A few studies have found combination pharmacotherapy
to be both efficacious and safe in AD patients. More research is needed in the area to further define the benefits as well as the pitfalls of combination pharmacotherapy in this fragile population. Selected abbreviations and acronyms ADAS-Cog Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Schedule-Cognitive Section AD Alzheimer’s disease CGIC Clinical Global Impression of Change FAST Functional Assessment Staging GDS Global Deterioration Scale MMSE Mini-Mental State Examination NMDA N-methyl-D-aspartate NSAID nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Notes This article is published following the 14th Biological Interface Conference held in Rouffach, France, between Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical October 1 and 5, 2002, on the theme of “Drug Development.” Other articles from this meeting can be found in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience (2002, Vol 4, No 4).
17-DMAG Phase 2 obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by obsessions and compulsions, but it has become clear that there are a significant number of other disorders that have core obsessive and compulsive Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical features. Disorders that include such features cross several diagnostic categories Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and can be grouped according
to the focus of the symptoms: bodily preoccupation, impulse control, or neurological disorders (Table I). In addition to having obsessive and compulsive symptoms, all of these disorders also have some similarities in patient characteristics, course, comorbidities, neurobiology, or treatment response. Thus, an obsessive-compulsive (OC) spectrum has been proposed, for which all of these disorders are candidates.1-4 Each of these disorders can often be chronic and devastating Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in terms of the suffering caused, the interference with functioning in important areas of life, and the economic toll to individuals and society. Table I. Obsessive-compulsive disorders. Individuals with these disorders exhibit repetitive behaviors because they have a defect in the mechanism that enables them to inhibit
acting.2 The disorders vary in the extent to which they are characterized by compulsivity versus impulsivity, and this difference is often discussed in terms Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of a compulsive-impulsive spectrum.2-4 They vary in numerous ways beginning with the phenomenology of this inability to resist acting. Compulsive disorders include OCD, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), hypochondriasis, and anorexia nervosa. Individuals who act compulsively are avoiding risk and seeking safety; these individuals appear to GSK-3 have an exaggerated sense of harm and are driven to avoid harm or reduce anxiety and neverless distress by performing the compulsive behaviors. The impulsive disorders include, for example, pathological gambling (PG) and sexual compulsivity (SC). Those who act impulsively are risk talc ers, who underestimate the likelihood or severity of possible harm; they are seeking pleasure, arousal, or gratification; their actions may also be aggressive and are often accompanied by feelings of loss of control.