“
“Purpose: The circadian rhythm hypothesis of bipolar disorder (BD) suggests a role for melatonin in regulating mood, thus extending the interest toward the melatonergic antidepressant agomelatine as well as type I (acute) or II cases of bipolar depression.

Patients and methods: Twenty-eight depressed BD-II patients received open label agomelatine (25 mg/bedtime) for 6 consecutive weeks as an adjunct to

treatment with lithium or valproate, followed by an optional treatment extension of 30 weeks. Measures included the Hamilton depression scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Clinical Global Impression Scale-Bipolar Version, Young Mania Rating Scale, and body mass index.

Results: Intent to treat analysis results demonstrated that MK 2206 18 of the 28 subjects (64%) showed medication response after 6 weeks (primary study endpoint), while 24 of the 28 subjects (86%) responded by 36 weeks. When examining

primary mood stabilizer treatment, 12 of the 17 (70.6%) valproate and six of the 11 (54.5%) lithium patients responded by the first endpoint. At 36 weeks, 14 valproate treated SRT1720 (82.4%) and 10 lithium treated (90.9%) subjects responded. At 36 weeks, there was a slight yet statistically significant (P = 0.001) reduction in body mass index and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores compared to respective baseline values, regardless of mood stabilizer/outcome. Treatment related drop-out cases included four patients (14.28%) at week 6 two valproate-treated subjects with pseudo-vertigo and drug-induced hypomania, respectively, and two lithium-treated subjects with insomnia and mania, respectively. Week 36 drop outs were two hypomanic cases, one per group.

Conclusion: Agomelatine 25 mg/day was an effective and well-tolerated adjunct to valproate/lithium for acute depression in TH-302 supplier BD-II, suggesting the

need for confirmation by future double blind, controlled clinical trials.”
“Objective: Cancer and its treatments disturb sleep wake functioning; however, there is little information available on the characteristics and consequences of sleep problems associated with cancer. As part of an effort to improve measurement of sleep wake functioning, we explored the scope of difficulties with sleep in a diverse group of patients diagnosed with cancer.

Methods: We conducted 10 focus groups with patients recruited from the Duke University tumor registry and oncology/hematology clinics. Separate groups were held with patients scheduled to begin or currently undergoing treatment for breast, prostate, lung, colorectal, hematological, and other cancer types and with patients who were in posttreatment follow-up. The content of the focus group discussions was transcribed and analyzed for major themes by independent coders.