Diclofenac, a Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug, Inhibits L-type Ca2+ Channels in Neonatal Rat Ventricular Cardiomyocytes

A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) has many adverse effects including cardiovascular (CV) risk. Diclofenac among the nonselective NSAIDs has the highest CV risk such as congestive heart failure, which resulted commonly from the impaired cardiac pumping due to a disrupted excitation-contraction (E-C) coupling. We investigated the effects of diclofenac on the L-type calcium channels which are essential to the E-C coupling at the level of single ventricular myocytes isolated from neonatal rat heart, using the whole-cell voltage-clamp technique. Only diclofenac of three NSAIDs, including naproxen and ibuprofen, significantly reduced inward whole cell currents. At concentrations higher than 3 micrometer, diclofenac inhibited reversibly the Na+ current and did irreversibly the L-type Ca2+ channels-mediated inward current (IC50=12.89+/-0.43 micrometer) in a dose-dependent manner. However, nifedipine, a well-known L-type channel blocker, effectively inhibited the L-type Ca2+ currents but not the Na+ current. Our finding may explain that diclofenac causes the CV risk by the inhibition of L-type Ca2+ channel, leading to the impairment of E-C coupling in cardiac myocytes.

Development of Mobile Nursing Information System with PDA: MobileNurseTM / 대한의료정보학회지

In this study, we developed MobileNurseTM; a prototype of mobile nursing information system using PDA. MobileNurseTM is designed to communicate with hospital information system(HIS) via mobile support station(MSS) which interchanges and stores clinical data. MobileNurseTM consists of 3 components. The first component is medical order checking module. It enables nurses to retrieve patients' information such as physicians' orders and test results at anywhere or anytime. The second component is nursing recording module which helps nurses to record the results of their practices at bedside. On the autosynchronization of MSS and PDA, the data in PDA and MSS can be interchanged and updated respectively. The last component is nursing unit care planing module. It is helpful for retrieving the nursing care plans of patients that are expected to be done, such as patients' discharge, consultation, or transfer. With use of PDA in clinical environment, nurses can spend more time on caring for patients by reducing time-consuming, redundant paperwork. It is promising that this 'point-of-care system enables nurses to improve the quality of nursing care.