Resistensi bakteri terhadap pestisida sintetik merupakan masalah yang sedang dihadapi baik di neg... more Resistensi bakteri terhadap pestisida sintetik merupakan masalah yang sedang dihadapi baik di negara berkembang maupun maju. Oleh karena itu dibutuhkan upaya untuk mengurangi masalah tersebut, salah satunya dengan penemuan biopestisida yang berasal dari bahan alam yakni tanaman kirinyuh (Chromolaena odorata (L) R.M King dan H. Robinson) Kirinyuh merupakan jenis gulma berdaun lebar yang memiliki adaptasi yang tinggi dan keberadaannya cukup melimpah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji potensi ekstrak gulma daun kirinyuh sebagai antibakteri terhadap fitopatogen Xanthomonas campestris serta mengetahui kandungan metabolit sekundernya. Ekstraksi metabolit sekunder daun gulma kirinyuh menggunakan metode maserasi dengan pelarut etanol dan n-heksana. Uji aktivitas antibakteri menggunakan metode difusi, sedangkan mekanisme perusakan sel menggunakan spektofotometer. Identifikasi senyawa aktifnya menggunakan Kromatografi Lapis Tipis. Hasil uji aktivitas menunjukkan bahawa ekstrak etanol dan...
A total of 206 depressive patients (176 outpatients and 30 inpatients) underwent a dexamethasone ... more A total of 206 depressive patients (176 outpatients and 30 inpatients) underwent a dexamethasone suppression test (DST). Resting levels of serum growth hormone (GH), plasma vasopressin (AVP) and plasma homovanillic acid (HVA) were also measured in a proportion of the patients. Fifty-seven per cent of the endogenous patients showed nonsuppression of cortisol in the DST, while 92% in the nonendogenous group showed normal suppression. The diagnostic confidence of a positive test was 83%. The sensitivity and specificity of the test was slightly higher among inpatients than out-patients, and serum cortisol value at 4 p.m. was more useful than the morning value. No significant correlation was found between severity of the depression as measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and serum cortisol. In single subjects there was, however, an obvious correlation. The levels of serum GH, plasma AVP and plasma HVA did not differ in the endogenous and nonendogenous groups, and there was no correlation between serum cortisol in the DST and the concentrations of the other hormones or HVA in plasma.
Methods Forty-five placebo-receiving schizophrenic outpatients participated in a parallel-group, ... more Methods Forty-five placebo-receiving schizophrenic outpatients participated in a parallel-group, double-blind, 12-week clinical drug trial previously described (Salokangas et al., 1996; Taiminen et al., 1997). Patients were rated by 15 psychiatrist-investigators with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS; Kay et al., 1987) at baseline and at 3, 6, and 12 weeks thereafter. The 15 raters were trained in the use of the scale with the help of a videotape of patient interviews. Placebo responders were defined as patients who had a ...
The effects of two beta-adrenergic receptor blocking drugs, the non-selective propranolol and the... more The effects of two beta-adrenergic receptor blocking drugs, the non-selective propranolol and the cardioselective metoprolol, on the concentrations of blood glucose, serum insulin (IRI) and growth hormone (GH) were studied in 8 healthy male volunteers both at rest and on exercise. The tablets of 160 mg of propranolol and 200 mg of metoprolol were tested against a placebo. The heart rate and systolic blood pressure were significantly lower during treatment with the active substances than with placebo. There were no significant differences between the blood glucose and serum IRI levels after the compounds and the placebo. A decreased insulin/blood glucose ratio after exercise was seen during metoprolol. The serum GH levels were of about the same magnitude after the three different treatments but the peak values were seen 30 and 40 minutes earlier after propranolol and metoprolol than after the placebo. The concentrations of the drugs in plasma did not correlate significantly with the ...
