Evaluation of tolerance and safety of conversion from mycophenolate mofetil to enteric-coated mycophenolic acid in renal transplant recipients.

This study was designed to evaluate the curative effect of conversion from mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) to enteric-coated mycophenolate sodium tablets (EC-MPS) and its safety. One hundred and twenty renal transplant recipients who developed MMF-associated chronic diarrhea were selected as research subjects and treated with EC-MPS. The patients were followed up for 12 months to compare the improvement of gastrointestinal symptoms and the indexes such as carbon dioxide combining power (CO2CP), serum sodium, serum potassium, serum creatinine (Scr) and 24-h urine protein before and after conversion treatment. One hundred and ten of the 120 patients tolerated the conversion treatment and the dose increment of EC-MPS at week 28. After initiating the conversion treatment, the improvement rate of diarrhea within 2 weeks was 95% (114/120). Indexes, such as CO2CP, serum sodium, serum potassium, after conversion treatment were higher than those before treatment (P less than 0.05). No acute rejection reactions were observed in the 12-month follow-up. Indexes of Scr and 24-h urine protein had significant improvement after conversion treatment compared to before conversion treatment (P less than 0.05). Compared to before treatment, the average values of indexes in gastrointestinal symptom rating scale in the 12th month remained stable, except for the increase of dose. For renal transplant recipients who received suboptimal EC-MPS treatment due to gastrointestinal symptoms, conversion from MMF to EC-MPS can significantly lower gastrointestinal symptom load, improve quality of life, relieve electrolyte disturbance and improve the injured functions of transplanted kidney, without increasing the risks of acute rejection reactions.

Corresponding states principle and van der Waals potentials of Zn2, Cd2, and Hg2.

Based on the assumptions that the corresponding states principle is valid for the group 12 dimers and that the interaction potentials of these dimers can be described by the Tang-Toennies potential model, a set of correlation relations between the spectroscopic constants of these dimers are derived. Some recently measured spectroscopic constants satisfy these relations quite well, but older experimental data do not. These recent spectroscopic constants and the newly available dispersion coefficients are used to construct the entire van der Waals potentials of Zn2, Cd2, and Hg2. There are indications that the ground state Hg2 potential predicted by the present study is possibly the most accurate to date. No unequivocal conclusion can be made for Zn2 and Cd2 potentials. Compared with the recent experiments, the present Zn2 bond length is eight percent too small, and the present Cd2 bond length is eight percent too large. However, both Zn2 and Cd2 bond lengths predicted by the present study are in good agreement with the quantum Monte Carlo results.

Dynamic polarizabilities of Zn and Cd and dispersion coefficients involving group 12 atoms.

The refractive index data for Zn and Cd measured by Goebel and Hohm are analyzed with a three-term Maxwell-Sellmeier expression which incorporates the experimental oscillator strengths of the first two dipole transitions. These expressions are extended to imaginary frequencies for the determination of the upper and lower bounds of the dynamic polarizabilities α(iω), from which the van der Waals coefficients of two-body interactions and the non-additive three-body interactions are generated. The determined C(6) values for Zn(2) (359±8 a.u.) and Cd(2) (686±10 a.u.) are much larger than those originally estimated by Goebel and Hohm. This is because their one-term approximation of α(ω), which fits the measurements very well in the normal frequency range, greatly underestimates α(iω) when the frequency is extended into the imaginary domain. On the other hand, the present results of heteronuclear interactions verify once again that Tang's one-term approximation of α(iω) leads to accurate combining rules. The two- and three-body interaction coefficients between group 12 atoms (Zn, Cd, Hg) and the alkali, alkaline-earth, rare-gas atoms, and some molecules are estimated with these combining rules.