Drug and medical device product failures and the stability of the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Objective: Our objective was to review recent drug and medical device recalls, categorize recall types based on the free text descriptions posted within the recall announcements, and conduct exploratory analyses for researchers interested in pharmaceutical supply chain challenges.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of all current recalls, market withdrawals, and safety alerts published by the United States Food and Drug Administration pertaining to drugs was conducted. A manual review of all the recalls was also conducted to extract additional information including company details, recall type (labeling or quality), and location of failure in the pharmaceutical supply chain (manufacturing or distribution).

Pain and analgesia in domestic animals.

The biggest challenge to the use of analgesic agents in animals is the determination of the efficacy of these agents. In humans, the verbal communication of the alleviation of pain is fundamental to the effective use of analgesics. In animals, the lack of verbal communication not only confounds the diagnosis and characterisation of the experience of pain, but also challenges the evaluation of the analgesic therapy.

Antinociceptive, cardiopulmonary, and sedative effects of five intravenous infusion rates of lidocaine in conscious dogs.

Objective: To observe antinociceptive, cardiopulmonary and sedative effects of five different 12-hour lidocaine infusions in conscious dogs, and measure plasma lidocaine concentrations.

Study Design: Two-part randomized, prospective, blinded, cross-over experimental study.

Animals: Six neutered male, crossbred dogs approximately 1-2 years of age and weighing 29.

Effects of meperidine or saline on thermal, mechanical and electrical nociceptive thresholds in cats.

Objective: To measure cutaneous electrical nociceptive thresholds in relation to known thermal and mechanical stimulation for nociceptive threshold detection in cats.

Study Design: Prospective, blinded, randomized cross-over study with 1-week washout interval.

Animals: Eight adult cats [bodyweight 5.

Pharmacokinetics of intravenous tramadol in dogs.

The purpose of this study was to determine the pharmacokinetics of tramadol and the active metabolite mono-O-desmethyltramadol (M1) in 6 healthy male mixed breed dogs following intravenous injection of tramadol at 3 different dose levels. Verification of the metabolism to the active metabolite M1, to which most of the analgesic activity of this agent is attributed to, was a primary goal. Quantification of the parent compound and the M1 metabolite was performed using gas chromatography.

Receptor changes in the spinal cord of sheep associated with exposure to chronic pain.

There is evidence that post-injury hypersensitivity is partly due to changes in the central nervous system. Sheep with foot rot were used to investigate the effect of chronic pain on some receptors thought to be involved in spinal nociceptive processing systems (alpha 2 adrenoceptor and mu and delta opioid receptors). Saturation binding studies showed a variable distribution of [3H] clonidine (alpha 2 adrenoceptor agonist) in the spinal cord of normal sheep.

The effect of chronic clinical pain on thermal and mechanical thresholds in sheep.

Threshold responses were measured to a thermal skin test and a mechanical pressure test in two groups of conscious unrestrained sheep. The first group of sheep were healthy adult females and formed a control sample, the second group were also adult females, but were all suffering from a condition known as footrot. Footrot is a chronic infective lesion affecting usually one foot which appears to cause severe pain in its worst manifestation.