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Biomedical subjects

I Hindmarch

Publications and source records attributed to I Hindmarch.

160 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

A 1,4-benzodiazepine, temazepam (K 3917), its effect on some psychological parameters of sleep and behaviour.

In 30 physically and mentally healthy volunteers, 7-chloro-1,3-dihydro-3-hydroxy-1-methyl-5-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one (temazepam, K 3917) was tested for its sleep inducing action, the subjective quality of sleep and any post-medication effects. Temazepam was orally administered at doses of 15, 20 or 30 mg in hard gelatin capsules or 20 mg in soft gelatin capsules. Nitrazepam (5 mg) and amylobarbitone sodium (100 mg) were used for comparison as well as a placebo. Temazepam showed very much the same effects as they are known from conventional 1,4-benzodiazepines except for its lack of impairment in early morning behavior following night time medication.

Adult↗

The effects of an ergot alkaloid derivative (Hydergine) on aspects of psychomotor performance, arousal, and cognitive processing ability.

Hydergine, 12 mg per day for two weeks, has some direct activity on a variety of tasks of mental and cognitive performance. These results add support to biochemical findings that implicate the ergot alkaloids (particularly co-dergo-crine, Hydergine) in cellular activity likely to increase cortical arousal and awareness. The high dose of Hydergine used in this volunteer study was exceptionally well tolerated and did produce significant results on individual measures of central nervous system activity which might suggest the use of similar doses in patient populations. The findings of a hangover of activity after drug withdrawal and the fact that some CNS activity (serial subtraction of 17s) is not obvious until two weeks of medication would suggest the need for pharmacokinetic measures to be taken in conjunction with psychologic assessments. It would seem that a two-week schedule of repeated doses is the minimum required to produce an effect on CNS activity, but even with such a dose regimen it appears that the drug continues to exert some effect after its withdrawal.

Arousal↗

The Bayer-Activities of Daily Living Scale (B-ADL): results from a validation study in three European countries.

The Bayer-Activities of Daily Living Scale (B-ADL) is a 25-item, informant-rated questionnaire which was developed as a brief and internationally applicable instrument for assessing functional disabilities. The scale's target group are elderly patients suffering from mild to moderate dementia or cognitive impairment. To investigate the reliability and validity of different language versions, the B-ADL was administered in the UK, Germany, and Spain to a total of 1,433 subjects with a wide range of cognitive decline. The results from the three country samples were very similar, with internal consistency being above 0.98 (Cronbach alpha). A factor analysis revealed that a one-factor solution accounted for most of the variance. The B-ADL total score significantly increased between adjacent Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) stages 1 to 5. A second factor analysis entering additional variables (GDS stage, Mini-Mental State Examination or MMSE subscores, age, years of education, gender, and country) revealed that all B-ADL items loaded on the same factor, "dementia severity", and that they were not related to age, education, gender, or country. In the identification of subjects with clinically manifest dementia symptoms (GDS stages 4 and 5), the B-ADL proved to be as efficient as the MMSE in the UK and German samples and superior to the MMSE in the Spanish sample.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Comparison of five anxiolytic benzodiazepines on measures of psychomotor performance and sleep.

The behavioural toxicity of five anxiolytic benzodiazepines was examined in 28 volunteers who were studied in two groups of 14 subjects each. Each drug was taken nocte for 7 days, with a 4-week washout period between drugs. Assessments of psychomotor performance and sleep were made the morning following the first administration and the morning following the last administration. Comparisons of drug effect magnitudes using Cohen's d scores suggest that effects on psychological function should be considered as central to the selection and use of such compounds.

Adult↗

Psychopharmacological effects of pyritinol in normal volunteers.

Twelve healthy male volunteers received pyritinol 600 or 1,200 mg or placebo for 3 days according to a randomised, double-blind crossover design. On the 1st and 3rd days of each of the three treatment periods subjects completed a battery of psychological tests including Critical Flicker Fusion (CFFT), Choice Reaction Time (CRT), tests of memory and subjective drug effects at 1, 2, 4 and 6 h after dosing. Significant improvements in CFFT and CRT were found after pyritinol. There were no significant differences on the other tests, however, the observed enhancement in performance could be attributed to the effect of the drug.

Adult↗

A comparison of sleep in rheumatic and non-rheumatic patients.

The St. Mary's Hospital Sleep Questionnaire was used to investigate sleep in 439 hospitalized rheumatic and non-rheumatic patients. This questionnaire enabled an evaluation of both the level of sleep disturbance and the causes of such disturbance. The findings from this study indicated that there was little difference in the level of sleep disturbance between rheumatic and non-rheumatic patients. The sleep problem most frequently cited by rheumatic patients was pain. Noise appeared to be the worst environmental sleep problem in these patients. The only significant difference in the sleep problems reported by rheumatic and non-rheumatic patients, was that pain was cited more frequently in the rheumatic group. In order to determine whether sleep varied according to type of rheumatic disease, the rheumatic patients were divided into four diagnostic groups (rheumatoid arthritis; seronegative spondarthritis; osteoarthritis; other conditions). There were no significant differences between these groups in sleep disturbance or reported sleep problems.

Humans↗

Assessing the residual effects of hypnotics.

The therapeutic efficacy of a hypnotic can not be judged solely on its ability to induce and improve sleep. Many of the older compounds produce residual effects the next morning, such as impaired performance, lack of concentration and day-time sedation. This "hangover" phenomena will only serve to make the problem worse rather than better. The patient's quality of life would suffer, and this is particularly apparent in older patients. Zopiclone and zolpidem, two novel compounds, are superior to the older benzodiazepines in that they do not impair performance on tests of cognition, reaction time and memory the day following drug ingestion. These drugs may prove to be more beneficial and safer in people with sleep disorders who want to carry on with everyday life.

Aged↗

The effect of sleep and nocturnal movement on stiffness, pain, and psychomotor performance in ankylosing spondylitis.

OBJECTIVE: This study was carried out in order to assess whether AS patients are adversely affected by a "good" night's sleep accompanied by little nocturnal movement. METHODS: Objective and subjective nocturnal movement, flexibility, stiffness, pain and psychomotor performance were measured in 22 subjects, 11 with ankylosing spondylitis and 11 controls. RESULTS: A better sleep integrity with little nocturnal movement was related to a decrease in lumbar flexibility. Difficulty in awakening and feeling tired and clumsy in the morning correlated with stiffness. Pain was correlated with a subjective difficulty in getting to sleep and a worse quality of sleep, but was also correlated with less objective sleep disruption. In the control group a better sleep integrity was correlated with an overnight decrease in psychomotor performance. In the spondylitic group a significant increase in performance occurred. Stiffness and pain did not correlate with performance. CONCLUSION: Sleep in ankylosing spondylitis differs from sleep in normals.

Adult↗