Colonic delivery of compression coated nisin tablets using pectin/HPMC polymer mixture.

Nisin containing pectin/HPMC compression coated tablets were prepared and their in vitro behavior tested for colonic delivery. Nisin is a 34-amino-acid residue long, heat stable peptide belonging to the group A lantibiotics with wide antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. The invention can be useful for treating colonic infectious diseases such as by Clostridium difficile, and also by colonization of vancomycin-resistant enterococci.

Comparison of polymorphonuclear leukocyte functions in elderly patients and healthy young volunteers.

Objective: To compare the polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) functions (phagocytosis and intracellular killing activity) of elderly patients with healthy young volunteers.

Subjects And Methods: Fifty-nine elderly patients who had various diseases (cancer, hypertension and diabetes mellitus, DM) and 10 healthy young volunteers were included in this study. Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation was used to isolate PMNs from venous blood containing EDTA (0.