Pharmacokinetics and serum concentrations of antimycobacterial drugs in adult Turkish patients.

OBJECTIVE: To document the pharmacokinetics and serum concentrations of first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs in adult Turkish patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). DESIGN: Consenting 21 adult patients (aged 38 ± 4 years, 10 female and 11 male) with newly diagnosed active PTB participated in the study. Blood samples were collected 1, 2, 4, 6 and 24 h after simultaneous isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RMP), pyrazinamide (PZA) and ethambutol (EMB) ingestion. Serum concentration-time profiles, maximum serum concentrations, time to achieve maximum serum concentrations, the half-life and the areas under the serum concentration-time curve for each of the four drugs were determined. RESULTS: Wide variations in pharmacokinetic parameters were observed among patients. In respectively 8 (38%), 17 (81%), 3 (14%) and 1 (5%) patients, the maximum INH, RMP, PZA and EMB serum concentrations were below the accepted therapeutic concentrations. CONCLUSION: Our data show that the serum concentrations of anti-tuberculosis drugs varied considerably in the study patients. Therapeutic drug monitoring is necessary to identify patients with subtherapeutic INH and RMP serum concentrations.

Celiac disease and Turner's syndrome: patient report.

Turner's syndrome is a chromosomal disease frequently associated with autoimmune disorders including thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes mellitus and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Recent reports have described an association of celiac disease with Turner's syndrome. We present an additional patient with Turner's syndrome associated with celiac disease. A girl aged 15- 7/12 yr was seen for the complaints of delayed growth and puberty, abdominal pain and chronic diarrhea. She was diagnosed as having celiac disease and a gluten-free diet was initiated. Despite one year of strict diet no signs of puberty were observed. She was then evaluated again for absence of puberty, and 45,XO karyotype Turner's syndrome was diagnosed.

Determination of the etiological organism during acute exacerbations of COPD and efficacy of azithromycin, ampicillin-sulbactam, ciprofloxacin and cefaclor. Turkish Thoracic Society COPD Working Group.

Acute exacerbations, most of which are due to lower respiratory tract infections, cause great morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and most of these are due to lower respiratory tract infections. The aim of this study was to determine the causative organism and the effects of azithromycin, ampicillin sulbactam (sultamicillin), ciprofloxacin and cefaclor monohydrate therapy in COPD. One hundred and six patients with COPD in acute exacerbation were randomized into four groups for empiric antibiotic treatment following lung function tests and sputum examination. The most common strains isolated from sputum were Haemophilus influenzae (30.8%), Streptoccocus pneumoniae (12%) and Moraxella catarrhalis (7.7%). Azithromycin, sultamicillin, ciprofloxacin and cefaclor monohydrate were found to be effective in treating COPD exacerbations.