Antitubercular activity of lomefloxacin in an experiment

The effect of lomefloxacin was studied on mice with experimental infection due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The antibiotic was administered in doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg. It was shown that the use of lomefloxacin for a month provided a lower death rate of the animals with progressing acute generalized tuberculosis, a lower level of the lesions in the internal organs and a lower number of the Mycobacterium isolates from them. The efficacy of the treatment depended on the drug dose. When lomefloxacin was used in a dose of 200 mg/kg, the survival rate was much higher and the number of the epithelial unicellular granulomas in the tissue of the lung and spleen was markedly decreased while with the lower dose the indices did not differ from those in the control.     

Cephacetrile--application of pharmacokinetic data to dosage determination

This pharmacokinetic investigation was based on the determination of serum and urinary levles of cephacetrile in 50 subjects given single intramuscular or intravenous doses of 0.5 or 1 gm of the antibiotic; 30 normal subjects, 10 patients with renal insufficiency, and 10 patients with chronic nephritis undergoing maintenance haemodialysis were included in this study. In normal subjects, mean serum half-life was 1.09 hours (Ke = 0.6337) after intramuscular injection of 0.5 gm cephacetrile, 1.31 hours (Ke = 0.5276) after intramuscular injection of 1 gm, and 0.89 hours (Ke = 0.7806) after intravenous injection of 1 gm. Absorption half-life was 0.45 hours after intramuscular injection of 1 gm cephacetrile. The urinary elimination of cephacetrile over the first 6 hours after injection was on the average 72.7% of the administered dose. After intravenous injection of 1 gm of the antibiotic, the plasma clearance of cephacetrile was 407 ml/min., and its renal clearance 313 ml/min. A linear correlation was found between the values of overall elimination rate constant (Ke) and creatinine clearance in the subjects under investigation (Ke = 0.0080 + 0.0061 ClCr). The established pharmacokinetic characteristics were used to calculate the maintenance and loading doses as well as the intervals between injections adjusted to creatinine clearance. These data constitute true dosage schemes adapted to the particular case of each patient according to his kidney function.     

Genetic approaches to neuroethology

In neuroethology, the nervous system and behavior are analyzed in the context of the animal's natural habitat and evolutionary history. For the last 30 years the influence of genetics on neuroethology has steadily grown, particularly in Drosophila. Genetic variants reveal new properties of neurons; they help to dissect neuronal circuits and complex behavioral systems; genetics provides new methods to visualize certain brain structures and to assign behavioural functions to them; and, finally, genetic variants can be used to test ecological models. While single-gene mutations can hve highly specific behavioral effects, molecular analysis of the corresponding genes reveals that the latter normally have a much broader functional scope. The 'graininess' of a functional model of the brain, therefore, is defined by the independent regulatory units of the genes rather than by the genes themselves.     

Molecular approaches to renal physiology and therapeutics

The relationship of long-term and heavy exposure of nonnarcotic analgesics to the risk of chronic renal disease (CRD) has been the object of intensive clinical, pharmacologic, toxicologic, and epidemiologic research for 4 decades. The clinical evidence of an increased risk has been suggestive but inconclusive. The experimental evidence in animal models has been inconsistent, and in any case it cannot be generalized to humans. The epidemiologic evidence has been unsatisfactory for the most part: most of the early studies had severe methodologic limitations; moreover, they related mainly to phenacetin-containing drugs and did not have useful information on other analgesics. Since 1980, 9 analytical epidemiologic studies have attempted to confirm that a causal relationship exists between phenacetin or other analgesics and CRD. In the aggregate, despite methodologic flaws, this work suggests that excessive use of phenacetin-containing analgesics probably causes renal papillary necrosis and interstitial nephritis. In contrast, there is no convincing epidemiologic evidence that nonphenacetin-containing analgesics (including acetaminophen, aspirin, and mixtures of these two compounds) or that nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs cause CRD. Moreover, the nature of dose-response relationships, the types of renal disease possibly caused by analgesics, and the cofactors that might be related both to analgesic use and to the development of CRD in humans are still uncertain, and the pathologic mechanisms of analgesic-induced CRD in humans remain unclear. It may take many years before all the outstanding issues are settled. Until they are, as a matter of good clinical judgment it would be prudent to consider all analgesics as potentially nephrotoxic and, as much as possible, to avoid excessive, protracted use.     

