Vigi4Med Scraper: A Framework for Web Forum Structured Data Extraction and Semantic Representation.

The extraction of information from social media is an essential yet complicated step for data analysis in multiple domains. In this paper, we present Vigi4Med Scraper, a generic open source framework for extracting structured data from web forums. Our framework is highly configurable; using a configuration file, the user can freely choose the data to extract from any web forum.

A pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model for predicting the impact of CYP2C9 and VKORC1 polymorphisms on fluindione and acenocoumarol during induction therapy.

Background And Objective: Vitamin K epoxide reductase complex, subunit 1 (VKORC1) and cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) polymorphisms are taken into account when predicting a safe oral dose of coumarin anticoagulant therapy, but little is known about the effects of genetic predictors on the response to fluindione and acenocoumarol. The aims of this study were to characterize the relationship between fluindione and acenocoumarol concentrations and the international normalized ratio (INR) response, and to identify genetic predictors that are important for dose individualization.

Methods: Fluindione concentrations, S- and R-acenocoumarol concentrations, the INR and genotype data from healthy subjects were used to develop a population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model in Monolix software.

Association of menopause and hormone replacement therapy with large artery remodeling.

Objective: To evaluate the remodeling of large arteries according to age at menopause, duration of menopause, and use of hormone therapy (HT).

Design: A cross-sectional study consisting of baseline measurements of a multicentric randomized trial were used to evaluate arterial parameters.

Setting: The study was conducted in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands in academic hospitals and private clinics.

Droperidol and ondansetron in vitro electrophysiological drug interaction study.

Droperidol and ondansetron are potent anti-emetic agents which are often administered together. Although both drugs prolong QT interval in man by inhibition of Human Ether-a-go-go Related Gene-coded potassium channels, only droperidol was tested using more integrated experimental models. Therefore, we studied the effects of both compounds and their combination on action potentials (AP) of rabbit Purkinje fibers using conventional intracellular glass microelectrode.

[Management of atrial fibrillation in France: the observational FACTUEL study].

Objectives: To describe the management of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and to study consistency with guidelines on management of AF.

Patients And Methods: Observational study on a random sample of cardiologists from a French national database. Each cardiologist had to recruit the first five patients meeting inclusion criteria (patients diagnosed with AF between January 2004 and one month before inclusion and accepting the collection of their medical data).

[Organisation of clinical research in France: the new missions of inter-regional delegations for clinical research].

The organisation of clinical research in French teaching hospitals has been profoundly modified over the past 15 years. The first call for clinical research projects was made by the Ministry of Health in 1993. This Hospital Program for Clinical Research was created by the public welfare system, a situation unique in Europe and the USA at the time.

Impact of age and gender interaction on circulating endothelial progenitor cells in healthy subjects.

Objective: To assess the level of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (CEPC) in cycling women compared with men and menopausal women.

Design: Controlled clinical study.

Setting: Healthy, nonsmoking volunteers.

Quantification of the HIV-integrase inhibitor raltegravir (MK-0518) in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

A simple and sensitive HLPC method with fluorescence detection was developed for the accurate determination of the first licensed HIV integrase inhibitor raltegravir in human plasma. A 500-microL plasma sample was spiked with delavirdine as internal standard and subjected to liquid-liquid extraction based on a previously described assay i.e.

[Controlled randomized clinical trials].

It is generally agreed that the first comparative clinical trial in history was done by James Lind in 1747, in the treatment of scurvy. The general bases of modern experimental medicine were published by Claude Bernard in 1865. However, it is the development of new drugs and the evolution of methodological concepts that led to the first randomized controlled clinical trial, in 1948, which showed that the effects of streptomycin on pulmonary tuberculosis were significantly different from those of a placebo.

[Treating heart failure with carvedilol in private practice (initiating treatment and follow-up at one year. The KEOPS study].

Aims: This study aimed at describing usual conditions of carvedilol use in heart failure (HF) patients.

Methods: KEOPS was a one-year, multi-centre, prospective pharmaco-epidemiological study in carvedilol treated HF patients recruited by private cardiologists.

Results: Two thousand nine patients (mean age: 68) with heart failure were included by 401 cardiologists.

[GIP CeNGEPS, an agreement of clinical research operators to reinforce clinical trials' organisation in France].

The "GIP CeNGEPS" (national center of industrial clinical trials' management), a new corporate body, relates the major French actors in clinical trials activity, belonging to public service or commercial sector. CeNGEPS is devoted to improving the French organisation of clinical trials with four headings: Economic with a strong common will of shaking up the organisation of clinical trials in France; Political with a decision taken to the highest level; Juridical with the choice of an unusual legal form to act; Methodological with the efforts to associate the most numerous operators (investigators; local managers..

sigma(2)-receptor ligand-mediated inhibition of inwardly rectifying K(+) channels in the heart.