The monoamine hypothesis of depression originally proposed that depression is caused by a central... more The monoamine hypothesis of depression originally proposed that depression is caused by a central deficiency of biogenic amines, and antidepressants were considered to work by correcting this deficiency. In the course of time, many studies have analysed monoamine metabolites in the urine, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of patients and healthy controls under different conditions to test the hypothesis. These studies have failed to identify a robust metabolic disorder in depressive patients as a group. Certain subgroups of depressed patients have shown deviations in biogenic amine metabolism, the most consistent being reduced levels of the major serotonin and dopamine metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid. Noradrenaline metabolism is influenced by the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, and thus increases in anxious patients regardless of their clinical diagnosis. On the other hand, development of new antidepressants and advances in receptor techniques, together with modern e...
Several regulatory processes within the immune system have been clearly established. This complex... more Several regulatory processes within the immune system have been clearly established. This complex autoregulation represents a self-monitoring system which protects the organism and maintains body homeostasis. There is, however, much evidence to suggest that the immune system is also under external regulation, especially by the endocrine and neural systems. These internal and neuroendocrine signals are thought to interact in both synergistic and antagonistic fashion, and are probably integrated in feedback circuits. Neuroendocrine and immune systems seem to act in parallel in many conditions, for example in their sensitivity to in vivo dexamethasone challenge. As a result of these interactions, the immune system will probably be kept in homeostatic balance, usually on a new and proper level. Animal studies suggest that there may be adrenal-dependent and adrenal-independent effects on immune function in stress situations. A significant and sustained deviation of the regulatory systems...
The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, 1993
We studied the effects of chronic treatment (14 days) with clozapine (10 and 25 mg/kg/day s.c.) a... more We studied the effects of chronic treatment (14 days) with clozapine (10 and 25 mg/kg/day s.c.) and haloperidol (0.5 mg/kg/day s.c.) on 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)1C receptor characteristics in the rat choroid plexus. In addition, we measured the effects of these treatments on dopamine D2 receptor characteristics in the rat striatum and determined the brain clozapine concentrations. Finally, the functional role of clozapine at the 5-HT1C receptors was evaluated by using phosphoinositide hydrolysis assay. Chronic administration of clozapine decreased, in a dose-related manner, 5-HT1C receptor density in the choroid plexus (by 49 and 70% with 10- and 25-mg/kg/day dose regimens of clozapine, respectively). The affinity of 5-HT1C receptors was not significantly affected, although there was a tendency toward a higher 5-HT1C receptor KD value in the group of rats treated with the 25-mg/kg/day dose regimen of clozapine. However, no detectable levels of residual clozapine were found in the c...
The familial influence in schizophrenia is manifested in epidemiological studies and prospective ... more The familial influence in schizophrenia is manifested in epidemiological studies and prospective “high risk” studies, in neuropsychological tests and neuroimaging data. From “high risk” data we also know that schizophrenia is associated with long time developmental problems.The duration of initial prodrome to schizophrenia is highly variable and the question is whether we can detect persons prone to becoming psychotic in
The anticholinergic activity in serum of depressive patients receiving amitriptyline (50-300 mg/d... more The anticholinergic activity in serum of depressive patients receiving amitriptyline (50-300 mg/day) or doxepin (50-225 mg/day) was measured using a radioreceptor assay. In this method the membrane suspension prepared from rat brain was able to bind the potent muscarinic antagonist, quinuclidinyl benzilate. Using atropine as a standard, the antimuscarinic activity of several compounds can be measured in the serum of patients receiving drugs with anticholinergic effects or side-effects. The steady state serum levels of amitriptyline and doxepin and their desmethylated metabolites, nortriptyline and desmethyldoxepin were measured by radioimmunoassay in the same serum samples. The antimuscarinic activity in serum measured as atropine equivalents was 2.7 +/- 0.4 (S.E.M.) ng/ml in amitriptyline patients and 1.1 +/- 0.2 ng/ml in doxepin patients. There was a highly significant correlation (P less than 0.001) between amitriptyline (r = 0.92) and nortriptyline (r = 0.79) concentrations and ...
