The development of the Belgian paediatric clinical trial network.

Paediatric clinical trials are critical to ensure that medications prescribed to children are safe and effective. However, evidence-based dosing and labelling of such medications remain limited, and most clinical trials in paediatrics fail. Factors for lack of trial completion include performance at site level (limited patient recruitment, limited site staff experience and lack of infrastructure), the sponsor team (limited paediatric specific expertise in design, uncertainties on robustness of biomarkers or outcome variables) as well as regulatory and administrative burdens. As a result of the growing demand for site support, the Belgian Paediatric Clinical Research Network (BPCRN) established in 2009 has been relaunched in 2018 to improve paediatric clinical trials, with the support of innovative-medicines-initiative 2 (IMI2) pan-European network conect4children (c4c) and the transatlantic network I-ACT for Children (US).This paper highlights the formation of the BPCRN and the practical insights it offers for advancing paediatric clinical trials through national networks. A national network can improve trial quality, safety and efficiency, provide clinical research expertise, identify suitable sites, and help with troubleshooting of common trial issues. The BPCRN's centralized approach has advanced paediatric clinical trials by streamlining communication and standardizing trial conduct. Challenges and opportunities have arisen, including a relaunch in 2018, orphan medicine trials, and network sustainability. Collaboration between network activities, government support, site-level improvements, efficient communication, and interaction with industry are key to achieve lasting transformation in paediatric medicine research.

Electrophysiological registration of phonological perception in the subthalamic nucleus of patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Phonological processing is usually associated with the activation of cortical areas, especially in the left cerebral hemisphere. This study examined if phonologically elicited evoked potentials can be recorded directly from the subthalamic nucleus in patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Seven PD patients who had undergone implantation of deep brain electrodes for the stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus were included. Local field potentials were recorded in a pre-attentive auditory phonological task, an attentive auditory phonological discrimination task, and a word recognition task. Auditory evoked potentials related to phonological, but not lexical processing, could be demonstrated in the subthalamic nucleus for all three tasks. Only minor changes were found after levodopa administration. This study demonstrates that the subthalamic nucleus is involved in early phonological perception, which puts the subthalamic nucleus in a position to modify phonological perception in a larger cortico-subcortical network.

N-Deformyl Vincristine a Bisalkaloid from Catharanthus roseus.

A bisalkaloid from CATHARANTHUS ROSEUS is N-deformyl vincristine (NDF). Its structure was clarified by spectroscopic methods.

Fluorescence characteristics of azaperone and of an azaperone mononitrogen oxide.

The structure elucidation of the compound isolated after peroxide treatment of azaperone is described. A mononitrogen oxide was formed at the piperazine N1 atom after reaction with excess hydrogen peroxide. The fluorescence characteristics of derivative were examined and compared with the native fluorescence capacities of the azaperone base; both were identical, depending on the solvent nature. The phenomenon is explained by the fact that the fluorescent properties of the azaperone molecule are principally produced by its ortho-nitrogen substituted pyridine nucleus.