Discrepancies in medication information for the primary care physician and the geriatric patient at discharge.

Background: Medication discrepancies in discharge medication lists can lead to medication errors and adverse drug events following discharge.

Objective: To determine the incidence and type of discrepancies between the discharge letter for the primary care physician and the patient discharge medication list as well as identify possible patient-related determinants for experiencing discrepancies.

Methods: A retrospective, single-center, cohort study of patients discharged from the acute geriatric department of a Belgian university hospital between September 2009 and April 2010 was performed.

Effect of medication reconciliation at hospital admission on medication discrepancies during hospitalization and at discharge for geriatric patients.

Background: Medication discrepancies have the potential to cause harm. Medication reconciliation by clinical pharmacists aims to prevent discrepancies and other drug-related problems.

Objective: To determine how often discrepancies in the physician-acquired medication history result in discrepancies during hospitalization and at discharge.

New specific marker of cytochrome P450 1A2 activity.

Various methods were proposed for phenotyping of patients by activity of cytochrome P450 1A2, each has some advantages and disadvantages. However, no reference parameters were developed for measuring CYP1A2 activity that could be used as a unified standard for phenotyping of patients. We propose a mathematic model of caffeine metabolism allowing calculation of rate constants for the formation of its primary metabolites.

Case report: Infrapatellar bursitis caused by Prototheca wickerhamii.

A 54-year-old immunocompetent man presented with an infrapatellar bursitis caused by Prototheca wickerhamii. Because of clinical and microbiological relapse two weeks after bursectomy, six weekly injections of 5 mg of conventional amphotericin B were chosen for intrabursal treatment. Four months after completion of the treatment, the patient remains cured.

Medication history reconciliation by clinical pharmacists in elderly inpatients admitted from home or a nursing home.

Background: Accurate medication histories at hospital admission are an important element of medication safety. Discrepancies may have clinically significant consequences, especially in the elderly population.

Objective: To assess the clinical pharmacist's performance in obtaining patients' medication histories and in reconciling these data with the medical records and medication orders and whether the patients' residential situation prior to hospitalization influences the number of drug discrepancies.

Cerebrolysin for acute ischaemic stroke.

Background: Cerebrolysin is a mixture of low-molecular-weight peptides and amino acids derived from pigs' brain tissue which has proposed neuroprotective and neurotrophic properties. It is widely used in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke in Russia and China.

Objectives: To assess the benefits and risks of cerebrolysin for treating acute ischaemic stroke.

Fluoroquinolones for treating tuberculosis.

Background: Fluoroquinolones are sometimes used to treat multiple-drug-resistant and drug-sensitive tuberculosis. The effects of fluoroquinolones in tuberculosis regimens need to be assessed.

Objectives: To assess fluoroquinolones as additional or substitute components to antituberculous drug regimens for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Population pharmacokinetics and dose simulation of carvedilol in paediatric patients with congestive heart failure.

What Is Already Known About This Subject: * Applying in silico tools such as population pharmacokinetic analysis and simulation will help to find adequate dosing strategies and increase the probability of success for a randomized controlled trial. * Up to now, for carvedilol in paediatric patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) the dose has been linearly extrapolated from adults, but the results with this dosing strategy are ambiguous. * Further trials are necessary to establish carvedilol for paediatric patients with CHF.

Steady-state pharmacokinetics of pravastatin in children with familial hypercholesterolaemia.

Objective: To determine pharmacokinetic data for pravastatin in children, since current data are insufficient in this age group.

Subjects And Methods: A 2-week, multiple-dose, steady-state pharmacokinetic study was carried out with pravastatin 20mg daily in 24 children with familial hypercholesterolaemia (aged 8-16 years; 12 prepubertal, 12 pubertal). A plasma concentration-time curve was performed on day 14.

Fluoroquinolones for treating tuberculosis.

Background: Fluoroquinolones are sometimes used to treat multiple-drug-resistant and drug-sensitive tuberculosis. The effects of fluoroquinolones in tuberculosis regimens need to be assessed.

Objectives: To assess fluoroquinolones as additional or substitute components to antituberculous drug regimens for drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Pharmacokinetics of mesalazine pellets in children with inflammatory bowel disease.

Mesalazine is a first-line drug in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and is customarily used to induce and maintain remission in mild to moderate disease. In children, pharmacokinetic data are scarce, and dosage recommendations are largely extrapolated from studies in adults. Aim of the study was to obtain the pharmacokinetic profile of a new mesalazine pellet formulation in children with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's colitis.

[Types of biochemical response to acute pharmacological indomethacin probe in healthy volunteers].

By the type of biochemical response to acute pharmacological indomethacin probe, a group of both male and female healthy volunteers can be subdivided into two parts. The first part includes volunteers with a stability index reduced as a result of accumulation of the oxidized products and a decrease in the content of reduced glutathione (GSH). The second part includes volunteers with the stability index increased as a result of decrease in the amount of lipid peroxidation products and an increase in the GSH content.

[Comparative study of the effect of dimephosphon monophosphonate and xydiphone biphosphonate on the histomorphometric indices of rat vertebra in a model of glucocorticosteroid osteoporosis].

