Evaluation of new laboratory tests to discriminate bacterial from nonbacterial chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations.

Introductions: Discriminating bacterial from nonbacterial acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is difficult, causing antibiotics overuse and bacterial resistance. Sputum cultures are of limited use because results take time. In our hospital, only leukocyte concentration and CRP are laboratory parameters evaluated in AECOPD.

Intravascular plasma disposition and salivary secretion of closantel and rafoxanide in sheep.

The plasma and salivary disposition of closantel and rafoxanide were examined following intravenous administration in adult sheep. Two studies were conducted with rafoxanide at 7.5 mg/kg and 1 with closantel using 2 doses (5 and 15 mg/kg).

Relative bioavailability of rafoxanide following intraruminal and intra-abomasal administration in sheep.

The bioavailability of rafoxanide was compared after intraruminal and intra-abomasal administration in healthy adult sheep (n = 6) in a single dose, 2 parallel group study at 7.5 mg/kg. Rafoxanide concentrations in plasma were measured by means of HPLC analysis.

Multicenter evaluation of arbitrarily primed PCR for typing of Staphylococcus aureus strains.

Fifty-nine isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and a single strain of Staphylococcus intermedius were typed by arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR). To study reproducibility and discriminatory abilities, AP-PCR was carried out in seven laboratories with a standardized amplification protocol, template DNA isolated in a single institution, and a common set of three primers with different resolving powers. The 60 strains could be divided into 16 to 30 different genetic types, depending on the laboratory.

The application of new bioavailability parameters in the bioequivalence testing of antimicrobial agents.

Two new bioavailability parameters were recently suggested [Koeleman et al. 1991] to define (i) the time that the concentration in the blood stays above a defined minimum effective concentration, te and (ii) the onset of the effect, to. In addition to conventional bioequivalence parameters, the new bioavailabilty parameters (to and te) were calculated in this study and statistically compared for penicillin, chloroquine, oxytetracycline, amoxycillin and flucloxacillin from available bioequivalence data.

The influence of different types of breakfast on the absorption of paracetamol among members of an ethnic group.

It is well known that food influences the absorption and therapeutic efficacy of many drugs. In this study, the influence of three different types of breakfast, on the absorption of paracetamol was studied in a South African ethnic population group (Tswanas). The results indicated that breakfasts with a high fat content delayed the absorption of paracetamol to the largest extent while breakfasts with a high carbohydrate content delayed the absorption of paracetamol to a lesser extent.

New bioavailability parameters to compare the efficacy of antimicrobial drugs in dosage forms.

Pharmacokinetic parameters such as AUC, Cmax and tmax have been used to represent the rate and extent of absorption of drugs from dosage forms in comparative bioequivalence testing. None of these parameters gives a direct indication of how long the drug concentration is maintained above an acceptable level e.g.

An approach to select the appropriate statistical method for testing bioequivalence.

Since most bioavailability studies are usually done with only a limited number of volunteers (usually 10-30), the statistical properties of the calculated bioavailability parameters are not well defined. The established statistical methods to test bioequivalence are usually based on either the assumption of normality or a symmetrical distribution. However, the decision of which method to apply, depends primarily on the distributional assumption of the data.