: The effects of indomethacin (100 mg) and phenylbutazone (250 mg) suppositories and acetylsalicy... more : The effects of indomethacin (100 mg) and phenylbutazone (250 mg) suppositories and acetylsalicylic acid (1000 mg) as well as placebo tablets on serum growth hormone, serum immunoreactive insulin and blood glucose concentrations were studied in young male volunteers after an overnight fast. Peak drug concentration in serum was reached 60, 120, and 180 minutes after indomethacin (2.1 ± 0.3 μg/ml), acetylsalicylic acid (88.0 ± 13.4 μg/ml) and phenylbutazone (30.8 ± 2.2 μg/ml), respectively. Blood glucose rose from 4.2 ± 0.1 mmol/l to 5.0 ± 0.1 mmol/l (P < 0.001) (n = 21) at 120 minutes after indomethacin and the rise was significant throughout the study. No significant changes in blood glucose were seen after the administration of the other drugs. The levels of serum growth hormone were also significantly increased after indomethacin throughout the study, but not after the other drugs. The mean of the peak serum growth hormone concentration of the subjects (11.7 ± 1.2 ng/ml) (n = 19) was significantly higher after indomethacin than after the other drugs, which did not not differ from each other significantly. There were no significant changes in serum immunoreactive insulin levels after the drugs. However, after acetylsalicylic acid the levels tended to increase and the serum immunoreactive insulin remained significantly higher at 30, 60, and 120 minutes after acetylsalicylic acid (18.5 ± 1.6, 19.1 ± 3.4, and 20.2 ± 3.2 μU/ml) (n = 13) than after placebo (11.2 ± 2.2, 10.1 ± 2.0, and 10.6 ± 1.5 μU/ml) (n = 13) (P < 0.05).
Methods and Findings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, 1983
The study dealt with the occurrence of dyskinetic symptoms and disturbances in eye movements in 1... more The study dealt with the occurrence of dyskinetic symptoms and disturbances in eye movements in 15 young schizophrenic patients and the effect on these disturbances of anticholinergic antiparkinsonian medication administered during neuroleptic medication maintained at a stable level. The onset of illness had occurred at a younger age in the dyskinetic patients than in the others, and they had received larger amounts of high-dose neuroleptic medication, which, however, equalled an average daily dose of only 331 mg of chlorpromazine during an average of 2 1/2 years; thus, dyskinetic symptoms can appear in young patients even during a fairly short and moderate course of medication with high-dose neuroleptics. Patients with a disturbance in smooth pursuit movement were clinically less disturbed than the others; depression, however, was more common among them. During therapy with an anticholinergic antiparkinsonian drug (Biperiden) depression worsened in patients with eye movement distur...
Methods and Findings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, 1982
The use of placebo in controlled clinical trials is a very difficult matter from an ethical point... more The use of placebo in controlled clinical trials is a very difficult matter from an ethical point of view. Scientifically it offers probably the best way of obtaining fast and valid conclusions, thus promoting medical progress for the benefit of future patients. On the other hand, some patients may stand the risk of obtaining a suboptimal therapy in a placebo-controlled trial. In general, this latter aspect must be given precedence. Therefore the use of placebo control should be minimized and other control methods encouraged. However, in certain well-defined instances the use of a placebo control can be justified, provided the ethical implications can be handled.
The effects of the high temperature (80-120 degrees C) of the Finnish Sauna bath on the concentra... more The effects of the high temperature (80-120 degrees C) of the Finnish Sauna bath on the concentrations of growth hormone, immunoreactive insulin and renin activity in plasma, on blood glucose and on the urinary excretion of aldosterone, vanilmandelic acid and sodium of 55 healthy volunteers were studied. There was a significant increase in mean heart rate (62%), serum growth hormone (142%) and plasma renin activity (95%) in the Sauna. One hour after the Sauna bath the mean serum growth hormone had returned to the control level while plasma renin activity still remained higher (p less than 0.05) than before the Sauna bath. The serum insulin, blood sugar and urinary excretion of aldosterone and VMA did not change during or after Sauna bath. The urinary sodium excretion decreased significantly after the Sauna bath and the decrease was most striking (46%) during the first 6-hour period from the beginning of Sauna bath. Plasma renin activity values correlated positively with 12-hour urin...
