Intranasal diamorphine as an alternative to intramuscular morphine: pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic aspects.

Diamorphine is a semisynthetic derivative of morphine that is currently licensed for use in the treatment of moderate to severe acute pain, administered by the intramuscular, intravenous or subcutaneous routes. It is highly water-soluble and has a number of properties that render it suitable for administration via the nasal route. Administration via the intranasal route is well described for other drugs, but has only recently been evaluated in a clinical setting for diamorphine.

Multicentre randomised controlled trial of nasal diamorphine for analgesia in children and teenagers with clinical fractures.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of nasal diamorphine spray with intramuscular morphine for analgesia in children and teenagers with acute pain due to a clinical fracture, and to describe the safety profile of the spray.

Design: Multicentre randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Emergency departments in eight UK hospitals.

Coccidiosis: a radiological study of sulphaquinoxaline distribution in infected and uninfected chickens.

Using scintillation counting and autoradiographical techniques, the whole-body distribution in week-old uninfected chickens of the anticoccidial agent sulphaquinoxaline (SQ) labelled with 35S was established at various time intervals after a single oral dose either alone or following continuous in-feed medication with unlabelled SQ, and after a single intravenous dose. The distribution was also established in chickens infected with the coccidia Eimeria acervulina or E. tenella, after a single oral dose of radiolabelled SQ administered either alone or following continuous in-feed medication with unlabelled SQ, as for uninfected chicks.

566C80: a potent broad spectrum anti-infective agent with activity against malaria and opportunistic infections in AIDS patients.

566C80 is a novel hydroxynaphthoquinone with broad-spectrum anti-parasitic properties. In vitro the compound was more potent against Plasmodium falciparum than any of the established anti-malarial drugs. It had good activity against the pathogen in Aotus monkeys and was also effective in rodents infected with various drug-resistant strains of P.

Efficacy of a hydroxynaphthoquinone, 566C80, in experimental Pneumocystis carinii pneumonitis.

The efficacy of a new class of drugs for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonitis was demonstrated. 566C80, a hydroxynaphthoquinone, administered orally in a dose of greater than or equal to 100 mg/kg of body weight per day prophylactically prevented P. carinii pneumonitis in 90% or more of rats, while all untreated control animals developed pneumonitis.