Clinical effectiveness of niludipine in patients with ischemic heart disease

The antianginal efficacy of niludipine (Bay a 7167), a new calcium antagonistic drug, was investigated in 51 patients with ischemic heart disease. 16 patients were diagnosed as effort angina and 31 patients had both angina at rest and on effort. Six anginal patients had myocardial infarction. One patient was diagnosed as a variant form of angina and 3 others as unstable angina. 11 patients had essential hypertension. 49 completed the study and 2 dropped out. Niludipine (60 mg to 80 mg every 24 h) significantly reduced the mean weekly rate of angina attacks from 6.5 to 2.2 (p less than 0.001). Marked reductions of nitroglycerin requirement were also noted (p less than 0.001). In 71% of the patients complete control of anginal attacks was achieved, and in over 77% the frequency of angina was reduced by at least 50%. Niludipine was at 93.8% effective in patients with ischemic heart disease. It decreased significantly both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in angina patients with essential hypertension, but there were no significant changes of blood pressure in normotensive anginal patients. The agent was tolerated very well and there were no side effects. These findings suggest that niludipine is a highly effective drug for the treatment of both ischemic heart disease and essential hypertension.

A pharmacokinetic analysis program (multi) for microcomputer

A nonlinear least squares program (MULTI) for microcomputers was developed. The program is written in BASIC programming language. Four algorithms, (1) Gauss-Newton method, (2) damping Gauss-Newton method, (3) modified Marquardt method and (4) simplex method, can be used for nonlinear curve fitting in MULTI. Up to five pharmacokinetic equations, which are voluntarily defined by the user, are simultaneously fitted to observed time courses. The executions of MULTI are demonstrated for time courses of ampicillin and oxacillin in man.

High performance liquid chromatographic determination of clavulanic acid in human urine

An ion pair reversed phase HPLC method for the determination of clavulanic acid has been developed. Since clavulanic acid had poor absorption (lambda max 201 nm in water) in a UV-region suitable for HPLC detection, the detectability was enhanced by bathochromic shift of lambda max due to solvent effect. The shifts of lambda max were measured with the solutions containing clavulanic acid, tetrabutylammonium bromide, and phosphate buffer salts in aqueous methanol. The magnitudes of the observed shifts were investigated with respect to pH, ionic strength, methanol content, and TBAB concentration. The results indicated that TBAB concentration was the predominant factor responsible for the bathochromic shifts. Taking account of the results together with solvent effects on the retention of clavulanic acid on hydrophobic stationary phase, HPLC condition suitable for detection and separation of clavulanic acid in urine was established as follows; mobile phase: 10 mM TBAB + 0.6 mM NaH2PO4 + 0.4 mM Na2HPO4 in H2O - MeOH, 10:1 (v/v)(pH 7.02), flow rate: 1.5 ml/minute, stationary phase: LiChrosorb RP-18 (25 cm x 4.6 mm i.d.), detection: UV 220 nm. The applicability of the present method is demonstrated by determining the time course of urinary excretion of clavulanic acid after oral administration of a conjugated tablet of clavulanic acid and amoxicillin to human subject.

Chromatographic analysis and pharmacokinetic investigation of cephaloglycin and its metabolites in man

Metabolism and pharmacokinetics of cephaloglycin in man were investigated. High performance liquid chromatographic and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analyses of metabolites excreted in human urine following oral administration of cephaloglycin revealed that cephaloglycin was biotransformed in two pathways i.e. elimination of 3-acetyl group and hydrolysis of side chain amide linkage. The former yielded deacetylcephaloglycin, a part of which further underwent lactonization to deacetylcephaloglycin lactone, and the latter led to benzoyl formic acid via phenylglycine. The urinary excretion amounts of these metabolites and intact cephaloglycin were determined by a reversed phase ion pair high performance liquid chromatography. The average total excretion amounts at infinite time accounted for 0.50% of the administered dose for intact cephaloglycin, 17.09% for deacetylcephaloglycin, 0.35% for deacetylcephaloglycin lactone, and 0.86% for benzoyl formic acid. The excretion of phenylglycine was less than 0.2%, its chromatographic peak being too small to allow accurate determination. The rate constants for absorption, metabolism, and urinary excretion were estimated by the moment analysis of the excretion rate-time curves.

