Acid folic supplementation in major depressive disorder treatment: A double-blind randomized clinical trial

Background: Augmentation therapy involves the addition of a second drug, such as mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and nutritional supplements, to a primary antidepressant treatment. Studies on adding folic acid to a preexisting antidepressive regimen as a form of augmentation therapy have had different and even controversial results. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the effects that adding folic acid to a pharmaceutical diet with citalopram has on the treatment of depression. Methods: This double-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted in Kashan, Iran on 90 patients who suffered from depression. Patients were allocated to study groups using random permuted blocks. One group (n=45) received a dosage of 20 mg citalopram in combination with 2.5mgfolic acid on a daily basis, and the other group (n=45) received the same daily dose of citalopram with a placebo for eight weeks. To measure the severity of each patient’s depression, the Beck depression inventory II (BDI-II) questionnaire was used prior to starting the antidepressant therapy and was repeated four, six, and eight weeks after beginning the treatment. A reduction from the original BDI-II scores that was greater than 50% was considered to be a response to treatment. Results: The average depression scores before treatment were 30.11±10.41 in the intervention group and 31.24±10.26 in the control group (P=0.6). At the end of the study, the depression scores in the intervention and the control groups were 13.31±6.57 and 19.11±8.59, respectively (P<0.001). A reduction in the average depression scores of the intervention group was statistically significant after six and eight weeks (P=0.01 and P=0.001, respectively). At the end of the study, the frequency of response to treatment was 73.3% in the intervention group and 40.0% in the control group (P<0.001). Conclusions: Folic acid, when used as a complementary therapy, can improve a patient’s response to antidepressants used for the treatment of major depression

The impact of traffic noise on mental performance considering complexity of activities

Introduction: Traffic noise has been thought as a major environmental stress in modern societies, and the cause of physiological and psychological disorders according to the World Health Organization. Moreover, traffic noise can interfere with mental performance. However, there is little coherent evidence showing the effect of traffic noise on individuals’ performance. Hence, this paper aimed to address the role of traffic noise in participants’ mental performance considering the complexity of the activity.   Material and methods: Thirty-five master students studying in Tehran University of Medical Science were recruited for this study. Traffic noise was recorded by tape recorder and the traffic noise level was simultaneously measured by sound meter. Then, participants had been separately sitting in silent compared to traffic noise environment before they performed the tests including “S3”-type Choice Reaction Time (CRT) test as a simple activity and “S1”-type Determine Test (DT) as a complex activity taken from “Vienna Test System” software package.   Results: The comparison between scores resulted from DT and CRT tests ,before and after exposure to traffic noise under simple activity conditions, showed that there was little increase in mean score of reaction time (P-value=0.47) and motor time (P-value=0.49), showing no statistically significant changes in these variables. On the contrary, following exposure to traffic noise, the DT test under complex activity condition revealed that there is a clear decreasing trend in median reaction time(P=0.001), number of stimuli (P=0.014) and number of reactions (p=0.009) in participants, and also, no significant differences were found in correct responses (P=0.091) and incorrect responses (P=0.073).   Conclusion: One of the most significant findings emerged from this study is that traffic noise seems to have no effect on the mentioned variables under simple activity condition. However, traffic noise has devastating effects on median reaction time, number of appeared stimuli and reactions under complex activity condition

The impact of traffic noise on mental performance considering complexity of activities

Introduction: Traffic noise has been thought as a major environmental stress in modern societies, and the cause of physiological and psychological disorders according to the World Health Organization. Moreover, traffic noise can interfere with mental performance. However, there is little coherent evidence showing the effect of traffic noise on individuals' performance. Hence, this paper aimed to address the role of traffic noise in participants' mental performance considering the complexity of the activity. Material and Method: Thirty-five master students studying in Tehran University of Medical Science were recruited for this study. Traffic noise was recorded by tape recorder and the traffic noise level was simultaneously measured by sound meter. Then, participants had been separately sitting in silent compared to traffic noise environment before they performed the tests including "S3"-type Choice Reaction Time (CRT) test as a simple activity and "S1"-type Determine Test (DT) as a complex activity taken from "Vienna Test System" software package. Result: The comparison between scores resulted from DT and CRT tests, before and after exposure to traffic noise under simple activity conditions, showed that there was little increase in mean score of reaction time (P-value=0.47) and motor time (P-value=0.49), showing no statistically significant changes in these variables. On the contrary, following exposure to traffic noise, the DT test under complex activity condition revealed that there is a clear decreasing trend in median reaction time(P=0.001), number of stimuli (P=0.014) and number of reactions (p=0.009) in participants, and also, no significant differences were found in correct responses (P=0.091) and incorrect responses (P=0.073). Conclusion: According to results of this study, use of principles of ergonomic design of signs and training are necessary One of the most significant findings emerged from this study is that traffic noise seems to have no effect on the mentioned variables under simple activity condition. However, traffic noise has devastating effects on median reaction time, number of appeared stimuli and reactions under complex activity condition