SLTBR Annual Meeting 1996

JUNE 2-4, 1996
BETHESDA, MD, USA

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The 8th Annual Meeting of the Society for Light Treatment and Biological Rhythms (SLTBR) was held June 2-4, 1996 at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and in the nearby Ramada Bethesda.

Dan A. Oren, M.D., Program Chief at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), was program chair. Note that the abstracts of all scientific papers are available at small cost through SLTBR Publications.

Continuing Medical Education Course: 
Practice and Science of Light Therapy and Melatonin

• Raymond Lam, "Optimal Light Treatment for Seasonal Depression"
• Siegfried Kasper, "The Role of Serotonin in Light Therapy and SAD"
• Scott Campbell, "The Use of Light to Help Shift Workers"
• Josephine Arendt, "The Use of Melatonin for Sleep and Jet Lag"
• Ellen Leibenluft, "Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder, Light, and Biological Rhythms"

Keynote Lectures

• David Klein, NIH, "The Role of N-Acetyl Transferase"
• Martin Zatz, NIH, "How Does the Pineal Gland Work?"
• Ignacio Provencio, USUHS, "The Hunt for the Circadian Photoreceptor"
• Dan Oren, NIMH, "The Physical Effects of Light on Biochemistry"
• David Schlager, SUNY, "Is SAD an Adaptive Behavior?"

Oral Presentations

Session I: Treatment of SAD

1. A. Foreland, J. Dankertsen and O. Lingjaerde: A comparative study of "artifical dawn" and lightbox treatments in winter depression
2. E. Turner, P. Schwartz, C. Clark, F. Myers and N. Rosenthal: Metergoline’s effect on SAD symptoms
3. R. Lam and R. Levitan: Tryprophan augementation of light therapy in patients with seasonal affective disorder
4. C. Eastman, M. Young, L. Fogg and L. Liu: Light therapy for winter depression is more than a placebo
5. M. Terman and J. S. Terman: A multi-year controlled trial of bright light and negative ions

Session II: Biological Rhythms and Photobiology

1. S. Feldman-Naim, E. Turner and E. Leibenluft: Circadian variation in the direction of mood switches in patients with rapid cycling bipolar disorder
2. P. Schwartz, N. Rosenthal and T. Wehr: Nocturnal thermoregulation in winter seasonal affective disorder
3. R. Levitan, A. Kaplan, G. Brown, R. Joffe, A. Levitt, F. Vaccarino and S. Kennedy: Hormonal responses to intravenous mcpp challenge in seasonal affective disorder
4. M. Teicher, C. Glod, Y. Ito, C. Anderson, S. Andersen, C. McGreenery and P. Renshaw: Hemispheric asymmetry of EEG and T2* relaxation time in seasonal affective disorder (SAD) pre and post-light therapy
5. G. Brainard, R. Reinecke, J. Hanifin, P. Pettengill, C. Reed, R. Ruberg, B. Sanford and M. Rollag: Melatonin regulation in humans with color vision deficits: Are photometric measures appropriate for quantifying light used to induce biological and therapeutic effects?

Session III: Epidemiology and Phase-Shifts

1. T. Reichborn-Kjennerud and O. Lingjaerde: Personality disorders and temperament as predictors of response to light therapy in patients with seasonal affective disorder
2. P. Mersch, A. Bouhuys, D. Beersma, Y. Meesters and R. Van den Hoofdakker: Epidemiological findings on seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in the Netherlands
3. E. Tam, K. Jang and R. Lam: A family study of seasonality in seasonal and non-seasonal depression
4. B. Parry, C. Udell, J. Elliott, S. Barga, N. Mostofi, B. LeVeau and C. Gillin: Blunted phase-shift responses to morning light in premenstrual dysphoric disorder
5. D. Schlager, C. Norman and G. Brown: Early-morning, short-acting beta-blockers for treatment of winter depression -II

