Eytan Cohen, MD, Shlomo Almog, PhD, Daniel Staruvin, MD and Moshe Garty, MD, MSc
Background: Acarbose has become an important adjuvant therapy for diabetic patients. Many of these patients are also treated with digoxin for congestive heart failure or chronic atrial fibrillation
Objective: To evaluate a possible drug interaction between acarbose and digoxin.
Methods: An open-label, analyst-blind, randomized, crossover, two-period study was conducted in 11 healthy subjects. In period I, each subject received one single oral dose of 0.75 mg digoxin. In period ll, they were given acarbose tablets., 60 mg-3 times a day for 12 days. On day 8, one hour after acarbose administration, a single oral dose of 0.75 mg digoxin was administered. The study periods were separated by a 3 week washout interval: Serum. digoxin levels., over. time, in the two periods were compared by standard techniques;
Results: There were no differences in the pharmacokinetic parameters of digoxin in the two periods, apart from a significant increase in the mean maximum serum concentration (Cmax) when digoxin was given with acarbose (5.97 compared to 4.67 g/L, P = 0.02). Simulated steady-state peak levels of digoxin (Cmax,ss) achieved with a daily dose of 0.25 mg digoxin, in the presence.and absence of acarbose, were 2.89 and 2.40 g/L respectively (P =0.05); Simulated steady-state trough (Cmin,ss) and average (Cave,ss) concentrations were similar and within the therapeutic window.
Conclusion: There was no significant pharmacokinetic interaction between digoxin and acarbose at current therapeutic doses in the healthy volunteers. This interaction should be further studied with higher doses of acarbose and at steady-state conditions.
Kosta Y. Mumcuoglu, PhD, Jacqueline Miller, PhD, Chen Zamir, MD, MPH, Gary Zentner, FRACP, Valery Helbin, MD and Arieh Ingber, MD
Background: Head louse infestations are prevalent worldwide. Over the past 20-25 years, 15-20% of all children in Israel between 4 and 13 years of age have been infested with head lice; This is mainly due to the existence of ineffective pediculicides on the market.
Objective: To examine the pediculicidal efficacy and safety of a natural remedy (”Chick-Chack") and to compare it in an open clinical study with a known pesticide spray.
Methods: The natural remedy, which contains coconut oil, anise ail and ylang ylang oil:, was applied to the hair of infested.children three times at 5 day intervals. Each treatment lasted for 15 minutes. The control pediculicide was a spray, formulation containing permethrin, malathion, piperonyl butoxide, isododecane and propellant gas, which was applied twice for 10 minutes with a 10 day interva1 between applications.
Results: Of 940 Children, aged 6-14 years, from six schools in Jerusalem who were examined for head louse infestastion,199 (21:.2÷/) were infested with lice and eggs, while 164 (17.4% ) were infested only with nits. Altogether, 119 children were randomly treated with either the natural remedy or the control product. Treatment was successful with the natural remedy in 60 children (92.3%) and with the control pediculicide in 59 children (92.2%). There were no significant side effects associated with either formulation.
Conclusions: The natural remedy was very effective in controlling louse infestations under clinical conditions and caused no serious side effects.
Veronica Silva Vilela, MD, Nilson Ramirez de Jesus, MD and Roger Abramino Levy, MD, PhD
Arie Bitterman, MD, Richard I. Bleicher, MD, Myles C. Cabot, PhD, Yong Y. Liu, MD, PhD and Armando E. Giuliano, MD
Hannah Tamary, MD, Raanan Bar-Yam, BSc, Michal Zemach, MD, Orly Dgany, PhD, Lea Shalmon, MSc and Isaac Yaniv, MD
Fanconi anemia is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized clinically by congenital abnormalities, progressive bone marrow failure, and a predisposition to malignancy. FA cells are sensitive to DNA cross-linking agents. Complementation analysis of FA cells using somatic cell fusion has facilitated the identification of eight complementation groups, suggesting that FA is a genetically heterogeneous disorder. Six genes (FANCA, FANCC, FANCD2, FANCE, FANGF, FANCG) have been cloned so far. The majority of affected patients belong to FA group A. Of the 32 unrelated Israeli patients with FA that we studied, 6 carried the FANCC mutations and 15 the FANCA mutations. Among the Jewish patients, ethnic-related mutations were common. Recent cumulative evidence suggests that the FA proteins are repair proteins. FANCC, FANCA and FANCG bind and interact in a protein complex found in the cytoplasm and nucleus of normal cells. FANCD2 exists in two isoforms; the long active form, FANCD2-L, is absent from FA cells of all complementation groups. FANCD2 co-localized with BRCA1 in unclear foci, probably as part of a large genomic surveillance complex. Studies using FANCA and FANCC knockout mice suggest that bone marrow precursors express interferon-g hypersensitivity and show progressive apoptosis. The definition of the molecular basis of FA in many affected families now enables prenatal diagnosis.
Aharon Klar, MD, Ariel Halamish, MD, David Shoseyov, MD, Pascal Cassinotti, PhD, Gunter Siegl, Chaim Springer, MD, Gila Shazberg, MD and Haggit Hurvitz, MD
Ashraf Hamdan, MD, Dania Hirsch, MD, Pnina Green, MD, PhD, Avivit Neumann, Tamara Drozd and Yair Molad, MD
Yair Liel, MD, Gideon Zucker, MD, Sophie Lantsberg, MD, Shmuel Argov, PhD and Howard I. Zirkin, MD
Arie Shifman, DMD, Shmuel Orenbuch, MA and Mel Rosenberg, PhD