Articles: human.
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Environmental teratogenic factors (e.g. alcohol) are preventable. We focus our analysis on human teratogenic drugs which are not used frequently during pregnancy. The previous human teratogenic studies had serious methodological problems, e.g. the first trimester concept is outdated because environmental teratogens cannot induce congenital abnormalities in the first month of gestation. ⋯ These biases explain that the teratogenic risk of drugs is exaggerated, while the benefit of medicine use during pregnancy is underestimated. Thus, a better balance is needed between the risk and benefit of drug treatments during pregnancy. Of course, we have to do our best to reduce the risk of teratogenic drugs as much as possible, however, it is worth stressing the preventive effect of drugs for maternal diseases (e.g. diabetes mellitus and hyperthermia) related congenital abnormalities.
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Toxicol. Mech. Methods · Jan 2005
Human exposure to selamectin from dogs treated with revolution: methodological consideration for selamectin isolation.
This study was undertaken to determine selamectin residue in dog's blood and in gloves worn while petting dogs after Revolution application. Revolution contains the active ingredient selamectin (a semisynthetic avermectin), which controls endoparasites and ectoparasites, including adult fleas, flea eggs, ticks, heartworms, ear mites, and sarcoptic mange in dogs, for 30 days. Revolution was applied topically on a group of six adult house hold dogs (240 mg selamectin/dog). ⋯ No selamectin residue was detected in the glove extracts after the fifth week. In spite of selamectin's binding to the sebaceous glands of the skin, gloves contained significant transferable residue. Thus, these findings suggest that repeated exposure to selamectin can pose potential health risks, especially to veterinarians, veterinary technologists, dog trainers/handlers, and pet owners.
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Musculoskeletal care · Jan 2005
How effective is physiotherapy in the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome type I? A review of the literature.
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a debilitating pain disorder for which patients commonly receive physiotherapy. The objective of this literature review is to assess how effective physiotherapy is in the management of adult and childhood CRPS type I. An electronic literature search was performed of the databases AMED, Cinahl, Embase, Ovid Medline, Pubmed, PEDro and PsycINFO, from their inception to November 2004. ⋯ The review suggests that exercise, motor imagery and mirror feedback exercises, relaxation techniques, acupuncture, electroacupuncture, transcutaneous nerve stimulation and combined treatment programmes may help in the treatment of CRPS type I. However, since numerous methodological weaknesses (e.g. small sample sizes, not employing control groups, not evaluating findings against statistical tests) littered the limited literature, it was not possible to determine the effectiveness of individual treatments. Recommendations are made to develop the evidence base.
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Shock is a broad category of injury to the human body caused by a variety of insults. Fluid resuscitation is the cornerstone of initial therapy for nearly all forms of shock. This article reviews the basic physiology determining body fluid composition, the goals of fluid resuscitation in shock, the types of fluids available for use, and clinical evidence for use of specific fluids based on etiology of the insult.
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Morphine metabolites have attracted continuing interest for their contribution to the desired and unwanted effects of morphine. Among the metabolites of morphine, morphine-6-glucuronide has been given most scientific attention. It accounts for 10% of the morphine metabolism, acts as an agonist at mu-opioid receptors and exerts antinociceptive effects. This review summarizes the recent findings on morphine-6-glucuronide and discusses its potential use as an analgesic. ⋯ Morphine-6-glucuronide might qualify as an analgesic but it has several pharmacological properties that make it far from ideal for therapeutic use. Whether it will be a useful addition to the currently established analgesics has yet to be demonstrated.