Clinical drug investigation
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A study of potential pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions between dextromethorphan/quinidine and memantine in healthy volunteers.
Dextromethorphan/quinidine (DMQ) is the first agent indicated for the treatment of pseudobulbar affect. Dextromethorphan, the active ingredient, is a low-affinity, uncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist. This study evaluated the potential for a drug-drug interaction (DDI) of DMQ with memantine, which is also an NMDA receptor antagonist. ⋯ Minimal pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions were observed between memantine and DMQ, suggesting they can be coadministered without dose adjustment.
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Overactive bladder (OAB) is characterized by the symptoms of urinary urgency or urge incontinence, which appear without a local pathological or metabolic explanation. OAB is defined by symptoms and the evaluation of treatment effectiveness should be based upon patient perceptions. The Overactive Bladder Questionnaire-Short Form (OAB-q SF) is a brief, self-administered patient-reported outcomes tool with two scales assessing symptom bother and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in patients with OAB. ⋯ The Spanish version of the OAB-q SF demonstrated sufficiently strong psychometric properties of reliability, validity and responsiveness to be used in the measurement of OAB symptom severity and HR-QOL.
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Intravenous dexmedetomidine (Precedex(®)) provides both effective sedation in mechanically ventilated patients in an intensive care setting and effective procedural sedation. In these patient populations, it reduces the need for rescue sedation with intravenous propofol or intravenous midazolam and reduces opioid requirements. ⋯ Intravenous dexmedetomidine is generally well tolerated and is not associated with respiratory depression. Although the utilization of dexmedetomidine is associated with hypotension and bradycardia, both usually resolve without intervention.