Pharmacokinetics of Intravenous, Intramuscular, Oral, and Transdermal Administration of Flunixin Meglumine in Pre-wean Piglets

Castration and tail-docking of pre-wean piglets are common procedures that are known to induce pain and would benefit from pain mitigation. Flunixin meglumine (FM) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug currently approved in the United States for pyrexia in swine and lameness pain in cattle. The objective of this study was to establish the pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters resulting from intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM), oral (PO) and transdermal (TD) administration of FM in pre-wean piglets. FM was administered to thirty-nine pre-wean piglets at a target dose of 2.2 mg/kg for IV and IM and 3.3 mg/kg for PO and TD route. Plasma was collected at twenty-seven time points from 0 to 9 days after FM administration and concentrations were determined using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). Pharmacokinetic data were analyzed using noncompartmental analysis (NCA) methods and nonlinear mixed-effects (NLME). Initial plasma concentration for IV (C0) 11,653 μg/L and mean peak plasma concentrations (Cmax) 6,543 μg/L (IM), 4,883 μg/L (PO), and 31.5 μg/L (TD) were measured. The time points of peak FM concentrations (tmax) were estimated 30 min, 1 h, and 24 h for IM, PO, and TD, respectively. The bioavailability (F) of PO and IM FM was estimated at >99%, while the bioavailability of TD FM was estimated to be 7.8%. The reported Cmax of FM after IM and PO administration is consistent with therapeutic concentration ranges that mitigate pain in other species and adult pigs. However, the low estimated concentration of FM after TD dosing is not expected to mitigate pain in pre-wean piglets. The low F of TD FM suggests that expanding the surface area of application is unlikely to be sufficient to establish an effective TD dose for pain, while the high bioavailability for PO FM should allow for an effective dose regimen to be established.This article is published as Kittrell, Heather C., Jonathan P. Mochel, Justin T. Brown, Anna Marie K. Forseth, Kristen P. Hayman, Suzanne M. Rajewski, Johann F. Coetzee et al. "Pharmacokinetics of intravenous, intramuscular, oral, and transdermal administration of flunixin meglumine in pre-wean piglets." Frontiers in Veterinary Science 7 (2020): 586. DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2020.00586. Copyright 2020 Kittrell, Mochel, Brown, Forseth, Hayman, Rajewski, Coetzee, Schneider, Ratliffe, Skoland and Karriker. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Posted with permission

Avaliação e participação do fisioterapeuta na prescrição do mobiliário escolar utilizado por alunos com paralisia cerebral em escolas estaduais públicas da rede regular de ensino Evaluation and participation of physical therapists on the school furniture prescription for students with cerebral palsy in public schools of the regular school network

O estudo teve como objetivo avaliar as condições do mobiliário escolar disponibilizado aos alunos com paralisia cerebral nas escolas estaduais da cidade do Natal/RN em 2008 e a participação do fisioterapeuta na prescrição deste mobiliário. Os dados foram coletados através de um protocolo de avaliação junto a cinco alunos com paralisia cerebral e formulário aplicado aos diretores das instituições de ensino, sendo analisados por meio das categorias suscitadas. Os resultados apontaram a presença de mobiliário escolar que não atende as necessidades específicas de posicionamento dos alunos avaliados e a ausência do fisioterapeuta na prescrição desse mobiliário. Constata-se a necessidade dos órgãos gestores no âmbito da educação de Natal/RN em cumprir o que determina a lei e disponibilizar mobiliário escolar adequado aos alunos pesquisados. Assim, procurou-se garantir os recursos necessários para promover um ensino de qualidade para os educandos com paralisia cerebral no contexto da escola regular.<br>The objective of this study was to evaluate the conditions of school furniture available for students with cerebral palsy in public schools in the city Natal, Rio Grande do Norte in 2008, looking at how physical therapists participated in the process of prescribing such furniture. The data was collected using an evaluation protocol with students with cerebral palsy and with school principals who filled out forms. The analysis was undertaken according to the categories that arose from the data. The results indicated that: 1) school furniture doesn’t meet the specific positioning needs of the students that were evaluated and 2) physical therapists do not participate in prescribing appropriate furniture. The study showed that in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, educational administrators need to carry out the policies that have been determined by law in order to make proper school furniture available to students with cerebral palsy. The necessary resources must be ensured in order to guarantee optimum educational conditions for students with cerebral palsy in the regular school context