Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042963 (vomiting)
 31,883 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The characteristic symptoms for acute porphyrias are caused by the inherited decreased activity of the enzymes of the heme biosynthesis pathway. Usually there is an exogenous or endogenous factor inhibiting the heme biosynthesis or increasing the consumption of heme produced in already decreased amount. The most important precipitating factors are the therapeutic drugs. Therefore, certain therapeutic drugs ordered for carriers or patients with acute porphyria are serious risk factors. It is very important to identify patients and carriers with acute porphyria as early as possible and to make a close follow-up so the development of the symptoms of the life threatening acute attack could be prevented. It is very difficult to suspect the diagnosis of acute porphyria. There is a very characteristic discrepancy between the serious complaints and the actual clinical findings. The severe cramping abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness of the limbs and sensory loss are the main signs at the beginning. The specific symptoms which help to establish the diagnosis--red-colored urine, hyponatremia, tachycardia, hypertension, subileus, acute psychosis, gradually developing paresis of the lower and then the upper limbs--are characteristic for the later phase of the acute attack. Very often there is a rapid progression with Landry-type paralysis developing in days or even in hours, following respiratory paralysis or serious arrhythmia is the cause of the death. In case of suspicion of acute porphyria the patient should be directed to a department where the specific laboratory methods--measurement of the porphyrin precursors, porphyrins and their isomers in urine and feces, quantitation of protoporphyrin in red blood cells, measurement of the plasma porphyrin and enzyme activity--to diagnose the different types of the disease and the immediate specific treatment with heme arginate are possible if needed. All of these are available in the National Porphyria Center.
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PMID:[Acute porphyrias in differential diagnosis]. 1276 67

Acute porphyrias are caused by the inherited decreased activity of the enzymes of the heme biosynthesis pathway. Depending on the affected enzyme there are 4 types of them: acute intermittent porphyria, porphyria variegata, coproporphyria and delta-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase deficient porphyria, listed in order of their frequency. Basically the clinical picture is the same in the four types of acute porphyria. The most frequent complaints and symptoms are: cramping abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness of the limbs then, in the advanced phase, there is a red-colored urine, hyponatremia, subileus, acute psychosis and Landry-type paralysis. Without proper treatment death is caused by respiratory paralysis or serious arrhythmia. In case of suspicion of acute porphyria it is mandatory to identify the type of the acute porphyria and the actual status of the patient. The later indicates what kind of treatment should be used. In the acute phase the early therapy with heme arginate is the treatment of choice. Since the clinical symptoms are precipitated by endogenous or exogenous inducing factors--most often by drugs-, the drugs negatively affecting the heme biosynthesis should be omitted at once even in the suspicion of acute porphyria. The role of the inducing factors in the manifestation of the clinical symptoms makes possible the prevention. It is possible to avoid the inducing factors and this way to prevent the acute attack if the acute porphyrias are recognized in time and the patients and the carriers are under regular control. The patients receive special identification card and the up-to-date list of safe drugs. They can use only these drugs in any kind of illness. Other drugs should be considered as porphyrinogenic since it is impossible to predict based on their chemical structure if they negatively affect the heme biosynthesis.
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PMID:[Treatment of acute porphyrias. The importance of follow-up of patients and carriers]. 1280 70

TRANQUILIZING DRUGS MAY BE CLASSIFIED INTO FOUR GROUPS, ACCORDING TO CHEMICAL STRUCTURE: (1) Phenothiazine derivatives, (2) Rauwolfia alkaloids, (3) substituted propanediols or butanediols, and (4) diphenylmethane derivatives. The distinguishing features of tranquilizing drugs in contrast to conventional sedatives is that they calm without producing sleep and that their site of action in the central nervous system is predominantly subcortical. The principal sites of action are important regulating centers of the brain: thalamus, hypothalamus, reticular activating system and portions of the limbic system. Phenothiazine derivatives, besides being the most effective tranquilizers for treating severe emotional disorders, are also clinically useful for potentiating other analgesic or anesthetic drugs and for controlling vomiting. This rapidly growing group of drugs is of major importance in present-day psychopharmacologic therapy. Newer derivatives, especially of the piperazine type, appear to be highly effective as tranquilizers in low doses. They also produce fewer major complications from treatment. Rauwolfia alkaloids have decreased in importance in psychiatric use, but are still the basic drugs for treating hypertension. The substituted propanediols or butanediols are generally used as mild sedatives for less serious emotional disorders. The diphenylmethane derivatives, while chemically related, have a variety of pharmacologic actions which include sedation, stimulation, antihistaminic and anticholinergic effects. The ultimate role of these agents in the treatment of major emotional disorders, such as schizophrenic reactions, still is uncertain. However, the impetus these drugs have given to improved treatment of psychotic patients in mental hospitals has unquestionably been beneficial. The intensive attempts to determine their modes of action will very likely yield important advances in the understanding of possible neurophysiologic bases for mental illness.
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PMID:The present status of tranquilzing drugs. 1356 Nov 7

