Efficacy and Safety of Orally Administered Intravenous Midazolam Versus a Commercially Prepared Syrup

Background:

Among different categories of sedative agents, benzodiazepines have been prescribed for more than three decades to patients of all ages. The effective and predictable sedative and amnestic effects of benzodiazepines support their use in pediatric patients. Midazolam is one of the most extensively used benzodiazepines in this age group. Oral form of drug is the best accepted route of administration in children.

Objectives:

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of a commercially midazolam syrup versus orally administered IV midazolam in uncooperative dental patients. Second objective was to determine whether differences concerning sedation success can be explained by child‘s behavioral problems and dental fear.

Patients and Methods:

Eighty eight uncooperative dental patients (Frankl Scales 1,2) aged 3 to 6 years, and ASA I participated in this double blind, parallel randomized, controlled clinical trial. Midazolam was administered in a dose of 0.5 mg/kg for children under the age 5 and 0.2 mg/kg in patients over 5 years of age. Physiologic parameters including heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and blood pressure were recorded. Behavior assessment was conducted throughout the course of treatment using Houpt Sedation Rating Scale and at critical moments of treatment (injection and cavity preparation) by North Carolina Scale. Dental fear and behavioral problems were evaluated using Child Fear Schedule Survey-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS), and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Independent t-test, Chi-Square, and Pearson correlation were used for statistical analysis.

Results:

Acceptable overall sedation ratings were observed in 90% and 86% of syrup and IV/Oral group respectively; Chi-Square P = 0.5. Other domains of Houpt Scale including: sleep, crying and movement were also not significantly different between groups. Physiological parameters remained in normal limits during study without significant difference between groups.

Conclusions:

“Orally administered IV midazolam” preparation can be used as an alternative for commercially midazolam syrup.     

Automated clinical trial eligibility prescreening: increasing the efficiency of patient identification for clinical trials in the emergency department

Objectives (1) To develop an automated eligibility screening (ES) approach for clinical trials in an urban tertiary care pediatric emergency department (ED); (2) to assess the effectiveness of natural language processing (NLP), information extraction (IE), and machine learning (ML) techniques on real-world clinical data and trials.Data and methods We collected eligibility criteria for 13 randomly selected, disease-specific clinical trials actively enrolling patients between January 1, 2010 and August 31, 2012. In parallel, we retrospectively selected data fields including demographics, laboratory data, and clinical notes from the electronic health record (EHR) to represent profiles of all 202795 patients visiting the ED during the same period. Leveraging NLP, IE, and ML technologies, the automated ES algorithms identified patients whose profiles matched the trial criteria to reduce the pool of candidates for staff screening. The performance was validated on both a physician-generated gold standard of trial–patient matches and a reference standard of historical trial–patient enrollment decisions, where workload, mean average precision (MAP), and recall were assessed.Results Compared with the case without automation, the workload with automated ES was reduced by 92% on the gold standard set, with a MAP of 62.9%. The automated ES achieved a 450% increase in trial screening efficiency. The findings on the gold standard set were confirmed by large-scale evaluation on the reference set of trial–patient matches.Discussion and conclusion By exploiting the text of trial criteria and the content of EHRs, we demonstrated that NLP-, IE-, and ML-based automated ES could successfully identify patients for clinical trials.     

Immediate Effect of Acupuncture on Electromyographic Activity of the Upper Trapezius Muscle and Pain in Patients With Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Randomized,Single-Blinded,Sham-Controlled,Crossover Study

Objective

The objective of this study was to assess changes in upper trapezius myoelectric activity and pain in patients with nonspecific neck pain after a single session of acupuncture (ACP).

Clinical trial transparency update: an assessment of the disclosure of results of company-sponsored trials associated with new medicines approved in Europe in 2012

Background:

The objective of this study was to assess the timely disclosure of results of company-sponsored clinical trials related to all new medicines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) during 2012. This is an extension of the previously reported study of trials related to all new medicines approved in Europe in 2009, 2010 and 2011, which found that over three-quarters of all these trials were disclosed within 12 months and almost 90% were disclosed by the end of the study.

Methods:

The methodology used was exactly as previously reported. Various publicly available information sources were searched for both clinical trial registration and disclosure of results. All completed company-sponsored trials related to each new medicine approved for marketing by the EMA in 2012, carried out in patients and recorded on a clinical trials registry and/or included in an EMA European Public Assessment Report (EPAR), were included. Information sources were searched between 1 May and 31 July 2014.

