Evaluating the Role of Compression Stockings in Preventing Post thrombotic Syndrome: A Review of the Literature.

Background. Postthrombotic syndrome (PTS) is a burdensome and costly complication of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Up to 50% of patients with DVT will develop the disease within two years following the diagnosis of acute DVT. Various risk factors for developing PTS have been identified and different modalities have been used to prevent its development. Compression stockings have been studied for the prevention of PTS in patients diagnosed with proximal DVT. Methods. MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched to identify relevant original articles. Results. Several trials including two metaanalyses have examined the role of compression stockings for the prevention of PTS. Although most trials showed significant reduction in the development of PTS with the use of compression stockings, limitations in study design prevent the generalizability of the data. Two studies supported an individualized tailored duration especially in patients at low risk for developing the syndrome. A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial involving 800 patients is currently ongoing and may confirm the results of older studies. Conclusions. Clinical trials support the use of compression stockings in patients diagnosed with proximal DVT for the prevention of PTS.

Oxycodone dose-dependently imparts conditioned reinforcing properties to discrete sensory stimuli in rats.

The aim of this study was to explore the psychopharmacological characteristics of opioid-induced conditioned reinforcement using oxycodone, a potent mu-opioid receptor agonist with known abuse potential. In differed groups of rats, passive intravenous infusions of oxycodone (100 infusions/3 h×6 sessions in total; 0, 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg/inf) were paired with an audio-visual stimulus and, subsequently, operant responding maintained by this conditioned stimulus was tested in extinction conditions. It was found that the oxycodone-paired stimulus maintained operant responding and that this effect was dependent on the number of conditioning sessions and on the conditioning dose. Responding maintained the oxycodone-paired stimulus could also be reinstated by both foot-shock stress and by oxycodone priming (0.25 mg/kg, SC). A conditioned place preference experiment (3 drug and 3 vehicle injections over 6 days; oxycodone: 0, 0.25, 2 and 5 mg/kg, SC) confirmed that stimuli associated with lower doses of oxycodone induce conditioned approach. Finally, two control experiments performed with chlordiazepoxide ruled out an interpretation of the oxycodone data based on drug-induced amnesia, and confirmed that operant responding for a drug-conditioned stimulus is observed only when the drug possesses unconditioned reinforcing properties. Therefore, the intravenous conditioned reinforcement procedure appears a useful method to study how opioid drugs impart reinforcing value to discrete environmental stimuli.

Novel nanotechnology approaches to diagnosis and therapy of ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Ovarian carcinoma is the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancies, which is a direct outcome of missing its diagnosis at an early stage. Approximately 75% of ovarian cancer patients are initially diagnosed with disseminated intra-abdominal disease (stages III-IV) when ~30% of patients have a 5-year survival rate. In addition to the challenge of early detection of ovarian cancer, its therapy presents several challenges including the route of therapy, resistance to therapy with recurrence of cancer, and specific targeting of ovarian cancer to reduce cytotoxic side effects. METHODS: We reviewed recent literature employing nanotechnology approaches to diagnosis and therapy of ovarian cancer. RESULTS: Recent innovations in nanotechnology with applications in cancer diagnostics and therapy help circumvent many pre-existing problems with conventional chemotherapy and present new ways of diagnosis and therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Nanotechnology has promising potential in enhancing early detection of ovarian cancer and treatment of recurrent disease.