Co-administered gabapentin and venlafaxine in nerve injured rats: Effect on mechanical hypersensitivity, motor function and pharmacokinetics.

A high proportion of patients suffering from neuropathic pain do not receive satisfactory pain relief from their current treatment, due to incomplete efficacy and dose-limiting adverse effects. Hence, one strategy to improve treatment outcome is the use of a combination of analgesic drugs. The potential benefits of such approach include improved and prolonged duration of analgesic effect and fewer or milder adverse effects with lower doses of each drug.

Predictive validity of pharmacologic interventions in animal models of neuropathic pain.

Introduction The pathophysiologic and neurochemical characteristics of neuropathic pain must be considered in the search for new treatment targets. Breakthroughs in the understanding of the structural and biochemical changes in neuropathy have opened up possibilities to explore new treatment paradigms. However, long term sequels from the damage are still difficult to treat.

Neuropathic pain models in the development of analgesic drugs.

Introduction Animal disease models are predictive for signs seen in disease. They may rarely mimic all signs in a specific disease in humans with respect to etiology, cause or development. Several models have been developed for different pain states and the alteration of behavior has been interpreted as a response to external stimulus or expression of pain or discomfort.

Effects of the excitatory amino acid transporter subtype 2 (EAAT-2) inducer ceftriaxone on different pain modalities in rat.

Glutamate is the major excitatory amino acid in the mammalian CNS and is involved in transmission of pain together with processes for cognition, memory and learning. In order to terminate glutamatergic neurotransmission and avoid excitotoxic damage, a balanced glutamate homeostasis is of critical importance. The level of glutamate in the synaptic cleft is regulated through the action of five subtypes of excitatory amino acid transporters (EAAT1-5).

Third-space fluid distribution of pemetrexed in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Aim: Hydrophilic drugs particularly those with low plasma protein binding may accumulate in third-space fluid in the body. Cytotoxic drugs like methotrexate (MTX) cause damage in the tissue, and evacuation of the third-space fluid in pleura is strongly recommended before new dosing. Pemetrexed (PEM) is a multi-targeted antifolate similar to MTX approved for the treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma and non-small cell lung cancer.

Insights about health-related quality of life in cancer patients indicate demands for better pharmaceutical care.

Objectives: To highlight the health-related quality of life scale scores for Saudi patients with different types of cancer, to get understanding and foundation for improvements. To suggest suitable plans for quality of life improvement based on study outcome. The role of oncology pharmacy will be stressed.

Clinical pharmacist service in the acute ward.

Background: The majority of hospitalised patients have drug-related problems. Clinical pharmacist services including medication history, medication reconciliation and medication review may reduce the number of drug-related problems. Acute and emergency hospital services have changed considerably during the past decade in Denmark, and the new fast-paced workflows pose new challenges for the provision of clinical pharmacist service.

Hospital admission interviews are time-consuming with several interruptions.

Introduction: The admission interview is an important procedure to reduce medication errors. Studies indicate that physicians do not spend much time on the interview and that the major obstacles are lack of time and heavy workload. The aim of this study was to measure the time physicians spend on admission interviews and to describe factors that affect time consumption.

Population pharmacokinetics of cytarabine, etoposide, and daunorubicin in the treatment for acute myeloid leukemia.

Purpose: Interpatient variability in the pharmacokinetics (PK) of cytarabine, etoposide, and daunorubicin following body surface area-adjusted doses calls for studies that point to other covariates to explain this variability. The purpose of this study was to investigate such relationships and give insights into the PK of this combination treatment.

Methods: A prospective population PK study of twenty-three patients with acute myeloid leukemia was undertaken.

Multidisciplinary management of metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the era of targeted therapies.

The use of targeted agents to treat metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) has significantly extended progression-free and overall survival but raises issues relating to the long-term delivery of care and the sustained monitoring of efficacy and toxicities, certain of which have not previously been experienced. In this paper, an expert group of medical oncologists, urologists and oncology nurses and pharmacists review and make informal recommendations on the multidisciplinary management of mRCC in the light of progress made and problems that have arisen. Decentralisation of care, with a shift in emphasis from large to small hospitals and possibly to the community, may offer advantages of cost and convenience.

Pharmacy student driven detection of adverse drug reactions in the community pharmacy setting.

Purpose: Post-marketing safety studies of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) form an important part of pharmacovigilance. Countries having a formal pharmacovigilance system to a large extent rely on voluntary ADR reporting from health professionals through spontaneous report systems. The contribution of pharmacists in ADR reporting, although varies significantly among countries.

Low dose of donepezil improves gabapentin analgesia in the rat spared nerve injury model of neuropathic pain: single and multiple dosing studies.

The use of cholinergic drugs, either alone or in combination with other drugs, has been suggested as an approach to improve treatment outcome for patients suffering from neuropathic pain. The present study was undertaken in the rat spared nerve injury model of neuropathic pain to evaluate the effect of the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil when administered (1) alone and (2) as low-dose in combination with the first-line recommendation gabapentin. The co-administration studies were performed following single and multiple dosing.

Simultaneous determination of cytosine arabinoside, daunorubicin and etoposide in human plasma.

A method for simultaneous bioanalysis of the three cytotoxic drugs cytosine arabinoside, daunorubicin and etoposide in human plasma was developed and validated. A HPLC method with ultra-violet and fluorescence detection, preceded by mixed-mode cation-exchange solid phase extraction sample preparation, was used for the quantification of the analytes. The assay was used for the simultaneous measurement of cytosine arabinoside, daunorubicin and etoposide with linearity in the ranges of 13-1500 ng/mL, 15-1000 ng/mL and 52.

Developmental pharmacokinetics of gentamicin in preterm and term neonates: population modelling of a prospective study.

Background And Objective: Preterm and term newborn infants show wide interindividual variability (IIV) in pharmacokinetic parameters of gentamicin. More extensive knowledge and use of predictive covariates could lead to faster attainment of therapeutic concentrations and a reduced need for concentration monitoring. This study was performed to characterize the population pharmacokinetics of gentamicin in preterm and term neonates and to identify and quantify relationships between patient characteristics and IIV.