Acidic degredation of cephaloglycin and high performance liquid chromatographic determination of deacetylcephaloglycin in human urine

In order to provide fundamental knowledge about the determination of deacetylcephaloglycin excreted in human urine as an active metabolite of cephaloglycin, the degradation of cephaloglycin in acidic media has been investigated with varying reaction temperature between 30 degrees and 50 degrees C and pH between 1.2 and 2.8. The degradation pathway observed under these conditions was the elimination of the 3-acetyl group yielding deacetylcephaloglycin followed by formation of deacetylcephaloglycin lactone. Estimation of first order rate constants revealed that deacetylation is the rate-determining step for the degradation of cephaloglycin to the lactone. It is found from the kinetic results that reproducible assays of deacetylcephaloglycin excreted in urine can be achieved by a quantitative conversion to deacetylcephaloglycin lactone in a medium of pH 1.4 at 37 degrees C for 2 hours, followed by a reversed-phase ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography. The utility of the present method is demonstrated by determining the time course of urinary excretion of deacetylcephaloglycin after oral administration of cephaloglycin capsule.

Two infant deaths after inhaling baby powder

The clinical course of two baby girls who died following accidental inhalation of baby powder is described. Frequent tracheobroncheal lavage was not effective therapy. An experiment using eight mice revealed that the inhalation of baby powder was fatal. Possible treatments, including tracheobroncheal lavage with saline solution and application of chelating agents, are discussed.

Characteristics of lithium iodide-containing poly(ethylene glycol) as a gas chromatographic stationary phase, and its application to analysis of amidic drugs

The characteristics of lithium iodide-containing poly(ethylene glycol) as a gas chromatographic stationary phase have been evaluated in terms of partial free energy of transfer (delta G t0) from poly(ethylene glycol) to the lithium iodide-poly(ethylene glycol) system for a variaty of amides (n-fatty acid amides, lactams, benzamides, anilides, nicotinamides, isonicotinamides, barbiturates, pyrazolones) and several amines. The changes in relative retention and resolution of two solute peaks caused by the addition of lithium iodide to poly)ethylene glycol) are correlated with the difference in their delta Gt0 values. The application to the specific separation of some amidic drugs is demonstrated.

High-performance liquid chromatographic analyses of sulbenicillin and carbenicillin in human urine

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of sulbenicillin (SBPC) and carbenicillin (CBPC) excreted in human urine. The method uses reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography with a bonded hydrophobic stationary phase and methanol-tetra-n-butylammonium bromide solution as the mobile phase. Urine is filtered through a micropore membrane and the filtrate introduced directly into a liquid chromatograph. An in vivo experiment was conducted by administering intravenously 1 g of SBPC or CBPC to volunteers and analysing their urine. One-compartment model analysis of the time-course data revealed that 73.1% of the amount of SBPC dosed was excreted in the urine with a rate constant of 0.579 h-1, and 91.5% of CBPC with a rate constant of 0.845 h-1.

Statistical moments in pharmacokinetics

Statistical moments are parameters that describe the characteristics of the time courses of plasma concentration (area, mean residence time, and variance of residence time) and of the urinary excretion rate that follow administration of a single dose of a drug. The relationship between the moments of a time-course curve and pharmacokinetic profiles of drug disposition, i.e., absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, is described. The moments are related to the extent and rate of bioavailability, and it is shown that they can be effectively applied to the deconvolution operation.

Gas chromatographic determination of nalidixic acid in tablets

A gas chromatographic method has been established for the quantitative analysis of nalidixic acid. The method is based on the derivatization of nalidixic acid with diazomethane, and 5-alpha-cholestane is used as an internal standard. The sample is chromatographed on a glass column packed with 1% OV-1 on Chromosorb W. Quantitation is achieved by measuring peak-height ratios. The improved simplicity, specificity and accuracy of the method has been demonstrated for the quantitation of nalidixic acid in tablets.

High speed liquid chromatographic determination of cephalexin in human plasma and urine

A rapid and accurate high speed liquid chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of cephalexin in human plasma and urine. The method involves micropore filtration of urine specimens and methanol extraction of plasma samples followed by HSLC separation on a bonded reverse phase column utilizing a mobile phase of methanol-water containing acetic acid. The quantitativity of UV response at 254 nm covered a wide range of cephalexin concentrations down to 0.5 microgram/ml, and no metabolite peaks were detected. The time courses of plasma level and urinary excretion were determined until 6 hours after oral administration of cephalexin capsules to healthy volunteers. The pharmacokinetic parameters were estimated using a two compartment open model.

