Efficacy of spironolactone as adjunctive therapy to sodium valproate in bipolar-I disorder: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of mood and cognitive symptoms of patients with bipolar disorder is associated with many complications and is generally not associated with therapeutic satisfaction. In this clinical trial, we evaluated the effectiveness of spironolactone in controlling mood and cognitive symptoms, sleep quality, appetite, and body mass index in patients with bipolar disorder in manic episodes. METHODS: Sixty inpatients with bipolar disorder in manic episodes were treated with spironolactone/placebo in an 8-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. They were evaluated using the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Pittsburgh sleep quality index, Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire, and body mass index in weeks 1, 4, and 8. RESULTS: For cognitive impairment (MMSE), there were significant interaction effects of group and time at week 8 (B = -1.60, SE = 0.69, t = -2.33, p = .021) such that individuals in the spironolactone group experienced more improvement in their cognitive performance. For manic symptoms (YMRS), there were no significant interaction effects of group and time at week 8 (B = -2.53, SE = 1.46, t = -1.73, p = .085). CONCLUSIONS: Considering the promising findings in this clinical trial, further study of spironolactone as adjunctive therapy in bipolar disorder in manic episodes with larger sample sizes, multicenter settings, and longer follow-ups are recommended.

Phycoremediation potential and agar yield of red macroalgae (Gracilaria corticata) against HEDP (hydroxyethylidene diphosphonic acid) and CAPB (cocoamidopropyl betaine) detergents and the heavy metal pollutants.

The discharge of raw industrial, agricultural, and domestic wastes leads to an increase in heavy metal (HM) burden and detergents in aquatic environs, which can have destructive effects on aquatic organisms. Agarophyte Gracilaria corticata, a major component of seaweed flora of the southern coast of Iran (Bushehr) that contains agar and red pigments, is one of the economically valuable red marine algae. Agar is one of the important polysaccharides with high economic value, widely used in pharmaceutical, medicinal, and cosmetic product manufacturing industries. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of 5 HMs and two common surfactants in household and industrial detergents on the agar yield, appearance color, and the red algae's phycoremediation potential against HMs. The metal ions were Zn(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), Mn(II), and Cr(VI), and the surfactants were HEDP and CAPB. The analysis results of samples cultured for 60 days in seawater and polluted environments showed that G. corticata can accumulate copper and nickel. In the presence of detergents without HMs, the amount of extracted agar significantly increased compared to the control sample with no change in algae color. But with increasing concentration of HMs, the amount of agar in seaweed samples decreased significantly, and the algae discolored from red to dark green or yellowish-green color (signs of death in the algae). These results show that increasing of HM pollution and detergents can lead to toxicological effects and reduce the species diversity of red seaweeds in the future.

Preparation and catalytic application of two different nanocatalysts based on hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS) in synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyran and 1,4-dihydropyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole derivatives.

The present study describes the synthesis, characterization, and investigation of catalytic activity of xanthine-Ni complex (Xa-Ni) and 4-phenylthiosemicarbazide-Cu complex (PTSC-Cu) incorporated into functionalized hexagonal mesoporous silica (HMS/Pr-Xa-Ni and HMS/Pr-PTSC-Cu). These useful mesoporous catalysts had been synthesized and identified using various techniques such as FT-IR, XRD, adsorption-desorption of nitrogen, SEM, TEM, EDX-Map, TGA, AAS and ICP. These spectral techniques successfully confirmed the synthesis of the mesoporous catalysts. The catalytic activity of HMS/Pr-a-Ni (Catalyst A) and HMS/Pr-PTSC-Cu (Catalyst B) were evaluated for synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyran and 1,4-dihydropyrano[2,3-c]pyrazole derivatives. HMS/Pr-PTSC-Cu exhibited higher efficiency in green media under milder reaction condition at room temperature. Furthermore, the synthesized nanocatalysts, exhibited appropriate recoverability that can be able to reuse for several times without significant loss of catalytic activity.