Equine placental extract supplement as a night barking remedy in dogs with cognitive dysfunction syndrome.

With the aging of pet dogs, there has been an increasing trend in senility-related diseases; additionally, cognitive disorders accompanied by abnormal behaviours are a major burden for owners. Recently, there have been a series of consultations regarding the fact that night barking, which is an abnormal behaviour, remarkably interferes with the owner's sleep and adversely affects the owner's quality of life. However, there has been no effective solution to this problem. In this study, three aged pet dogs diagnosed with dementia were administered an equine placental extract (eqPE) as pet supplement, which has been shown in laboratory models to improve cognitive function. Consequently, night barking ceased 1 week after the administration of eqPE in case 2 and it was observed to decrease in the other two dogs. Furthermore, night barking disappeared 2 and 3 weeks after the administration of eqPE in cases 1 and 3, respectively. No recurrence or exacerbation of night barking was observed in the three cases treated with the eqPE, and no adverse events were observed. These results suggest that eqPE may be useful for improving night barking in pet dogs with dementia, and it is expected to be a new treatment method.

A farewell to phlebotomy-use of placenta-derived drugs Laennec and Porcine for improving hereditary hemochromatosis without phlebotomy: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Human hepcidin, produced by hepatocytes, regulates intestinal iron absorption, iron recycling by macrophages, and iron release from hepatic storage. Recent studies indicate that hepcidin deficiency is the underlying cause of the most known form of hereditary hemochromatosis. CASE PRESENTATION: A 44-year-old Asian man who developed type 2 diabetes mellitus had elevated serum ferritin levels (10,191 ng/mL). Liver biopsy revealed remarkable iron deposition in the hepatocytes and relatively advanced fibrosis (F3). Chromosomal analysis confirmed the presence of transferrin receptor type 2 mutations (c.1100T>G, c.2008_9delAC, hereditary hemochromatosis type 3 analyzed by Kawabata). The patient received intravenous infusions of Laennec (672 mg/day, three times/week) or oral administration with Porcine (3.87 g/day) for 84 months as an alternative to repeated phlebotomy. At the end of the treatment period, serum ferritin level decreased to 428.4 ng/mL (below the baseline level of 536.8 ng/mL). Hemoglobin A1c levels also improved after treatment with the same or lower dose of insulin (8.8% before versus 6.8% after). Plural liver biopsies revealed remarkable improvements in the grade of iron deposition and fibrosis (F3 before versus F1 after) of the liver tissue. CONCLUSION: The discovery of hepcidin and its role in iron metabolism could lead to novel therapies for hereditary hemochromatosis. Laennec (parenteral) and Porcine (oral), which act as hepcidin inducers, actually improved iron overload in this hereditary hemochromatosis patient, without utilizing sequential phlebotomy. This suggests the possibility of not only improving the prognosis of hereditary hemochromatosis (types 1, 2, and 3) but also ameliorating complications, such as type 2 diabetes, liver fibrosis, and hypogonadism. Laennec and Porcine can completely replace continuous venesection in patients with venesection and may improve other iron-overloading disorders caused by hepcidin deficiency.

Comparison of Approved Dosages for Pediatric and Adult Populations Based on US Labeling Information.

BACKGROUND: The passing of legislation in the United States and the European Union has led to the approval of dosages for pediatric use. This study was conducted in an attempt to find potentially important factors with regard to dose selection for the pediatric population. METHODS: The FDA's New Pediatric Labeling Information Database was used for this study. Drug labels for patients aged 6 months as well as those for patients aged 2, 6, and 11 years were standardized based on dosages expressed by age, normalized body weight (BW), and body surface area (BSA) in order to obtain ratios of pediatric-to-adult dosages. Labeling for 108 drugs were extracted for the analysis. RESULTS: Ratios of pediatric-to-adult dosages based on BW were higher than 1, but those based on BSA were around 1. Relative dosages at 6 months of age showed a stronger correlation with those at 2 years compared to those at other ages. CONCLUSION: The approved dosages for pediatrics based on BW were higher than those of adults, but the ones based on BSA were almost the same as those of adults. The closer the age groups, the stronger the correlation of relative dosages between the groups.