A trial of thioridazine in mental deficiency

Potential therapeutic approaches for modulating expression and accumulation of defective lamin A in laminopathies and age-related diseases

Scientific understanding of the genetic components of aging has increased in recent years, with several genes being identified as playing roles in the aging process and, potentially, longevity. In particular, genes encoding components of the nuclear lamina in eukaryotes have been increasingly well characterized, owing in part to their clinical significance in age-related diseases. This review focuses on one such gene, which encodes lamin A, a key component of the nuclear lamina. Genetic variation in this gene can give rise to lethal, early-onset diseases known as laminopathies. Here, we analyze the literature and conduct computational analyses of lamin A signaling and intracellular interactions in order to examine potential mechanisms for altering or slowing down aberrant Lamin A expression and/or for restoring the ratio of normal to aberrant lamin A. The ultimate goal of such studies is to ameliorate or combat laminopathies and related diseases of aging, and we provide a discussion of current approaches in this review.

Pharmacologic control of aberrant behavior in the mentally retarded: toward a more rational approach

Drugs are frequently used to control aberrant behavior in the mentally retarded. However, despite decades of research, this approach to behavioral management has had very limited success. Slow progress in this area can be attributed, in part, to the lack of a theoretical framework to guide research. The main purpose of this review is to integrate clinical research in this area with evidence concerning the neurochemical mechanisms that mediate aberrant behaviors. It is concluded that a theoretical framework that takes into account the biological mechanisms that underlie disordered behavior and the actions of drugs provides the basis for a more rational approach to the development of pharmacological therapies in the mentally retarded.

Pipothiazine palmitate in the management of aggressive mentally handicapped patients

The efficacy of intramuscular pipothiazine palmitate (PP) in the management of aggressive mentally handicapped patients was examined in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study, in which 30 patients received each treatment for 13 weeks. A target symptom scale of aggressiveness (TSA) and a clinical global impression scale of efficacy were rated at monthly intervals, and an extra-pyramidal side-effects scale weekly. The patients showed marked improvement during treatment with PP, which was assessed as superior to placebo. Individual and total TSA scores were also reduced compared to placebo.

Psychiatric disturbance in mentally handicapped patients. A prospective study of current clinical usage of depot fluphenazine in hospitals for the mentally handicapped

One hundred and two mentally handicapped and severely mentally handicapped patients with behaviour disorders and superadded mental illnesses which, in most cases, had not responded adequately to oral medication, entered a 12-week study of fluphenazine decanoate depot injections. Some of the patients had the additional complications of epilepsy, organic brain damage, and physical handicap. Highly significant overall improvements occurred, irrespective of such factors as the patient's age, sex, degree of mental handicap, or co-existence of epilepsy, or brain damage. Hyperpyrexia was not encountered. Extrapyramidal disturbance in 22 of the patients, were mostly well controlled by antiparkinson medication; eight of the 12 patients with pre-trial extrapyramidal abnormalities lost these during the study. Fluphenazine decanoate injections proved a reliable drug-delivery system, which may improve difficult behaviours and enable the mentally handicapped patient to be more receptive to behaviour-shaping exercise, aimed at improving long-term personality adjustment.