Pharmacol Rep
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Transdermal buprenorphine in the treatment of cancer and non-cancer pain - the results of multicenter studies in Poland.
This was a multicenter, non-interventional, post-marketing study that aimed to evaluate the analgesic activity, safety of use, safety profile and adverse drug reactions of transdermal buprenorphine (Transtec 35, 52.5 and 70 μg/h) during the treatment of moderate to severe chronic cancer and non-cancer pain. The study was performed in Poland by 339 doctors. The study involved 4,030 general practice outpatients (managed by primary care physicians), pain therapy center patients, specialist outpatient clinic patients as well as patients treated in inpatients units. ⋯ Patients were enrolled if their pain was not well-controlled after using non-opioid analgesics. Another objective of the study was to monitor adverse drug reactions of transdermal buprenorphine reported by patients or noted by the doctors during the study visits. This first such multicenter study in Poland has confirmed high efficacy and good tolerability of buprenorphine and, therefore, confirmed its usefulness in the treatment of moderate to severe cancer pain as well as in the treatment of severe pain in patients with non-cancer pain that cannot be effectively treated with non-opioid analgesics.
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Statins are considered to be safe, well tolerated and the most efficient drugs for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, one of the main risk factor for atherosclerosis, and therefore they are frequently prescribed medications. The most severe adverse effect of statins is myotoxicity, in the form of myopathy, myalgia, myositis or rhabdomyolysis. Clinical trials commonly define statin toxicity as myalgia or muscle weakness with creatine kinase (CK) levels greater than 10 times the normal upper limit. ⋯ This review focuses on a number of them. The prevention of statin-related myopathy involves using the lowest statin dose required to achieve therapeutic goals and avoiding polytherapy with drugs known to increase systemic exposure and myopathy risk. Currently, the only effective treatment of statin-induced myopathy is the discontinuation of statin use in patients affected by muscle aches, pains and elevated CK levels.
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The kynurenine aminotransferases (KATs) KAT I and KAT II are pivotal to the synthesis of kynurenic acid (KYNA), the only known endogenous glutamate receptor antagonist and neuroprotectant. KAT I and II have been found in avian, rodent, and human retina. Expression of KAT I in Müller cell endfeet and KAT II in retinal ganglion cells has been documented. ⋯ In DBA/2J mice, a model of ocular hypertension, an age-dependent decrease of retinal KYNA and KATs was found. In the corpora amylacea in the human retina intensive KAT I and II immunoreactivity was demonstrated. In summary, these findings point to the potential involvement of KYNA in the mechanisms of retinal aging and neurodegeneration.
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The functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) C3435T in exon 26 of the ABCB1 gene encoding the xenobiotic transporter P-glycoprotein (P-gp) may influence susceptibility to several diseases, as well as the clinical outcome of treatment with P-gp substrates. Exposure to environmental chemicals is thought to be involved in peptic ulcer pathogenesis and then later in stomach cancer development. About 80% of ulcers are associated with Helicobacter pylori infection, one of the risk factors of stomach cancer. ⋯ In addition, the CT genotype was associated with 1.56 times and the TT with 2.45 times higher prevalence of infection compared to the CC genotype. Asimilar association was present in a subgroup of peptic ulcer men (p = 0.0090). The isolated C3435T ABCB1 SNP is not a major factor for genetic susceptibility to peptic ulcer, but in a group of men who suffered from peptic ulcer, this polymorphism seemed to be a risk factor for H. pylori infection development.
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Comparative Study
Partial lesion of the dopaminergic innervation of the ventral striatum induces "depressive-like" behavior of rats.
Depression is a frequent comorbid disorder in Parkinson's disease (PD) which may precede appearance of its motor symptoms by several years. Pathomechanisms underlying PD have been suggested to be responsible for the PD-related depression. The aim of the study was to examine the influence of a partial lesion of striatal dopaminergic terminals on the "depressive-like" behavior of rats in the forced swimming test (FS). 6-Hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) was injected bilaterally into the ventro-lateral region of the caudate-putamen (CP) (3.75 μg/2.5 μl/side). ⋯ Levels of dopamine, DOPAC and HVA were decreased in the nucleus accumbens (NAC) 2 weeks after 6-OHDA but were not changed in the CP, frontal cortex (FCX) and substantia nigra (SN). No significant effect of 6-OHDA on tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactivity in the CP and NAC were found. The present study indicates that a relatively small lesion of dopaminergic terminals in the ventral striatum, which does not produce any motor disturbances, may induce "depressive-like" symptoms.