Climatic Change: The Effect of Changing Surface Properties
Morphological Changes in an Acidophilic Bacterium Induced by Heavy Metals
The Acidiphilium strains inhabit acidic mine
regions where they are subjected to occasional environmental
stresses such as high and low temperatures,
exposure to various heavy metals, etc. Change in morphology
is one of the strategies that bacteria adopt to cope
with environmental stresses; however, no study on this
aspect has been reported in the case of Acidiphilium sp.
This work is an attempt using the acidophilic heterotrophic
bacterium Acidiphilium symbioticum H8. It was observed
that the maximum alterations in size occurred when the
bacterium was exposed to sub-inhibitory concentrations of
Cu and Cd. Loosely packed coccobacillus-type normal
cells formed characteristic chains of coccoidal lenticular
shape with constrictions at the junctions between them in
the presence of Cd; Cu induced transformation of cells to
become round shaped; Ni caused the cells to aggregate, but
Zn showed no effect. Respective metal depositions on the
cell surface were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy
equipped with energy dispersive X-ray analysis. Cell
bound Ca2+ ions were replaced by these metal ions and
measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
from the culture filtrate. Cell shape changed only after
the addition of sub-inhibitory concentrations of the metals,
but in growth inhibitory concentrations it was similar to the
normal cells
- …