[A new topically applied morphine gel for the pain treatment in patients with chronic leg ulcers: first results of a clinical investigation]. / Schmerzreduktion bei Patienten mit chronischem Ulcus cruris durch ein neu entwickeltes Morphingel : Erste Resultate einer klinischen Untersuchung.

BACKGROUND: The approach to patients with chronic leg ulcers should include not only an accurate diagnosis with appropriate therapy fort he underlying disease, but also the development of effective analgesia. To assess the analgesic effect of topical morphine, we developed a new morphine gel with polihexanide as a preservative for the local pain treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We have studied 30 patients with painful chronic leg ulcers with an average age of 66 years. The respective pain intensity was assessed 24 hours after application of the morphine hydrogel and objectified with a visual analogue scale (VAS) ranged from 0 to 10. RESULTS: All investigated patients had a pain intensity of at least 4 points before the topical application of the morphine gel; the average pain intensity was 7.8. After application of the morphine gel, a significant reduction of the average pain intensity was observed, with an average pain intensity of 4.5. CONCLUSION: These first clinical results with the new morphine gel suggest that at least fort he first 24 hours it combines the advantages of a moist wound healing and a local pain treatment. This new development is certainly a promising therapeutic alternative for pain treatment in patients with chronic leg ulcers.

Drive cancer out: a physician-led anti-smoking program directed at teens and adolescents.

Kentucky is among the states with the highest smoking-related mortality and youth smoking rates. Drive Cancer Out is a physician-led program that assesses and attempts to influence health literacy among Kentucky adolescents. Surveys on fifth-grade students identify social risk factors for smoking initiation and propose methods to decrease the rate of smoking among teenagers.

Asymmetric membrane capsules for osmotic drug delivery. I. Development of a manufacturing process.

This paper describes a novel non-disintegrating polymeric capsule and a manual and a semi-automatic process developed for its manufacture. The capsule wall was made by a phase inversion process in which the membrane structure was precipitated on stainless steel mold pins by dipping the mold pins into a coating solution containing a polymer-solvent-nonsolvent system followed by dipping into a quench solution. The resulting asymmetric membrane wall was composed of a thin dense region supported on a thicker porous region. The asymmetric membrane capsules can be filled with a blend of the active agent and excipients for use in osmotically modulated controlled drug delivery applications.