Real-life efficacy of pregabalin for the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain in daily clinical practice in Denmark:the NEP-TUNE study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to provide evidence regarding the real-life efficacy of pregabalin in the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain (NeP) in Denmark. METHODS: In this prospective, observational, noninterventional study, pregabalin (Lyrica(®)) was prescribed following usual clinical practice. Compared with baseline, the primary study end points after 3 months of observation were changes in 1) the average level of pain during the past week, 2) the worst level of pain during the past week, and 3) the least level of pain during the past week. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to perform paired analyses, and a multivariate regression analysis investigated factors driving change in pain. RESULTS: A total of 86 of the 128 patients included were regarded as efficacy evaluable (those completing 3 months of pregabalin treatment). Patients (59 years) were long-time sufferers of peripheral NeP, and 38% of them had comorbidities. The majority had previously been treated with tricyclic antidepressants or gabapentin. The average dose of pregabalin was 81.5 mg/d at baseline and 240 mg/d after 3 months. A clinically and statistically significant improvement of 2.2 points in the average level of pain intensity was found after 3 months. The higher the pain intensity at baseline, the higher was the reduction of the pain score. Positive results were also found for pain-related sleep interference, patients’ global impression of change, quality of life, and work and productivity impairment. Twenty-one patients reported 28 adverse events. CONCLUSION: This real-life study indicates that for some patients (two-thirds), addition of pregabalin for peripheral NeP helps to reduce their pain intensity significantly

Food and Nutrition Security Indicators: A Review

In this paper, we review existing food and nutrition security indicators, discuss some of their advantages and disadvantages, and finally classify them and describe their relationships and overlaps. In order to achieve this, the paper makes reference to the existing definitions of food and nutrition security (FNS), in particular as they have been agreed upon and implemented in the FoodSecure project (www.foodsecure.eu). The main existing conceptual frameworks of FNS predating the present paper are also used as guidelines and briefly discussed. Finally, we make recommendations in terms of the most appropriate FNS indicators to quantify the impacts of various shocks and interventions on food and nutrition security outcomes

A detailed investigation of the experimental conditions for the reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer-mediated copolymerization of acrylonitrile and butadiene

The synthesis of acrylonitrile-butadiene rubbers (NBRs) via trithiocarbonate-mediated reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of acrylonitrile (ACN) and 1,3-butadiene (BD) in solution under azeotropic conditions (38/62) was investigated for a broad range of common solvents: N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc), chlorobenzene, 1,4-dioxane, tert-butanol, isobutyronitrile, toluene, trimethylacetonitrile, dimethyl carbonate, acetonitrile, methyl acetate, acetone, and tert-butyl methyl ether. The gravimetrically determined conversions for the free radical polymerizations of ACN/BD after 22 h at 100 °C were in the range of 15% for methyl acetate to 35% for DMAc. The origin of the differences in conversion is attributed to the unequal decomposition behavior of the employed azo initiator 2,2′-azobis(N-butyl-2-methylpropionamide) (1) in the solvents under investigation, as determined by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy. Relative decomposition of 1 in solution (0.1 mol L-1) at 100 °C was calculated from the UV-vis spectra for selected solvents. 90% of 1 in DMAc was decomposed after 22 h, 83% in tert-butanol, 57% in 1,4-dioxane, 53% in isobutyronitrile, 45% in chlorobenzene, and 21% in toluene. The evolution of molecular weight with conversion using the initiator 1 was in accordance with the theoretically expected values, regardless of the solvent studied. Moreover, the RAFT-mediated copolymerization of ACN/BD in DMAc with azo initiators 1, 1-[(1-cyano-1-methylethyl)azo]formamide (2) and 1,1′- azobis(cyclohexanecarbonitrile) (3) was investigated. A strong deviation from the linear evolution of molecular weight due to a fast decomposition of these initiators - congruent with high primary radical delivery rates - at the selected temperature was observed when using 2 and 3. The deviation was not observed when using 1. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria and Their Activities in Cyanobacterial Mats of Solar Lake (Sinai, Egypt)

The sulfate-reducing bacteria within the surface layer of the hypersaline cyanobacterial mat of Solar Lake (Sinai, Egypt) were investigated with combined microbiological, molecular, and biogeochemical approaches. The diurnally oxic surface layer contained between 10(6) and 10(7) cultivable sulfate-reducing bacteria ml(−1) and showed sulfate reduction rates between 1,000 and 2,200 nmol ml(−1) day(−1), both in the same range as and sometimes higher than those in anaerobic deeper mat layers. In the oxic surface layer and in the mat layers below, filamentous sulfate-reducing Desulfonema bacteria were found in variable densities of 10(4) to 10(6) cells ml(−1). A Desulfonema-related, diurnally migrating bacterium was detected with PCR and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis within and below the oxic surface layer. Facultative aerobic respiration, filamentous morphology, motility, diurnal migration, and aggregate formation were the most conspicuous adaptations of Solar Lake sulfate-reducing bacteria to the mat matrix and to diurnal oxygen stress. A comparison of sulfate reduction rates within the mat and previously published photosynthesis rates showed that CO(2) from sulfate reduction in the upper 5 mm accounted for 7 to 8% of the total photosynthetic CO(2) demand of the mat

Novel Diagnostic Algorithm for Identification of Mycobacteria Using Genus-Specific Amplification of the 16S-23S rRNA Gene Spacer and Restriction Endonucleases

A novel genus-specific PCR for mycobacteria with simple identification to the species level by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was established using the 16S-23S ribosomal RNA gene (rDNA) spacer as a target. Panspecificity of primers was demonstrated on the genus level by testing 811 bacterial strains (122 species in 37 genera from 286 reference strains and 525 clinical isolates). All mycobacterial isolates (678 strains among 48 defined species and 5 indeterminate taxons) were amplified by the new primers. Among nonmycobacterial isolates, only Gordonia terrae was amplified. The RFLP scheme devised involves estimation of variable PCR product sizes together with HaeIII and CfoI restriction analysis. It yielded 58 HaeIII patterns, of which 49 (84%) were unique on the species level. Hence, HaeIII digestion together with CfoI results was sufficient for correct identification of 39 of 54 mycobacterial taxons and one of three or four of seven RFLP genotypes found in Mycobacterium intracellulare and Mycobacterium kansasii, respectively. Following a clearly laid out diagnostic algorithm, the remaining unidentified organisms fell into five clusters of closely related species (i.e., the Mycobacterium avium complex or Mycobacterium chelonae-Mycobacterium abscessus) that were successfully separated using additional enzymes (TaqI, MspI, DdeI, or AvaII). Thus, next to slowly growing mycobacteria, all rapidly growing species studied, including M. abscessus, M. chelonae, Mycobacterium farcinogenes, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Mycobacterium peregrinum, and Mycobacterium senegalense (with a very high 16S rDNA sequence similarity) were correctly identified. A high intraspecies sequence stability and the good discriminative power of patterns indicate that this method is very suitable for rapid and cost-effective identification of a wide variety of mycobacterial species without the need for sequencing. Phylogenetically, spacer sequence data stand in good agreement with 16S rDNA sequencing results, as was shown by including strains with unsettled taxonomy. Since this approach recognized significant subspecific genotypes while identification of a broad spectrum of mycobacteria rested on identification of one specific RFLP pattern within a species, this method can be used by both reference (or research) and routine laboratories