[Pharmacotherapy of acute tonsillitis-pharyngitis in ambulatory practice: results of a multicenter pharmaco-epidemiological study]. / Farmakoterapiia ostrogo tonzillofaringita v ambulatornoi praktike: rezul'taty mnogotsentrovogo farmakoépidemiologicheskogo issledovaniia.

AIM: To analyse current practice of pharmacotherapy (PT) in outpatient treatment of acute tonsillopharyngitis (ATP) in different regions of Russia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Case reports for 1333 outpatients (493 male and 840 female, age 16-76 years) with ATP from 7 cities of Russia have been studied. Each ATP case was documented on a special chart to contain the following information: demographic data, history of the disease, bacteriological findings, PT regimens, complications, treatment outcomes. RESULTS: PT of ATP was made primarily with antibiotics. Most frequent of them was ampicillin (about half the cases). Further antibiotics by frequency of use were: erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, doxicyclin, amoxicillin, midecamycin, ampicillin/oxacillin. Among other drugs, wide use was registered of antihistamine drugs, throat disease drugs, analgetic and antipiretic drugs, vitamins. Bacteriological examinations were conducted rarely. CONCLUSION: The problems of PT of ATP patients consist in overuse of systemic antibiotics as a result of adequate differential diagnosis of this infection and choice of antibiotics without consideration of current recommendations on the treatment of streptococcal ATP.

[Analysis of parameters of the antibacterial treatment of acute otitis media in adults: results of a multicenter study]. / Analiz osobennostei antibakterial'noi terapii ostrogo srednego otita u vzroslykh: resul'taty mnogotsentrovogo issledovaniia.

The programme was aimed at audit of the parameters of antibacterial therapy for acute otitis media in adult outpatients in 8 cities of Russia (Smolensk, Volgograd, Ekaterinburg, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Tyumen, Ryazan, Vladivostok). The information sources were the case records. The data from the records were structurally fixed in specially designed individual registration charts for further computer processing. The analysis of the results showed that the real practice of the antibacterial therapy for acute otitis media was not based on a unique approach and did not mainly correspond to the present standards. Ampicillin proved to be preferential, whereas it is known that the drug of choice for such cases is amoxicillin. Antibacterial agents with low activity against the basic pathogens of the infection (doxycycline and others) and high toxicity (co-trimoxazol) were often prescribed, while the recommended up-to-date antibiotics (amoxicillin/clavulanate and others) were prescribed extremely rare or not prescribed at all. Scientifically unreasonable combined antibiotic therapy and prescription of parenteral drugs not rational for the treatment of outpatients were practiced.

[Antibacterial therapy of acute sinusitis in outpatient practice: results of a multicenter trial]. / Analiz antibakterial'noi terapii ostrogo sinusita v ambulatornoi praktike: rezul'taty mnogotsentrovogo issledovaniia.

Now there is no generally accepted practice of antibacterial therapy of acute sinusitis in outpatient clinics of Russia. Choice of antibacterial drugs is often made without consideration of the most probable causative agents of the infection. Out-of-date antibiotics used in many cases do not satisfy modern requirements. Clinically essential features of pharmacokinetics are in some cases ignored. Parenteral administration is often unjustified, combined antibiotic treatment is not always validated.

The inventory of antibiotics in Russian home medicine cabinets.

The objective of this study was to inventory the stock of antimicrobials in the home medicine cabinets (HMCs) of the general population in Russia and to find out for which indications people report that they would use antibiotics without a physician's recommendation. The research was performed in 9 Russian cities by physicians who visited households. An inventory of antibiotics in HMCs was made, and respondents were asked about instances in which they would choose automedication with antibiotics. We found that 83.6% of families had antibiotics for systemic use in HMCs. The most common antibiotics in HMCs were trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (46.3% of HMCs), ampicillin (45.1%), chloramphenicol (32.7%), erythromycin (25.5%), and tetracycline (21.8%). The major indications for automedication with antibiotics were acute viral respiratory tract infections (12.3% of total indications), cough (11.8%), intestinal disorders (11.3%), fever (9%), and sore throat (6.8%). According to this study, antibiotics are widely stocked among the general population in Russia, and people use antibiotics in an uncontrolled and imprudent manner.

Intestinal parasites in swine in the Nordic countries: multilevel modelling of Ascaris suum infections in relation to production factors.

In Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, 413 sow herds were randomly selected for sampling. Faeces from pigs of 7 age groups/categories were examined for helminth eggs (11,233 individual samples), and an accompanying questionnaire was completed at each visit. In total, 1138 pigs on 230 farms were found to be positive for Ascaris suum. Considerable differences in the occurrence of A. suum could be observed directly for several of 20 independent variables at the herd or category level. However, given that univariate analyses may be severely affected by confounding of covariates resulting in spurious inference, additional multivariate analyses were undertaken. An ordinary logistic regression on Ascaris positive/negative farms showed that Denmark had the highest frequency of infected herds, while Iceland and Finland had the lowest frequencies and that herds using 'late weaning' and 'Class 2' drugs (pyrantel, levamisole) were most often infected. Because many herds were found to be totally negative for A. suum, mixed hierarchical logistic-normal regression models (both the penalized quasi-likelihood and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods) were developed for both a full (all herds) and a reduced (the 230 infected herds) data set using either a cut-off of > 0 eggs per gram (epg) or > 200 epg to counter for false-positive egg counts. Estimates for identical models, but where the animal level variance was constrained to the binomial assumption, were also calculated. Significant covariates were robust to model development with 'Age group', 'Country', 'Weaning age', 'Water system' and simple interactions between the latter two and 'Age group' being significantly associated with the occurrence of A. suum, while all variables concerning anthelmintic drug, anthelmintic strategy, floor type, bedding, dung removal, washing and disinfection were not. These findings are discussed in the light of the complex relationship between A. suum and its pig host.

Intestinal parasites in swine in the Nordic countries: prevalence and geographical distribution.

In Denmark (DK), Finland (FIN), Iceland (I), Norway (N), and Sweden (S), 516 swine herds were randomly selected in 1986-1988. Individual faecal analyses (mean: 27.9 per herd) from eight age categories of swine showed that Ascaris suum, Oesophagostomum spp., Isospora suis, and Eimeria spp. were common, while Trichuris suis and Strongyloides ransomi-like eggs occurred sporadically. Large fatteners and gilts were most frequently infected with A. suum with maximum prevalences of 25-35% in DK, N and S, 13% in I and 5% in FIN. With the exception of the remarkably low A. suum prevalence rates in FIN, no clear national differences were observed. Oesophagostomum spp. were most prevalent in adult pigs in the southern regions (21-43% in DK and southern S), less common in the northern regions (4-17% adult pigs infected), and not recorded in I. I. suis was common in piglets in DK, I, and S (20-32%), while < 1% and 5% were infected in N and FIN, respectively. Eimeria spp. had the highest prevalences in adult pigs (max. 9%) without clear geographical differences. I. suis and Eimeria spp. were recorded for the first time in I, and I. suis for the first time in N.

[The pharmacological properties of a direct-action anticoagulant from the herb Nonea poulla (L.) D. C]. / Farmakologicheskie svoista antikoagulianta priamogo deistviia iz travy Noneia temnaia (Nonea poulla (L.) D. C.).

Nondialyzed fraction of the ammonia extract from Siberian grass Nonea poulla is studied. A stable hypocoagulemy (without cumulative activity) was found in the experiments in vitro and in vivo carried out on rats (intravenous administration of the extract). The LD50 was 150 mg/kg at the effective dose of 10 mg/kg. Intraperitoneal and intramuscular administration during 20 days exerted neither hypocoagulemic nor toxic effect on the haemopoesis system and did not change the body weight of the animals.

[Membrane-active preparations as correctors of the nephrotoxicity of gentamicin]. / Membranoaktivnye preparaty kak korrektory nefrotoksichnosti gentamitsina.

At intracutaneous gentamicine injections in rats (dose 50 mg/kg) within 10 days the simultaneous application of anticalcium drugs makes nephrotoxic signs more pronounced; whereas antioxidants and essenciale make them less pronounced. Phospholipid complex, containing phosphatidylserin, sphingomyelin, and phosphatidylethanolamine does not exhibit a marked nephroprotective effect. The found character of changes in content of phosphoinozytols in urine indirectly confirms the role of disturbances of their metabolism in mechanism of aminoglycoside nephrotoxicity.

[Impairment of lipid metabolism in the liver and its correction after exposure to ethanol and antitubercular agents]. / Narusheniia lipidnogo obmena i ikh korrektsiia pri vozdeistvii na pechen' étanola i protivotuberkuleznykh sredstv.

Impairments in the lipid spectrum of rat liver tissue, developed as a result of long-term simultaneous effect of ethanol and antituberculosis drugs isoniazid ann rifampycin, were effectively corrected by means of phospholipid preparations as well as by legalone (sylimarine). Pyridoxine, tocopherol and ATP did not normalize the lipid metabolism under these conditions.

[Comparative evaluation of the effectiveness of hepatoprotective agents in a liver lesion by combined ethanol and tuberculostatic agents]. / Sravnitel'naia otsenka éffektivnosti nekotorykh gepatoprotektorov pri porazhenii pecheni sochetaniem étanola i tuberkulostaticheskikh sredstv.

Chronic experiments on male rats were carried out to study the hepatoprotective action of leganol, essentiale, tocopherol, pyridoxine, ATP and of a phospholipid complex containing phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanolamine and sphingomyelin under liver injury caused by combined ethanol, isoniazide and rifampicin. ATP, pyridoxine and tocopherol were not discovered to have the hepatoprotective action. Legalon, essentiale and the phospholipid complex exerted a marked hepatoprotective action, in the mechanism of which of importance are probably the reduced activity of membrane phospholipases and (for phospholipid drugs) substituting action.