Serum monitoring of antipsychotic drug levels during concomitant administration of sertraline and antipsychotic medication.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether pharmacokinetic drug interactions occur when sertraline is added to antipsychotic medications. METHOD: Forty-eight patients with remitted DSM-IV schizophrenia and comorbid major depression were randomized to placebo for 6 weeks or sertraline 50 mg for 4 weeks followed by sertraline 50 mg to 100 mg for 2 weeks for nonresponders. Treatment with the patients' usual antipsychotic continued. Weekly clinical outcome assessments occurred for 6 weeks, and serum samples for drug monitoring were collected at Weeks 1, 5, and 6. Serum concentrations of sertraline and antipsychotics were measured with standard assays. RESULTS: In both placebo- and sertraline-treated groups, most patients displayed minor fluctuations in antipsychotic serum levels over 6 weeks. There was no clinical evidence of drug interactions in the sertraline-treated group. CONCLUSIONS: Clinically significant adverse effects did not occur despite variable antipsychotic serum levels with or without sertraline. Concern about pharmacokinetic interactions should not deter the use of sertraline for depression in individuals with schizophrenia.     

In vivo determination of body fat by measuring total body carbon

Total body carbon (TBC) is measured in vivo by neutron inelastic scattering. The fast neutrons needed for the irradiation are produced by a miniature deuterium-tritium (D-T) neutron generator. Body fat and protein are the main contributors to TBC. Bone ash and carbohydrates contribute less than 3%. Fat is calculated from TBC after the subtraction of the carbon contributions from protein, bone, and glycogen. The technique was applied to 14 normal volunteers (8 females, 6 males) aged 24-94 y who underwent neutron inelastic scattering and neutron activation measurements for body carbon, nitrogen, and calcium. The initial results agree with other techniques. Unlike models that evaluate body fat by subtracting lean body mass from body weight, the TBC technique is not sensitive to assumptions on the composition of lean body; therefore, it is appropriate for studies of adults of any age and health condition.     

142Effects of Low‐Frequency Ultrasound Applied In Vitro to Highly Antibiotic‐Resistant Acinetobacter Isolates Recovered From Soldiers Returning From Iraq

Abstract  Brooke Army Medical Center isolated 25 highly antibiotic‐resistant Acinetobacter ssp . (primarily A. baumannii ) from wounded soldiers returning from Iraq. Concern about effective treatment of these organisms led our institution to begin investigating low‐frequency ultrasound (LFU) as a method of increasing the effectiveness of antibiotics on A.baumannii in wound management. Studies have suggested that LFU applied in conjunction with antibiotics may increase their overall effectiveness. We hypothesize that combining antibiotics with LFU may be an effective method of wound management and that this combination may be synergistic in its overall effect. In this initial work, we wanted to determine if sonocation would have an effect on our organism of interest, A. baumannii . We selected several organisms, both gram positive and gram negative, that have been shown to be killed by sonocation ( E. coli, S. aureus , and S. pyogenes ) and added three highly resistant A. baumannii isolates. Bacterial death was measured by both colony counts after 24 hours of growth and acridine orange staining using a standard protocol.
Colony counts were significantly reduced by sonocation. Furthermore, A.'baumannii colony counts were also greatly reduced by sonocation. Actual cell destruction was also visualized using acridine orange staining. Our data support the assertion that sonocation has an antibacterial effect on some bacteria, including A. baumannii . Our next step is to add antimicrobial agents and determine if their effectiveness can be increased by sonocation.     

Growth hormone response following growth hormone releasing hormone injection in thalassemia major: influence of pubertal development

Thirty-five patients with thalassemia major, aged 7 to 21 years, were studied to define the relationship between the pubertal development and the growth-hormone (GH) secretion during sleep, after administration of GH-releasing factor (hpGRF 1-44), and betaxolol-glucagon or arginin-insulin. Pubertal development was classified as being appropriate or delayed for chronological age. GH response to pharmacological stimuli and during sleep was not linked to the pubertal development according to the chronological age. The peak of GH secretion after GHRH injection was significantly delayed in thalassemic patients with retarded puberty. The integrated secretion of GH during the 120-min test was slightly but not significantly reduced in these patients. The prepubertal pattern of GHRH response was restored in the patients receiving substitutive therapy by HCG or testosterone. The alteration of GH response to GHRH in thalassemic patients is likely to be only due to delayed puberty and decreased endogeneous GHRH secretion since it is corrected by androgen or gonadotropin replacement.     

