An Ineffective Treatment

Over the last several years, NIMH has funded a cohort of dedicated stimulant/ADHD advocates to conduct an expensive, nationwide, longterm study under naturalistic conditions in the community to prove the effectiveness of stimulants in treating so-called ADHD (Jensen et ah, 2001). The list of authors includes Peter Jensen, Stephen Hinshaw, James Swanson, Larry Greenhill, and even Keith Conners. It was as if the aging Stimulant Club had gone on government relief to produce the NIMH Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD (MTA), whose results continue to be published. 

Ritalin and other stimulants are typically prescribed for months and years at a time. Nonetheless, despite decades of effort, biopsychiatry and the drug companies have not been able to demonstrate any long-term gain for children from taking stimulants. Going back many years to the present day, the FDA-approved labels for Ritalin as found in the Physicians  

Dulcan (1994) reviewed stimulant treatment for ADHD children. In regard to long-term control, she found that stimulants have not yet been demonstrated to have long-term therapeutic effects. The not yet, it should be emphasized, referred to three decades of trying to prove its effectiveness. 

Dulcan (1994) also made clear that for the drug to be effective, an array of other interventions are required  

Specific learning disabilities and gaps in knowledge and skills due to inattention require educational remediation. Social skills deficit and family pathology may need specific treatment. Parent education and 

---

Peripheral iridectomy is an ineffective treatment due to the secondary nature of choroidal effusions and inflammation. One case reported rapid resolution of the attack with methylprednisolone added to the intravenous mannitol. 

Sturmey P (2005) Secretin is an ineffective treatment for pervasive developmental disabilities a review of 15 double-bhnd randomized controlled trials. Res Dev DisabU 26 87-97. 

Neurotransmitter Precursors. Most neurotransmitters are manufactured by the neurons themselves from a variety of simple building block substances that are commonly obtained from the diet. Another way to promote neurotransmission is to increase the available pool of neurotransmitter by supplementing the supply of a precursor substance. In most instances, this is a very inefficient and largely ineffective approach to treatment. However, L-DOPA, the immediate precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine, remains an effective treatment for Parkinson s disease. 

In addition to its use as a primary detoxification agent, lofexidine is used by some clinicians as an adjunctive treatment in a methadone detoxification, to help reduce the ongoing symptoms as reduction occurs. This is not the recommended usage, and a controlled study found guanfacine ineffective in this regard (San et al. 1994). 

The heats of combustion of the volatile pyrolysis products released at various stages of volatilization were determined from untreated and chemically treated ponderosa pine (64). Fire-retardant treatments reduced the average heat of combustion for the volatile pyrolysis products released at the early stage of pyrolysis below the value associated with untreated wood at comparable stages of volatilization. At 40% volatilization, untreated wood had released 29% of its volatile products heat of combustion treated wood had only released 10-19% of its total heat. Of all the chemicals tested, only NaCl, which is known to be an ineffective fire retardant, did not reduce the heat content. This reduction in heat content of the volatiles was confirmed by using thermal evolution analysis (TEA) (55). 

Water-insoluble anti-inflammatory agents or antidandruff particulates are more effective than water-soluble particulates. This is because antidandruff particulates come out of suspension when diluted by application to wetted hair, and deposit on the hair and scalp. When the composition is rinsed from the hair, many particulates of the agent remain on the hair and scalp to provide an effective amount for treatment. A soluble agent is washed away for the most part during rinsing, providing only an ineffective amount remaining on the scalp. 

Otherwise, this can lead to undertreatment or ineffective treatment if not maintained. Sometimes a double dose of an antibiotic is administered as the first dose to quickly achieve a therapeutic level. This is called a loading dose. 

Any artemisia species, cryptolepsis. Any artemisia can be substituted for another however, Artemisia vulgaris, mugwort, is the least strong of the artemisias and will probably prove an ineffective choice for treatment of malaria. Dosage will vary depending on species. 

Moderating an over-effective solvent by blending it with an ineffective solvent can also shift solubility parameters to the edge of the enhanced solubility region. A 50 50 (volume) mixture of methylene chloride, and DMSO (a mixture of an over-effective and an Inaffactive solvent) dissolves 82% of the A-240, and the extract verges on forming a coalesced mesophase after only moderate heat-treatment. 

Dermal drug administration is yet another pharmaceutical application of chitosan. Topical all-frans-retinoic acid (ATRA) is an effective treatment for serious malignant melanoma. However, this topical retinoid incites skin irritation in the wide majority of patients, rendering it an ineffective treat-ment. As evidenced by the research of Cattaneo and Demierre, chitosan gels avail themselves to sustained, topical release of ATRA. These studies showed that manipulation of the viscosity or chitosan concentration of the gel enabled control of percutaneous penetration of the drug in mouse skin samples. In addition, their clinical trials on healthy hiunan subjects indicated minimal erythema occurrence from application of 0.1% ATRA in 1% and 3% chitosan gel. 

---