Medication Optimization Using Pharmacogenomic Testing in a Complex Mental Health Population Prescribed Psychiatric Polypharmacy.

The use of polypharmacy has become significantly more common over the past two decades, increasing the risk of drug-drug interactions and adverse drug reactions. Pharmacogenomic (PGx) assays have the purported benefit of being able to predict an individual's response to a specific medication based on genetic markers, which may facilitate the development of optimized medication regimens for patients prescribed polypharmacy. This 12-week pilot study examined the impact of the PGx results on the clinical management of Veterans who were prescribed psychiatric polypharmacy.

Cryptococcal meningitis--a follow-up study of a serious clinical entity: quick cytological and microbiological diagnostics using a special staining procedure in cerebrospinal fluid specimens.

A routine diagnostic procedure of cryptococcal meningitis using Alcian Blue and Nuclear Fast Red staining is described in a group of 16 patients. Cerebrospinal fluid findings, including clinical cytology, routine biochemistry and protein fractions, are presented.

Inflammatory and autoimmune diseases of the nervous system; possibilities of laboratory diagnostic methods in cerebrospinal fluid.

Contemporary aspects of cerebrospinal fluid analysis are discussed, including the relationship to neuro-infective, autoimmune and other neurological diseases. The actual state of cerebrospinal fluid microbiological and cytological investigation and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid protein fractions are described in detail.

[Determination of chlorine levels in Presept, a modern disinfectant].

Presept (containing sodium dichloroisocyanurate as active component) was shown to be an excellent analytical reagent superior to classical Chloramine T and Chloramine B. Potentiometric titration of potassium ferrocyanide was found to be most suitable for estimation of chlorine content in Presept solutions. The presence of serum albumin can block or reverse the oxidation of ferrocyanide completely, whereas that of a detergent is of little importance.

Plasma beta-endorphin, bombesin and pancreatic polypeptide immunoreactivity in healthy subjects and ulcer patients and changes during treatment with pirenzepine.

A lower level of BEI was demonstrated in duodenal ulcer patients in both acute and chronic cases (P less than 0.01). Treatment of patients with PI increases BEI up to values found in healthy subjects, in accordance with our previous findings (17).