The sigma(2)-receptor agonist, ifenprodil, was suggested as an inhibitor of G protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channels. Nevertheless, an analysis of the role of sigma(2) receptors in cardiac electrophysiology has never been done. This work aims i) to identify the roles of cardiac sigma(2) receptors in the regulation of cardiac K(+) channel conductances and ii) to check whether sigma(2)-receptor agonists exhibit class III antiarrhythmic properties.

Modelling the influence of MDR1 polymorphism on digoxin pharmacokinetic parameters.

Objectives: Digoxin is a well-known probe for the activity of P-glycoprotein. The objective of this work was to apply different methods for covariate selection in non-linear mixed-effect models to study the relationship between the pharmacokinetic parameters of digoxin and the genotype for two major exons located on the multi-drug-resistance 1 (MDR1) gene coding for P-glycoprotein.

Methods: Thirty-two healthy volunteers were recruited in three pharmacokinetic drug interaction studies.

[Genetic polymorphism of beta-adrenergic receptors and mortality in ischemic heart disease].

The genetic polymorphism of beta-2 adrenergic receptors (B2AR) could play a major role in the prognostic of patients with a coronary heart disease. Two recent epidemiological studies could support this hypothesis. In 597 patients treated by a beta-blocker and followed for 3 years after a myocardial infarction or an acute coronary syndrome, the death rate was 5.

Medical pharmacology: from review to planning.

The mission of medical pharmacology in the CHU (University Medical Centres) is to contribute, through research, instruction and treatment, to the development and optimal utilization of drugs. With a progressive development, medical pharmacology is now present in all CHUs, where its responsibilities are both hospital-related and university-related. This progressive development also explains why medical pharmacologists, regardless of their initial training, are recognized as drug experts.

Amiodarone interacts with simvastatin but not with pravastatin disposition kinetics.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of amiodarone on the pharmacokinetics of simvastatin and pravastatin in humans. This was a prospective, crossover, randomized, open-label study performed in 12 healthy volunteers comparing the pharmacokinetics of a single oral dose of simvastatin (40 mg) or pravastatin (40 mg) taken alone and after 3 days of amiodarone (400 mg/day). Amiodarone increased simvastatin acid AUC (area under the plasma concentration-time curve)0-24 h, peak plasma concentration (Cmax), and t1/2 by 73% (P=0.

Teaching basic and clinical pharmacology to medical students: a 2006 survey in French schools of medicine.

This survey was organized in 2006 in France in order to investigate the status of the core curriculum of basic and clinical pharmacology (BCP) teaching hours (TH) in the 6 years training of medical studies. An open questionnaire was sent to 37 pharmacological teams with a 100% response rate. The results of this survey showed that the national mean number of TH is 67.

[Pharmacogenetics and interindividual variability in drug response: cytochrome P-450 2C9 and coumarin anticoagulants].

Pharmacogenetics, a discipline still in its infancy, is the study of genetically determined variations in how individuals respond to drugs. Mutations may affect drug metabolism, transmembrane transport into cells, or target receptors. Genetic polymorphisms affecting drug metabolism were the first to be identified.

[Pharmacogenetic testing: utility in drug development and in routine clinical practice].

Pharmacogenetic tests can identify the role of genetic factors in the inter-individual variability of drug responsiveness. This variability can involve three systems, namely drug-metabolizing enzymes, transmembrane drug transporters, and drug effctor sites (receptors, enzymes, ion, channels, etc.).

[Flecainide acetate utilisation review among general practitioners and hospital or office-based cardiologists in France. Obepine: observational study of flecainide].

A pharmacoepidemiological cross-sectional observational study was performed among a representative sample of French general practitioners and cardiologists. The aim of this study was to describe the prescription modalities of flecainide acetate, an Ic class antiarrhythmic, and how these modalities match the marketing authorization and the current summary of product characteristics. A total of 941 physicians participated in the study, 496 GPs and 445 cardiologists, and 1116 patients treated with flecainide for more than one month were included.

Environmental and genetic factors associated with morphine response in the postoperative period.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the respective influence of genetic and nongenetic factors on morphine dose requirements and adverse effects after colorectal surgery.

Methods: Seventy-four patients who planned to undergo colorectal surgery were included in this pilot study. The cumulative 24-hour postoperative dose of morphine and postoperative nausea or vomiting requiring the antiemetic ondansetron were the 2 clinical end points.

[Flecainide controlled-release for prevention of atrial fibrillation relapse].

Unlabelled: Flecainide acetate instant release (LI) has been prescribed for years in the prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) relapse after sinus rate conversion. A new controlled-release (LP) formulation of flecainide was recently introduced. The objectives of this observational study were to evaluate the benefit/risk ratio of LI or LP flecainide treatment for prevention of AF relapse.