The Journal of international medical research, 1983
Twenty depressed out-patients were treated with nomifensine in an open clinical trial of 6 weeks ... more Twenty depressed out-patients were treated with nomifensine in an open clinical trial of 6 weeks duration. After an initial placebo week the daily doses of nomifensine varied from 50 to 300 mg divided into 2-3 doses. Mean score on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS) declined from 19.7 to 10.3 at Week 4. At the same time-point morning serum levels of nomifensine varied from less than 8.0 to 196.0 nmol/l. No correlation was found between drug concentrations and clinical outcome or side-effects. There was also a pronounced intra-individual variation in nomifensine serum levels. No tendency for accumulation of the drug was observed. Thus, the measuring of nomifensine trough levels in the morning does not give useful clinical information.
Background Structural brain abnormalities are prevalent in patients with schizophrenia and affect... more Background Structural brain abnormalities are prevalent in patients with schizophrenia and affective disorders. Aims To study how regional brain volumes and their ratios differ between patients with schizophrenia, psychotic depression, severe non-psychotic depression and healthy controls. Method Magnetic resonance imaging scans of the brain on first-episode patients and on healthy controls. Results Patients with schizophrenia had a smaller left frontal grey matter volume than the other three groups. Patients with psychotic depression had larger ventricular and posterior sulcal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volumes than controls. Patients with depression had larger white matter volumes than the other patients. Conclusions Left frontal lobe, especially its grey matter volume, seems to be specifically reduced in first-episode schizophrenia. Enlarged cerebral ventricles and sulcal CSF volumes are prevalent in psychotic depression. Preserved or expanded white matter is typical of non-psychot...
Resistensi bakteri terhadap pestisida sintetik merupakan masalah yang sedang dihadapi baik di neg... more Resistensi bakteri terhadap pestisida sintetik merupakan masalah yang sedang dihadapi baik di negara berkembang maupun maju. Oleh karena itu dibutuhkan upaya untuk mengurangi masalah tersebut, salah satunya dengan penemuan biopestisida yang berasal dari bahan alam yakni tanaman kirinyuh (Chromolaena odorata (L) R.M King dan H. Robinson) Kirinyuh merupakan jenis gulma berdaun lebar yang memiliki adaptasi yang tinggi dan keberadaannya cukup melimpah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguji potensi ekstrak gulma daun kirinyuh sebagai antibakteri terhadap fitopatogen Xanthomonas campestris serta mengetahui kandungan metabolit sekundernya. Ekstraksi metabolit sekunder daun gulma kirinyuh menggunakan metode maserasi dengan pelarut etanol dan n-heksana. Uji aktivitas antibakteri menggunakan metode difusi, sedangkan mekanisme perusakan sel menggunakan spektofotometer. Identifikasi senyawa aktifnya menggunakan Kromatografi Lapis Tipis. Hasil uji aktivitas menunjukkan bahawa ekstrak etanol dan...
A total of 206 depressive patients (176 outpatients and 30 inpatients) underwent a dexamethasone ... more A total of 206 depressive patients (176 outpatients and 30 inpatients) underwent a dexamethasone suppression test (DST). Resting levels of serum growth hormone (GH), plasma vasopressin (AVP) and plasma homovanillic acid (HVA) were also measured in a proportion of the patients. Fifty-seven per cent of the endogenous patients showed nonsuppression of cortisol in the DST, while 92% in the nonendogenous group showed normal suppression. The diagnostic confidence of a positive test was 83%. The sensitivity and specificity of the test was slightly higher among inpatients than out-patients, and serum cortisol value at 4 p.m. was more useful than the morning value. No significant correlation was found between severity of the depression as measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and serum cortisol. In single subjects there was, however, an obvious correlation. The levels of serum GH, plasma AVP and plasma HVA did not differ in the endogenous and nonendogenous groups, and there was no correlation between serum cortisol in the DST and the concentrations of the other hormones or HVA in plasma.
