No effects of long-term sildenafil treatment on ocular functions

Purpose Sildenafil is a new and effective oral medication for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term effects of sildenafil on visual acuity, color vision, intraocular pressure (IOP), electroretinography (ERG), blue-on-yellow and white-on-white Humphrey visual field (HVF), and tear functions. Methods Ten impotent patients ingested 50 mg of sildenafil one or more times a week for a minimum of 3 months. Ten age-matched subjects without any ophthalmological disorders other than refractive problems served as controls. Visual acuity (Snellen), color discrimination (Ishihara), and a slit-lamp examination were performed on the patients. Cotton thread and Schirmer I tests and tear break-up time were applied to random eyes of all subjects. IOP was measured in both eyes of the patients by Goldmann applanation tonometry. Both eyes of each subject were tested with white-on-white (fastpac 30-2, size 3 stimulus) followed by blue-on-yellow (fastpac 30-2, size 5 stimulus) HVF analyzer. ERG in scotopic (dark-adapted) condition was performed with unipolar corneal electrodes and rod response was recorded. Results In comparison with control, no clinically or statistically significant differences were detected in the patients ingesting sildenafil with regard to the visual acuity, color discrimination, IOP, mean deviation, cotton thread and Schirmer I tests, tear break-up time, amplitude, and implicit time of b-wave. Conclusion Long-term treatment with sildenafil did not produce any significant abnormality on ocular functions. Repeated exposures of ocular tissues to therapeutic doses of sildenafil are unlikely to impair their functions. The authors do not have any significant financial interest or other relationship with any product manufacturer or provider of services discussed in this article. The authors also do not discuss the use of off-label products, which includes, unlabeled, unapproved, or investigative products or devices.     

Deficient Lymphoid Cell-Mediated, PHA-Induced Cytotoxicity in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Lymphoid cells from patients with rheumatoid arthritis were compared with those from healthy blood donors and from nonrheumatoid arthritis patients for the ability to manifest in vitro cytotoxicity against target cells in the presence of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) or anti-target cell antibodies. The PHA-induced cytotoxicity in the rheumatoid patient group was significantly lower than that of the blood donors (P < 0.01) and of the nonrheumatoid patients (P < 0.05). The rheumatoid arthritis patients appeared to fall into two groups, one with normal and one with distinctly subnormal PHA-induced cytotoxicity. No obvious differences were observed between these two groups with regard to duration or activity of the disease, treatment, autoantibodies, or the proportion in peripheral blood of T lymphocytes (E–RFC) or Fc-receptor-bearing lymphocytes (EA-RFC). There were no significant differences between the groups with regard to antibody-dependent cytotoxicity.     

HIV reporting in western Europe : national systems and first European data

AIDS case reporting has been an essential tool for monitoring HIV infection in western Europe. Recent trends in AIDS have been affected by improved antiretroviral treatments that delay HIV disease progression, however, and no longer serve as indicators of     

Prognostic Factors Effecting on Recurrence of Urinary Stone Disease: A Multivariate Analysis of Everyday Patient Parameters

Introduction: Since comprehensive urometabolic analyses are currently more preferred for the patients with recurrent stones and with high risk of stone recurrence, we have tried to determine simple patient data increasing stone recurrence to limit sophisticated analyses to certain cases at least in particularly deprivation districts. Materials and methods: For the study 173 with first-time or recurrent urinary stone were taken. After stone treatment, various empirical metaphylaxis methods were counselled to the patients. The parameters evaluated were (a) age at onset of the disease, (b) gender, (c) urinary pH and (d) specific gravity, (e) serum calcium and (f) uric acid, (g) stone burden, (h) side, and (i) location, (j) treatment modality and (k) recurrence history. New stone formation or growing of the existing stone was considered as stone recurrence. In statistics, independent samples t, chi-square test, Kaplan–Meier, Log rank and Cox regression tests were used. Results: The mean age was 35 years. The male to female ratio was 88/85. Recurrence occurred in 49 (28%) cases at a mean of 30 months. Stone burden was significantly larger in patients with recurrent stone. In subjects treated with open surgery and with previous recurrence history, stone recurrence rate was significantly higher. In survival analyses, higher serum calcium level, larger stone burden, renal stones and previous recurrence influenced stone prognosis poorly. However in multivariate analysis, none of them was the most significant independent factor. Conclusions: According to our study, detailed urometabolic analyses may be somewhat reserved for the patients with ordinary factors increasing risk of stone recurrence including relatively high serum calcium level, large stone burden, upper urinary stone, history of recurrence and open surgery. As a result, it has been thought that the stone risk evaluation guiding detailed laboratory examination may be partially performed with first-line clinical data under limited conditions.     

盐酸普鲁卡因胺渗透泵片剂的研究

本文研究了盐酸普鲁卡因胺(PA·HCl)渗透泵片的处方组成、制备工艺、体外溶出;建立了PA·HCl的紫外双波长分光光度法及血清和唾液中PA及其活性代谢物N-乙酰普鲁卡因胺(NAPA)共存下的高效液相色谱法,体内PA实验数据按双室模型,用电子计算机处理求得药动学参数。药动学—药效学数据显示血药浓度和唾药浓度均与药效变化规律相关。     

Gastric adenocarcinoma: CT versus surgical staging

Seventy-five patients with gastric carcinoma underwent preoperative staging with computed tomography (CT). In 14 patients, CT failed to demonstrate lymphadenopathy despite the presence of malignant lymph nodes at surgery. In 13 patients, CT demonstrated enlarged nodes, but no malignant involvement was found at surgery. Although spread to the pancreas was correctly predicted in three patients with lack of fat plane between tumor and pancreas, five patients lacking a fat plane had no invasion, whereas eight patients with an intact fat plane had invasion. Thirty-five patients (47%) were incorrectly staged with CT:23 (31%) were understaged and 12 (16%) were overstaged. CT does not accurately display the true extent of disease in patients with gastric carcinoma and therefore should not be used routinely for staging.