A New Strategy for Antidepressant Prescription

From our research and literature search we propose an understanding of the mechanism of action of antidepressants treatments (ADTs) that should lead to increase efficacy and tolerance. We understand that ADTs promote synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis. This promotion is linked with stimulation of dopaminergic receptors. Previous evidence shows that all ADTs (chemical, electroconvulsive therapy, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, sleep deprivation) increase at least one monoamine neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT), noradrenaline (NA) or dopamine (DA); this article focuses on DA release or turn-over in the frontal cortex. DA increased dopaminergic activation promotes synaptic plasticity with an inverted U shape dose–response curve. Specific interaction between DA and glutamate is mediated by D1 receptor subtypes and Glutamate (NMDA) receptors with neurotrophic factors likely to play a modulatory role. With the understanding that all ADTs have a common, final, DA-ergic stimulation that promotes synaptic plasticity we can predict that (1) AD efficiency is related to the compound strength for inducing DA-ergic stimulation. (2) ADT efficiency presents a therapeutic window that coincides with the inverted U shape DA response curve. (3) ADT delay of action is related to a “synaptogenesis and neurogenesis delay of action.” (4) The minimum efficient dose can be found by starting at a low dosage and increasing up to the patient response. (5) An increased tolerance requires a concomitant prescription of a few ADTs, with different or opposite adverse effects, at a very low dose. (6) ADTs could improve all diseases with cognitive impairments and synaptic depression by increasing synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis

Disability in Long-Term Care Residents Explained by Prevalent Geriatric Syndromes, Not Long-Term Care Home Characteristics: A Cross-Sectional Study

Self-care disability is dependence on others to conduct activities of daily living, such as bathing, eating and dressing. Among long-term care residents, self-care disability lowers quality of life and increases health care costs. Understanding the correlates of self-care disability in this population is critical to guide clinical care and ongoing research in Geriatrics. This study examines which resident geriatric syndromes and chronic conditions are associated with residents’ self-care disability and whether these relationships vary across strata of age, sex and cognitive status. It also describes the proportion of variance in residents’ self-care disability that is explained by residents’ geriatric syndromes versus long-term care home characteristics

A simple method for measuring plasma power in rf-GDOES instruments

A method for determining plasma power in rf-GDOES is presented. It is based on an effective resistance located in the inductive coil of the impedance matching. The amount of electrical power consumed in the matching system depends on the capacitive current flowing through the matching system, which depends on the applied voltage, the stray capacity, and the frequency. This correction method is experimentally evaluated and compared with the integral plasma power calculatio

POVERTY AND SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: THE NIGERIA EXPERIENCE

The paper argues that poverty has remained a major obstacle to sustainable development and democracy in the global South. With the return to civil rule in 1999 in Nigeria, hopes were high that the return to democracy will stem the decline of the economy and provide the citizenry with the social dividends of democracy. More than a decade after the economy is still on it’s kneels with more than half of the population living on less than one dollar per day. With the use of dependency theory the paper posited that unless the people are empowered to make choices and participate in making decisions that affects their lives sustainable socio-economic development will remain elusive in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular

Determinants of institutional delivery among young married women in Nepal: Evidence from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, 2011

OBJECTIVES: To identify the determinants of institutional delivery among young married women in Nepal. DESIGN: Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data sets 2011 were analysed. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed using a subset of 1662 ever-married young women (aged 15-24 years). OUTCOME MEASURE: Place of delivery. RESULTS: The rate of institutional delivery among young married women was 46%, which is higher than the national average (35%) among all women of reproductive age. Young women who had more than four antenatal care (ANC) visits were three times more likely to deliver in a health institution compared with women who had no antenatal care visit (OR: 3.05; 95% CI: 2.40 to 3.87). The probability of delivering in an institution was 69% higher among young urban women than among young women who lived in rural areas. Young women who had secondary or above secondary level education were 1.63 times more likely to choose institutional delivery than young women who had no formal education (OR: 1.626; 95% CI: 1.171 to 2.258). Lower use of a health institution for delivery was also observed among poor young women. Results showed that wealthy young women were 2.12 times more likely to deliver their child in an institution compared with poor young women (OR: 2.107; 95% CI: 1.53 to 2.898). Other factors such as the age of the young woman, religion, ethnicity, and ecological zone were also associated with institutional delivery. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal health programs should be designed to encourage young women to receive adequate ANC (at least four visits). Moreover, health programs should target poor, less educated, rural, young women who live in mountain regions, are of Janajati ethnicity and have at least one child as such women are less likely to choose institutional delivery in Nepal

The prefrontal cortex as a key target of the maladaptive response to stress

Research on the detrimental effects of stress in the brain has mainly focused on the hippocampus. Because prefrontal cortex (PFC) dysfunction characterizes many stress-related disorders, we here analyzed the impact of chronic stress in rats on the integrity of the hippocampal-PFC pathway, monitored by behavioral and electrophysiological function and morphological assessment. We show that chronic stress impairs synaptic plasticity by reducing LTP induction in the hippocampal-PFC connection; in addition, it induces selective atrophy within the PFC and severely disrupts working memory and behavioral flexibility, two functions that depend on PFC integrity. We also demonstrate that short periods of stress exposure induce spatial reference memory deficits before affecting PFC-dependent tasks, thus suggesting that the impairment of synaptic plasticity within the hippocampus-to-PFC connection is of relevance to the stress-induced PFC dysfunction. These findings evidence a fundamental role of the PFC in maladaptive responses to stress and identify this area as a target for intervention in stress-related disorders.This work was supported in part by an Acções Integradas Luso-Alemãs grant from the German Academic Exchange Service and the Portuguese Rectors’ Conference, and Mobility Grant 183/2006 from the Institut National de la Santé et de la RechercheMédicale andthe Cabinetfor International Relations ofthe PortugueseMinistry of Science and Higher Education