We aimed to determine whether the cholinesterase inhibitor rivastigmine, an inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), would improve quality of life and cognitive function in 16 clinically stable subjects affected by schizophrenia in the residual phase. Study subjects began rivastigmine treatment at a dose of 1.5 mg bid. This dose was escalated at monthly intervals in increments of 1.5 mg bid to a maximum of 6 mg bid. All subjects were followed for 12 months. Quality of life was assessed using the Satisfaction with Life Domains Scale (SLDS, a self-report scale containing 10 "satisfaction" items); cognitive function, attentional function, and aspects of learning and memory were evaluated using common neuropsychological tests. Psychopathology was evaluated by means of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Rivastigmine treatment resulted in significant improvements in quality of life, which were paralleled by significant improvements in cognitive function, learning and memory, and trends for improvement in attention. The BPRS factor "anergia" showed significant improvement, while low baseline scores in other psychotic factors did not permit further improvements. There were no reports of nausea or vomiting. In conclusion, rivastigmine significantly improved quality of life in subjects with schizophrenia. These benefits may relate to the drug's effects on cognitive deficits and negative symptoms associated with the condition.
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PMID:Effects of rivastigmine on cognitive function and quality of life in patients with schizophrenia. 1464 12

Zolpidem is a sedative and hypnotic drug belonging to imidazopyridine family. Zolpidem facilitates GABAA function more selectively than benzodiazepines, and produces a selective hypnotic effect. In comparison with benzodiazepines this mechanism could be reduce liability to induce dependence. Recently, some cases of zolpidem abuse and dependence have been published. The Authors report 2 cases of addiction to high dose of zolpidem and compare them with others described in the literature. Both patients had been reknown drug addicts before their first prescription of zolpidem and a borderline personality disorder was diagnosed. The patients rapidly developed over consumption and dependence of the molecule, when taking doses as high as 240 and 400 mg daily. To get zolpidem, one patient falsifies prescriptions. They don't suffer from the sedative effects while searching for anxiolytic and stimulating effects. They were also dysarthric, confused, high energy for mental and physical activity. The cases of zolpidem abuse and dependence in the literature describe these symptoms and others such as losing sense of orientation in time and space, amnesia and visual hallucinations. The most typical withdrawal symptom is high levels of anxiety. Moreover, one patient presents an epileptic seizure whereas the other display a severe psychiatric complication such a psychosis. In the literature, withdrawal was accompanied by confusion, suicidal ideas, nausea, vomiting, sweat, tremors, tachycardia and insomnia rebound. The epileptic seizures are described but acute psychosis complication is rare. Pharmacological hypotheses are described. The effects of zolpidem on GABAA receptor gene expression are consistent with the reduced tolerance liability of this drug as well as with other ability to induce both physical dependence and withdrawal syndrome. Through the review of the literature, the Authors noted that 50% of the cases of dependence on zolpidem are drug addicts, therefore concluding that drug addicts are more likely to become dependent on zolpidem.
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PMID:[Dependence on zolpidem: a report of two cases]. 1510 18

Several 5-HT3 receptor antagonists are available (tropisetron, ondansetron, granisetron, dolasetron, and palonsetron), and further compounds are in clinical development. These substances show only minor differences in the activity profile regarding their affinity for particular receptors. 5-HT3 receptor antagonists are primarily used and found effective in the prevention and treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and emesis, and in postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Antagonism of the 5-HT3 receptors in the peripheral and central nervous system is a probable mechanism of action. The substances are suitable as first-line therapy (combined with a corticosteroid) for the prevention of acute nausea and vomiting in patients treated with moderately to severely emetogenic chemotherapeutic agents. This combination is also moderately effective in the prevention of delayed nausea and vomiting. 5-HT3 receptor antagonists are an important constituent in the prevention and treatment of emesis and nausea caused by radiation therapy, especially in patients receiving whole body or upper abdominal treatment. Alosetron was found clinically effective in diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, whereas tropisetron in fibromyalgia and related pain disorders. Further indications for such treatment include anxiety disorders, alcohol dependence, drug withdrawal, and psychosis related to treatment of Parkinson's disease. 5-HT3 receptor antagonists are well tolerated with the most frequently reported adverse effects being headache, constipation, dizziness, tiredness, and gastrointestinal disturbances such as abdominal pain or constipation. Intravenous administration of serotonin induces the Bezold-Jarisch reflex and causes small reversible changes in electrocardiogram (ECG) parameters.
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PMID:Spectrum of use and tolerability of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists. 1551 6

