SPK-843 (Aparts/Kaken)

SPK-843 is a water-soluble antibiotic under co-development by Aparts and Kaken for the potential treatment of systemic fungal infections. By November 2004, SPK-843 was in phase II trials for systemic mycosis.     

Prolapschirurgie

Zusammenfassung Zysto-/Rektozelen und prolapschirurgische Eingriffe gewinnen innerhalb der urogynäkologischen Operationslehre zunehmend an Bedeutung. Das Risiko für einen prolapschirurgischen Eingriff bei der Frau liegt heute bei ca. 11%, in einem Drittel der Fälle handelt es sich um eine Rezidivoperation. Dabei treten 3 mögliche Operationsverfahren in Konkurrenz zueinander: 1. der transvaginale Zugang mit einer Vaginae fixatio sacrospinalis vaginalis oder sacrotuberalis, 2. die transabdominale, offen-chirurgisch durchgeführte Sakrokolpopexie und 3. die transabdominale, laparoskopisch durchgeführte Sakrokolpopexie.Über eine Internetrecherche der letzten 10 Jahre, einschließlich 1995, wurden Effizienz, Rezidiv- und Komplikationsraten der abdominalen Sakrokolpopexie überprüft und mit den Ergebnissen des transvaginalen bzw. laparoskopischen Zugangsweges verglichen.Die Analyse der gesammelten Daten zeigt, dass randomisierte, prospektive Studien zu den unterschiedlichen Operationsverfahren fehlen und dringend durchgeführt werden müssen, um Effektivität, Dauerhaftigkeit und Komplikationsraten exakt bewerten zu können.     

Wirkungsvergleich zwischen Dimenhydrinat,Thiethylperazin und Dehydrobenzperidol. Elektronystagmographische Untersuchungen an Kaninchen

Summary 30 rabbits were turned during 30 s, and then abruptly stopped. The duration of the postrotatory nystagmus was used as parameter for the pharmacological effect. Intravenous injection of 2 mg/kg dimenhydrinate shortend the duration of postrotatory nystagmus. Contrarily 1 mg/kg thiethylperazine and 1 mg/kg dehydrobenzperidol prolonged the postrotatory nystagmus. Our experiments have shown that drugs of the same clinical effect act differently in animals. For measuring the antivertiginous effect by use of the postrotatory nystagmus criticism is indicated.     

Oral manifestations in the paraneoplastic syndrome.

A 52-year-old woman with advanced cancer of the breast also suffered from pemphigoid eruptions on the skin, in the mucous membranes of the oropharynx, and in the conjunctivae. The pemphigoid lesions were suppressed by treatment with steroid hormones and disappeared after surgical removal of the malignant breast tumor. With regard to its clinical course, the disease entity described is justifiably classified as a "paraneoplastic bullosis". The literature on this subject is briefly reviewed.     

Secretory Otitis Media and Allergy

This study is an investigation on whether allergy, and especially food allergy, is more common in patients with secretory otitis media (SOM) than in others. At the same time, the effectiveness of the cytotoxic leucocyte test (CLT) as an aid in the diagnosis of food allergy was also studied. The material comprised 90 patients: 69 suffering from secretory otitis media and 21 without the disease as controls. Patients were studied using allergy history, ear status, tests for nasal and blood eosinophilic cells, total IgE, skin tests for 20 allergens, RAST for milk and wheat, immunoglobulin A, G and M, precipitating antibodies for milk and gluten, Mantoux test, and the CLT for 23 allergens. Allergy was found in 20% of the SOM patients and 10% of the control patients; the difference was not statistically significant. The best methods for verifying allergy were history, skin tests, and tests for nasal eosinophilic cells. Laborartory tests could not verify objectively that food allergy was more common among SOM patients than controls, although 16% of the SOM patients compared with none of the controls had a history of food allergy. Of the tests used, the CLT correlated best with a history of allergy, but the results of the different tests were not in accordance with each other.     

Congenital heart defects: the patients who die

AIMS: To register mortality and causes of death in patients with congenital heart defects (CHDs). METHODS: Prospective population-based observational study. RESULTS: 553 infants with CHD (1.1% of live born) were observed for 1-22 y (median 10 7/12 y). Sixty-four died (11.6%), of whom 32 (50%) died during the first 4 wk, and 51 (79.7%) during the first year of life. Of the total neonatal deaths in the population (3 per 1000), CHDs occurred in 21.5%. Mortality for children with CHDs was not significantly different between the cohorts born in 1982-1991 and 1992-2002, for either neonatal deaths or deaths later on (p>0.05). Out of 170 patients in whom therapeutic procedures (surgery, catheter interventions) were undertaken, 34 (20%) died. Nine cases (1.6%) died with unrecognized CHDs; seven of these on the first day of life with severe extracardiac malformations. In 50 (78.1%) cases, death was judged to be caused directly or indirectly from the CHD, and in 14 (21.9%) from extracardiac malformations or other conditions. CONCLUSION: CHDs occur in a substantial number of neonatal deaths. Most deaths are caused by cardiac insufficiency. The mortality rate remained unchanged.     

Injectable intrathecal delivery system for localized administration of EGF and FGF-2 to the injured rat spinal cord

The administration of growth factors (GFs) for treatment of experimental spinal cord injury (SCI) has shown limited benefits. One reason may be the mode of delivery to the injury site. We have developed a minimally invasive and safe drug delivery system (DDS) consisting of a highly concentrated collagen solution that can be injected intrathecally at the site of injury providing localized delivery of GFs. Using the injectable DDS, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) were co-delivered in the subarachnoid space of Sprague-Dawley rats. The in vivo distribution of EGF and FGF-2 in both injured and uninjured animals was monitored by immunohistochemistry. Although significant differences in the distribution of EGF and FGF-2 in the spinal cord were evident, localized delivery of the GFs resulted in significantly less cavitation at the lesion epicenter and for at least 720 mum caudal to it compared to control animals without the DDS. There was also significantly more white matter sparing at the lesion epicenter in animals receiving the GFs compared to control animals. Moreover, at 14 days post-injection, delivery of the GFs resulted in significantly greater ependymal cell proliferation in the central canal immediately rostral and caudal to the lesion edge compared to controls. These results demonstrate that the injectable DDS provides a new paradigm for localized delivery of bioactive therapeutic agents to the injured spinal cord.