Methods Forty-five placebo-receiving schizophrenic outpatients participated in a parallel-group, ... more Methods Forty-five placebo-receiving schizophrenic outpatients participated in a parallel-group, double-blind, 12-week clinical drug trial previously described (Salokangas et al., 1996; Taiminen et al., 1997). Patients were rated by 15 psychiatrist-investigators with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS; Kay et al., 1987) at baseline and at 3, 6, and 12 weeks thereafter. The 15 raters were trained in the use of the scale with the help of a videotape of patient interviews. Placebo responders were defined as patients who had a ...
The effects of two beta-adrenergic receptor blocking drugs, the non-selective propranolol and the... more The effects of two beta-adrenergic receptor blocking drugs, the non-selective propranolol and the cardioselective metoprolol, on the concentrations of blood glucose, serum insulin (IRI) and growth hormone (GH) were studied in 8 healthy male volunteers both at rest and on exercise. The tablets of 160 mg of propranolol and 200 mg of metoprolol were tested against a placebo. The heart rate and systolic blood pressure were significantly lower during treatment with the active substances than with placebo. There were no significant differences between the blood glucose and serum IRI levels after the compounds and the placebo. A decreased insulin/blood glucose ratio after exercise was seen during metoprolol. The serum GH levels were of about the same magnitude after the three different treatments but the peak values were seen 30 and 40 minutes earlier after propranolol and metoprolol than after the placebo. The concentrations of the drugs in plasma did not correlate significantly with the ...
The monoamine hypothesis of depression originally proposed that depression is caused by a central... more The monoamine hypothesis of depression originally proposed that depression is caused by a central deficiency of biogenic amines, and antidepressants were considered to work by correcting this deficiency. In the course of time, many studies have analysed monoamine metabolites in the urine, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of patients and healthy controls under different conditions to test the hypothesis. These studies have failed to identify a robust metabolic disorder in depressive patients as a group. Certain subgroups of depressed patients have shown deviations in biogenic amine metabolism, the most consistent being reduced levels of the major serotonin and dopamine metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid. Noradrenaline metabolism is influenced by the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, and thus increases in anxious patients regardless of their clinical diagnosis. On the other hand, development of new antidepressants and advances in receptor techniques, together with modern e...
Several regulatory processes within the immune system have been clearly established. This complex... more Several regulatory processes within the immune system have been clearly established. This complex autoregulation represents a self-monitoring system which protects the organism and maintains body homeostasis. There is, however, much evidence to suggest that the immune system is also under external regulation, especially by the endocrine and neural systems. These internal and neuroendocrine signals are thought to interact in both synergistic and antagonistic fashion, and are probably integrated in feedback circuits. Neuroendocrine and immune systems seem to act in parallel in many conditions, for example in their sensitivity to in vivo dexamethasone challenge. As a result of these interactions, the immune system will probably be kept in homeostatic balance, usually on a new and proper level. Animal studies suggest that there may be adrenal-dependent and adrenal-independent effects on immune function in stress situations. A significant and sustained deviation of the regulatory systems...
The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics, 1993
We studied the effects of chronic treatment (14 days) with clozapine (10 and 25 mg/kg/day s.c.) a... more We studied the effects of chronic treatment (14 days) with clozapine (10 and 25 mg/kg/day s.c.) and haloperidol (0.5 mg/kg/day s.c.) on 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)1C receptor characteristics in the rat choroid plexus. In addition, we measured the effects of these treatments on dopamine D2 receptor characteristics in the rat striatum and determined the brain clozapine concentrations. Finally, the functional role of clozapine at the 5-HT1C receptors was evaluated by using phosphoinositide hydrolysis assay. Chronic administration of clozapine decreased, in a dose-related manner, 5-HT1C receptor density in the choroid plexus (by 49 and 70% with 10- and 25-mg/kg/day dose regimens of clozapine, respectively). The affinity of 5-HT1C receptors was not significantly affected, although there was a tendency toward a higher 5-HT1C receptor KD value in the group of rats treated with the 25-mg/kg/day dose regimen of clozapine. However, no detectable levels of residual clozapine were found in the c...
