Efficacy and safety of preservative-free timolol 0.1% gel in open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension in treatment-naïve patients and patients intolerant to other hypotensive medications.

GOALS: To assess the efficacy and safety of preservative-free timolol 0.1% gel in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and ocular hypertension (OHT). METHODS: In this multicenter, open-label, non-controlled clinical trial in Algeria, treatment-naïve patients with intraocular pressure (IOP)>20mmHg and<31mmHg (treatment-naïve patients, group 1) and patients with IOP controlled by current ocular monotherapy but presenting with local intolerance in at least one eye (intolerant patients; group 2) were eligible. Timolol gel was administered once daily in the morning for 84 days. The primary efficacy criteria were reduction in IOP (group 1) and maintenance of baseline IOP (group 2). RESULTS: Overall, 93 patients were included (53 in group 1, 40 in group 2). All patients in group 2 had been previously treated with preserved eye drops. In group 1, patients showed a significant reduction in IOP with mean changes in the worse eye of -10.3±3.0mmHg at D28 and -10.8±2.5mmHg at D84 (P<0.0001). In group 2, the maintenance of efficacy on IOP at D84 was satisfactory in 91.7% of patients (worse eye). Preservative-free timolol gel was well tolerated in both groups. In group 2, the overall symptom score was significantly reduced from 8.6±5.1 to 0.9±1.6 at D28 and 0.7±1.2 at D84 (P<0.0001), and the overall ocular sign score from 3.7±2.1 to 0.8±1.0 at D28 and 0.6±0.8 at D84 (P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This preservative-free timolol 0.1% gel was effective in decreasing IOP in treatment-naïve patients and in controlling IOP and reducing ocular signs and symptoms in patients intolerant to their previous preserved medications.

Mesoporous silica based MCM-41 as solid-phase extraction sorbent combined with micro-liquid chromatography-quadrupole-mass spectrometry for the analysis of pharmaceuticals in waters.

This paper reports the first application of the silica based mesoporous material MCM-41 as a sorbent in solid phase extraction, to pre-concentrate pharmaceuticals of very different polarity (atenolol, nadolol, pindolol, timolol, bisoprolol, metoprolol, betaxolol, ketoprofen, naproxen, ibuprofen, diclofenac, tolfenamic acid, flufenamic acid and meclofenamic acid) in surface waters. The analytes were extracted from 100mL water samples at pH 2.0 (containing 10(-3) mol/L of sodium chloride) by passing the solution through a cartridge filled with 100 mg of MCM-41. Following elution, the pharmaceuticals were determined by micro-liquid chromatography and triple quadrupole-mass spectrometry. Two selected reaction monitoring transitions were monitored per compound, the most intense one being used for quantification and the second one for confirmation. Matrix effect was found in real waters for most analytes and was overcome using the standard addition method, which compared favorably with the matrix matched calibration method. The detection limits in solvent (acetonitrile:water 10:90, v/v) ranged from 0.01 to 1.48 µg/L and in real water extracts from 0.10 to 3.85 µg/L (0.001-0.0385 µg/L in the water samples). The quantitation limits in solvent were in the range 0.02-4.93 µg/L, whereas in real water extracts were between 0.45 and 10.00 µg/L (0.0045 and 0.1000 µg/L in the water samples). When ultrapure water samples were spiked at two concentration levels of each pharmaceutical (0.1 and 0.2 µg/L) and quantified using solvent based calibration graphs, recoveries were near 100%. However, recoveries for most pharmaceuticals were comparable or better than de described above, when river water samples (spiked at the same concentration levels) were quantified by the standard addition method and slightly worse using the matrix matched calibration method. Five real samples (two rivers, one dam and two fountain water samples) were analyzed by the developed method, atenolol, timolol, betaxolol, nadolol and diclofenac being found in some of them, at levels higher than their quantitation limits.

