Prescribers' indications for drugs in childhood: a survey of five European countries (Spain, France, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Russia).

Background: Indication-based, in comparison to diagnoses-based, drug utilization studies in children are scarce in the literature.

Aim: To determine the adequacy of the prescriber's indications for specific drug treatments compared to the current literature in five different European countries; and to show the possibilities of performing indication-based drug utilization studies.

Design: a descriptive, cross-sectional, international study.

Drug utilisation in outpatient children. A comparison among Tenerife, Valencia, and Barcelona (Spain), Toulouse (France), Sofia (Bulgaria), Bratislava (Slovakia) and Smolensk (Russia).

Introduction: Scarce information about comparative diagnostic and therapeutic patterns in paediatric outpatients of different countries is found in the literature.

Objective: To describe the similarities and differences observed in diagnosis and therapeutic patterns of paediatric patients of seven locations in different countries.

Design: Cross-sectional, prospective, international comparative, descriptive study.

Pharmacological treatment of acute otitis media in children. A comparison among seven locations: Tenerife, Barcelona and Valencia (Spain), Toulouse (France), Smolensk (Russia), Bratislava (Slovakia) and Sofia (Bulgaria).

Objective: To describe patterns observed in the treatment of acute otitis media (AOM) in several locations of five countries.

Patients And Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive study. Random sample of 12,264 paediatric outpatients seen by paediatricians or general practitioners (GPs).

[Drug-induced hepatotoxicity in children. Where we are and where we are going].

Childhood is characterized by continuous growth and development during which the organs and systems gradually mature. Because drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in children differ from those in adults, pediatric patients are highly susceptible to adverse drug reactions. Surprisingly, very few studies have been designed to study the efficacy and safety of drugs in this population and consequently dosage regimens are based on the assumption that children are small adults.

Oxygen-free radicals and nitric oxide are involved in the thrombus growth produced by iontophoresis of ADP.

Thrombi have been induced by iontophoretic application of ADP on the venules of the mesentery of male Wistar rats (250-350 g). We determined the thrombus growth which is a reflection of platelet recruitment. We have demonstrated the ability of two oxygen-free radical scavengers, superoxide dismutase (SOD), a superoxide anion scavenger, and catalase, a hydrogen peroxide scavenger, to reduce thrombus growth.