The efficacy of monophosphonate dimephosphon and diphosphonate xydiphon was compared by experiments in rats with an osteoporosis model induced by the chronic administration of prednisolone. The glucocorticosteroid decreased the total density of trabecules (in both bone and cartilage tissues) in histological micropreparations of lumbar vertebrae and reduced the total bone cell count and the calcium content in the bone tissue. Dimephosphon, administered on the prednisolone background over the same period of time, normalized the total relative density of trabecules (by increasing the cartilage content), the total bone cell count, and the calcium content.

Beat-to-Beat Measurement of Cardiovascular Effects of a Single Subcutaneous Dose of Terbutaline in Healthy Subjects.

Objective: To evaluate the cardiovascular effects over time of a single subcutaneous (SC) dose of terbutaline 0.75mg in young healthy volunteers using continuous, beat-to-beat monitoring of cardiovascular effects.

Design And Methods: Nine healthy young volunteers were administered a SC dose of terbutaline sulphate 0.

Pulse pressure, arterial stiffness, and drug treatment of hypertension.

Epidemiological studies in the past decade have stressed the importance of pulse pressure as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We briefly review the epidemiological evidence and discuss in more detail the pathophysiological basis for this observation and the therapeutic consequences. We focus on the vascular determinants of increased pulse pressure.

[Comparative study of dimephosphon and xidiphone efficacy in steroid-induced osteoporosis in rats].

The efficacy of dimephosphon in comparison with xydiphone was studied in rats with an osteoporosis model induced by prednisolone administration at a daily dose of 50 mg/kg over a period of 14 days. The prednisolone treatment led to an increase in the content of oxyproline (a marker of bone resorption), calcium, and inorganic phosphates in the urine. Dimephosphon (monophosphate) decreased the levels of oxyproline, calcium, and inorganic phosphate in the urine.

The effect of grapefruit juice on the time-dependent decline of artemether plasma levels in healthy subjects.

Background: Artemether is a new and effective treatment for malaria, although relapse is a problem in monotherapy. These relapses could be related to a time-dependent decline in artemether plasma levels described in multiple-dose studies and probably caused by autoinduction. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of grapefruit juice on the decreasing bioavailability over time of artemether.

The development of an immunoassay for the detection of artemisinin compounds in urine.

We have produced monoclonal antibodies against artelinic acid and investigated the reactivity with artemisinin drugs and metabolites. Antibody F170-10 is fairly specific for artelinic acid but does bind artemisinin and artemether (3-5% cross-reactivity). Dihydroartemisinin, artesunate, and metabolites of artemisinin showed less reactivity.

Grapefruit juice increases the bioavailability of artemether.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of grapefruit juice on the pharmacokinetics of artemether in plasma and saliva after a single oral dose and to detect concentration-dependent electrocardiographic changes (bradycardia and QTc prolongation).

Methods: Six healthy male subjects were given a standard breakfast followed by two tablets of 50-mg artemether administered with water; 1 week later, the tablets were administered with 350 ml double-strength fresh frozen grapefruit juice. For 8 h, 17 blood- and saliva samples were collected, and 17 electrocardiograms were recorded.

Multiple dose pharmacokinetics of artemether in Chinese patients with uncomplicated falciparum malaria.

Multiple dose pharmacokinetics of artemether and dihydroartemisinin were investigated in chinese patients treated for malaria. They received over 2 days either 4 x 80 mg artemether orally (n = 48) or 4 x 80-480 mg co-artemether (n = 40), a combination of artemether and lumefantrine (benflumetol). Lag time = 0.

Artemisinin drugs in the treatment of malaria: from medicinal herb to registered medication.

Registration in Europe of several artemisinin drugs for the treatment of malaria can soon be expected. Artemisinin is isolated from the herb Artemisia annua, in use in China more than 2000 years as a herbal tea against fever. Artemisinin drugs are being used extensively in South-East Asia and increasingly in Africa.

Simultaneous determination of fentanyl and midazolam using high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection.

When measuring fentanyl and midazolam simultaneously in the same plasma sample with standard high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) detection, overlap of the fentanyl peak by the midazolam peak occurs, which makes fentanyl determination impossible. We tested the hypothesis that by acidifying the methanol mobile phase with 0.02% perchloric acid, 70%, it would be possible to separate both peaks.

The pharmacokinetics of artemisinin suppositories in Vietnamese patients with malaria.

Eight male Vietnamese malaria patients received 600 mg of artemisinin in a single dose of 3 suppositories containing 200 mg each; 24 h later they received a single oral dose of mefloquine, 15 mg/kg. Plasma artemisinin concentrations were measured until 24 h after dosing, and parasites were counted until none could be detected. Artemisinin concentration versus time curves of all subjects were analysed with model-independent methods.

The contribution of the enzymes CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 in the demethylation of artemether in healthy subjects.

The contribution of the enzymes CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 to the metabolism of artemether was evaluated in a cross-over study in seven healthy adult Caucasian subjects. The pharmacokinetic properties of artemether and its active metabolite dihydroartemisinin were compared when given 100 mg artemether orally alone or in combination with either CYP2D6-inhibitor quinidine or CYP2C19-inhibitor omeprazole. Plasma concentrations of artemether and dihydroartemisinin were measured with reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography with electro-chemical detection (HPLC-ED).