Objectives: To investigate whether docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation was able to ameliorate attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder(AD/HD) symptoms in AD/HD children. Design and subjects: A placebo-controlled double-blind study with 40 AD/HD (including eight AD/HD-suspected) children of 6-12 y of age who were mostly without medication. Subjects of a DHA group (n ¼ 20) took active foods containing fish oil (fermented soybean milk, bread rolls and steamed bread; 3.6 g DHA/week from these foods) for 2 months, whereas those of a control group (n ¼ 20) took indistinguishable control foods without fish oil. The following items were measured at the start and end of the study: (1) attention deficit, hyperactivity and impulsivity (AD/HD-related symptoms according to DSM-IV criteria); (2) aggression assessed by both parents and teachers; (3) visual perception (finding symbols out of a table); (4) visual and auditory short-term memory; (5) development of visual-motor integration; (6) continuous performance; (7) impatience. Results: Changes in tests 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7 over time did not significantly differ between the two groups. However, visual shortterm memory and errors of commission (continuous performance) significantly improved in the control group compared with the changes over time in the DHA group (P ¼ 0.02 and 0.001, respectively). Recalculation without AD/HD-suspected subjects (n ¼ 4 each group) showed similar P-values with regard to both measures. Conclusion: DHA supplementation did not improve AD/HD-related symptoms. Treatment of ADHD with fatty acids deserves further investigation, but careful attention should be paid as to which fatty acid(s) is used.

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(2014) The effect of phosphatidylserine administration on memory and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. J Hum Nutr Diet. 27 (Suppl. 2), 284-291 doi:10.1111/jhn.12090 AbstractBackground: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed behavioural disorder of childhood, affecting 3-5% of school-age children. The present study investigated whether the supplementation of soy-derived phosphatidylserine (PS), a naturally occurring phospholipid, improves ADHD symptoms in children. Methods: Thirty six children, aged 4-14 years, who had not previously received any drug treatment related to ADHD, received placebo (n = 17) or 200 mg day -1 PS (n = 19) for 2 months in a randomised, double-blind

BackgroundSince both the antibacterial effects and common adverse effects of colistin are concentration-dependent, determination of the most appropriate dosage regimen and administration method for colistin therapy is essential to ensure its efficacy and safety. We aimed to establish a rapid and simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based system for the clinical determination of colistin serum concentrations.MethodsExtraction using a solid-phase C18 cartridge, derivatisation with 9-fluorenylmethyl chloroformate, and elution with a short reversed-phase Cl8 column effectively separated colistin from an internal standard. The HPLC apparatus and conditions were as follows: analytical column, Hydrosphere C18; sample injection volume, 50 μL; column temperature, 40 °C; detector, Shimadzu RF-5300 fluorescence spectrophotometer (excitation wavelength, 260 nm; emission wavelength, 315 nm); mobile phase, acetonitrile/tetrahydrofuran/distilled water (50,14,20, v/v/v); flow-rate, 1.6 mL/min.ResultsThe calibration curves obtained for colistin were linear in the concentration range of 0.10–8.0 μg/mL. The regression equation was y = 0.6496× − 0.0141 (r2 = 0.9999). The limit of detection was ~ 0.025 μg/mL, and the assay intra- and inter-day precisions were 0.87–3.74% and 1.97–6.17%, respectively. The analytical peaks of colistin A, colistin B, and the internal standard were resolved with adequate peak symmetries, and their retention times were approximately 8.2, 6.8, and 5.4 min, respectively. Furthermore, the assay was successfully applied to quantify the plasma colistin levels of a haemodialysis patient.ConclusionThe assay is a simple, rapid, accurate, selective, clinically applicable HPLC-based method for the quantification of colistin in human plasma.

We recently reported 'The effect of docosahexaenoic acidcontaining food administration on symptoms of attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder-a placebo-controlled doubleblind study ' (Hirayama et al, 2003). In that study, aggression of AD/HD schoolchildren was rated with our original questionnaire to their parents and teachers, and counted only when both of them gave the same assessment, like the method of AD/HD-related symptoms criteria of DSM-IV. However, the method of counting only when both of them agreed had a possibility that this method might lose detection power. Besides, there were only two questions about aggression in that study. Actually, we could not find any intergroup differences in aggression/hostility in that study. Here, we recalculated aggression as the sum of separate scores of both parents and teachers. Figure 1 shows the results of recalculations. In the DHA group, where subjects ate DHA-rich foods for 2 months, aggression was significantly reduced with significant differences from the control group with baseline as covariate. There was a discrepancy in the rating by parents and by teachers; the effect of active foods on hostility (question 1) was more appreciated by parents than by teachers, and the effect on physical aggression (question 2) was more appreciated by teachers than by parents. This was why recalculations of the sum of separately assessed scores were able to detect significant intergroup differences as shown in Figure 1. Although DHA-containing foods did not improve AD/HD-related symptoms (Hirayama et al, 2003), this effect of DHA on aggression, which we have already reported in healthy young adults (Hamazaki et al, 1996), may improve human relationships of AD/HD children both in school and in home, and, therefore, needs further investigation.