Preparing botanical medicines.

Next to dose concerns, the subject of preparation may be the most misinterpreted area of modem botanical medicine. Yet it is one of the most important issues in clinical practice. In traditional medicine systems, any given herb would have been discovered to be effective in specific preparations. The "ideal" form and preparation varies from herb to herb, as well as from person to person. The most desirable preparation is usually defined as the way to get the most active ingredient out of the herb. However, in some cases, the proper preparation may be the only way to safely use the herb. The proper preparation may be dictated by the solubility of the constituents and may also be defined according to how the patient is practicably able to consume it. In today's market, most herbs can be found in most preparations, but that does not mean that every preparation will contain active constituents. The author makes the case that using traditional preparations from the ethnic system of the herb origin will be the most effective clinical course of action.

Development of dry skin in the NOA mouse under individual housing conditions: a potentially useful animal model for evaluating moisturizing effects.

In a previous study, we reported the development of grossly observable dry skin in all of the Naruto Research Institute Otsuka Atrichia (NOA) mice that were housed individually. In the present study, dermal physiological function tests were conducted and the usefulness of this dry skin model for evaluating the efficacy of topical moisturizers was assessed. As a result, we have confirmed a marked reduction in the water content of the stratum corneum in these animals. Therefore, the development of dry skin in the NOA mouse strain under individual housing conditions may be expected to serve as a useful animal model for evaluating topical moisturizers. Specifically, the water content of the stratum corneum was restored in proportion to the oil content of the ointment base used to treat the animals, and the moisturizing effects of urea were confirmed in animals treated with urea-containing ointment. In addition, when the animals that had been housed individually were returned to group housing conditions, the water content of the stratum corneum was restored, with a corresponding improvement in dry skin. This finding suggests that socio-psychological factors are involved in the etiology of dry skin in individually housed NOA mice.

Topical drug classification.

Current definitions of lotions, gels, creams and ointments vary depending on literature source, market history or traditional use. This often leads to confusion when deciding which dosage form to prescribe and/or purchase. The existing classification of topical dosage forms needs to be re-examined to ensure that definitions for different dosage forms are based on consistent scientific principles and that dosage forms can be distinguished from one another. The purpose of this study is to obtain a scientifically based, systematic classification of dosage forms for topical drugs. A variety of prescription and over-the-counter topical products currently marketed as lotions, gels, creams, and ointments are evaluated using different techniques including rheology (viscosity and shear rate versus shear stress), loss on drying (LOD), specific gravity, surface tension, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), water absorption, dilution properties, microscopic evaluation, transmittance of visible light, appearance and composition. Rheology is the most discriminating property separating creams and lotions. Water plus volatiles (as measured by LOD) and composition separate ointments and creams. Composition and thermal behavior separate gels from the other dosage forms. Based on these findings, new definitions and a decision tree are presented to assist in the determination of the appropriate nomenclature for a topical dosage form.

[Preparation of a manual treatment of pressure ulcers which draws attention to moisture of the affected part].

As for pressure ulcers care, prevention is the most important approach. However, pressure ulcers, might develop despite enough care, depending on each person's physical condition. As for the treatment of pressure ulcers, maintenance of a moderately moist environment (60-70%) is quite important. We propose the use of ointment to control the moisture of a pressure ulcer environment. One ointment base absorbs moisture, while another provides moisture. We have prepared a manual that allows the user to select the medicine according to the degree of moisture of the affected part. When the moisture cannot be regulated with one ointment, it can be adjusted by mixing two or more ointments. In choosing a drug for external use, it is important to pay attention not only to the effect of the main ingredient but also to the physicochemical properties of the ointment base that serves as vehicle for that active component.

An evaluation of direct orthogonal signal correction and other preprocessing methods for the classification of clinical study lots of a dermatological cream.

Different preprocessing methods (direct orthogonal signal correction (DOSC), standard normal variate (SNV), multiple scatter correction (MSC), first and second derivation, offset correction and detrend correction) are applied to two sets of NIR spectra of a dermatological cream with different concentrations of an active compound. The influence of these preprocessing methods on the classification of the samples into the right concentration class is evaluated using 1 and 3 nearest neighbour method (with Euclidean distance and correlation coefficient as distance parameters) as classification method. PLS and PCR modelling are also used to make a prediction of the concentration of the active compound. The direct orthogonal signal correction gives best results in most of the classification methods.