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Although tobacco smoke has been established as a main risk factor in the development of head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), genetic polymorphisms of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes are supposed to modulate an individual's susceptibility to smoking-related HNSCC. N-acetyltransferase (NAT) 1 gene is known to be polymorphic and its protein product is implicated in the activation and detoxification of carcinogens, such as aromatic amines, present in tobacco smoke. We developed a rapid and reproducible LightCycler-assisted real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for NAT1 genotyping, which allowed the parallel differentiation of NAT1*3, *4, *10 and *11 alleles and separately of NAT1*14 and *17 alleles within 60 min without the need for further post-PCR processing. In order to investigate the role of the NAT1 gene polymorphism as a risk-modifying factor in HNSCC, we tested for the presence of NAT1*3, *4, *10, *11, *14 and *17 alleles in a case-control study of 291 HNSCC patients and 300 healthy controls of Caucasian origin. Our findings suggest that in Caucasians, the risk of HNSCC is not associated with NAT1 polymorphism. The overall distribution of NAT1 allele frequencies was not significantly different among cases and controls. The presence of the fast acetylator NAT1*10 and NAT1*11 alleles did not significantly increase the risk of HNSCC and no modifying effect of NAT1*10 was observed among smokers. This new approach in NAT1 genotyping substantially increases throughput of sample analysis and, therefore, enhances opportunities to study NAT1 as a risk factor in different cancers in large-scale studies.

The long-term safety profile and sustained efficacy of lacosamide observed in this trial support its continued development for treatment of painful diabetic neuropathy.

Lacosamide seems to attenuate pain in diabetic neuropathy in doses up to 400 mg/d and improves quality of life issues.

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The present study was designed to compare the safety and efficacy of the new angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor moexipril with that of hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) in postmenopausal women with mild-to-moderate hypertension. After a 4-week single-blind placebo period, 97 postmenopausal hypertensive women (42–74 years of age) with a sitting diastolic blood pressure (SDBP) of 95–114 mm Hg were randomized to receive either once daily moexipril 15 mg or HCTZ 25 mg for a 12-week double-blind treatment period. At study endpoint, HCTZ caused significantly greater increases from baseline in serum uric acid levels than did moexipril (0.8 ± 0.1 vs. 0.1 ± 0.1 mg/dl, p < 0.01). Furthermore, 12-week treatment with HCTZ resulted in significant increases in glucose (+11.0 ± 4.1 mg/dl) and total cholesterol/HDL ratio (+0.3±0.1 mg/dl) and a significant decrease in HDL (–3.2±0.7 mg/dl). In contrast, moexipril treatment was not associated with significant changes in any metabolic parameter. Both drugs efficiently lowered SDBP with reductions of –10.0 ± 1.3 and –11.8 ± 1.1 mm Hg in the moexipril and HCTZ group, respectively. Clinical adverse events were reported by a greater percentage of HCTZ patients (53%) than moexipril patients (40%), with headache and rhinitis as the most frequent events. The results indicate that moexipril was better tolerated than HCTZ in postmenopausal women and did not adversely affect metabolic parameters. Both drugs were effective in lowering blood pressure.

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