No abstract

The Ebola virus has spread across several Western Africa countries, adding a significant financial burden to their health systems and economies. In this article the experience with Ebola is reviewed, and economic challenges and policy recommendations are discussed to help curb the impact of other diseases in the future. The West African Ebola virus disease epidemic started in resource-constrained settings and caused thousands of fatalities during the last epidemic. Nevertheless, given population mobility, international travel, and an increasingly globalized economy, it has the potential to re-occur and evolve into a global pandemic. Struggling health systems in West African countries hinder the ability to reduce the causes and effects of the Ebola epidemic. The lessons learned include the need for strengthening health systems, mainly primary care systems, expedited access to treatments and vaccines to treat the Ebola virus disease, guidance on safety, efficacy, and regulatory standards for such treatments, and ensuring that research and development efforts are directed toward existing needs. Other lessons include adopting policies that allow for better flow of relief, averting the adverse impact of strong quarantine policy that includes exaggerating the aversion behavior by alarming trade and business partners providing financial support to strengthen growth in the affected fragile economies by the Ebola outbreak. Curbing the impact of future Ebola epidemics, or comparable diseases, requires increased long-term investments in health system strengthening, better collaboration between different international organizations, more funding for research and development efforts aimed at developing vaccines and treatments, and tools to detect, treat, and prevent future epidemics.

Arch. Pharm. Pharm. Med. Chem.

Acetylenic derivatives of quinazolinones and quinazolinediones were synthesized and evaluated for their anticonvulsant activity. Most compounds displayed seizure‐antagonizing activity in the maximal electroshock test (MES test) in most cases associated with little or no acute neurotoxicity determined in the rotorod test. Only three compounds exhibited significant activity in the seizure threshold test with subcutaneous pentylenetetrazole (scMet test). Based on the ED50 in the MES test, 1,3‐bis‐(prop‐2‐ynyl)‐quinazoline‐2,4‐(1H,3H)‐dione (9a) was about ten‐fold less active than phenytoin or carbamazepine but about as active as mesuximide.

In order to study the influence of the length of the amino acid chain of N,N-phthaloylamino acid amides as analogues of the former anticonvulsant taltrimide on the seizureantagonizing activity glycine, β-alanine and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) derivatives were synthesized. The corresponding taurine derivatives were also included. Generally, the glycine-derived amides showed a higher activity than the β-alanine and GABA derivatives in the maximal electroshock seizure (MES) test in mice upon intraperitoneal administration. The activity was comparable to the respective taurine derivatives. The N,N-phthaloyl-glycine amides were also active in the MES test upon oral administration to rats. No significant activity was noted in the seizure threshold test with subcutaneous pentylenetetrazole. The ED50 of N,N-phthaloyl-glycine ethyl amide (4b) in the MES test upon intraperitoneal administration to mice was 19.1 mg/kg. On a molar basis this activity is comparable to the activity of phenytoin with little toxicity in the rotorod test. In conclusion, N,N-phthaloyl-glycine amides might represent promising antiepileptic drugs.