Radio-Frequency-Controlled Urea Dosing for NH₃-SCR Catalysts: NH₃ Storage Influence to Catalyst Performance under Transient Conditions.

Current developments in exhaust gas aftertreatment led to a huge mistrust in diesel driven passenger cars due to their NO emissions being too high. The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) with ammonia (NH₃) as reducing agent is the only approach today with the capability to meet upcoming emission limits. Therefore, the radio-frequency-based (RF) catalyst state determination to monitor the NH₃ loading on SCR catalysts has a huge potential in emission reduction.

Radio-Frequency-Based NH₃-Selective Catalytic Reduction Catalyst Control: Studies on Temperature Dependency and Humidity Influences.

The upcoming more stringent automotive emission legislations and current developments have promoted new technologies for more precise and reliable catalyst control. For this purpose, radio-frequency-based (RF) catalyst state determination offers the only approach for directly measuring the NH₃ loading on selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalysts and the state of other catalysts and filter systems. Recently, the ability of this technique to directly control the urea dosing on a current NH₃ storing zeolite catalyst has been demonstrated on an engine dynamometer for the first time and this paper continues that work.

Gene expression patterns in peripheral blood correlate with the extent of coronary artery disease.

Systemic and local inflammation plays a prominent role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, but the relationship of whole blood gene expression changes with coronary disease remains unclear. We have investigated whether gene expression patterns in peripheral blood correlate with the severity of coronary disease and whether these patterns correlate with the extent of atherosclerosis in the vascular wall. Patients were selected according to their coronary artery disease index (CADi), a validated angiographical measure of the extent of coronary atherosclerosis that correlates with outcome.

Discovery of proteins related to coronary artery disease using industrial-scale proteomics analysis of pooled plasma.

Background: Relating a disease state to an entire population of proteins provides an opportunity to gain new insights into a disease.

Methods: Male populations of 53 patients with angiographic coronary artery disease and 53 control subjects without coronary disease from the Duke Databank for Cardiovascular Disease were established and matched for age and race as well as extremes of risk factors. Major plasma protein abnormalities were excluded.

High-performance liquid chromatography of lactose with evaporative light scattering detection, applied to determine fine particle dose of carrier in dry powder inhalation products.

A method for quantification of the fine particle dose of lactose is described, using a hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) method and evaporative light scattering detection. The HILIC method used an aminopropyl column and a mobile phase consisting of acetonitril/water (80/20, v/v) for isocratic elution. Sensitive chromatography was obtained using a low concentration of water in the extraction solvent.

Conditioning following powder micronization: influence on particle growth of salbutamol sulfate.

Micronization is a high-energy process that induces changes in the crystallinity of materials. As a result, the crystalline structures on the particles' surface are being destroyed and amorphous areas are formed. After micronization of salbutamol sulfate to be used in dry powder inhalers, only small amounts of amorphous material are produced.

Influence of mechanical activation on the physical stability of salbutamol sulphate.

In order to obtain the optimal particle size distribution for pharmaceutical powders in dry powder inhalers the particles have to be micronised. In most cases the process of micronisation is connected with a high input of energy which induces disorder and defects on the surface of the drug particles and as a result changes in the crystallinity. Consequently, changes in the physical stability of the powders may occur.

Effects of clofibric acid on mRNA expression profiles in primary cultures of rat, mouse and human hepatocytes.

The mRNA expression profile in control and clofibric acid (CLO)-treated mouse, rat, and human hepatocytes was analyzed using species-specific oligonucleotide DNA microarrays (Affymetrix). A statistical empirical Bayes procedure was applied in order to select the significantly differentially expressed genes. Treatment with the peroxisome proliferator CLO induced up-regulation of genes involved in peroxisome proliferation and in cell proliferation as well as down-regulation of genes involved in apoptosis in hepatocytes of rodent but not of human origin.

Population pharmacodynamic analysis of octreotide in acromegalic patients.

Introduction: Octreotide is an octapeptide analog of somatostatin used to normalize growth hormone levels in acromegaly. This article presents a population analysis of the relationship between octreotide and growth hormone concentrations in 94 patients with acromegaly, including 10 patients responding incompletely to subcutaneous treatment (poor responders).

Methods: Growth hormone and octreotide concentrations were recorded hourly over 12-hour time periods during long-term subcutaneous treatment.

High-throughput SNP genotyping with the Masscode system.

QIAGEN Genomics, Inc, has developed the Masscode tagging system for DNA labeling and detection. In this application, the Masscode system is described as applied to high-throughput single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping. The labeling system is based on a small-molecular-weight tag that is covalently attached through a photocleavable linker to a DNA oligonucleotide.

Intermittent distracting rod for correction of high neurologic risk congenital scoliosis.

Study Design: Report of three cases of severe congenital scoliosis corrected by a new device.

Objectives: To show a new, safe alternative for treatment to achieve and maintain correction of the most severe spinal deformity.

Summary Of Background Data: Because of neurologic risk, severe congenital scoliosis is usually not instrumented.

Pharmacokinetics of the 5HT3 receptor antagonist tropisetron in children.

A pharmacokinetic study in children was performed to assess whether the pharmacokinetic profile of tropisetron in pediatric patients in similar to that in adults. In three pediatric centers, three dosages were tested in two age groups during chemotherapy (Group A, 3-6 years, 2, 5, or 20 mg/m2; group B, 7-15 years, 2, 5, or 20 mg). Children received tropisetron intravenously (course 1) or orally (course 2) before the start of chemotherapy.

Sandostatin LAR: a promising therapeutic tool in the management of acromegalic patients.

