Interacciones entre fármacos de libre venta y de prescripción.

Tesis (Químico Farmacéutico)Los medicamentos son una de las herramientas terapéuticas más utilizadas en la práctica de la medicina, cuyo uso de manera apropiada permite la obtención de importantes beneficios sanitarios representados por la prevención, diagnóstico, curación, atenuación y tratamiento de las enfermedades y sus síntomas. No obstante, su utilización puede llevar a problemas importantes de morbilidad y de mortalidad. Las reacciones adversas son el resultado de una interacción entre el organismo el medicamento y una serie de factores extrínsecos adicionales. Influyen, por tanto, los factores propios, los ambientales, los ligados al propio enfermo (procesos farmacocinéticos, edad, estado patológico) y las asociaciones entre medicamentos. Estas últimas pueden dar lugar a i'11teracciones farmacológicas. Las cuales son necesarias conocer, para predecir las probables interacciones y así advertir a la población y a los profesionales del área de la salud, sobre los potenciales riesgos. Dado que no existen estudios en farmacia comunitaria sobre las interacciones farmacológicas potenciales. Se realizó un estudio observacional, transversal y descriptivo, mediante una encuesta aplicada a 731 clientes-pacientes que frecuentaban los locales de Farmacias Ahumada, de la Provincia de Santiago, con el objetivo de estudiar las posibles interacciones que pudiesen presentarse en la administración conjunta de fármacos de prescripción y de libre venta. De las encuestas realizadas se obtuvo que: el 76,34% de los clientes-pacientes se administra 3 o 4 medicamentos concomitantemente; el consumo promedio fue de 3,92 medicamentos; del total de fármacos el 59,97% corresponde a analgésicos, cardiovasculares y antiinfecciosos; las interacciones de severidad mayor corresponden a fármacos analgésicos + sistema nervioso central; las interacciones más frecuentes corresponden a fármacos analgésicos + cardiovasculares..

Information search behaviour, understanding and use of nutrition labeling by residents of Madrid, Spain

OBJETIVES: To describe the information search behaviour, comprehension level, and use of nutritional labeling by consumers according to sociodemographic characteristics. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of consumers recruited in five stores of the main supermarket chains in Madrid: a random sample of 299 consumers (response rate: 80.6%). METHODS: Interviewers collected information about the information search behaviour, comprehension, and use of nutritional labeling using a questionnaire designed for this purpose. Analyses examined the frequency of the variables of interest. Differences were tested using the Chi-square statistic. RESULTS: In this sample, 38.8% of consumers regularly read the nutritional labeling before making a purchase (45% of women vs 30% in men; P = 0.03) and the most common reason reported was choosing healthier products (81.3%). The proportion of people who were interested in additives and fats was the higher, (55% and 50%, respectively). Lack of time (38.9%), lack of interest (27.1%), and reading difficulties (18.1%) were the most common reasons given for not reading labels. Over half (52.4%) of consumers reported completely understanding the nutritional information on labels and 20.5% reported using such information for dietary planning. CONCLUSIONS: Reported information search behaviour, comprehension, and use of nutritional labeling were relatively high among consumers of the study, and their main goal was picking healthier products. However, not only are there still barriers to reading the information, but also the information most relevant to health is not always read or understood. Thus, interventions to increase nutritional labeling comprehension and use are required in order to facilitate the making of healthier choices by consumers

Foreskin trapped by zipper: a case report

We present an 84 year-old-male patient with foreskin trapped by his zipper. After several failed attempts with scissors, screwdriver and others we practise an elliptic incision to resolve the problem. Foreskin injuries are frequent in children but are rare in adult men. There are some techniques described for solving the problem using scissors, screwdriver, traction and surgery

Quantitative determination of the antitumor alkyl ether phospholipid edelfosine by reversed-phase liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry: application to cell uptake studies and characterization of drug delivery systems.

Edelfosine is a synthetic alkyl ether phospholipid that represents a promising class of antitumor agents. However, analytical methods to measure these type compounds are scarce. The lack of a reliable methodology to quantify edelfosine is a major problem in ongoing and scheduled preclinical and clinical trials with this drug. We evaluated the applicability of high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry to determine edelfosine in biological samples and polymeric delivery systems. Sample pre-treatment involved polymer precipitation or cell lysis with methanol. HPLC separation was performed on an Alltima RPC18 narrow-bore column and edelfosine quantification was done by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) using positive ion mode and selected ion monitoring. Assays were linear in the tested range of 0.3–10 μg/ml. The limit of quantification was 0.3 ng/sample in both matrices, namely biological samples and polymeric delivery systems. The interassay precision ranging from 0.79 to 1.49%, with relative errors of −6.7 and 12.8%. Mean extraction recovery was 95.6%. HPLC–ESI-MS is a reliable system for edelfosine analysis and quantification in samples from different sources, combining advantages of full automation (rapidity, ease of use, no need of extensive extraction procedures) with high analytical performance and throughput

