Recognizing and preventing unacknowledged prescribing errors associated with polypharmacy.

Background: Prescribing errors put an enormous burden on health and the economy, claiming implementation of effective methods to prevent/reduce them. Polypharmacy regimens (five or more drugs) are highly prone to unacknowledged prescribing errors, since the complex network of drug-drug interactions, guidelines and contraindications is challenging to be adequately evaluated in the prescription phase, especially if different doctors are involved. Clinical decision support systems aimed at polypharmacy evaluation may be crucial to recognize and correct prescribing errors.

Prescription Advice Based on Data of Drug-Drug-Gene Interaction of Patients with Polypharmacy.

Purpose: Pharmacogenetic counselling is a complex task and requires the efforts of an interdisciplinary team, which cannot be implemented in most cases. Therefore, simple rules could help to minimize the risk of medications incompatible with each other or with frequent genetic variants.

Patients And Methods: One hundred and eighty-four multi-morbid Caucasian patients suffering from side effects or inefficient therapy were enrolled and genotyped.

DNA content of Ovis musimon spermatozoa.

To our knowledge, the value of the haploid DNA content (C-value) of Ovis musimon (mouflon) has not been previously published. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to determine the C-value and the nuclear area of O. musimon sperm cells and compare both parameters with those of Ovis aries.

Equine sperm nuclei with different ploidy levels: relationship between the nuclear DNA content and the nuclear area.

The aims of this study were to estimate the ability of the Feulgen reaction to identify equine sperm nuclei with different ploidy levels, to determine the frequency of haploid, diploid and polyploid sperm nuclei in the semen of fertile equines and to evaluate the relationship between the nuclear DNA content and the nuclear area. Determination of the ploidy level of Feulgen-stained spermatozoa using a scanning microspectrophotometer was very similar to the subjective estimations made with a light microscope. This indicates that the Feulgen reaction is a simple, inexpensive and reliable technique to recognise the ploidy level of equine spermatozoa.

Oxcarbazepine adjunctive therapy in infants and young children with partial seizures.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and pharmacokinetics of oxcarbazepine as adjunctive therapy in infants and young children (1 month to < 4 years).

Methods: Children 1 month to < 4 years of age with inadequately controlled partial seizures taking up to two concomitant antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were enrolled in this rater-blind, randomized, parallel-group study. Patients received either high-dose (60 mg/kg/day) or low-dose (10 mg/kg/day) oxcarbazepine as oral suspension.