A stable and sustained suppression of growth hormone (GH) secretion was noted in 101 patients treated long term with individual doses (20 and 30 mg in 89 patients, 40 mg in 12 patients) of Sandostatin LAR (Sandoz Pharma Ltd, Basel, Switzerland). Doses of 20 mg and 30 mg at 4-week intervals delivered average octreotide concentrations of 1,348 +/- 483 ng/L and 2,631 +/- 1,026 ng/L, respectively, in steady-state conditions and provided adequate control of patients who had been well controlled during treatment with 0.1 mg and 0.

Sandostatin LAR (microencapsulated octreotide acetate) in acromegaly: pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic relationships.

Double-blind, single-dose studies of 120 acromegalic patients given 10, 20, and 30 mg Sandostatin LAR (Sandoz Pharma Ltd, Basel, Switzerland) established the drug's pharmacokinetic profile. Patients then entered open-labeled extension phases, with Sandostatin LAR intramuscular (IM) injections every 4 weeks. These produced broadly constant octreotide concentrations with dose proportionality.

Spontaneous conscious covert cognition states and brain electric spectral states in canonical correlations.

Correlations between subjective, conscious, spontaneous cognitions and EEG power spectral profiles were investigated in 20 normal volunteers (2 sessions each) during relaxation-drowsiness-sleep onset. Four-channel EEG (temporal-parietal and parietal-central, left and right) was continuously recorded. The subjects were prompted 15 times per session to give brief reports of their ongoing thoughts.

A comparison of octreotide, bromocriptine, or a combination of both drugs in acromegaly.

We investigated the pharmacokinetics of bromocriptine and octreotide, both individually and in combination, in 12 patients with active acromegaly. The pharmacodynamics of the drugs were assessed by 12-h profiles of GH secretion and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) measurements. During the 42-day study period, bromocriptine was administered for 28 days (from day 8; 5 mg, orally, twice daily) and octreotide (200 micrograms, sc, twice daily) from days 15-42.

Spirapril: pharmacokinetic properties and drug interactions.

Spirapril is a prodrug that is converted by esterolysis to the active (but poorly absorbed) diacid spiraprilat. After intravenous infusion, the disposition of spirapril is monophasic with a terminal half-life of 20-50 minutes. Plasma clearance was 56 l/h and renal clearance was 11 l/h; the volume of distribution was 28 litres.

Pharmacokinetics of spirapril and spiraprilat in patients with chronic renal failure.

In this single-blind trial with a 2-week placebo run-in followed by a 4-week active-treatment period, patients were given 6 mg of spirapril once daily. Forty-nine hypertensive men and women were recruited; all had pretreatment diastolic blood pressures (DBP) of 95-115 mmHg with varying degrees of renal impairment. Regression analysis of pharmacokinetic parameters C(max)ss (the maximum steady-state drug concentration in plasma during a dosing interval), Cl/f (total plasma clearance) and k (elimination rate constant) of spirapril on creatinine clearance (Clcr) showed that the pharmacokinetics of spirapril were not significantly influenced by the degree of renal impairment.

Pharmacokinetics of spirapril in renal impairment.

The pharmacokinetics of spirapril and its active diacid metabolite spiraprilat were characterized in four groups of patients categorized on the basis of their renal function. No statistically significant effects of renal impairment upon the disposition of spirapril were detected. In contrast, there were significant perturbations in the pharmacokinetics of spiraprilat: The maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) values in the severely renally impaired group were 2-3 times those in the group of patients with normal renal function whereas the corresponding area under the curve (AUC) values were 5-6 times higher.

Effects of diclofenac on isradipine pharmacokinetics and platelet aggregation in volunteers.

In this open, two-period crossover study in 18 healthy male volunteers, a single oral dose of 50 mg diclofenac was administered alone and on day 7 of multiple oral dosing of 5 mg b.i.d.

Pharmacokinetics and haemodynamic effects of a single oral dose of the novel ACE inhibitor spirapril in patients with chronic liver disease.

The pharmacokinetics and haemodynamic effects of orally administered spirapril, a novel angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, have been investigated in patients with liver cirrhosis (n = 10), in patients with chronic, non-cirrhotic liver disease (n = 8) and in a control group of healthy subjects (n = 16). The absorption and elimination of spirapril did not differ between patients with liver disease and control subjects. In contrast, the bioavailability of spiraprilat, the metabolite responsible for the pharmacological action of spirapril, was significantly reduced in patients (AUC 820 micrograms.

Dose-proportional pharmacokinetics of terbinafine and its N-demethylated metabolite in healthy volunteers.

The dose-dependency of the pharmacokinetic parameters of terbinafine and its N-demethyl derivative was investigated in a randomized four-way crossover study in healthy volunteers following single oral administrations of 125, 250, 500 and 750 mg of terbinafine. Plasma concentrations of terbinafine and its metabolite were measured by a validated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method using ultraviolet detection. Concentration data were fitted to a two-compartment model.

Human monoclonal antibodies neutralizing cytomegalovirus (CMV) for prophylaxis of CMV disease: report of a phase I trial in bone marrow transplant recipients.

The safety and pharmacokinetics of the two neutralizing human IgG1 monoclonal antibodies to cytomegalovirus (CMV) SDZ 89-104 and 89-109 in bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients was assessed in an open phase I trial. Thirteen patients, 8 seropositive and 5 seronegative for CMV, were treated with allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation. SDZ 89-104 was given to 5 and SDZ 89-109 to 8 patients.

Daytime noise stress and subsequent night sleep: interference with sleep patterns, endocrine and neurocrine functions.

The effects of strong daytime noise stress on subsequent undisturbed night sleep were studied in six male volunteers. They slept for seven consecutive nights in the laboratory, two nights being preceded by an 8 h exposure to 83 dB (A) pink noise. Continuously during all nights EEG, EOG, EMG, ECG and respiration were recorded.