Current Clinical Pharmacology - Volume 8, Issue 4, 2013

Diabetes and hypertension frequently coexist and constitute the most notorious combination for the pathogenesis of DR. Large clinical trials have clearly demonstrated that tight control of glycaemia and/or blood pressure significantly reduces the incidence and progression of DR. The mechanism by which hypertension interacts with diabetes to exacerbate the retinal disease is not completely understood. From experim Read More

Hyperglycemia, a prominent characteristic of diabetes, has been implicated in the apoptotic death of vascular and neuronal cells in the retina. In diabetic retinopathy, mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and subsequent breakdown of cellular homeostasis play a critical role in retinal cell death. In particular, changes in mitochondrial morphology, mitochondrial membrane potential heterogeneity, o Read More

Diabetic retinopathy is a major cause of vision impairment and blindness and represents a significant health burden throughout the world. There is considerable interest in developing new treatments that retard the progression of diabetic retinopathy from its early to proliferative stages. It could be argued that the absence of an ideal therapy for diabetic retinopathy comes from an incomplete understanding about the biochemica Read More

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is known to have important effects on the disposition of drugs, which in turn may have important implications for the efficacy and toxicity of drug therapy. These effects constantly change throughout CPB and some continue to exert influence after the patient has been successfully weaned. In children, developmental and disease specific changes in drug disposition and effect also need to be ta Read More

Background: Retigabine is an antiepileptic drug that reduces neuronal excitability by enhancing potassium channel activity. Methods: This manuscript summarizes the pharmacokinetic and biopharmaceutical properties of retigabine collated from published and unpublished in vitro and clinical phase I-III studies in healthy volunteers or patients with partial-onset seizures. Results: Retigabine is rapidly absorbed with a medi Read More

Background: We present herein, a comparative study assessing the bactericidal kinetics of tigecycline, doxycycline, cefazolin and vancomycin against several methicllin-susceptible (MSSA) and –resistant (MRSA) Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from patients of 24 different cities in Argentina. Methods: After genotypic characterization, 20 strains (10 MRSA and 10 MSSA) were selected for time-kill studies. Results: Van Read More

Platelet aggregation activity is the cornerstone of the pathogenesis of atherothrombosis and plays a main role in the appearance of major adverse cardiac events (MACE). This aspect has become even more important nowadays due to the use of drug-eluting stents (DES), where a proper platelet inhibition is required. Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interv Read More

Amphetamine-like drugs are sympathomimetic agents with marked central and peripheral stimulant properties. Despite the street illegal drugs such as amphetamine and ecstasy, some amphetamine-like compounds are also legally marketed under medical prescription in the treatment of attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (methylphenidate) and obesity/overweight (fenproporex and diethylpropione). However, similar w Read More

Neurodevelopmental disorders are a large family of conditions of genetic or environmental origin that are characterized by deficiencies in cognitive and behavioral functions. The therapeutic management of individuals with these disorders is typically complex and is limited to the treatment of specific symptoms that characterize each disorder. The neurodevelopmental disorder Rett syndrome (RTT) is the leading cause of sever Read More

Objective: Second generation antipsychotics (SGA) have gained increased evidence for the treatment of irritability and aggression in children and adolescents with lower functioning autistic disorder. Individuals with Asperger’s Disorder (AD) and High Functioning Autism (HFA) experience significant emotional and behavioral problems and psychiatric comorbidity. There is a need to review the published literature on SGA tre Read More