Forward and reverse genetic approaches to synaptogenesis

The growing need for information about managed care and for the use of managed care organization (MCO) members in clinical and health services research requires research capability within MCOs. To learn the extent to which such capability exists, we conducted a survey of readily identifiable MCO research programs. Responses were obtained from twenty of twenty-three eligible organizations. Although there is great variability in size, these organizations have a collective budget of $93 million, more than 158 career researchers, and extensive research infrastructure and applied research activities.     

Qualitative and quantitative approaches to nursing research

We found a novel maternally inherited T3308C mutation in the mtDNA ND1 gene in a patient with bilateral striatal necrosis and stroke-like episodes. Muscle biopsy from the proband showed mitochondrial proliferation in blood vessels and normal respiratory chain activities. The mutation, which was not present in 100 normal controls or in 30 patients with mitochondrial disease, was heteroplasmic in both muscle and blood of the proband and in blood from her asymptomatic mother. This mutation results in a Met --> Thr change at the highly conserved amino acid position 1. The T3308C mutation may alter the hydrophobicity and antigenicity of the N-terminal peptide of ND1.     

Behavioral and pharmacologic approaches to smoking cessation

Cigarette smoking continues to be the single, most preventable cause of death and disability in the United States. For individuals who have cancer, continuing to smoke negatively impacts their treatment, survival, and risk for second primary tumors. This review of behavioral and pharmacological approaches to smoking cessation focuses on the recent comprehensive review of cessation interventions by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), as well as on new developments in the field. An intervention model is outlined that provides oncologists with a brief and easily implemented method of systematically treating patients who smoke. By assessing patient smoking status, advising smoking patients to quit, and proactively assisting their patients in quitting, oncologists can significantly influence patient health and fulfill their professional and ethical responsibility to address this life-threatening behavior.     

Costimulatory approaches to adoptive immunotherapy

Costimulation is critical for induction of full T-cell effector function, and thus represents an attractive immunotherapeutic approach for the treatment of cancer. This review examines these approaches, including ex vivo T-cell expansion, systemic "delivery" of constimulation, tumors transduced or transfected with costimulatory ligands, and vaccine strategies using coimmunization with the genes for costimulatory ligands. Impressive results in animal models have been demonstrated and a wide range of human clinical trials are underway.     

Molecular approaches to cancer immunotherapy

The use of cytokines and costimulatory molecule gene-engineered tumor cells to enhance tumor immunogenicity and elicit curative responses against established tumors and tumor recurrences has become an attractive prospect. The immunotherapy data obtained in many experimental tumor systems using these engineered cells are reviewed here to provide a realistic assessment of the potential and limits of this technique.     

Surgical approaches to the acetabulum

This article presents a concise outline of the indications, surgical techniques, and approaches to the acetabulum: Kocher-Langenbeck approach, ilioinguinal approach, iliofemoral approach, combined approaches, extended iliofemoral approach, and the triradiate approach. No one surgical appproach is ideal for all fractures of the acetabulum. The type of approach used is determined by the fracture pattern and condition of the soft tissues in the area under consideration.     

Alternative approaches to deindividuation.

Reviews two approaches to deindividuation research and theory. One approach has been to view deindividuation as a loss of restraints, afforded by anonymity and other forms of depersonalization. Theorists adopting this perspective, which has its origins in crowd theory, view the experience of deindividuation as a positively affective event. Theorists adopting the other view predict that deindividuation arouses negative affect and serves as a stimulus for behavior that establishes the uniqueness and continuity of a person's self-conceptions. Research testing each approach is reviewed, and areas for possible integration are posited. (104 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)