Drug Release from Lipogels According to Gelling Conditions and Mechanical Treatment

The release rate of a drug dissolved in the liquid phase of lipogels may be greatly affected by the type and concentration of gelling agent and by processing conditions and mechanical treatment of the ointment. These differences in release rate are reduced after application of mechanical stress comparable with the strain exerted on the ointment during application to the skin. Therefore, changes in the concentration of gelling agents used to achieve suitable consistency and manufacturing and packing processes that meet industrial and marketing requirements do not appear to exert a practical influence on drug availability after application to the skin.     

Prednisolone therapy of idiopathic feline lower urinary tract disease: a double-blind clinical study

A double-blind clinical study was performed to evaluate prednisolone as treatment for idiopathic feline lower urinary tract disease. No differences in response were observed in prednisolone- and placebo-treated cats.     

Effect of maillard reaction volatile products on lipid oxidation

Maillard reaction volatile compounds (MRV), prepared by heating a glucose-glycine solution, were tested as antioxidants in soybean oil (SBO) thermoxidation. The volatiles were transferred into the oil by stripping with a stream of Nitrogen and substituting the atmosphere above the oil with air containing MRV. Standard accelerated oxidation was performed by heating the SBO. Peroxide value measurement and headspace gas Chromatographic analysis were carried out on all the samples. The MRV antioxidant activity was evaluated by determining the effect of the induction period and the kinetic rate constant of peroxide and oxidation volatiles formation. The MRV showed a significant antioxidant activity. The effectiveness was variable depending on MRV transfer method to the oil, and the Maillard reaction extent was related to the browning level of glucose/glycine solution. It was found that the maximum effect of MRV prolonged about three times the induction period and reduced the kinetic rate constant by half in relation to the control sample. MRV affects oxidative stability of soybean oil by lengthening the induction period as well as by decreasing the rate of oxidation at the propagation state and reducing the formation of hexanal.     

Cardiac papillary fibroelastoma excision combined with reconstructive surgery

1. The effect of the aqueous extract of Cissus sicyoides (CS) on isolated guinea pig aortic rings was studied. CS contracts the smooth muscle of the aorta in a dose-response relation. 2. The extract of CS increases the norepinephrine contraction in normal calcium and in solutions without calcium. 3. Lanthanum inhibits the contraction induced by CS. 4. The vasoconstrictor effect of CS was increased in solutions without calcium or with low calcium, which is an inverse calcium-dependent contraction. 5. Prolonged exposure to calcium-free solution did not abolish CS contraction. These contractions can be elicited repeatedly even after 6 hr of continuous exposure to calcium-free solutions. 6. Caffeine reduces contractile response induced by CS in normal calcium, as well as in solutions without calcium. 7. Our results support the idea that the aqueous extract of CS acts at the membrane level, increasing the calcium entry through the membrane as well as acting on the internal calcium deposits, possibly on the sarcoplasmic reticulum.     

The postpubertal change in the playful defense of male rats depends upon neonatal exposure to gonadal hormones

Only 19 cases of metastases at the cannula insertion site after laparoscopy for gynecological malignancy have been reported in the literature. One case has been diagnosed with cervical squamous cell carcinoma, whereas the others have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and borderline ovarian tumor. We present a novel case of laparoscopy-site abdominal wall metastasis from endometrial cancer after laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH). The 56-year-old female patient exhibited metastases of an abdominal wall trocar site and a perineal site after undergoing LAVH and laparoscopic-assisted (LA) bilateral pelvic lymph node sampling as well as LA para-aortic lymph node sampling for treating endometrial carcinoma, surgical staging IIIC, G3. The interval between the surgical extirpation of endometrial carcinoma and diagnosis of the tumor recurrence was 6 months, suggesting that overmanipulation of the diseased organ during laparoscopic surgery may have resulted in tumor spillage, intraperitoneal dissemination, and wound contamination. Although this procedure has been proven beneficial to patients with benign disease or early-stage gynecologic malignancies, laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy may not be efficacious to eradicate advanced gynecological malignancy.     

