Depression of young and elderly patients

OBJECTIVE: To compare the presentation and outcome of depression between young and elderly patients. DESIGN: The clinical presentation, treatment and outcome of 47 young patients (21 to 64 years) were compared with 58 elderly (65 years and older) patients admitted to a general hospital psychiatric ward for the treatment of depressive disorders (based on ICD-10). SUBJECTS: There was no significant difference between the sexes in each age group. The majority of the elderly were either widowed (36%) or married (53%) while 45% of the young were single and 51% married. Seventy per cent of the elderly had retired while 64% of the young were in full-time employment. Most patients lived with their families (87% young and 96% elderly). All but one elderly suffered at least one physical disorder with two-thirds having two or more physical disorders; this contrasts greatly to young patients who were physically healthier (p < 0.001). RESULTS: In clinical presentation and symptomatology, the young patients had significantly more suicide ideation (p < 0.003) and psychomotor retardation (p < 0.001) but there was no difference in suicidal attempt, delusion, hallucination or agitation. More young patients (36%) had a past psychiatric illness (often depressive disorders) than elderly patients (8%) (p < 0.001), more elderly patients (88%) were treated with antidepressants than the young patients (62%) (p < 0.002). At one year follow-up, more elderly patients (46%) recovered compared with the young patients (23%) (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: There were some differences in the symptomatology of depression between young and elderly patients, but the prognosis was better for elderly patients.     

Hprt- mutation spectrum in a closely related pair of human bladder tumour cell lines after gamma-irradiation at different dose-rates

Inactivation of p53 gene and overexpression of MDR1 gene are both associated with drug resistance. Previous studies have suggested that p53 gene can modulate the expression activity of MDR1 gene promoter in a promoter-CAT system. In the present study, wild-type p53 gene cDNA was introduced into a multidrug-resistant cell line, KBv200, in which endogenous p53 gene is aberrant. In wt-p53 transfected cells, the expression of MDRI gene was significantly increased, accumulation of adriamycin (ADM) was decreased, and the sensitivity to vincristine (VCR), ADM and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) was increased compared with the parent KBv200 cells. After treatment with ADM and VCR, the p53-transfectants were more susceptible to apoptosis. The results suggest that the increase in drug sensitivity of the cells may be, at least in part, due to p53-dependent apoptosis induced by anticancer agents.     

Cellular levels of factor 390 and methanogenic enzymes during growth of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum deltaH

Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum deltaH was grown in a fed-batch fermentor and in a chemostat under a variety of 80% hydrogen-20% CO2 gassing regimes. During growth or after the establishment of steady-state conditions, the cells were analyzed for the content of adenylylated coenzyme F420 (factor F390-A) and other methanogenic cofactors. In addition, cells collected from the chemostat were measured for methyl coenzyme M reductase isoenzyme (MCR I and MCR II) content as well as for specific activities of coenzyme F420-dependent and H2-dependent methylenetetrahydromethanopterin dehydrogenase (F420-MDH and H2-MDH, respectively), total (viologen-reducing) and coenzyme F420-reducing hydrogenase (FRH), factor F390 synthetase, and factor F390 hydrolase. The experiments were performed to investigate how the intracellular F390 concentrations changed with the growth conditions used and how the variations were related to changes in levels of enzymes that are known to be differentially expressed. The levels of factor F390 varied in a way that is consistently understood from the biochemical mechanisms underlying its synthesis and degradation. Moreover, a remarkable correlation was observed between expression levels of MCR I and II, F420-MDH, and H2-MDH and the cellular contents of the factor. These results suggest that factor F390 is a reporter compound for hydrogen limitation and may act as a response regulator of methanogenic metabolism.     

The effects of d-amphetamine on the reinforcing effects of food and fluid using a novel procedure combining self-administration and location preference

Using a laboratory animal procedure designed to measure two aspects of behavior related to commodity seeking (self-administration and location preference), five individually housed adult rhesus monkeys lived in three chambers: fluid- (sweetened Kool-Aid solution) related cues and oral fluid self-administration were specific to one end chamber, food pellet-related cues and food self-administration were specific to the other end chamber, and no food cues or fluid cues were available in the middle chamber. Throughout the 10 h experimental day, monkeys experienced multiple food, fluid, choice (food versus fluid), and no-commodity sessions. Oral d-amphetamine (AMPH; 0.5-1.5 mg/kg) or placebo was administered before the sessions to determine if this anorectic drug would differentially alter food and fluid self-administration. The effects of AMPH on the length of time monkeys spent in each chamber, when the stimulus lights indicating commodity availability were not illuminated (location preference) were also determined. AMPH decreased both food and fluid self-administration, but responding for fluid was reduced to a greater extent than responding for food. AMPH, however, increased the length of time monkeys spent in the food chamber, even when no stimulus lights indicating food availability were illuminated. The increase in the length of time spent in the food chamber was predicted by the decrease in the number of fluid deliveries, not the number of food deliveries. These results indicate that the relationship between self-administration and location preference, as measures of reinforcing effects, is not completely concordant. The current procedure may prove useful in comparing these two measures of reinforcing effects with other reinforcers.     

Simultaneous kinetic method for the determination of vitamin C, citrate and oxalate employing the Kalman filter

A kinetic method for the determination of vitamin C, citrate and oxalate in their mixture is described. The method involves the use of cerium(IV) as an oxidant and measurement of reaction rates spectrophotometrically by following the decrease in absorbance of cerium(IV) at 410 nm. The adaptive Kalman filter was used for data manipulation and analysis. It is shown that the use of the Kalman filter is superior to the classical differential kinetic methods owing to its suitability for the determination of analytes that react with a single reagent and exhibit a reaction rate constant ratio of less than 1.5. The results obtained were found to be highly precise and accurate even in the presence of some expected interferents.