Spectrofluorometric determination of the two antilipemic drugs lovastatin and simvastatin in spiked human plasma and in dosage forms

A new spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of the two antilipemic drugs, lovastatin and simvastatin, was described. The method is based on heating drug solution with 2-aminoethane sulfonic acid [taurine] 0.025% w/v solution in phosphate-borate buffer of pH 7.4 at 70C for 30 minutes. The resulting reaction product exhibits strong fluorescence at 388 nm after excitation at 318 nm. Different assay parameters have been optimized to achieve maximum sensitivity and reliability of the method for the determination of the 2 drugs in spiked human plasma as well as in their dosage forms. The intensity of the resulting fluorescence showed linear relation with concentrations of both drugs in the range of 0.2 to 0.8 mug/L. The mean percentage recoveries of lovastatin and simvastatin were 99.851 SD +/- 2.101 and 99.806 SD +/- 1.805, respectively, in case of six concentrations of human plasma. The limit of detection was found to be 0.2 mug/L. The method is recommended for drug monitoring in biological fluids. The method was successfully applied for the determination of lovastatin and simvastatin in dosage forms. The results were in agreement with those of some other reported methods

Electroencephalographic changes after electroconvulsive therapy

The electroconvulsive therapy [ECT] produces reversible electroencephalographic changes [EEG] in the form of disorganized background activity dominated by theta rhythm and epileptiform discharges [slow delta and theta waves with occasional sharp components]. These EEG changes are most marked one day after the ECT course, and returned back gradually to the baseline levels within one week to one month. The EEG changes are slightly more evident in patients receiving bilateral ECT treatment than those receiving unilateral ECT

Serum IgM and IgG levels in diabetics with nosocomial urinary tract infection

This study included 60 patients from Kasr EI-Eini Hospital suffering from nosocomial urinary tract infection [UTI], 30 of them are diabetics and 30 are non diabetics, and also 20 normal controls. Urine counts and cultures are done to isolate the causative organisms and serum IgM and IgG levels are determined [as a parameter of humoral immunity]. Results of this study revealed that E. coli was the predominant isolate in both diabetics [80%] and non diabetics [70%] followed by Klebsiella [20% in both groups] Pseudomonas aeruginosa was isolated only from non diabetic group [10%]. Both groups showed statistically siginificant increased levels of IgG and IgM when compared to the control group. However, no statistically significant difference was found when both diabetic and non diabetic groups are compared

Neopterin; a marker of activation of cell mediated immunity in acute and chronic leukemias

In the current study, serum neopterin was tested in 20 patients with acute and chronic leukemia before the initiation of therapy and compared to 10 heatly age, sex matched volunteers. Serum neopterin was significantly higher among patients with leukemias when compared to controls [P <0.01] with a mean serum neopterin of 8.64 +/- 6.38 ng/ml vs 2.68 +/- 1.73 ng/ml. The highest levels of neopterin were observed in patients with CML who showed a very highly significant increase in neopterin levels [P <0.001], the highest level of 27 ng/ml being observed in a patients in an accelerated phase. In contrast, patients with CLL did not show elevated neopterin levels when compared to controls [P >0.05]. In patients with acute leukemias, on the other hand, levels were significantly elevated [P <0.01]. Raised neopterin is definitely not specific to a given diseases entity, but is an indicator of immunologic stimulation and may serve as prognostic marker in patients with hemotologic malignancies especially in chronic leukemias. Its value for the early detection of accelerated phase in CML and its staging values for CLL remains to be confirmed

Flourimetric and colorimetric determination of 1-amino-2-propanol, ethanolamine, benzocaine and 4-amino benzoic acid

A convenient and simple fluorimetric method for the determination of 1-amino-2-propanol, ethanolamine, benzocaine and 4-amino benzoic acid has been developed. The method depends on the reaction of the previously mentioned amines with m-hydroxy benzaldehyde to form highly fluorescent Schiff bases in absolute alcohol at 70C for 20 minutes. On the other hand, these primary amine-containing compounds were determined by colorimetric method. The Schiff bases obtained possess yellow with maximum absorption wave length range of 460-480 nm. Beer's law obeyed in the range of 0.1-5 mg/ml. The effect of pH, temperature, time and solvent of the reaction for both fluorimetric and colorimetric methods were studied and optimized

study of antidiuretic hormone and aldosterone in children with grand epilepsy as influenced by drug therapy

This study was conducted on thirty children with grand mal epilepsy attending the paediatric neurology clinic of the Alexandria University Hospital for Sick Children, all of them were new untreated cases. The diagnosis was built up on both clinical and electroencephalographic grounds. Children were divided into two major groups; the first group received CBZ as the sole drug of therapy, the second group received sodium vaiproate as the sole antiepileptic drug. Serum and urinary sodium, potassium, osmolality, serum aldosterone and plasma ADH were determined for all the cases before initiation of therapy and three months later. Twenty normal age matched children without personal or family history of epilepsy or febrile convulsions were included in this study as controls and subjected to the same laboratory investigations