Influence of pH on in vitro disintegration of phosphate binders

Hyperphosphatemia, a common complication in patients with end-stage renal disease, is treated with oral phosphate-binding medications that restrict phosphorus absorption from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Impaired product performance, such as failure to disintegrate and/or dissolve in the GI tract, could limit the efficacy of the phosphate binder. Disintegration may be as important as dissolution for predicting in vitro product performance for medications that act locally on the GI tract, such as phosphate binders. Furthermore, patients with end-stage renal disease have a wide range in GI pH, and pH can influence a product's performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of pH on in vitro disintegration of phosphate binders. Fifteen different commercially available phosphate binders (seven calcium carbonate tablet formulations, two calcium acetate tablet formulations, three aluminum hydroxide capsule formulations, and three aluminum hydroxide tablet formulations) were studied using the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) standard disintegration apparatus. Phosphate binders were tested in simulated gastric fluid (pH 1.5), distilled water (pH 5.1), and simulated intestinal fluid (pH 7.5). Product failure was defined as two or more individual tablets or capsules failing to disintegrate completely within 30 minutes. Results indicate that 9 of the 15 phosphate binders tested showed statistically significant differences in disintegration time (DT) based on pH. The percentage of binders that passed the disintegration study test in distilled water, gastric fluid, and intestinal fluid were 80%, 80%, and 73%, respectively. The findings of this study show that the disintegration of commercially available phosphate binders is highly variable. The pH significantly affected in vitro disintegration in the majority of phosphate binders tested; how significantly this affects in vivo performance has yet to be studied.     

Comparing outcomes in renal replacement therapy: how should we correct for case mix?

The need to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical practice to justify expensive therapy in the face of financial constraints in all areas of health care delivery makes it necessary to identify groups of patients who are likely to benefit most from treatment. Various risk stratification methods have been used for analyzing survival probabilities for patients receiving renal replacement therapy. Complicated risk stratification methods produce large numbers of risk groups of small sizes, which makes comparison between individual centers difficult. We compared three simple methods of risk stratification, that divided patients into low-, medium-, and high-risk groups, in a cohort of 1,407 patients who commenced renal replacement therapy in five European countries during a 7-year period. Method 1 considered age (>55 years) and diabetes alone; method 2 used a higher age limit (>70 years) and comorbid illnesses, including those other than diabetes; and method 3 used only the number of comorbidities (none, 1, or > or =2) for stratification. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed for comparison between risk groups and Cox's regression model used to assess strength of relationship with mortality. Although patient survival was significantly different between the low-, medium-, and high-risk groups using all three methods, Cox's regression analysis showed that method 2 provided the greatest discrimination between risk groups. In predicting mortality, method 2 (based on comorbidities and age) showed the highest sensitivity and specificity (84% and 80%, respectively) compared with method 1 (80% and 74%) and method 3 (64% and 82%). Validation of this approach in other populations in a prospective study is required before this method, which takes into account the influences of both age and comorbidity for risk stratification, can be used for comparing survival data and for presenting results of renal replacement therapy.     

我院门诊处方抗菌药物应用评价

目的了解医院门诊抗菌药物的使用情况,促进规范用药。方法随机抽取2011年6月～2012年6月门诊处方共10000张进行统计分析。结果 2011年下半年及2012年上半年本院抗菌药物使用率分别为43.2%和36.0%,不合格率分别为42.5%和7.6%,2012年用药情况有明显改善。结论本院抗菌药物使用情况比较合理,但还需要进一步加强。     

针刺手膝痛穴治疗膝骨关节炎膝痛临床观察

目的:观察针刺手膝痛穴治疗膝骨关节炎(KOA)的临床疗效。方法:将60例KOA患者随机分为观察组与对照组各30例,观察组采用单纯针刺手膝痛穴疗法,对照组采用常规针刺疗法。在两组患者初次治疗前后即刻和治疗结束后,分别进行视觉模拟评分(VAS)评估比较及临床疗效比较。结果:初次治疗前后VAS评分观察组明显优于对照组(P<0.05),观察组总有效率为93.3%,对照组总有效率73.3%;两组比较有显著性差异(P<0.01)。结论:针刺手膝痛穴治疗膝骨关节炎的临床疗效确切,是一种见效快、疗效好的针刺疗法。     

Relationship of Psychosocial Risk Factors, Certain Personality Traits and Myocardial Infarction in Indians: A Case�Ccontrol Study

Objective:

To investigate the relationship of psychosocial factors (lack of social support, stress and subjective well-being) and personality traits with myocardial infarction (MI).

Materials and Methods:

A case–control study involving 100 cases and 100 matched controls was conducted in Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi.

Results:

Stress over 1 year was significantly higher in cases (P < 0.001). However, difference was not significant when scores of social support (P = 0.2), Presumptive Stressful Life Event (PSLE) over lifetime (P = 0.058) and subjective well-being (P = 0.987) were compared. MI was significantly associated with hyperactive (P < 0.001), dominant (P = 0.03), egoistic (P < 0.001) and introvert (P < 0.001) personalities.

Conclusion:

Certain personality traits and recent stress may be important risk factors of MI, especially in Indians. The finding may have implications on the preventive strategies planned for MI patients.     

Body Mass Index and obesity: Tailoring “cut-off” for an Asian Indian male population

Background: Obesity/overweight is a recognized risk factor for a host of disorders. The disease risk stratification is commonly based on the Quetelets Index (Body Mass Index-BMI), a surrogate measure of fatness. The currently used BMI cut-offs to classify people as overweight or obese in Armed Forces have been defined in studies on Caucasian populations. However, because of differences in body structure and composition in different ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural and regional groups the correspondence between BMI and body fat content varies between populations. We conducted this pilot study in the Indian Navy to define BMI cut-offs for overweight and obesity using body fat content derived from Skin Fold Thickness as the standard.     

前列腺特异性膜抗原PET/CT特异性分子显像在非前列腺癌诊断中的应用

前列腺特异性膜抗原（PSMA）是由前列腺上皮细胞分泌的一种Ⅱ型谷氨酸缩肽酶,特异性高表达于前列腺癌及其转移灶的细胞中,在多数实体瘤部位毛细血管内皮细胞中有较高程度的表达。目前,已有超过二十种PSMA靶向的分子探针用于前列腺癌的诊断与治疗。本文综述了PSMA在除前列腺癌以外的多种实体瘤中的表达情况及PSMA-PET/CT特异性探针在非前列腺癌诊断中的临床应用实例,以期拓展以PSMA为靶点的新型PET探针在肿瘤分子诊断中的临床应用。