The distribution of zonisamide, a new antiepileptic drug, in erythrocytes and in brain was studied to clarify the factors influencing its distribution in epileptic patients. In both humans and rats, zonisamide was concentrated significantly in erythrocytes in a saturable manner. When the effective concentration of zonisamide in serum was compared with that in blood in nine refractory epileptic patients taking zonisamide chronically, the variation in effective serum concentration was significantly larger than that in blood concentration. In rats, the distribution in the brain also showed saturability. These results suggest that differences in saturable binding to various tissues may contribute to the wide variation that occurs in the effective serum concentration of zonisamide in epileptic patients and that monitoring of the blood concentration of zonisamide may provide useful information for treatment with this drug.
Soft tissue myoepithelial tumors are very rare mesenchymal tumors that are currently categorized as miscellaneous neoplasms with uncertain differentiation. Although the molecular pathogenesis of soft tissue myoepithelial tumors remains unclear, EWSR1 gene fusions with a variety of partner genes are regarded as one of the major patho-
Seven patients with chronic benign granulocytopenia and nine patients with congenital agranulocytosis, received consecutive seven-day courses of recombinant human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor at a starting dose of 50 micrograms/m2/day, subcutaneously. If there was no response the doses were increased to 300 micrograms/m2. All patients with chronic benign granulocytopenia responded rapidly at the minimum dose within 1-3 days after administration. By contrast, only three of the nine patients with congenital agranulocytosis responded within 1-7 days at this dose. Four patients with congenital agranulocytosis showed a response between days 7-19 at a dose of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor 100-200 micrograms/m2 but in the remaining two cases no response was obtained. The administration of granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor was shown to be safe and effective also in reducing infectious episodes in these patients. Previously it was reported that granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor 10-30 micrograms/kg/day was effective for patients with congenital agranulocytosis. These results indicate that patients with congenital agranulocytosis may require much higher doses of recombinant human granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor than patients with chronic benign granulocytopenia and that the response to ordinary doses of recombinant human granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor may be useful in differentiating between chronic benign granulocytopenia and congenital agranulocytosis.
For the purpose of investigating the effects of Biofermin-R (BF-R) on the bacterial flora, BF-R was administered in combination with antibiotics , and the fecal flora of children treated with antibiotics alone was compared with that of children treated with both BF-R and antibiotics. Three types of effects were investigated: 1) the inhibitory effect on antibiotic-induced changes of the bacterial flora in patients without diarrhea , 2) the bacterial flora-maintaining and normalizing effect in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms, and 3) the process of normalizing in the fecal bacterial flora of mice administered with antibiotics. The results indicated that the concurrent use of BF-R and an antibiotic inhibited the changes of the intestinal flora that usually occur during antibiotic therapy alone, by preventing a decrease in Bifidobacterium, and restored disturbed flora to normal.
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