The familial influence in schizophrenia is manifested in epidemiological studies and prospective ... more The familial influence in schizophrenia is manifested in epidemiological studies and prospective “high risk” studies, in neuropsychological tests and neuroimaging data. From “high risk” data we also know that schizophrenia is associated with long time developmental problems.The duration of initial prodrome to schizophrenia is highly variable and the question is whether we can detect persons prone to becoming psychotic in
The anticholinergic activity in serum of depressive patients receiving amitriptyline (50-300 mg/d... more The anticholinergic activity in serum of depressive patients receiving amitriptyline (50-300 mg/day) or doxepin (50-225 mg/day) was measured using a radioreceptor assay. In this method the membrane suspension prepared from rat brain was able to bind the potent muscarinic antagonist, quinuclidinyl benzilate. Using atropine as a standard, the antimuscarinic activity of several compounds can be measured in the serum of patients receiving drugs with anticholinergic effects or side-effects. The steady state serum levels of amitriptyline and doxepin and their desmethylated metabolites, nortriptyline and desmethyldoxepin were measured by radioimmunoassay in the same serum samples. The antimuscarinic activity in serum measured as atropine equivalents was 2.7 +/- 0.4 (S.E.M.) ng/ml in amitriptyline patients and 1.1 +/- 0.2 ng/ml in doxepin patients. There was a highly significant correlation (P less than 0.001) between amitriptyline (r = 0.92) and nortriptyline (r = 0.79) concentrations and ...
: The effects of indomethacin (100 mg) and phenylbutazone (250 mg) suppositories and acetylsalicy... more : The effects of indomethacin (100 mg) and phenylbutazone (250 mg) suppositories and acetylsalicylic acid (1000 mg) as well as placebo tablets on serum growth hormone, serum immunoreactive insulin and blood glucose concentrations were studied in young male volunteers after an overnight fast. Peak drug concentration in serum was reached 60, 120, and 180 minutes after indomethacin (2.1 ± 0.3 μg/ml), acetylsalicylic acid (88.0 ± 13.4 μg/ml) and phenylbutazone (30.8 ± 2.2 μg/ml), respectively. Blood glucose rose from 4.2 ± 0.1 mmol/l to 5.0 ± 0.1 mmol/l (P < 0.001) (n = 21) at 120 minutes after indomethacin and the rise was significant throughout the study. No significant changes in blood glucose were seen after the administration of the other drugs. The levels of serum growth hormone were also significantly increased after indomethacin throughout the study, but not after the other drugs. The mean of the peak serum growth hormone concentration of the subjects (11.7 ± 1.2 ng/ml) (n = 19) was significantly higher after indomethacin than after the other drugs, which did not not differ from each other significantly. There were no significant changes in serum immunoreactive insulin levels after the drugs. However, after acetylsalicylic acid the levels tended to increase and the serum immunoreactive insulin remained significantly higher at 30, 60, and 120 minutes after acetylsalicylic acid (18.5 ± 1.6, 19.1 ± 3.4, and 20.2 ± 3.2 μU/ml) (n = 13) than after placebo (11.2 ± 2.2, 10.1 ± 2.0, and 10.6 ± 1.5 μU/ml) (n = 13) (P < 0.05).
