Development and sedative effect of a new formulation of midazolam in chocolate bars

The aim of this work was to assess the stability and sedative effect of midazolam in chocolate bars. The stability of 5 g chocolate bars containing 6 mg midazolam hydrochloride was evaluated at room temperature (25 ± 2 °C), at 4 and 40 °C, by HPLC. Drug plasma levels were measured and the sedative effect was confirmed in six healthy volunteers according to the Ramsay’s scale. Data regarding chocolate bar administration were compared to those from the apple juice solution. Pharmacokinetic data were processed using the WinNonLin 5.2 software. Midazolam in chocolate bars remained stable for 14 days at room temperature and exposed to light; for 90 days at 4 and 40 °C protected from light, and showed a longer shelf life, better flavour and appearance, inducing the same sedative effect as the apple juice preparation. Raspberry flavour masked midazolam unpleasing taste most favourably.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Tuberculosis y vitamina D: una relación intrigante

La tuberculosis permanece como la enfermedad infecciosa que más muertes ha causado a lo largo de la historia de la existencia humana, sin poderse aún lograr su control. En años recientes ha emergido un cúmulo importante de evidencia clínica acerca de la función de la vitamina D (calcitriol o 1,25 hidroxivitamina D) en un papel que va más allá de la homeostasis del calcio. Su papel en el sistema inmunológico es muy interesante vinculando su déficit como un factor de riesgo contribuyente y así mismo fisiopatológico en un gran número de enfermedades autoinmunes e infecciosas. Dentro de éstas se destaca la tuberculosis, enfermedad endémica en nuestro país y en la cual el déficit de dicho compuesto (vitamina D) crea un factor de riesgo para desarrollar esta enfermedad en su forma activa. Presentamos una revisión detallada de los estudios que explican el papel de la vitamina D en la susceptibilidad para el desarrollo de tuberculosis y los resultados de los estudios clínicos de suplencia de la misma publicados a la fecha

Prototipo de incubadora neonatal

Las incubadoras neonatales proporcionan un entorno controlado para recién nacidos que necesitan cuidados especiales. Este prototipo ha sido diseñado para cubrir las necesidades mínimas en los hospitales, de modo que el personal médico pueda controlar el entorno del neonato. Este artículo reporta el diseño y construcción de un prototipo que incluyó una investigación con el fin de seleccionar y construir los elementos del prototipo: chasis, cúpula, portacolchón y una fuente de poder. Dentro de la incubadora se dispusieron sensores de temperatura, luminosidad, ruido, humedad y una alarma de apertura de la puerta; todos con el fin de garantizar el buen estado de salud del neonato. Con estos elementos, se pudo obtener un prototipo funcional, que se convierte en un primer paso para el desarrollo de incubadoras neonatales con tecnología apropiada.Newborn and premature infants incubators provide a controlled environment for infants which need special care. The constructed prototype has the potential to cover the minimal needs in a hospital, in a way that medical staff may control the newborn environment. This article reports the design and construction of the prototype included research for selecting and building the elements of the prototype: the chassis, hood, mattress case, and a power source. Different transducers were included in the incubator for measuring temperature, luminosity, noise, humidity, and a door alarm. The purpose of these was to guaranty the proper conditions for the newborn.The constructed prototype is fully functional and constitutes a first step for building newborn incubators with appropriated technology

Symmetric dithiodigalactoside: strategic combination of binding studies and detection of selectivity between a plant toxin and human lectins

Thioglycosides offer the advantage over O-glycosides to be resistant to hydrolysis. Based on initial evidence of this recognition ability for glycosyldisulfides by screening dynamic combinatorial libraries, we have now systematically studied dithiodigalactoside on a plant toxin (Viscum album agglutinin) and five human lectins (adhesion/growth-regulatory galectins with medical relevance e.g. in tumor progression and spread). Inhibition assays with surface-presented neoglycoprotein and in solution monitored by saturation transfer difference NMR spectroscopy, flanked by epitope mapping, as well as isothermal titration calorimetry revealed binding properties to VAA (Ka: 1560 ± 20 M-1). They were reflected by the structural model and the affinity on the level of toxin-exposed cells. In comparison, galectins were considerably less reactive, with intrafamily grading down to very minor reactivity for tandem-repeat-type galectins, as quantitated by radioassays for both domains of galectin-4. Model building indicated contact formation to be restricted to only one galactose moiety, in contrast to thiodigalactoside. The tested lycosyldisulfide exhibits selectivity between the plant toxin and the tested human lectins, and also between these proteins. Therefore, glycosyldisulfides have potential as chemical platform for inhibitor design

