Publications by authors named "Tomaz Vovk"

Oxidative stress is believed to play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), specifically Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). This meta-analysis aimed to identify and quantify the oxidative stress-related biomarkers in IBD and their associations with disease activity. We systematically searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, and Web of Science databases, identifying 54 studies for inclusion.

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Oxidative stress resulting from a disturbance of the endogenous redox system is suspected in numerous diseases of the central nervous system, including epilepsy. In addition, antiseizure medications (ASMs), especially those of the old generation, may further increase oxidative stress. To evaluate the effects of ASM generation on oxidative stress, we conducted a cross-sectional study in patients with epilepsy treated with old, new, and polytherapy.

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Background: The aim of this double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to investigate the effect of vitamin E supplementation as an addition to a commercial renal diet on survival time of cats with different stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD). In addition, we were interested whether vitamin E supplementation affects selected oxidative stress and clinical parameters. Thirty-four cats with CKD and 38 healthy cats were included in the study.

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Background: The antiepileptic drug lamotrigine (LTG) shows high pharmacokinetic variability due to genotype influence and concomitant use of glucuronidation inducers and inhibitors, both of which may be frequently taken by elderly patients. Our goal was to develop a reliable quantification method for lamotrigine and its main glucuronide metabolite lamotrigine-N2-glucuronide (LTG-N2-GLU) in dried blood spots (DBS) to enable routine therapeutic drug monitoring and to identify altered metabolic activity for early detection of drug interactions possibly leading to suboptimal drug response.

Results: The analytical method was validated in terms of selectivity, accuracy, precision, matrix effects, haematocrit, blood spot volume influence, and stability.

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Psychiatric disorders are usually treated with antipsychotic agents belonging to different pharmacological and chemical classes, the most recent ones collectively known as "third-generation antipsychotics", such as cariprazine, approved in 2015 for the treatment of patients affected by schizophrenia. For these patients, a frequent therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) becomes essential to assess compliance and to optimise and personalise their therapy, also due to cariprazine interindividual variability and narrow therapeutic range. In this study, a bioanalytical method featuring miniaturised sampling and pretreatment was developed, based on volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) for TDM of psychiatric patients under cariprazine treatment and compared to a reference method based on fluid plasma analysis.

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Myxomatous mitral valve degeneration (MMVD) is the most common naturally occurring heart disease in dogs. There is a lack of data on antioxidant status and oxidative damage in dogs with MMVD stage B1 according to the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM B1). The aim of this study was to investigate antioxidant status (plasma vitamin E, lipid-standardized vitamin E (LS-VitE), antioxidant capacity of lipid-(ACL) and water-soluble antioxidants, whole blood glutathione peroxidase and erythrocyte superoxide dismutase), and lipid peroxidation [malondialdehyde (MDA)] in dogs with MMVD ACVIM B1.

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: Patients with schizophrenia are often exposed to polypharmacotherapy, which may lead to drug-drug interactions. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of potential drug-drug interactions (pDDIs) in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and to identify factors associated with pDDIs and manifested symptoms and signs. : This cross-sectional observational study included 311 inpatients admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cisplatin-etoposide is a standard treatment for small cell lung cancer (SCLC), but prognosis is often poor and current dosing methods don't tailor treatment effectively for individual patients.
  • This study evaluated the pharmacokinetics of cisplatin in SCLC patients and examined its relationship with neutropenia using statistical modeling techniques.
  • Results indicated that higher cisplatin exposure is linked to increased risk of neutropenia, suggesting that more personalized dosing strategies could improve treatment outcomes, warranting further investigation.
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Clozapine is one of the most widely used second-generation antipsychotic drugs (SGAs) for the treatment of schizophrenia. Despite advantages over first-generation drugs, clozapine still shows significant side effects and interindividual variations in efficacy. In order to ensure frequent therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) and improve the compliance of psychiatric patients undergoing clozapine treatment, two novel dried microsampling approaches based on whole blood and plasma volumetric absorptive microsampling (b-VAMS and p-VAMS) and microfluidic generated-dried blood spot technology (mfDBS) were developed and coupled to HPLC with electrochemical detection (ED).

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Canicross is a sport discipline that connects human and canine athletes in running. Changes in physiological, hematological, and biochemical parameters, and exercise-induced oxidative stress have not been thoroughly characterized in canicross dogs. The aim of our study was the assessment of the health status of trained canicross dogs that were subjected to two acute bouts of exercise with their owners during the training season.

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Ustekinumab is a monoclonal antibody used in Crohn's disease (CD). Dose optimization in case of non-response and the role of pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) monitoring remain unresolved dilemmas in clinical practice. We aimed to develop a population PK-PD model for ustekinumab in CD and simulate efficacy of alternative dosing regimens.

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Introduction: Canine brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) is a conformation-related respiratory disorder of dog breeds having congenitally flattened facial and skull anatomy. The aim of the study was to determine oxidative stress parameters, the lipid peroxidation product malondialdehyde, and antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase in BOAS patients before and after surgical treatment and in healthy brachycephalic dogs.

Material And Methods: Nine healthy brachycephalic dogs that had not undergone surgery and 39 BOAS patients were included in the study.

