Pharmacokinetics and tolerability of a new formulation of omeprazole in the horse.

A new formulation of omeprazole in gastro-resistant granules was tested with regard to its pharmacokinetics and tolerability. Twenty-four horses were randomly divided into three groups (8 horses/group) and treated, according a parallel study design, as follows: Group A untreated (control group), Group B received 4 mg/kg of omeprazole, and Group C received 12 mg/kg of omeprazole, both of which were treated orally once a day for 90 days. Blood samples, taken from Group B subjects during the 1st and the 29th day of treatment at pre-established time points, were used to determine the concentration-time curves of omeprazole. The treatments were found to be safe and well tolerated by the horses. The serum hematological and biochemical values were within reference ranges for the entire observational time. No accumulation of the drug was found after 29 days of treatment. Lower Cmax and AUCs were obtained at the 29th day of treatment.

Epidemiology of flavescence dorée in vineyards in northwestern Italy.

ABSTRACT A serious outbreak of flavescence dorée (FD) was reported in Piemonte, northwestern Italy, in 1998, and since then, the disease has compromised the economy of this traditional wine-growing area, even following the application of compulsory insecticide treatments to control Scaphoideus titanus, the vector of the causal phytoplasma. Affected vines show severe symptoms, varying according to the cultivar, and are rogued to reduce disease spread. Following winter and pruning, a previously affected vine may appear symptomless and free of phytoplasmas in its aerial as well as its root system, even by nested-polymerase chain reaction assays. Such plants are considered to be "recovered". Since 1998 homogenous data on the incidence of newly infected, healthy, or recovered plants productivity, presence of vectors, and treatment schedules have been collected in seven severely affected vineyards of southern Piemonte for 5 years (1999 to 2003). Infectivity and recovery rates were also calculated each year. From 1999 to 2003, the average number of healthy plants decreased and the numbers of recovered plants and those with symptoms increased. Productivity of recovered vines, although lower than that of healthy ones, was always higher than that of vines with symptoms and was not influenced by the time elapsed from date of recovery. The relationships between the ln-transformed number of vectors trapped in the vineyards the previous year and the infection and the recovery rates were fitted by an exponential (R(2) = 0.95) and an asymptotic (R(2) = 0.93) model, respectively.

Highly purified lipoteichoic acid from gram-positive bacteria induces in vitro blood-brain barrier disruption through glia activation: role of pro-inflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide.

The co-culture of bovine brain capillary endothelial cells and rat primary glial cells was established as an in vitro blood-brain barrier model to investigate the mechanisms by which the Gram-positive bacterial cell wall components lipoteichoic acid and muramyl dipeptide induced injury of blood-brain barrier structure and function. We found that highly purified lipoteichoic acid disrupted blood-brain barrier integrity in a concentration- and time-dependent manner indirectly, through glia activation. Low trans-endothelial electrical resistance and high permeability to fluorescein isothiocyanate-inulin observed in the presence of lipoteichoic acid-activated glial cells were potentiated by muramyl dipeptide and could be reversed only when glial cells were activated by lipoteichoic acid at 10 microg/ml but not with a higher lipoteichoic acid concentration (30 microg/ml). Immunocytochemistry analysis revealed no evident changes in the distribution of the cytoskeleton protein F-actin and tight junction proteins occludin and claudin after lipoteichoic acid treatment. However, the tight junction associated protein AHNAK clearly revealed the morphological alteration of the endothelial cells induced by lipoteichoic acid. Lipoteichoic acid-activated glial cells produced nitric oxide and pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta) that contributed to lipoteichoic acid-induced blood-brain barrier disruption, since the direct treatment of the endothelial monolayer with tumor necrosis factor-alpha or interleukin-1beta increased blood-brain barrier permeability, whereas the pre-treatment of lipoteichoic acid-activated glial cells with antibodies against these two cytokines blocked lipoteichoic acid effects. Additionally, nitric oxide was also involved in blood-brain barrier damage, since the nitric oxide donor itself (diethylenetriamine-nitric oxide adduct) increased blood-brain barrier permeability and inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (1400W) partially reversed lipoteichoic acid-induced trans-endothelial electrical resistance decrease.

HPLC-ED measurement of endogenous catecholamines in human immune cells and hematopoietic cell lines.

A rapid and simple HPLC-ED method is described to identify and measure catecholamines (CTs) and their major metabolites in immune cells. Using this method, intracellular CTs were quantified in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), T and B lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes. Immune cell subsets were separated by density gradient centrifugation and immunomagnetic cell sorting. CTs were also found in the human hematopoietic cell lines NALM-6 (pre-B) and (in smaller amounts) in Jurkat (T lymphoblastoid) and U937 (promonocytic). In cultured PBMCs, intracellular CTs were reduced by both the tyrosine hydroxylase inhibitor alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine and the chromaffin granule depletant reserpine. In NALM-6 cells, both alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine and the dopamine-beta-hydroxylase inhibitor disulfiram reduced intracellular CTs, supporting the presence of active synthetic pathways in these cells. Since sympathoadrenergic mechanisms play a key role in the interactions between the immune system and the nervous system, these findings may be relevant for a better understanding of the neuro-immune network.

Human infection in Tayside, Scotland due to Salmonella serotype Livingstone.

Livingstone was the third most common salmonella serotype isolated from cases of human salmonellosis in the Tayside region of Scotland in 1989-1991; latterly, it spread to Grampian region. The significant upsurge of Livingstone in these two Scottish regions was not matched by similar increases in its frequency of isolation from human cases of salmonellosis in other regions of Scotland or elsewhere in the UK. Although Salmonella Livingstone is usually associated in the UK with incidents of infection among poultry flocks, our detailed investigations found no clear evidence that poultry, eggs or poultry-related products were responsible for this outbreak. Most cases occurred in the summer months from July to September and many of the patients required hospital treatment. Other than one outbreak among geriatric patients in a long-stay hospital in north Tayside, most of the cases were sporadic. The extent of the outbreak, covering 3 years, was recognised mainly because Livingstone was previously an uncommon serotype in Tayside. There were few Livingstone isolations from non-human sources in Scotland in these same years. Possible sources of infection and predisposing factors among patients are discussed. Livingstone was not isolated in Scotland in 1992.