Pharmaceutical intervention in the care of cystic fibrosis patients.

In a prospective, randomised, cross-over study including cystic fibrosis patients with indications for HIVAT (home intravenous antibiotic treatment) the prospect of pharmaceutical intervention was investigated. A comparison between the use of disposable infusion devices with antibiotics from the pharmacy and when the patients prepared the drugs themselves was performed. During a first treatment course the patients received either infusion devices during 5 days or reconstituted the drugs themselves during 5 days, or vice versa.

Treatment of adenocarcinoma of the liver with mitomycin, hyaluronidase, and ethanol: an experimental study in the rat.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of intratumorally injected ethanol, mitomycin, mitomycin with hyaluronidase, and hyaluronidase on tumor growth in an experimental model.

Methods: A suspension of 1 x 10(6) cells of chemically induced adenocarcinoma was implanted into the liver of 52 rats. Seven days later the rats were divided into groups according to treatment and injected via a midline laparotomy with ethanol, mitomycin, mitomycin with hyaluronidase, or hyaluronidase.

Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of cisplatin in nude mice: platinum levels and cisplatin-DNA adducts.

The pharmacokinetics of platinum (Pt) and cisplatin (CDDP)-DNA adducts were studied in nude mice after single-dose CDDP treatments. Whole blood, serum, kidney, lever, testis, brain, and tumor were collected at different intervals after injection of CDP at different dose levels. Pt was measured with flameless atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) or adsorptive voltammetry (AdV) and CDDP-DNA adducts with quantitative immunohistochemistry.

Oral tetrahydroaminoacridine treatment of Alzheimer's disease evaluated clinically and by regional cerebral blood flow and EEG.

Neurochemical evidence indicates that cognitive impairment in dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT) is related to degeneration of cholinergic neurons in the brain. A pharmacological approach is treatment with a cholinesterase inhibitor such as tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA). THA treatment of 17 patients with DAT was studied with a double-blind crossover design with three types of treatment, THA + lecithin, THA + placebo and placebo + placebo.

A reversed activity staining procedure for detection of an acquired antibody against factor XIII in a girl with factor XIII deficiency.

A new method for detection of inhibitors against factor XIII is described. Agarose gel electrophoresis with normal platelet poor plasma as a factor XIII source included in the gel was combined with reversed activity staining. The procedure was applied to a 10-year-old girl with factor XIII deficiency where substitution therapy had failed.

Effect of six months of fish oil supplementation in stable rheumatoid arthritis. A double-blind, controlled study.

Therapeutic effects of fish oil (10 g/day) in rheumatoid arthritis were investigated in a randomized, controlled, double-blind study. Forty-three patients completing the study were evaluated at 0, 3 and 6 months. The nutrient intake in the fish oil group and in the control group was essentially similar.

Transglutaminase differentiation during maturation of human blood monocytes to macrophages.

There are divergent reports in the literature on the character of transglutaminases in monocytes and macrophages. The aim of the present study was to further elucidate the characteristics and functions of various transglutaminases in monocytes and macrophages. Peripheral human blood monocytes were plated and cultured for up to a month and examined for transglutaminase.

A new assay for transglutaminase.

A new solid-phase micro assay for transglutaminase has been developed. Casein bound to microtitre plates and biotin-labelled casein were used as substrates in a transglutaminase-dependent cross-linking reaction. The resulting immobilized biotin was visualized by addition of avidin-labelled alkaline phosphatase followed by p-nitrophenyl phosphate.

Lymphocyte transglutaminase function may be impaired in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

A method for capping of beta 2-microglobulin involving the transglutaminase inhibitor monodansylthiacadaverine was applied to lymphocytes from 17 patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus and from a matched control group of 16 normoglycaemic healthy subjects. Monodansylthiacadaverine strongly inhibited the capping, which points to the involvement of transglutaminase in the redistribution of beta 2-microglobulin on the cell surface. The inhibition was more pronounced in lymphocytes from diabetic patients, indicating impaired transglutaminase function in Type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Characterization of transglutaminases in normal and malignant human leukocytes.

Using the fluorescent activity staining procedure, transglutaminases in human monocytes, granulocytes and lymphocytes have been characterized with respect to agarose gel electrophoretic mobility and thrombin dependence. A thrombin dependent transglutaminase was found in concanavalin A stimulated peripheral monocytes. The electrophoretic mobility of this zymogen and of platelet and plasma factor XIII was similar.

The significance of 125I as a tracer for lymphocytes, liver cells and erythrocytes after iodination by the lactoperoxidase-H2O2 technique.

Human erythrocytes, porcine and rat liver cells, porcine spleen lymphocytes and cultured human lymphoma cells (266 Bl) have been labelled with 125I by the lactoperoxidase-H2O2 method. Large amounts of radioactivity were released when the iodinated cells were incubated in different buffers, and the rate of the release varied considerably between the different cells. Incubation at a higher temperature increased the release rate, while metabolic inhibitors such as iodoacetamide, trasylol or sodium azide did not.