Toward a systems-level understanding of gene regulatory, protein interaction, and metabolic networks in cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria are essential primary producers in marine ecosystems, playing an important role in both carbon and nitrogen cycles. In the last decade, various genome sequencing and metagenomic projects have generated large amounts of genetic data for cyanobacteria. This wealth of data provides researchers with a new basis for the study of molecular adaptation, ecology and evolution of cyanobacteria, as well as for developing biotechnological applications. It also facilitates the use of multiplex techniques, i.e., expression profiling by high-throughput technologies such as microarrays, RNA-seq, and proteomics. However, exploration and analysis of these data is challenging, and often requires advanced computational methods. Also, they need to be integrated into our existing framework of knowledge to use them to draw reliable biological conclusions. Here, systems biology provides important tools. Especially, the construction and analysis of molecular networks has emerged as a powerful systems-level framework, with which to integrate such data, and to better understand biological relevant processes in these organisms. In this review, we provide an overview of the advances and experimental approaches undertaken using multiplex data from genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic studies in cyanobacteria. Furthermore, we summarize currently available web-based tools dedicated to cyanobacteria, i.e., CyanoBase, CyanoEXpress, ProPortal, Cyanorak, CyanoBIKE, and CINPER. Finally, we present a case study for the freshwater model cyanobacteria, Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, to show the power of meta-analysis, and the potential to extrapolate acquired knowledge to the ecologically important marine cyanobacteria genus, Prochlorococcus

Evaluation of toxic effects of several carboxylic acids on bacterial growth by toxicodynamic modelling

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Effects of organic acids on microbial fermentation are commonly tested in investigations about metabolic behaviour of bacteria. However, they typically provide only descriptive information without modelling the influence of acid concentrations on bacterial kinetics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We developed and applied a mathematical model (secondary model) to capture the toxicological effects of those chemicals on kinetic parameters that define the growth of bacteria in batch cultures. Thus, dose-response kinetics were performed with different bacteria (<it>Leuconostoc mesenteroides</it>, <it>Carnobacterium pisicola</it>, <it>Escherichia coli</it>, <it>Bacillus subtilis </it>and <it>Listonella anguillarum</it>) exposed at increasing concentrations of individual carboxylic acids (formic, acetic, propionic, butyric and lactic). In all bioassays the acids affected the maximum bacterial load (<it>X_m</it>) and the maximum growth rate (<it>v_m</it>) but only in specific cases the lag phase (λ) was modified. Significance of the parameters was always high and in all fermentations the toxicodynamic equation was statistically consistent and had good predictability. The differences between D and L-lactic acid effects were significant for the growth of <it>E. coli</it>, <it>L. mesenteroides </it>and <it>C. piscicola</it>. In addition, a global parameter (<it>EC</it>_50,τ) was used to compare toxic effects and provided a realistic characterization of antimicrobial agents using a single value.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The effect of several organic acids on the growth of different bacteria was accurately studied and perfectly characterized by a bivariate equation which combines the basis of dose-response theory with microbial growth kinetics (secondary model). The toxicity of carboxylic acids was lower with the increase of the molecular weight of these chemicals.</p

MONITOREO DE LA ACTIVIDAD ELÉCTRICA DEL CORAZÓN DE MANERA INALÁMBRICA CON VISUALIZACIÓN DE LA SEÑAL CARDÍACA MEDIANTE JAVA

En este proyecto se ha desarrollado un sistema de electrocardiografía inalámbrico, el cual monitorea las señales eléctricas del corazón, con la finalidad de facilitar la conexión del paciente con una computadora. Consiste en implementar un circuito de electrocardiografía, cuya salida es una señal analógica, la que es digitalizada con el uso del microcontrolador PIC16F886, y por medio de las antenas XBee se realiza la comunicación inalámbrica con una computadora personal. Con el lenguaje de programación Java, se procesan los datos y se los convierte en la señal cardíaca en tiempo real.In this project is developed a wireless electrocardiograph that monitors the heart's electrical signals, in order to facilitate the patient’s connection with the computer. This electrocardiograph outputs an analog signal that is digitized using a PIC16F886 microcontroller; and through an antenna XBee, it communicates with a personal computer. Then with the Java programming language, the data is processed and converted into the cardiac signal in real time

Determination of gentamicin in different matrices by a new sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric method

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this work was to develop and validate an HPLC method for gentamicin quantification in different types of biological samples such as animal tissues and cellular material and also in pharmaceuticals. METHODS: Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) microparticles (MP) of gentamicin (PLGA 502H MP), THP-1 cells, and plasma and tissue samples of mice treated with the antibiotic either free or loaded into PLGA 502H MP were processed by a simple preparation procedure, subjected to chromatography on a reversed-phase column and measured by mass spectrometry detection. The developed method was compared with bioassay and fluorimetric assay methods previously used for gentamicin determination. RESULTS: The HPLC method was linear over the ranges 40-800 ng/mL and 0.1-100 microg/mL and showed good accuracy (average accuracy < 5.59%) and reproducibility (CV < 6.13%). Encapsulation of gentamicin in PLGA 502H MP was determined by the three methods. Good correlation was observed between bioassay (reference method) and HPLC. Extra- and intracellular in vitro antibiotic accumulation was determined by bioassay and chromatography. Both methods gave similar extracellular concentrations but the HPLC-MS technique demonstrated an improved accuracy (5.59% versus 14%) and precision (6.13% versus 15%) compared with bioassay. However, only the HPLC-MS method was sensitive enough to detect the drug, intracellularly and in tissues. CONCLUSIONS: All these data favour the use of chromatography-mass spectrometry as a versatile technique not only suitable for gentamicin quantification loaded in drug delivery systems, but also sensitive and specific enough for in vivo and intracellular studies