500 "c overnight prior to the sorption experiments. The BET surface areas determined by triple-point Nz(g) adsorption were 12.5 and 5.4 m2/g for kaolinite and hematite, respectively (Table 1). Peat humic acid (PHA), a well-characterized terrestrial humic substance from the International Humic Substances

ResultsA total of 5366 medication error reports were identified during the time period. Of these, 3660 (68.2%) were classified, from a regulatory perspective (21 CFR 314.80), as serious (causing death, a threat to life, hospitalization, disability, congenital anomaly or requiring intervention to prevent permanent impairment or damage). Death resulted in 528 (9.8%) of these cases. We excluded 59 reports as duplicates or intentional overdoses. A total of 469 deaths were caused by medication errors. These are sorted by the year they were reported to FDA in Figure 1. Of these, 84 reports (18%) were directly reported to FDA by consumers and health care providers via the MedWatch program. Manufacturers reported 385 reports (82%) to FDA. The increase in reports during calendar year 1998 is probably reflective of FDA's decision to capture all medication error reports within one database (AERS) and no longer support a related database, the Drug Quality Reporting System. Figure.Reports of deaths per year received by FDA.Two hundred and seven deaths were assessed as related to an error, 219 as possibly related, and 43 as unrelated.

Studies in non-neural cells have suggested that a fall in mitochondrial membrane potential (DeltaPsiM) is one of the earliest events in apoptosis. It is not known whether neural apoptosis caused by nerve growth factor (NGF) and serum withdrawal involves a decrease in DeltaPsiM. We used epifluorescence and laser confocal microscopy with the mitochondrial potentiometric dyes chloromethyl-tetramethylrosamine methyl ester and 5,5',6, 6'-tetrachloro-1,1',3,3'-tetraethybenzimidazol carbocyanine iodide to estimate DeltaPsiM. PC12 cells were differentiated in media containing serum and NGF for 6 d before withdrawal of trophic support. After washing, the cells were incubated with media containing serum and NGF (M/S+N), media without serum and NGF, or media with the "trophic-like" monoamine oxidase B inhibitor, (-)-deprenyl. Mitochondria in cells without trophic support underwent a progressive shift to lower DeltaPsiM values that was significant by 3 hr after washing. The percentages of cells with nuclear chromatin condensation or nuclear DNA fragmentation were not significantly increased above those for cells in M/S+N until 6 hr after washing. Replacement of cells into M/S+N or treatment with (-)-deprenyl markedly reduced the proportion of mitochondria with decreased DeltaPsiM. Measurements of cytoplasmic peroxyl radical levels with 2',7'-dihydrodichlorofluorescein fluorescence and intramitochondrial Ca2+ with dihydro-rhodamine-2-acetylmethyl ester indicated that cytoplasmic peroxyl radical levels were not increased until after 6 hr, whereas increases in intramitochondrial Ca2+ paralleled the decreases in DeltaPsiM. (-)-Deprenyl appeared to alter the relationship between intramitochondrial Ca2+ levels and DeltaPsiM, possibly through its reported capacity to increase the synthesis of proteins such as BCL-2.

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