BackgroundThe Danish antibiotic use guidelines for companion animal practice were published by the Danish Veterinary Association in 2012. Since then, national surveillance data indicate a 10% reduction in the total use of antibiotics for companion animals, particularly a marked reduction in the use of third generation cephalosporins. The aim of the study was to assess if and how the guidelines have impacted diagnostic and antibiotic prescription habits of the users, and to identify user perceived barriers to implementation.ResultsAn online questionnaire was sent to all 882 members of the Danish Small Animal Veterinary Association in October 2015. The survey was completed by 151 veterinarians. Respondents most frequently consulted the recommendations on skin and urinary tract infections (UTI), and users generally reported a high degree of adherence to the recommendations. Sixty-five per cent indicated that the guidelines had influenced their habits in one or more of the areas being investigated, i.e. perioperative use of antibiotics, use of first line antibiotics for the treatment of pyoderma or UTI, and/or use of microbiological diagnostics. Perioperative use of antibiotics for clean surgeries was uncommon, irrespective of whether respondents had consulted the relevant recommendations or not. On the contrary, significant differences in the prescribing habits between guideline users and non-users were observed for pyoderma and UTI, suggesting an impact of the guidelines towards more prudent antimicrobial use. The diagnostic habits were examined in a subgroup of 63 guideline users. Of those, 19 and 39% reported frequent use of culture and susceptibility (C&S) testing prior to treating pyoderma and UTI respectively, whereas 68–84% reported C&S testing in the event of poor response to treatment or recurrence of infections. The main barriers for implementation of therapeutic recommendations were confidence in old prescribing practices and unavailability of recommended drugs. The main barriers for C&S testing were good experience with empiric treatment, and the owners’ financial situation.ConclusionsThe findings suggest a positive influence of the national antibiotic guidelines on prescription patterns among companion animal practitioners in Denmark. Sustained campaign activity is encouraged and should include promotion of bacteriological testing.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13028-017-0350-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Microscale devices are promising tools to overcome specific challenges within oral drug delivery. Despite the availability of advanced highquality imaging techniques, visualization and tracking of microscale devices in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is still a challenge. This work explores the possibilities of applying planar X-ray imaging and computed tomography (CT) scanning for visualization and tracking of microscale devices in the GI tract of rats. Microcontainers (MCs) are an example of microscale devices that have shown great potential as an oral drug delivery system. Barium sulfate (BaSO 4 ) loaded into the cavity of the MCs increases their overall X-ray contrast, which allows them to be easily tracked. The BaSO 4 -loaded MCs are quantitatively tracked throughout the entire GI tract of rats by planar X-ray imaging and visualized in 3D by CT scanning. The majority of the BaSO 4 -loaded MCs are observed to retain in the stomach for 0.5−2 h, enter the cecum after 3−4 h, and leave the cecum and colon 8−10 h postadministration. The imaging approaches can be adopted and used with other types of microscale devices when investigating GI behavior in, for example, preclinical trials and potential clinical studies.
Mild analgesics have been associated with antiandrogenic effects, but there are no such studies on dipyrone, despite its high prevalence of use in many countries. We examined the production of steroid hormones in human H295R cells after exposure to dipyrone and two metabolites, 4-Methylaminoantipyrine (MAA) and 4-Aminoantipyrine (AA), as well as fetal testicular testosterone production in rats following maternal dipyrone exposure. Androgen agonistic/antagonistic effects were examined in vitro for dipyrone and its metabolites in the Yeast Androgen Screen (YAS) assay and in vivo for dipyrone through the Hershberger assay. In vitro we tested dipyrone, MAA, and AA (0.1-1000 μM) while in vivo we used dipyrone (50, 100, 200 mg/kg/day). In the H295R assay, dipyrone, MAA and AA reduced the production of androgens and corticosteroids. Testosterone was reduced at concentrations 4-13 times higher than the maximum plasma concentrations reported in humans for MAA and AA. No effects were observed in the fetal testosterone production assay. In the YAS and Hershberger assays, no androgen agonistic/antagonistic activities were observed. These results indicate that dipyrone and its metabolites do not interact with the androgen receptor, but have the potential to inhibit steroidogenesis, however only at concentrations that are not relevant under normal medical use.
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