Sertraline (known under the trade names Zoloft and Lustral) is an
antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor class. It
was introduced to the market by Pfizer in 1991. Sertraline is
primarily used to treat clinical depression in adult outpatients as
well as obsessive-compulsive, panic and social anxiety disorders in
both adults and children. In 2007 it was the most prescribed
antidepressant on the U.S. retail market. The efficacy of sertraline
for depression is similar to that of older tricyclic antidepressants,
but its side effects are much less pronounced. Differences with newer
antidepressants are subtler and also mostly confined to side effects.
Evidence suggests that sertraline may work better than fluoxetine
(Prozac) for some subtypes of depression. Sertraline is highly
effective for the treatment of panic disorder but is inferior to
cognitive behavioral therapy when applied to obsessive-compulsive
disorder. Sertraline shares the common side effects and
contraindications of other SSRIs, with high rates of nausea, diarrhea,
insomnia, and sexual side effects; however, it does not cause weight
gain, and its effects on cognition are mild.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sertraline
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1523:
Gustav Vasa became King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar
Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_I_of_Sweden)
1683:
Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum, the world's first university
museum, opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashmolean_Museum)
1933:
The first ever drive-in theater opened in Pennsauken, New Jersey,
United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/drive-in_theater)
1944:
World War II: The Invasion of Normandy, the largest amphibious
military operation in history, began with Allied troops landing on the
beaches of Normandy in France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Normandy)
1982:
A war in Lebanon began when Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon
to root out members of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War)
2005:
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its landmark legal decision in
Gonzales v. Raich, allowing the U.S. Congress to ban medical marijuana
even in states that approve its use.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzales_v._Raich)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
Ucalegon: (dated) A neighbor whose house is on fire or has burned
down.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ucalegon)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
I can be forced to live without happiness, but I will never consent to
live without honor.
-- Pierre Corneille
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierre_Corneille)
The Funerary Monument to Sir John Hawkwood is a fresco by Paolo
Uccello, commemorating English condottiero John Hawkwood, commissioned
in 1436 for the Florence Cathedral. The fresco is an important example
of art commemorating a soldier-for-hire in the Italian peninsula and
is a seminal work in the development of perspective. The politics of
the commissioning and recommissioning of the fresco have been analyzed
and debated by historians. The fresco is often cited as a form of
"Florentine propaganda" for its appropriation of a foreign soldier of
fortune as a Florentine hero and for its implied promise to other
condottieri of the potential rewards of serving Florence. The fresco
has also been interpreted as a product of internal political
competition between the Albizzi and Medici factions in Renaissance
Florence, due to the latter's modification of the work's symbolism and
iconography during its recommissioning. The fresco is the oldest
extant and authenticated work of Uccello, and from a relatively
well-known aspect of his career compared to the periods before and
after its creation. The fresco has been restored (once by Lorenzo di
Credi, who added the frame) and is now detached from the wall; it has
been repositioned twice in modern times.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funerary_Monument_to_Sir_John_Hawkwood
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1037:
Henry III became Holy Roman Emperor following the death of his
father, Conrad II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1615:
Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu took Osaka Castle in Japan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle)
1792:
Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound in the
Pacific Northwest for Great Britain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound)
1939:
The German ocean liner SS St. Louis, carrying 963 Jewish refugees
seeking asylum from Nazi persecution, was denied permission to land in
the United States, after already having been turned away from Cuba.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_St._Louis)
1942:
The Battle of Midway, a major battle in the Pacific Theatre of World
War II, began with a massive Imperial Japanese strike on Midway Atoll.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway)
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Wiktionary's Word of the day:
gerontic: Of or pertaining to old age or the elderly.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gerontic)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
To insist on one's place in the scheme of things and to live up to
that place. To empower others in their reaching for some place in the
scheme of things. To do these things is to make fairy tales come
true.
-- Robert Fulghum
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Image%3AQ_2008-06-04_Robert_Fulghum.ogg)