Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0011551 (depersonalization)
 1,117 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Interferon alpha is the only available therapy for patients with chronic hepatitis B. With interferon alpha 3-15 MU thrice weekly or 5 MU daily during 3-6 months one-third of the patients achieve seroconversion of HBeAg and HBV-DNA together with normalization of aminotransferases and slight improvement of histology. Loss of HBsAg is reported in a minority of responders during treatment, but increases during follow-up. Patients with baseline alanine aminotransferase of at least twice the upper limit of normal and low HBV-DNA concentration achieve the best response rates. HIV-positive patients with low CD4 counts and Asians are poor responders. As side-effects influenza-like symptoms are experienced by almost all patients. Mild leukopenia, thrombocytopenia and decreased hairgrowth are frequently reported. Severe depression, depersonalization and psychosis are reported in a small number of patients but tend to be poorly recognized in some studies. The decision whether dose reduction is indicated seems strongly related to the opinion of the investigator. Although long-term effects on the occurrence of cirrhosis and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma are not available yet, the achieved results are promising.
 ...
PMID:Current status of interferon alpha in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. 143 94

Aging is a physiological process that shares many behavioral, biochemical and neuroendocrine phenomena with the pathophysiological situation of unresolved stress, as well as with a pharmacologically induced syndrome resulting from chronic benzodiazepine (BZ) consumption. Behavioral findings include symptoms such as drowsiness, ataxia, fatigue, confusion, weakness, dizziness, vertigo, syncope, reversible dementia, depression, impairment of intellectual, psychomotor and sexual function, agitation, auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoid ideation, panic, delirium, depersonalization, sleepwalking, aggressivity, orthostatic hypotension, and insomnia. Neuroendocrine findings include: central depletion of noradrenaline (NA), dopamine, adrenaline (AD), and serotonin (5-HT); reduction in the ratio of circulating NA/AD as well as platelet 5-HT and increase of AD, plasma free 5-HT and cortisol. These disturbances together with the increased platelet aggregability observed in the three groups are typical of unresolved-stress situations. Immunological findings include significant reduction of peripheral T lymphocytes (CD3, CD4, CD8) and the CD4/CD8 ratio, CD16 and gamma-delta cells. On the other hand, the three groups (elderly subjects, subjects faced with unresolved stress, and BZ consumers) show increase of the CD57 lymphocyte subset as well as natural killer cytotoxicity. Alterations of several biological markers have also been found, specifically in the oral glucose tolerance test, the intramuscular clonidine test, and the supine/orthostasis/exercise test. From a clinical point of view, the three groups appear to be more susceptible to the appearance and progression of many acute and chronic diseases (infectious and malignant diseases). As a result, chronic consumption of BZs should be avoided in both the elderly and subjects in unresolved-stress situations.
 ...
PMID:Benzodiazepines: tolerability in elderly patients. 884 97