Outcome measures and results:

The main outcome measure was the proportion of trials for which results had been disclosed on a registry or in the scientific literature either within 12 months of the later of either first regulatory approval or trial completion, or by 31 July 2014 (end of survey). Of the completed trials associated with 23 new medicines licensed to 17 different companies in 2012, results of 90% (307/340) had been disclosed within 12 months, and results of 92% (312/340) had been disclosed by 31 July 2014.

Conclusions:

The disclosure rate within 12 months of 90% suggests the industry is now achieving disclosure in a timely manner more consistently than before. The overall disclosure rate at study end of 92% indicates that the improvement in transparency amongst company-sponsored trials has been maintained in the trials associated with new medicines approved in 2012.     

非IgE介导食物过敏的免疫机制和潜在生物标志物北大核心CSCD

非IgE介导食物过敏免疫机制复杂, 缺乏具有特异性的实验室指标, 诊断和治疗方式单一, 常出现疾病误诊和诊断延迟, 因此迫切需要深入了解其发病机制, 寻找特异性生物标志物和新的治疗靶点。现从特异性免疫和非特异性免疫两方面总结目前关于非IgE介导食物过敏免疫机制的研究成果, 探讨能够辅助疾病诊断和病情评估的潜在生物标志物, 并为该类过敏性疾病的治疗提供新的思路。     

基于过敏性疾病和健康儿童的淋巴细胞精细分型病例对照研究

背景：过敏性疾病的诊断缺乏明确的检测标准,主要依赖于病史,在无过敏原刺激情况下则无临床症状,诊断更加困难,寻找辅助诊断过敏标志物显得非常重要。 目的：检测过敏儿童淋巴细胞精细分型特征,期望对过敏性疾病的诊断提供新的标志物。 设计：病例对照研究。 方法：选择食物和呼吸道过敏儿童作为过敏性疾病组,选择与过敏性疾病组同时期在医院健康体检正常、性别和年龄匹配的儿童为健康对照组。采用流式细胞术分析对其淋巴细胞精细分型进行检测。 主要结局指标：淋巴细胞精细分型。 结果：过敏性疾病组30例,平均年龄3.6（0.7~10.6）岁;健康对照组27名,平均年龄4.1 (0.8~11) 岁。两组年龄、性别差异无统计学意义（P分别为0.616和0.574）。T淋巴细胞精细分型：Th2细胞占效应辅助性T细胞比例和Th2/Th1比值过敏性疾病组高于健康对照组［（31.34±2.52）% vs (20.02±2.05)%,（6.86±1.51） vs (2.73±0.35)］,差异均有统计学意义。B淋巴细胞精细分型：成熟B细胞比例及绝对计数、浆母细胞绝对计数、IgE+浆母细胞比例、IgE+记忆B细胞比例,过敏性疾病组均高于健康对照组［(11.53±1.22) % vs (6.02±0.52）%,(1 068±107.3)个/μL vs (578.74±58.49）个/μL ,(40.71±6.44) 个/μL vs ( 17.08±2.93)个/μL ,(8.21±1.33) % vs (1.64±0.53）%,(4.48±0.81) % vs (0.47±0.18）%。 结论：过敏儿童Th2细胞、IgE+浆母细胞和记忆B细胞比例增高,有潜力作为辅助诊断过敏性疾病的标志物。     

Effect of IgE-stimulated alveolar macrophages on tracheal epithelial bioelectric properties in dogs

To investigate a possible interaction between pulmonary alveolar macrophages (AMs) and airway epithelial cells in patients with allergic conditions, we studied the effect of AMs on bioelectric properties of canine tracheal epithelium under short-circuited conditions in vitro. Mucosal addition of the supernatants from AMs stimulated with monoclonal antidinitrophenyl (DNP) IgE antibody and DNP-human serum albumin (DNP-HSA) increased short-circuit current (Isc) of cultured epithelium in a dose-dependent manner. The maximal increase from the baseline value and the EC₅₀ were 10.2±2.0μA/cm² (mean ± SE, p<0.01) and 3×10⁵ AMs/ml, respectively. This effect was accompanied by the release of prostaglandin E₂ and F_2α from AMs. In contrast, AMs incubated with anti-DNP IgE antibody alone or DNP-HSA alone had no effect. The AM-induced increase in Isc was attenuated by diphenylamine-2-carboxylate and Cl-free medium but not by amiloride. Pretreatment of AMs with indomethacin or piroxicam inhibited the effect of AMs on epithelial Isc. These results suggest that AMs may stimulate Cl secretion across the airway mucosa through an IgE-dependent release of prostaglandins.