No abstract

Medical records of 158 patients with bipolar depression were analysed for the incidence of a switch from depression to maniform states (mania and hypomania). Relation to psychopharmacological treatment was investigated. Thirty-nine (25%) patients of the total sample had switched to a maniform state during the treatment period in the hospital. Among that group the phenomenon occurred in 23 patients (15%) as a hypomania and in 16 patients (10%) as a mania. Patients with a switch were significantly more often treated with tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) than patients without switch (79.5% vs 51.3%). Mood stabilising medication might reduce the risk for switching, especially in patients treated with TCA; however, it seems not totally sufficient, since 59% of the switched patients received mood stabilisers. The switch phenomenon was not associated with sociodemographic or clinical data.

In this work we report on the synthesis of new zinc, magnesium and cationic aluminium alkyl as well as Mg aryl complexes featuring chelating bisguanidine ligands [2,8‐bis(tetramethylguanidino)naphthalene (btmgn) and 1,2‐bis(tetramethylguanidino)benzene (btmgb)]. The bond properties in the complexes are analyzed with a combination of experiments and quantum chemical calculations. VT NMR studies shed light on the fluxional processes within the complexes and their activation barriers. The compounds are stable against alkylation of the C=N imine bonds of the guanidino groups and might represent interesting alkyl transfer reagents and (co‐)catalysts. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2009)

We report on the synthesis and characterization of new molecular Ga halides and hydrides with acyclic guanidinate substituents with bicyclic guanidinate substituents. Acyclic guanidinates were found to adopt terminal bonding modes like in the dimeric GaII compound [(iPr2N)C(NiPr)2GaI]2. In contrast, bicyclic guanidinates prefer bridging bonding modes. Hence, the reaction between Me3N·GaH3 and htbo (1,4,6‐triazabicyclo[3.3.0]oct‐4‐ene) affords the binuclear GaIII hydride [H2Ga(μ‐tbo)]2. This new hydride turned out to be unstable in solution at 25 °C, dihydrogen is slowly eliminated. In the solid state, however, the hydride is stable up to 80 °C. The thermodynamic properties of this and similar dehydrogenation reactions were studied my means of quantum chemical calculations. With Ga2H5(μ3‐O)(μ‐tbn)2 and Ga2H5(μ3‐O)(μ‐hpp)2, two new hydrides were synthesized which can be regarded as the first hydrolysis intermediates of binuclear Ga hydrides with bridging guanidinate substituents.

Switching over from depression into states known an "maniform" in Germany ("expansive syndromes") been frequently, observed and appears to be partially related to the type of antidepressive medication. Apart from the medication, some evidence suggests that additional factors such as thyroid function may be relevant for the switchover. With this background, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the hypothesis that depressed bipolar patients with lower basal TSH serum levels (b-TSH) on admission at the hospital as inpatients are at a higher risk of switching from depression into "maniform" states than depressed bipolar patients with higher b-TSH. From a total of 158 bipolar depressed patients, 16 patients developed mania during their hospital stay. After dividing the sample of patients at the median b-TSH into one group with lower b-TSH (N = 78) and another group with higher b-TSH (N = 79), we found that the switchover rate to mania was significantly higher in the group of patients with lower b-TSH (15.4%) than in the group of patients with higher b-TSH (5.1 %). These findings suggest that lower b-TSH may be a risk factor for switching over from depression into "maniform" states in bipolar depressed patients.