Using Oral and Intranasal Dosage Forms of Ketamine for Managing Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Review of the Literature

A lack of effective treatment for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) has led to the evaluation of ketamine, an N-methyl- D-aspartate receptor antagonist. Despite the demonstrated short-term benefits of using intravenous (IV) ketamine, side effects and the difficulty in administering ketamine outside the health-care setting has raised interest in alternative dosage forms. Research articles evaluating oral or intranasal (IN) ketamine were retrieved from the PubMed database. Patients who received oral or IN ketamine experienced a similar reduction in depressive symptoms within 24 hours of treatment and fewer side effects compared to patients who received IV ketamine. Novel administration forms of ketamine provide an opportunity for patients with TRD to achieve remission with fewer adverse side effects. Future studies should continue to evaluate these administration strategies in the hope of promoting ketamine’s use outside health-care settings and for longer time periods

Computational Experience with an M-Salesman Traveling Salesman Algorithm

A formulation of the traveling salesman problem with more than one salesman is offered. The particular formulation has computational advantages over other formulations. Experience is obtained with an exact branch and bound algorithm employing both upper and lower bounds (mean run time for 55 city problems is one minute). Due to the special formulation, certain subtours may satisfy the constraints, thus reducing the search. A very good initial tour and upper bound are employed. The determination of these as well as the pathology of the formulation and the algorithm are discussed. No increase in computation time over the one-salesman case is experienced.