Using an 18-year dataset of arrival dates of 65 species of Maine migratory breeding birds, I take a deeper view of the data to ask questions about the shapes of the distribution. For each year, most species show a consistent right-skewed pattern of distribution, suggesting that selection is stronger against individuals that arrive too early compared to those that arrive later. Distributions are consistently leptokurtic, indicating a narrow window of optimal arrival dates. Species that arrive earlier in the spring show higher skewness and kurtosis values. Nectarivorous species showed more pronounced skewness. Wintering area did not explain patterns of skewness or kurtosis. Deviations from average temperatures and the North Atlantic Oscillation index explained little variation in skewness and kurtosis. When arrival date distributions are broken down into different medians (e.g., 5% median and 75% median), stronger correlations emerge for portions of the distribution that are adjacent, suggesting species fine-tune the progress of their migration. Interspecific correlations for birds arriving around the same time are stronger for earliest migrants (the 25% median) compared to the true median and the 75% median.
Amoxapine, a tricyclic dibenzoxazepine is an antidepressant which in the
dosage range of 150-300 mg/day is notable for its rapid onset of action. Because of the
rather long, approximately 30-hour, half-life of 8-hydroxyamoxapine, the active metabolite
of amoxapine, the possibility was raised that amoxapine therapy may be carried out
with single daily dosages. Such a dosage schedule may improve compliance and, if appropriately
timed, decrease perception of some of the unwanted effects of the drug. To test the
hypothesis that there may be no disadvantages and perhaps even advantages of a oncea-
day regimen as compared to a divided dosage schedule, a 6-week double-blind clinical
trial was carried out in 35 hospitalized patients with major (18 patients) and minor (17
patients) depressive disorders. While no statistically significant difference was found in
overall therapeutic and adverse effects between the groups treated with single or divided
daily doses, onset of therapeutic effect appeared a bit faster in the group treated with single
daily doses. Of particular relevance for drugs which can be given in single daily doses is
their effect on psychomotor performance tests. In view of the findings that a once-a-day
dosage regimen with amoxapine may have advantages over divided daily doses, a second
study was carried out in which the effects of amoxapine (50 and 100 mg) were compared to
an inactive placebo and amitriptyline (50 mg) with and without ethanol in 8 normal male
volunteers. The study was double-blind and followed a latin square design. Since the effects
of amoxapine on motor reflex, visual-motor coordination and depth perception did not
differ significantly from placebo, the results suggest that the effects of amoxapine on the
performances measured are clinically insignificant. No significant interaction with ethanol
was noted.
Therapeutic and adverse effects of three dosages (1, 20 and 100 mg daily) of
flutroline, a new 7-carboline with a predinical pharmacological profile similar to active
neuroleptic agents, were compared in a double-blind clinical trial in 25 newly-admitted
schizophrenic patients. Therapeutic effects and extrapyramidal signs were seen at the 20 and
100-mg daily dosages, but not at the 1-mg dosage. Serum prolactin levels were significantly
elevated only at the 100-mg daily dosage.
CO2 inhalation has been reported to induce panic attacks in panic disorder patients. State anxiety, somatic symptoms of anxiety, physiological changes, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) were monitored in panic disorder patients before and after intravenous injections of 1 g of acetazolamide (13 patients) and saline (10 patients), given under double-blind conditions. In spite of significant hypercarbia, as evidenced by increased CBF in the former group, only one subject reported panic and even that attack did not meet DSM-III-R criteria. There was only one significant difference between the drug and placebo groups; the acetazolamide group experienced significantly more dizziness.
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