Antiarrhythmic properties of 5-(3-tert-butylamino-2-hydroxy)propoxy-3,4-dihydrocarbostyril hydrochloride (OPC-1085), a newly synthesized, potent beta-adrenoreceptor antagonist

1. The antiarrhythmic properties of 5-(3-tert-butylamino-2-hydroxy)propoxy-3,4-dihydrocarbostyril hydrochloride (opc-1085) were compared with those of propranolol and pindolol using various kinds of preparations for experimental arrhythmia in dogs. 2. Although OPC-1085 was the most potent drug to antagonize adrenaline-induced arrhythmia in animals anaesthetized with either pentobarbitone sodium or halothane, it was scarcely effective on ouabain-induced arrhythmia in pentobarbitone sodium anaesthetized animals. 3. When these compounds were administered intravenously to conscious dogs 24 h after two-stage ligation of the anterior descending artery, ectopic ventricular beats of coronary ligation-induced arrhythmia were reduced while regular sinus beats were simultaneously increased. 4. OPC-1085 was very effective on aconitine-induced arrhythmia in dogs anaesthetized with pentobarbitone sodium. The effective dose was similar to that of propranolol but about fifteen times less than that of pindolol. 5. It is concluded that different potencies among these beta-adrenoreceptor antagonists against various kinds of experimental arrhythmias cannot be simply deduced from any one of the following properties; beta-adrenoreceptor antagonism, intrinsic myocardial stimulation, local anaesthetic and so-called quinidine-like effects.

Gas chromatographic and gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of ampicillin

A method was developed for the quantitative gas chromatographic (GC) determination of ampicillin. The procedure requires silylation iwth hexamethyldisilazane, trimethylchlorosilane, trimethylsilylimidazole and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acetamide in pyridine and subsequent GC on an OV-17 column, using 5 alpha-cholestane as an internal standard. The method was applied to the determination of ampicillin in some pharmaceutical products. The characteristics of the mass spectra and the derivatization GC of ampicillin are also discussed.

Creativity in developmentally disabled adolescents

Creative behavior of 20 normal, 20 educable, and 20 trainable mentally retarded adolescents of similar chronological ages was examined using a modified version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. Analyses of variance indicated that educable mentally retarded and normal subjects did not differ significantly on any of Torrance's four creativity measures. However, statistical significance was evident for the trainable and nonretarded subjects and for the trainable and educable retardates. Results were discussed in terms of level of intelligence and other contributing variables.

Ecology and ordinality in invention: an exploratory study

A review of literature on environmental complexity, biographic works on inventors, and even the etymology of ecology (Greek oikos or house) generated the hypothesis that inventors, more than noninventors, would have spent a significant part of their lives in a 2-story home. Further, inventors would be overrepresented by firstborns. 544, i.e., 30% of the University of Texas faculty, responded to a brief questionnaire. Although analyses failed to uphold the hypotheses, certain findings supported previous work and are discussed in relation to future work on invention.

Gas chromatographic determination and gas chromatographic-mass sepectrometric analysis of chloramphenicol, thiamphenicol and their metabolites

A rapid and accurate gas chromatographic (GC) method is described for the determination of chloramphenicol, thiamphenicol and their metabolites excreted in human urine. These excretions were pre-treated with diazomethane and N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acetamide, so that they could be easily subjected to GC with satisfactory separation from each other and also from other urinary excretions, and could be determined simultaneously. The structures of the metabolites were confirmed by GC combined with mass spectrometric measurements of the GC peaks. The application of the method to urine specimens enabled more precise results for the amounts of metabolites present to be obtained; the excretion of thiamphenicol glucuronide was not observed.

Operant preferences for male and female voices by profoundly retarded males

Previous studies of preferences of the profoundly mentally retarded have indicated that complex visual stimuli are more effective in eliciting responses than are auditory or simple stimuli. Male and female voices were used to determine preference for voice. Profoundly retarded adults (mean Social Quotient of 11.7) were first exposed to a situation where button pressing resulted in either a 250- or a 2000-Hz tone and then to a situation in which a male and female voice was associated with each button. Statistically significant differential preference was not exhibited to either type of stimulus although the female voice did appear more effective.

Normal mercury level in human embryos and fetuses

The normal level of total mercury in human embryos and fetal organs (liver, kidney and cerebrum) was first indicated and it was shown that this metal is their constant component in the amount with an appreciable individual variability. As for the stage difference of the contents of the fetal organs, a significant decrease in the third-trimester liver compared to the second-trimester-liver was noted. The contents of the third-trimester liver and kidney were lower than the respective adult values. However, no significant difference of the levels was shown in the cerebrum throughout the period from fetal to adult stage, and this does not support the prevailing presumption that human fetal brain concentrates mercury. Little correlation between the mercury level in the maternal pubic hair and its level in the embryo was indicated.