In addition, patients with a Calgary Depression Scale score of at least 7 were not
allowed to participate in the study [Addington et al. 1992, 1994]. Oxazepam, zopiclone and zolpidem were allowed, but not during the last 48 h before cognitive testing. No other benzodiazepines were allowed in the study. Treatment with mood stabilizers or antidepressants was allowed if dosage had been stable during the last month before inclusion, as well as stable dosage during the study. Treatment with anticholinergic drugs was allowed for the initial 3 weeks of the study. Treatment with Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) within the last 3 months Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical before inclusion or during the study was not allowed. Treatment with clozapine or depot antipsychotics as the last drug before screening resulted in exclusion,
but previous treatment with the drugs was allowed. Administration of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical potent cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP2D6 or CYP3A4 inhibitors was not allowed due to interaction with sertindole metabolism, as well as drugs that prolonged QTc due to pharmacodynamic interactions with sertindole. We defined a sertindole dose of 16 mg to be equivalent to 10 mg of olanzapine, 20 mg of sertindole to be equivalent to 15 mg of olanzapine, and 24 mg of sertindole to be Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical equivalent to 20 mg of olanzapine, as also defined by the World Health Organization in daily defined Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical dosages. Cognitive measures Blinded raters performed all clinical research assessments. The CANTAB cognitive test battery is a computerized battery [Lowe and Rabbitt, 1998; Sahakian and Owen, 1992]. The participant followed instructions to complete the subtests listed below. The approximate timescale was 60 min per test session. Motor Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical screening Participants are asked to
touch a series of flashing crosses on the computer touch screen. The main purpose with motor screening is to NU7026 in vivo familiarize the participant with the touch screen interface and to minimize any anxiety regarding the cognitive test. Outcome measures were mean latency (defined as the time taken for the subject to touch the cross after it appeared), with a lower score 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase being better; and mean error (the mean distance between the centre of the cross and the location the subject touched on the screen, for the 10 crosses presented to which the subject correctly responded), with a lower score being better. Rapid visual information processing In a white box in the center of the screen a series of pseudorandom numbers appear at a rate of 100 per minute. Participants are asked to detect a specific three-number target sequence of numbers and hit a press pad when the target sequence appears. Rapid visual information processing primarily measures attention.