Fibromyalgia is accompanied by symptoms of fatigue, depression, sleep disorders, and physical and mental stress[1]. It is a difficult-to-treat disorder because its exact causes are unknown.

This study aimed to examine the effect of progressive muscle relaxation therapy (PMRT) on pain, fatigue, and stress in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Thirty-seven patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (age 20-65years) were randomly allocated to the PMRT group (n1= 18, 2 men and 16 women) or non-PMRT group (n2= 19, 2 men and 17 women). The PMRT group received PMRT twice a week for 8weeks and the non-PMRT group received conventional physical therapies such as electro-stimulation and heat therapies during this period. The outcome was evaluated before and after 8week sofintervention using the Visual Analogue Scale, Multidimensional Assessment of Fatigue, Perceived Stress Scale, and measurement of the blood pressure and pulse rate.

Pain and fatigue significantly decreased in the PMRT group compared with the non-PMRT group (both P< 0.001). In addition, perceived stress (P< 0.001), systolic blood pressure (P< 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (P< 0.05), and pulse rate (P< 0.001) significantly decreased in the PMRT group compared with the non-PMRT group.

The findings indicate that progressive muscle relaxation therapy is a viable rehabilitative therapy for pain, fatigue, and stress symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

The findings indicate that progressive muscle relaxation therapy is a viable rehabilitative therapy for pain, fatigue, and stress symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Age may affect treatment outcome in trials of mild probable Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

We examined age as a moderator of outcome in an exploratory study of deep brain stimulation targeting the fornix (DBS-f) region in participants with AD.

Forty-two participants were implanted with DBS electrodes and randomized to double-blind DBS-f stimulation (“on”) or sham DBS-f (“off”) for 12 months.

The intervention was safe and well tolerated. However, the selected clinical measures did not differentiate between the “on” and “off” groups in the intent to treat (ITT) population. There was a significant age by time interaction with the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale; ADAS-cog-13 (p = 0.028). Six of the 12 enrolled participants < 65 years old (50%) markedly declined on the ADAS-cog-13 versus only 6.7%of the 30 participants≥65 years old regardless of treatment assignment (p = 0.005). While not significant, post-hoc analyses favored DBS-f “off” versus “on” over 12 months in the < 65 age group but favored DBS-f “on” versus “off” in the≥65 age group on all clinical metrics. On the integrated Alzheimer’s Disease rating scale (iADRS), the effect size contrasting DBS-f “on” versus “off” changed from +0.2 (favoring “off”) in the < 65 group to -0.52 (favoring “on”) in the≥65 age group.

The findings highlight issues with subject selection in clinical trials for AD. buy L-Arginine Faster disease progression in younger AD participants with different AD sub-types may influence the results. Biomarker confirmation and genotyping to differentiate AD subtypes is important for future clinical trials.

The findings highlight issues with subject selection in clinical trials for AD. Faster disease progression in younger AD participants with different AD sub-types may influence the results. Biomarker confirmation and genotyping to differentiate AD subtypes is important for future clinical trials.

Memantine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, is used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. There is a caution to refrain from administrating memantine in combination with some specific drugs such as amantadine or dextromethorphan due to potential interactions that might augment the adverse effects of memantine.

This notification has not been validated in real-world data, which we aim to address using a large self-reporting database from Japan.

We conducted a disproportionality analysis using the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database reported between April 2004 and March 2019 for detecting the neuropsychiatric adverse event (AE) signals associated with memantine and other potentially interactive drugs including amantadine, dextromethorphan, cimetidine, ranitidine, procainamide, quinidine, acetazolamide, citrate, and bicarbonate. Drug-drug interactions between memantine and these drugs were assessed using multiplicative and additive models.

There was no statistically robust evidence to support multiplicative or additive interactions between memantine and the aforementioned drugs to increase the reporting of any included neuropsychiatric AEs or AE categories.

The real-world JADER data did not raise the concern about the interactive increase in the neuropsychiatric AEs in patients with dementia taking memantine in combination with amantadine or dextromethorphan, suggesting there may be no urgent need to prohibit the co-administration of these drugs presently.

The real-world JADER data did not raise the concern about the interactive increase in the neuropsychiatric AEs in patients with dementia taking memantine in combination with amantadine or dextromethorphan, suggesting there may be no urgent need to prohibit the co-administration of these drugs presently.

Alterations in levels of peripheral insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have been reported in several studies, and results are inconsistent.

We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between peripheral and cerebrospinal fluid IGF-1 levels and AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

A systematic search in PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library was conducted and 18 studies were included.

Results of random-effects meta-analysis showed that there was no significant difference between AD patients and healthy control (17 studies; standard mean difference [SMD], -0.01; 95%CI, -0.35 to 0.32) and between MCI patients and healthy control (6 studies; SMD, -0.20; 95%CI, -0.52 to 0.13) in peripheral IGF-1 levels. Meta-regression analyses identified age difference might explain the heterogeneity (p = 0.017). However, peripheral IGF-1 levels were significantly decreased in AD subjects (9 studies; SMD, -0.44; 95%CI, -0.81 to -0.07) and MCI subjects exhibited a decreasing trend (4 studies; SMD, -0.