Simple high-speed CMOS current comparator

A simple modification to an existing current comparator is proposed, which enables a very low response time to be achieved with a minimal increase in circuit complexity. Circuit simulations allowed the design approach to be validated and the comparator performance to be compared to those of two other existing comparators     

Isolation of a novel Helicobacter species, Helicobacter cholecystus sp. nov., from the gallbladders of Syrian hamsters with cholangiofibrosis and centrilobular pancreatitis

A filamentous, gram-negative, motile bacterium with a single polar sheathed flagellum was isolated from gallbladders of hamsters with cholangiofibrosis and centrilobular pancreatitis. Bacteria grew under microaerophilic conditions at 37 and 42 degrees C, were oxidase, catalase, arginine aminopeptidase, and L-arginine arylamidase positive, reduced nitrate to nitrite, were resistant to cephalothin, and exhibited intermediate susceptibility to nalidixic acid. Sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene indicated that the bacterium was a novel member of the Helicobacter genus, most closely related to Helicobacter pametensis. We propose to name this bacterium Helicobacter cholecystus. In epidemiologic studies, isolation of H. cholecystus correlated strongly with the presence of cholangiofibrosis and centrilobular pancreatitis; however, further studies are needed to define the role of this bacterium in pathogenesis.     

Correlates of osteopenia in patients with cystic fibrosis

The responses to heat shock in Tritrichomonas mobilensis, a squirrel monkey parasite and Tritrichomonas augusta, an amphibian trichomonad, were evaluated by means of metabolic labeling with [35S]methionine. Electrophoretically separated trichomonad proteins synthesized at different temperatures were visualized by autoradiography and the label incorporation quantitated by a trichloroacetic acid precipitation procedure. A considerable difference in thermotolerance between the two species was found as the protein synthesis reached a maximum at 41 C in T. mobilensis and 37 C in T. augusta. The latter tolerated temperature increases 13 C above normal cultivation temperatures as compared to only 4 C thermotolerance range above normal in T. mobilensis. Major heat shock proteins (Hsps) were expressed in both T. mobilensis (with apparent Mr 94, 72, and 58 kDa) and T. augusta (Mr 94, 70, and 56 kDa) as revealed by autoradiography. Western blot analysis with polyclonal antibody against DnaK of Escherichia coli showed the presence of antigenic Hsp70 homologs in both trichomonads. Similarly, a polyclonal antibody against Hsp60 with broad interspecies cross-reactivity detected Hsp60 homologs in both T. mobilensis and T. augusta. The anti-DnaK antibody cross-reacted with a T. mobilensis protein localized in Golgi apparatus as demonstrated by immunoelectron microscopy. Immunocytochemistry on trichomonad frozen sections revealed the presence of the Hsp60 homolog in light-microscopic granules corresponding to hydrogenosomes.     

Potential bioreductively activated hypoxia probes and post-irradiation radiosensitizers related to NITP

NITP (1) is an effective marker of hypoxia in tumours for both microscopy and cell sorting studies and, additionally, the compound shows post-irradiation sensitization, probably by inhibition of repair of radiation damage to DNA. However, NITP does not have the substitution pattern which the immunochemical reagents are raised to recognize and the compound has very low solubility in water. We report the synthesis of an isomer (13) of NITP which has the desirable substitution pattern and is also soluble in very weak aqueous base. The successful synthesis of 13 uses a nitrosation and cyclization of a substituted uracil (16), but earlier approaches from 5 and 12 yielded the pyridoxanthine derivative 6. The preparative use of nitro group displacement reactions from 8-nitrocaffeine is shown to be a useful entry to a range of 8-substituted caffeines and is utilized to obtain two derivatives of NITP which carry aliphatic amine chains, i.e. 34 and 35.     

Body weight and risk of nonfatal acute myocardial infarction among women: a case-control study from northern Italy

BACKGROUND: The relationship between nonfatal acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and self-reported body weight and body mass index (BMI; Quetelet index, kg/m2) has been investigated. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted between 1983 and 1992 in northern Italy on 432 women with nonfatal AMI and 867 controls in hospital for acute, noncardiovascular, nonneoplastic, nondigestive, non-hormone-related conditions. Odds ratios (OR), with their 95% confidence intervals (CI), were computed by unconditional multiple logistic regression analysis, including terms for age, education, and smoking, plus history of selected diseases. RESULTS: Women with body weight and BMI in the highest quartile had an increased risk of AMI after allowance for age, education, and smoking status (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.0 to 2.2, and OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2 to 2.4, respectively). Compared with leaner women, the risk was higher among women with BMI above the median, in association with a history of diabetes (OR 5.2) or hyperlipidemia (OR 6.0). Hypertensive women had similar OR in the two strata of BMI (OR 5.1 and 4.8). The association of BMI with risk of AMI was apparently stronger among women younger than 50 years and among less educated women, but was similar among smokers and never smokers. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study confirm that AMI among women is related to excess BMI, with a population attributable risk of 17%. The excess risk was substantial among overweight women with history of diabetes or hyperlipidemia, stressing the importance of controlling body weight among these women.