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The effects of antioxidant supplements on exercise-induced oxidative stress have not been investigated in untrained leisure horses. We investigated the effects of 14-day supplementation with vitamin E (1.8 IU/kg/day), coenzyme Q (CoQ; ubiquinone; 800 mg/day), and a combination of both (the same doses as in mono-supplementation) on the blood levels of CoQ, vitamin E, and oxidative stress parameters in untrained leisure horses subjected to acute moderate exercise.

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Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have been extensively developed over the past few years, for the treatment of various inflammatory diseases. They are large molecules characterized by complex pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is routinely implemented in the therapy with mAbs, to monitor patients' treatment response and to further guide dose adjustments.

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Clenbuterol is a chiral, selective β-adrenergic agonist. It is administered as a racemic mixture for therapeutic purposes (as a bronchodilator or prospective neuroprotective agent), but also for non-therapeutic uses (athletic performance enhancement, cattle growth promotion). Aim of the present study is to develop an original, enantioselective workflow for the analysis of clenbuterol enantiomers in urine microsamples.

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Background: Antioxidants located in both the hydrophilic and lipophilic compartments of plasma act as a defence system against reactive oxygen species (ROS). Excessive production of ROS during anaesthesia affects the antioxidant capacity of plasma and may result in oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant capacity of lipid- (ACL) and water-soluble (ACW) antioxidants in client-owned dogs diagnosed with periodontal disease and early-stage myxomatous mitral valve degeneration (MMVD) and anaesthetised for a dental procedure with propofol and sevoflurane or with propofol only.

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Background & Aims: Little is known about the relationship between ustekinumab exposure during the first 2 weeks of treatment and outcomes of patients with Crohn's disease (CD). We investigated the relationship between serum concentrations of ustekinumab during the first 2 weeks of treatment and endoscopic and biochemical remission in patients with CD.

Methods: In a prospective observational study, we measured concentrations of ustekinumab in serum samples from 41 consecutive patients who started treatment with ustekinumab (approximately 6 mg/kg, intravenously, then 90 mg every 8 weeks), due to endoscopic markers of active CD, at a single center from October 2017 through January 2019.

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Background: Therapeutic drug monitoring of azathioprine metabolites is required for pharmacotherapy individualisation in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Currently mainly hemolysates are used, requiring long sample preparation and showing limited analytes stability. Therefore, a quantitative LC-MS/MS method for determination of 6-thioguanine (6-TG) and 6-methylmercaptopurine (6-MMP) in dried blood spot samples (DBS) was developed.

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This article presents the results of mapping the Slovenian pharmacy curriculum to evaluate the adequacy of the recently developed and validated European Pharmacy Competences Framework (EPCF). The mapping was carried out and evaluated progressively by seven members of the teaching staff at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Pharmacy. Consensus was achieved by using a two-round modified Delphi technique to evaluate the coverage of competences in the current curriculum.

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Objectives: During cancer treatment, many patients experience chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), which leads to a lower quality of life and poorer adherence to the subsequent chemotherapy cycles. The aim of the study was to assess antiemetic therapy prescribing and CINV control in the acute phase (24 hours post-chemotherapy) and the delayed phase (days 2-4 post-chemotherapy). Factors influencing CINV control were also determined.

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Aims: This study aimed to develop a population pharmacokinetic model for quantitative evaluation of the influence of genetic variants in metabolic enzymes and transporters on lamotrigine pharmacokinetics while taking into account the influence of various clinical, biochemical and demographic factors.

Methods: We included 100 patients with epilepsy on stable dosing with lamotrigine as mono or adjunctive therapy. Lamotrigine and lamotrigine N-2-glucuronide concentrations were determined in up to two plasma samples per patient.

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Purpose: We investigated bisoprolol pharmacokinetics, including longitudinal changes and importance of patient characteristics in chronic heart failure.

Methods: Forty-six patients with chronic heart failure (57 % male, NYHA class I/II/III = 2/36/8) were followed for an average of 8 ± 2 months. At baseline and follow-up, plasma bisoprolol concentrations were determined and body composition was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.

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Purpose: The application of artificial neural networks in the pharmaceutical sciences is broad, ranging from drug discovery to clinical pharmacy. In this study, we explored the applicability of counter-propagation artificial neural networks (CPANNs), combined with genetic algorithm (GA) for prediction of topiramate (TPM) serum levels based on identified factors important for its prediction.

Methods: The study was performed on 118 TPM measurements obtained from 78 adult epileptic patients.

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Background: Therapeutic drug monitoring of etoposide is not part of the routine clinical practice, however, measuring etoposide plasma concentration may be useful to prevent chemotherapy related adverse drug reactions. This paper describes the development and validation of a dried blood spot (DBS) assay for the determination of etoposide in blood samples of lung cancer patients.

Methods: The whole blood spot was cut out of the DBS card followed by sonication assisted liquid drug extraction.

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A simple, sensitive, accurate, precise and inexpensive HPLC method with fluorescence detection, suitable for routine therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of an antiepileptic drug topiramate, was developed and validated. The determination of plasma topiramate concentration was carried out after precolumn derivatization, using 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzofurazan as a fluorescent labeling agent and bendroflumethiazide as an internal standard. The standard calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 0.

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