Collaborative study on drug use in pregnancy: the results of the follow-up 10 years after (Novi Sad Centre).

An international multicenter study entitled Collaborative Study on Drug Use in Pregnancy (DUP) was initiated in 1987 by the Mario Negri Institute (Milano) and co-sponsored by the WHO Regional Office for Europe (Copenhagen). The study covered the use of medicines during pregnancy, labour and postpartum period. The Novi Sad centre contributed with 296 questionnaires.

[Drug use during pregnancy, labor and the puerperium and after the Drug Use in Pregnancy Study].

Introduction: An international study on drug use in pregnancy (DUP) started in 1987. There were 22 countries involved, among which two centers from Yugoslavia: Novi Sad and Zagreb. The investigation in Novi Sad comprised 296 parturients.

[Professional and social responsibilities of clinical pharmacology].

According to the decision of the Scientific and educational board of the Medical Faculty in Novi Sad the Institute for pharmacology toxicology and clinical pharmacology introduced the clinical pharmacology in 1975. Postgraduate studies were organized for those wishing to specialize, i.e.

[Medicines and lactation].

The factors that determine the transfer of medicine from mothernal blood to breast milk are the relative molecular mass of the substance, liposolubility, plasma half-life, binding to plasma proteins, pKa, the rate of metabolism and the dose taken by the breast feeding mother. The transfer of large number of medicines is small, so that the amount reaching the infant is negligible. But, certain drugs pass the milk into quantities sufficient to cause adrverse effects and these drugs should be avoided during breast-feeding.

[Therapeutics and clinical pharmacology of pediatric age].

Therapeutics and clinical pharmacology of pediatric age had a turbulent development ever since H. Shirkey spelled out his dramatic warning in 1968. that children are "therapeutic orphans".

Red blood cell deformability in diabetes mellitus: effect of phytomenadione.

Decreased deformability of red blood cells (RBC) in diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered to be linked to microcirculatory complications in this condition. As we found that phytomenadione increased RBC deformability in experimental animals, the question was raised, whether phytomenadione had the same effect on the RBC of diabetic patients. The study was performed in 10 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, where the erythrocyte deformability was impaired.

Phytomenadione improves red cell deformability in laboratory animals.

The deformability of red blood cells (RBC) is one of the factors that determine whole blood rheology. Derivatives of vitamin K (phytomenadione, menadione, menadione bisulfite) are electron-transporting substances. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible influence of derivatives of vitamin K on erythrocyte deformability in studies in vivo--on rats and rabbits.

[Epidemiologic study of anemia in school children with special emphasis on hemoglobinopathies].

A total of 746 schoolchildren of both sex (aged 7-15) were investigated in the community of Backa Palanka and Bac with the view to establishing reference hematologic values of the red lineage: Hemoglobin (Hgb) 135.3 +/- 20.4 g/l, erythrocytes (Er) 4.

[Clinical pharmacology and the selection of drugs].

Yugoslavia has a modern drug legislature and a selective drug market. With about 910 substances and 1250 brand names the number of drugs is among the lowest among the European countries. Most products on the market satisfy high criteria of safety to efficacy ratio.

Are we treating enough patients for hypertension?

International comparisons indicate a two- to three-fold overall difference in the therapeutic intensity with antihypertensive drugs. In the District of Novi Sad in Yugoslavia, the use of antihypertensive drugs is among the lowest. The differences cannot be explained from the prevalence of hypertension.

Epidemiological evaluation of anti-infective drug prescribing for children in outpatient practice.

In comparison with other regions in Yugoslavia, in the District of Novi Sad a high prescribing rate for antimicrobial drug were previously found. The aim of this study was to determine whether this high rate applies also to pediatric patients up to the age of 7 years, to define the prescribing pattern of physicians, and ultimately, to direct educational and other measures toward improving the therapeutic practices. The sample consisted of all prescriptions for 1 month for 26,652 children, comprising 8.

Regional and international comparison in utilization of antidiabetic drugs.

Data are expressed in the comparable manner through the method of defined daily doses (DDD), which has been adopted for drugs in our country according to the internationally agreed method of drug utilization [Stanulović et al. 1981]. Together with Iceland, Novi Sad had the lowest insulin utilization in 1976, the rate being 1.

Extremes in drug utilization patterns. Low prescribing of antihypertensives in the District of Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.

According to data expressed in defined daily doses (DDD), the utilization of antihypertensives is lower in the district of Novi Sad (Yugoslavia) than in other settings studied so far. The number of actually treated persons is even lower than that indicated by the DDD value, which in 1981 was 23.4 DDD/1 000 inhabitants/day.

Drug utilization in paediatrics: non-medical factors affecting decision making by prescribers.

The study was done to show that in certain areas of paediatric pharmacotherapy unexpected discrepancies may arise between accepted therapeutic principles and the actual behaviour of a prescribing doctor. The first example was of a great reduction in penicillin use in a university teaching hospital after certain therapeutic accidents: in one year, there were 2 fatal cases of rhabdomyolysis due to use of procaine benzyl-penicillin. Other antimicrobial drugs inferior to penicillin, such as lincomycin and sulphonamides, replaced penicillins.