Investigation of pharmacokinetic and clinical outcomes of various meropenem regimens in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia and augmented renal clearance.

Introduction: Augmented renal clearance (ARC) defined as creatinine clearance (Clcr) above 130 mL/min/1.73m may lead to suboptimal antibacterial treatment. The aim of this study was to determine a strategy for meropenem administration to achieve both pharmacodynamic-pharmacokinetic (PK-PD) target (50%fT > MIC) and better clinical outcomes in patients with VAP and ARC.

Blood Glucose Control and Opportunities for Clinical Pharmacists in Infectious Diseases Ward.

Objective: Increased risk of infection following hyperglycemia has been reported in hospitalized patients. Sliding-scale insulin protocol is an out-of-date method; therefore, it is necessary to examine new approaches in this regard. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of sliding-scale protocol versus basal-bolus insulin protocol, which supervised by clinical pharmacists in an infectious disease ward.

Gamma-tocopherol enhances apoptotic effects of lovastatin in human colorectal carcinoma cell line (HT29).

Recently, we found that lovastatin, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, and gamma-tocopherol, one of the significant types of vitamin E in diet, additively induced apoptosis in a colorectal carcinoma cell line. In this study we mechanistically monitored the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, amount of cytosolic cytochrome c and caspase 3 activity after treatment by lovastatin and gamma-tocopherol. HT29 cells were treated with different doses of lovastatin and gamma-tocopherol for 48 and 72 h.