A single-season prospective study of respiratory viral infections in lung transplant recipients.

The frequency and complications of respiratory viral infections (RVI) were studied in 50 ambulatory lung transplant patients during a single winter season, using viral antigens, viral cultures and PCR of nasal washes or bronchoalveolar lavages. Patients' survival, episodes of acute rejection and occurrence of bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) or BO syndrome (BOS) were monitored for 1 yr after the study. Overall, 32 (64%) patients had 49 symptomatic episodes. Documented infections included eight due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), one due to parainfluenza virus (PIV) and 10 due to influenza (FLU). Four of the FLU infections were serological rises without symptoms. Overall, 17 (34%) patients had documented viral infection; four patients had lower respiratory involvement and two (one RSV, one PIV) were hospitalised for aerosolised ribavirin treatment. After 1 yr there were three (6%) deaths unrelated to RVI. BO or BOS had occurred in one (6%) out of 17 patients with and three (12%) out of 33 without RVI. Respiratory viruses infected one-third of ambulatory lung transplant recipients in a single season. In conclusion, respiratory viral infection was not associated with subsequent graft dysfunction. Larger prospective studies are required to better define the acute and long-term morbidity of these infections.     

Neuroimaging in Pineal Tumors

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The authors report radiological findings in 11 tumors in the pineal region, which were histologically diagnosed as germinomas, pineocytomas pineoblastomas, ependymomas, teratomas, and astrocytomas. METHODS: Computed tomography (CT) was performed in seven patients and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed in all patients. RESULTS: CT showed a solid or solid/cystic mass with variable contrast enhancement. MRI showed a heterogeneous mass, with hypointense signal on T1 and iso/hyperintense signal on T2-weighted images (WI) and gadolinium enhancement. Extension to adjacent structures occurred in five patients and spread through the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) in two. CONCLUSIONS: Pineal region tumors have no pathognomonic imaging pattern. MRI and CT are complementary in diagnosis and are important to determine localization, extension, and meningeal spread.     

The pulmonary effects of ozone and nitrogen dioxide alone and combined in healthy and asthmatic adolescent subjects

Separate exposures to 0.12 ppm ozone (O3) or 0.18 ppm nitrogen dioxide (NO2) have not demonstrated consistent changes in pulmonary function in adolescent subjects. However, in polluted urban air, O3 and NO2 occur in combination. Therefore, this project was designed to investigate the pulmonary effects of combined O3 and NO2 exposures during intermittent exercise in adolescent subjects. Twelve healthy and twelve well-characterized asthmatic adolescent subjects were exposed randomly to clean air or 0.12 ppm O3 and 0.30 ppm NO2 alone or in combination during 60 minutes of intermittent moderate exercise (32.5 1/min). The inhalation exposures were carried out while the subjects breathed on a rubber mouthpiece with nose clips in place. The following pulmonary functional values were measured before and after exposure: peak flow, total respiratory resistance, maximal flow at 50 and 75 percent of expired vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in one second and forced vital capacity (FVC). Statistical significance of pulmonary function changes was tested by analysis of covariance for repeated measures. After exposure to 0.12 ppm O3 a significant decrease was seen in maximal flow at 50% of FVC in asthmatic subjects. After exposure to 0.30 ppm NO2 a significant decrease was seen in FVC also in the asthmatic subjects. One possible explanation for these changes is the multiple comparison effect. No significant changes in any parameters were seen in the asthmatic subjects after the combined O3-NO2 exposure or in the healthy subjects after any of the exposures.