Dopamine agonists are the drugs of choice in the treatment of prolactinomas, the most common type of pituitary adenomas. However, up to 25% of prolactinomas do not respond to these drugs and alternative treatments have to be considered. We describe a 37-year old female with a microprolactinoma who, although having received all available formulations of dopamine agonists over a period of 11 years, did not respond either clinically--diminution of galactorrhea and restoration of her menstrual cycle--or hormonally through normalisation of the elevated prolactin levels. Throughout the same period, the size of the adenoma remained unchanged. While on high doses of dopamine agonists, the patient presented with side effects such as nausea, vomiting, orthostatic hypotension and tachycardia without any symptoms of psychosis. Therefore, either the dose of the dopamine agonists was not toxic enough for the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway to be activated or the patient was dopamine-resistant in this pathway as well.
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PMID:A case of a prolactinoma resistant to dopamine agonists. 1661 27

Excitotoxicity is thought to be a major mechanism in many human disease states such as ischemia, trauma, epilepsy and chronic neurodegenerative disorders. Briefly, synaptic overactivity leads to the excessive release of glutamate that activates postsynaptic cell membrane receptors, which upon activation open their associated ion channel pore to produce ion influx. To date, although molecular basis of glutamate toxicity remain uncertain, there is general agreement that N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) subtype of ionotropic glutamate receptors plays a key role in mediating at least some aspects of glutamate neurotoxicity. On this view, research has focused in the discovery of new compounds able to either reduce glutamate release or activation of postsynaptic NMDA receptors. Although NMDA receptor antagonists prevent excitotoxicity in cellular and animal models, these drugs have limited usefulness clinically. Side effects such as psychosis, nausea, vomiting, memory impairment, and neuronal cell death accompany complete NMDA receptor blockade, dramatizing the crucial role of the NMDA receptor in normal neuronal processes. Recently, however, well-tolerated compounds such as memantine has been shown to be able to block excitotoxic cell death in a clinically tolerated manner. Understanding the biochemical properties of the multitude of NMDA receptor subtypes offers the possibility of developing more effective and clinically useful drugs. The increasing knowledge of the structure and function of this postsynaptic NMDA complex may improve the identification of specific molecular targets whose pharmacological or genetic manipulation might lead to innovative therapies for brain disorders.
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PMID:New targets for pharmacological intervention in the glutamatergic synapse. 1683 14

The author presents the analysis of an 8 year-old boy prematurely born after a high-risk pregnancy, then hospitalized for two weeks. He was never breastfed and presented vomiting, intense activity and inadequate behaviour as symptoms. His highly dysfunctional family is composed of a non-productive father and a homely, though aggressive, mother. The patient displayed a rigid defensive structure with perverse aspects and a cruel superego. His constant interest in magical characters frequently disguises an avoidance of reality. By means of transference interpretations, a trustworthy link with the analyst now allows him his own mental space, where hidden psychotic states come to light. In the clinical material, this boy's skills for insight mingle with oscillations from severely defensive states to integration and vice versa. The analytic relationship in this often hostile scenario has become strong. The analysis is hampered by constant demands from family and school--both expect the analyst to prevent his frequent acting out. Whereas some perverse polymorphism is part of childhood and may persist throughout life, it is likely that the patient's pathological organization may yield to reality and facilitate reparation, relinquishing the world of make-believe as well as the intense projective mental functioning.
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PMID:From acting to communicating: the analysis of a boy with a pathological organization. 1685 33

Cholinergic receptors (AChR) are reported altered in brains from schizophrenic patients, and a growing body of evidence suggests that muscarinic receptor agonists exhibit antipsychotic potential. Centrally acting selective muscarinic receptor agonists are currently not available for clinical use, but acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors, which indirectly stimulate AChR by blocking the breakdown of acetylcholine by AChE, are widely used in the clinic against Alzheimer's disease. AChE inhibitors have been reported to exhibit antipsychotic efficacy in Alzheimer's disease patients, and these compounds have also been investigated as adjunctive treatment to antipsychotic medication in schizophrenic patients with varying results. However, monotherapy with AChE inhibitors in schizophrenic patients has not been evaluated. We wanted to investigate the antipsychotic potential of the AChE inhibitor galantamine, which also allosterically potentiates nicotinic receptor stimulation. To this end, we investigated its ability to antagonize d-amphetamine-induced psychotic-like behavior in extrapyramidal side effects (EPS)-primed Cebus monkeys. Galantamine inhibited d-amphetamine-induced unrest, arousal, and stereotypy. Side effects such as emesis, sedation, and EPS were minor or not existing. The results indicate that AChE inhibitors have antipsychotic potentials and suggest that clinical trials investigating antipsychotic effects of AChE inhibitors as monotherapy would be of interest.
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PMID:The acetylcholinesterase inhibitor galantamine inhibits d-amphetamine-induced psychotic-like behavior in Cebus monkeys. 1737 45


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