Journal of chemotherapy
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Journal of chemotherapy · Apr 2013
Comparative StudyA comparative study on the activities of six combination regimens against multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in BALB/c mice.
The objective of the present study was to compare the activities of six combination regimens in a murine tuberculosis model infected with a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis isolate. After 1 month of treatment, all the combination regimens dramatically reduced CFU counts in the spleens and lungs, especially the regimens containing six drugs which had no visible counts in either organ. After 2 months of treatment, the spleens of mice treated with the six regimens all became culture negative, but for the lungs, only those treated with the regimens containing six drugs became culture negative. ⋯ Clofazimine was able to improve the combination therapy results. Three months post-treatment, both the spleens and lungs of mice treated with the two regimens containing six drugs remained culture negative, while the spleens of mice treated with the other four regimens became culture positive. The activity of the regimens improved as more drugs were added.
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Journal of chemotherapy · Oct 2012
Cardioprotective effect of early dexrazoxane use in anthracycline treated pediatric patients.
Anthracyclines play a major role in chemotherapeutic regimens for a variety of pediatric cancers, but produce undesirable dose-related cardiotoxicity. Dexrazoxane reduces early myocardial injury during anthracycline treatment, but data remain insufficient to fully understand its cardioprotective effectiveness in treating pediatric cancers and additional research is necessary to find efficient methods of dexrazoxane administration. ⋯ The results of this study suggest that the early use of dexrazoxane protects against the development of cardiotoxicity during anthracycline treatment in pediatric cancer patients. Further studies involving larger pediatric cancer patients are needed to evaluate the cardioprotective effect of dexrazoxane at higher cumulative doses of anthracyclines and on late-onset cardiotoxicity in long-term survivors.
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Journal of chemotherapy · Apr 2011
Antifungal susceptibility testing of a 10-year collection of Candida spp. isolated from patients with candidemia.
Nosocomial yeast infections have increased significantly worldwide and especially in surgical and intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Although Candida species have various degrees of susceptibility to frequently used drugs, antifungal resistance is rare. A ten-year retrospective surveillance of candidemia was carried out in a University Hospital of Southern Italy. ⋯ Glabrata susceptibility to triazoles and C. tropicalis to fluconazole and voriconazole. As expected, C. parapsilosis isolates were generally associated with higher echinocandin minimum inhibitory concentrations (miCs) than the other Candida species. This study confirms the different antifungal susceptibility patterns among species, and underlines the need to perform antifungal susceptibility testing of clinically relevant yeasts.