Methods and Findings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, 1983
The study dealt with the occurrence of dyskinetic symptoms and disturbances in eye movements in 1... more The study dealt with the occurrence of dyskinetic symptoms and disturbances in eye movements in 15 young schizophrenic patients and the effect on these disturbances of anticholinergic antiparkinsonian medication administered during neuroleptic medication maintained at a stable level. The onset of illness had occurred at a younger age in the dyskinetic patients than in the others, and they had received larger amounts of high-dose neuroleptic medication, which, however, equalled an average daily dose of only 331 mg of chlorpromazine during an average of 2 1/2 years; thus, dyskinetic symptoms can appear in young patients even during a fairly short and moderate course of medication with high-dose neuroleptics. Patients with a disturbance in smooth pursuit movement were clinically less disturbed than the others; depression, however, was more common among them. During therapy with an anticholinergic antiparkinsonian drug (Biperiden) depression worsened in patients with eye movement distur...
Methods and Findings in Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, 1982
The use of placebo in controlled clinical trials is a very difficult matter from an ethical point... more The use of placebo in controlled clinical trials is a very difficult matter from an ethical point of view. Scientifically it offers probably the best way of obtaining fast and valid conclusions, thus promoting medical progress for the benefit of future patients. On the other hand, some patients may stand the risk of obtaining a suboptimal therapy in a placebo-controlled trial. In general, this latter aspect must be given precedence. Therefore the use of placebo control should be minimized and other control methods encouraged. However, in certain well-defined instances the use of a placebo control can be justified, provided the ethical implications can be handled.
The effects of the high temperature (80-120 degrees C) of the Finnish Sauna bath on the concentra... more The effects of the high temperature (80-120 degrees C) of the Finnish Sauna bath on the concentrations of growth hormone, immunoreactive insulin and renin activity in plasma, on blood glucose and on the urinary excretion of aldosterone, vanilmandelic acid and sodium of 55 healthy volunteers were studied. There was a significant increase in mean heart rate (62%), serum growth hormone (142%) and plasma renin activity (95%) in the Sauna. One hour after the Sauna bath the mean serum growth hormone had returned to the control level while plasma renin activity still remained higher (p less than 0.05) than before the Sauna bath. The serum insulin, blood sugar and urinary excretion of aldosterone and VMA did not change during or after Sauna bath. The urinary sodium excretion decreased significantly after the Sauna bath and the decrease was most striking (46%) during the first 6-hour period from the beginning of Sauna bath. Plasma renin activity values correlated positively with 12-hour urin...
The Journal of international medical research, 1983
Twenty depressed out-patients were treated with nomifensine in an open clinical trial of 6 weeks ... more Twenty depressed out-patients were treated with nomifensine in an open clinical trial of 6 weeks duration. After an initial placebo week the daily doses of nomifensine varied from 50 to 300 mg divided into 2-3 doses. Mean score on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS) declined from 19.7 to 10.3 at Week 4. At the same time-point morning serum levels of nomifensine varied from less than 8.0 to 196.0 nmol/l. No correlation was found between drug concentrations and clinical outcome or side-effects. There was also a pronounced intra-individual variation in nomifensine serum levels. No tendency for accumulation of the drug was observed. Thus, the measuring of nomifensine trough levels in the morning does not give useful clinical information.
Background Structural brain abnormalities are prevalent in patients with schizophrenia and affect... more Background Structural brain abnormalities are prevalent in patients with schizophrenia and affective disorders. Aims To study how regional brain volumes and their ratios differ between patients with schizophrenia, psychotic depression, severe non-psychotic depression and healthy controls. Method Magnetic resonance imaging scans of the brain on first-episode patients and on healthy controls. Results Patients with schizophrenia had a smaller left frontal grey matter volume than the other three groups. Patients with psychotic depression had larger ventricular and posterior sulcal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volumes than controls. Patients with depression had larger white matter volumes than the other patients. Conclusions Left frontal lobe, especially its grey matter volume, seems to be specifically reduced in first-episode schizophrenia. Enlarged cerebral ventricles and sulcal CSF volumes are prevalent in psychotic depression. Preserved or expanded white matter is typical of non-psychot...
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