Development and sedative effect of a new formulation of midazolam in chocolate bars

The aim of this work was to assess the stability and sedative effect of midazolam in chocolate bars. The stability of 5 g chocolate bars containing 6 mg midazolam hydrochloride was evaluated at room temperature (25 ± 2 °C), at 4 and 40 °C, by HPLC. Drug plasma levels were measured and the sedative effect was confirmed in six healthy volunteers according to the Ramsay’s scale. Data regarding chocolate bar administration were compared to those from the apple juice solution. Pharmacokinetic data were processed using the WinNonLin 5.2 software. Midazolam in chocolate bars remained stable for 14 days at room temperature and exposed to light; for 90 days at 4 and 40 °C protected from light, and showed a longer shelf life, better flavour and appearance, inducing the same sedative effect as the apple juice preparation. Raspberry flavour masked midazolam unpleasing taste most favourably.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

New FOCUS results on charm mixing and CP violation

We present a summary of recent results on CP violation and mixing in the charm quark sector based on a high statistics sample collected by photoproduction experiment FOCUS (E831 at Fermilab). We have measured the difference in lifetimes for the $D^0$ decays: $D^0 \to K^-\pi^+$ and $D^0 \to K^-K^+$. This translates into a measurement of the $y_{CP}$ mixing parameter in the \d0d0 system, under the assumptions that $K^-K^+$ is an equal mixture of CP odd and CP even eigenstates, and CP violation is negligible in the neutral charm meson system. We verified the latter assumption by searching for a CP violating asymmetry in the Cabibbo suppressed decay modes $D^+ \to K^-K^+\pi^+$, $D^0 \to K^-K^+$ and $D^0 \to \pi^-\pi^+$. We show preliminary results on a measurement of the branching ratio $\Gamma(D^{*+}\to \pi^+ (K^+\pi^-))/\Gamma(D^{*+}\to \pi^+ (K^-\pi^+))$.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, requires espcrc2.sty. Presented by S.Bianco at CPConf2000, September 2000, Ferrara (Italy). In this revision, fixed several stylistic flaws, add two significant references, fixed a typo in Tab.

Biodiversity and benthic megafaunal communities inhabiting the Formigas Bank (NE Azores)

The Formigas Bank is an offshore seamount located in the easternmost part of the Azores archipelago (northeast Atlantic). It rises from abyssal depths to the surface, including a small set of islets. The bank holds multiple nature conservation designations, including a Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation, an OSPAR Marine Protected Area, a RAMSAR site and a Nature Reserve declared under the Azores network of protected areas. The protection is based on the presence of sublittoral biotopes of high conservation interest, and importance as feeding grounds, spawning and nursery areas for many marine species, including fish, cetaceans and turtles. Although some information exists on the sublittoral communities occurring on the seamount summit (e.g., infralittoral Cystoseira and Laminaria beds, circalittoral hydrarian and sponge gardens, rich pelagic fauna), virtually no information was available on the deep-sea communities inhabiting the seamount flanks. Therefore, during the MEDWAVES cruise, the flanks of the Formigas bank have been surveyed using multibeam sonar, an ROV and oceanographic profiles, with the objective to characterise deep-sea biodiversity and megafaunal communities as well as the environment where they occur. This communication will present results from the video annotations of the ten dives made on the seamount slopes between ~500m and ~1,500 m depth. Diverse communities of sedentary suspension-feeding organisms were observed, with more than 20 cold-water coral species (mainly octocorals) being recorded, as well as many different sponge morphotypes. Dense coral garden habitats and sponge grounds were identified on several occasions, confirming the presence of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) and of ecologically or biologically significant areas (EBSAs). Differences in the abundance and composition of these habitats between the northern and southern dive transects are interpreted as reflecting substrate and geomorphological differences, as well as the potential influence of the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW). The new knowledge on deep-sea megafaunal communities reinforces the importance of this seamount as an area of high conservation interest