Determination of drugs in river and wastewaters using solid-phase extraction by packed multi-walled carbon nanotubes and liquid chromatography-quadrupole-linear ion trap-mass spectrometry.

The present paper describes a solid-phase extraction by packed multi-walled carbon nanotubes, followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, method for the determination of some of the most consumed drugs including four ß-blockers and eight non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, in river and wastewater samples. High extraction efficiency was found for most drugs due to the large specific surface area and high adsorption capacity of this nanomaterial compared with other conventional solid-phase extraction sorbents, and matrix effect was present only for two of the twelve studied drugs. Only 20mg of carbon nanotubes was enough to preconcentrate the analytes with recoveries from 68% to 107% for most of them. The pharmaceuticals were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap-mass spectrometer at ultra-trace levels. Data acquisition was carried out in selected reaction monitoring mode, using two transitions for simultaneous identification and quantification of the analytes. Additionally, an information dependent acquisition scan was performed to carry out the identification of those analytes whose second transition was absent or was present at low intensity. The analytical performance of the whole method was evaluated in two environmental water matrices (river and wastewaters). Matrix effect was not found in river water, quantitation being carried out with calibration graphs built with solvent based standard. On the contrary, matrix effect was present in wastewater for some of the target drugs and, therefore, quantitation was carried out using the standard addition method. Limits of detection and quantitation in river waters were in the range of 9-36 and 23-121ngL(-1), respectively and the relative standard deviation of the full method was less than 17%. The proposed methodology was applied to the analysis of three river water and two wastewater (influent and effluent) samples, all of them from Almería (Spain). Some pharmaceuticals were found in river water at concentration levels near to or lower than their quantitation limits, whereas the most consumed pharmaceuticals were found at high concentration levels in influent wastewater and were not detected or were found at lower levels in the effluent wastewater sample.

[Not Available]. / Traumatismes Oculaires par Petards: Bilan sur Trois Annees.

Les accidents dus aux pétards sont des accidents graves. Leur recrudescence ces dernières années en Algérie, essentiellement durant les fêtes du Mawlid Ennabaoui (fête de la naissance du prophète), mérite à notre sens d'entreprendre des bilans exhaustifs dont celui-ci dans le but d'une sensibilisation de toutes les compétences concernées. Nous avons réuni sur trois années consécutives (2002, 2003, 2004) 60 dossiers de malades ayant subi des accidents oculaires par pétards. Nos patients sont répartis en 42 consultations pour blessures légères et 18 hospitalisations pour blessures graves. Parmi ces derniers, neuf ont présenté des complications et séquelles graves (cinq cas de cécité par atrophie du globe oculaire, trois cas de cécité cornéenne et un cas de cécité par trou maculaire). Dans tous ces cas l'incapacité permanente partielle est au minimum de 30%. Au vu de ces données nous proposons des mesures d'éducation sanitaire et une sensibilisation du grand public aux traumatismes oculaires, par le biais de mé dias appropriés: radio, télévision, affiches.

Chemical composition and antioxidant potential of Ruta montana L. essential oil from Algeria.

The essential oil of aerial parts of Ruta montana L. growing in the Oran region in the west of Algeria was obtained by hydrodistillation with a 1.63% yield on a dry weight basis. Gas chromatography (GC) and GC/mass spectrometry (MS) analyses were carried out to identify the chemical composition of R. montana essential oil. Moreover, spectrophotometric analyses were employed to highlight the scavenger capacity of this oil using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test. Twenty compounds were identified by GC and CG/MS analyses, and the bulk of the compounds of the oil were undecan-2-one (32.8%), nonan-2-one (29.5%), nonanol-2-acetate (18.2%), and psoralen (3.5%). The results obtained using the DPPH test show that R. montana essential oil possesses antiradical activity in a concentration-dependent manner. Thus, a linear correlation (correlation coefficient R(2) = 0.971, P < .001) was found between the reduction of DPPH stable free radical and the concentration of R. montana essential oil.