Poster Presentations

1. K. Ando, D. Kripke, R. Cole and J. Elliott: Light mask 500 lux treatment for delayed sleep phase syndrome
2. P. Arbisi, A. Levine, S. Nugent and C. Billington: Decreased sweet taste threshold in seasonal affective disorder: Support for an endogenous opioid link to carbohydrate craving
3. D. Avery and D. Eder: Temperature rhythms and sleep in a 48-hour cyclothymic patient
4. C. Clark, L. Schocket, E. Turner, S. Ashman and N. Rosenthal: Efficacy of the light visor in maintaining antidepressant response in SAD patients
5. R. Cole, L. Cole, D. Kripke, K. Ando and J. Elliott: Light mask 3,000 lux treatment for delayed sleep phase syndrome
6. J. Eagles, I. McLeod and A.S. Douglas: Seasonal changes in psychological well-being in an elderly population
7. R. Frenkel, S. Reisman and B. Frenkel: Spectral analytic measurement and treatment of human stress by imageoscopy
8. J. Freund, W. Koehler, K. Georgi, T. Angert and B. Pflug: Seasonality and diurnality in monocygotic and dicygotic twins
9. K. Gaarder: Hierarchy in the temporal structures of cycles
10. F. Gross, F. Ferrero and S. Quayzin: A comprehensive psychological study of light therapy
11. B. Hebelmann, A. Neumeister, N. Praschak-Rieder, U. Bailer and S. Kasper: Cortisol concentration after tryptophan depletion in remitted patients with seasonal affective disorder
12. B. Kjellman, R. Stain-Malmgren and A. Aberg-Wistedt: Prophylactic light therapy in SAD
13. A. Kogan and D. Crawford: Three month follow up of 10,000 lux light therapy responders
14. S. Krivoschekov: Biorhythm typology and regulation of muscular activity
15. Y. Meesters, T. Van Os, C.P. Andringa, F. Veneman, D.Beersma and A. Bouhuys: Preventing SAD by using light: Light box vs light visor; bright white vs infrared or placebo light
16. I. Neuhaus, P. Schwartz, E. Turner, S. Feldman-Naim, J. Matthews and N. Rosenthal: A comparison of winter glycosylated hemoglobin levels in SAD patients and controls
17. A. Neumeister, N. Praschak-Rieder, B. Hebelmann, M. Rauh, A. Barocka, O. Vitouch and S. Kasper: Tryptophan depletion in symptomatic depressed patients with seasonal affective disorder
18. S.V. Okhotnikov, T.N. Shishkina and S. Krivoschekov: A method for the interative evaluation of the human functional state and efficiency
19. R. Pat-Horenczyk, J. Martin, D. Jones, and S. Ancoli-Israel: Feasibility of light treatment with demented nursing home patients
20. N. Praschak-Rieder, A. Neumeister, B. Hebelmann, U. Bailer, S. Asenbaum, I. Podreka and S. Kasper: State changes in rCBF in depressed SAD patients responding to light therapy
21. G. Sachs, U. Jain, C. Truman, M. Blais, M. Otto, and D. Hirshfeld: Seasonal affective disorder and personality characteristics: assessing personality traits of pre-treatment and post-treatment phases of seasonal depression
22. R. Searfoss: A technology for continuing research in an innovative field
23. R. Sepulveda, D. Kripke and S. Ancoli-Israel: Illumination of San Diego adults ages 40-64 years
24. R. Stain-Malmgren, B. Kjellman and A. Aberg-Wistedt: Platelet Serotonergic functions and light therapy in SAD.
25. D. Young: Affective disturbances in travelers to Honolulu, Hawaii
26. M. Young, P. Meaden, L. Fogg and C. Eastman: Photoperiod predicts the onset of SAD across the latitude-time of the year matrix
27. S. Youngstedt and D. Kripke: Nocturnal illumination in the aged
28. Y. Dagan, D. Stein, M. Steinbock, I. Yovel and D. Hallis: Frequency of delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) among hospitalized adolescent psychiatric patients