RESUMEN
Modern tablet compression was instituted in England in 1844 by William Brockedon (1787-1854). The first tablets made according to Brockedon´s procedures contained watersoluble salts and were most likely compressed without expedients. In USA a watershed occurred around 1887 when starch (amylum maydis) was introduced to disperse tablets in aqueous milieu in order to corroborate bioavailability of drugs in the almentary canal. About the same time great advances in tablet production were introduced by the British firm Burroughs Wellcome and Co. In Denmark on the other hand tablet production remained on low scale until after 1920. As Icelandic pharmacies and drug firms modelled themselves mostly upon Danish firms tablet production was first instituted in Iceland around 1930. The first tablet machines in Iceland were hand-driven. More efficent machines came after 1945. Around 1960 three sizeable tablet producers were in Iceland; now there is only one. Numbers of individual tablet species (generic and proprietary) on the market rose from less than 10 in 1913 to 500 in 1965, with wide variations in numbers in between. Tablets have not wiped out other medicinal forms for peroral use but most new peroral drugs have been marketed in the form of tablets during the last decades.
Asunto(s)
Preparaciones Farmacéuticas/administración & dosificación , Tecnología Farmacéutica , Administración Oral , Química Farmacéutica , Difusión de Innovaciones , Composición de Medicamentos , Diseño de Equipo , Excipientes/química , Historia del Siglo XVIII , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Islandia , Preparaciones Farmacéuticas/química , Preparaciones Farmacéuticas/historia , Comprimidos , Tecnología Farmacéutica/historia , Tecnología Farmacéutica/instrumentación , Tecnología Farmacéutica/métodosRESUMEN
Ceruloplasmin, a multi-copper oxidase with four active copper atoms, oxidizes Fe2+ to Fe3+ and concomittantly fully reduces oxygen to water. The oxygenation of iron is a requisite for transferrin transport of iron and keeping noxious Fe2+ low. In the central nervous system (CNS) Cp is mostly localized in end feet of astrocytes surrounding capillaries and attached by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor. In aceruloplasminaemia, a rare recessive hereditary disease, complete loss of Cp is accompanied by disorders of iron metabolism and lesions in CNS and outside. In PD Cp concentration and oxidative activity in serum are significantly lowered with iron deposits and lesions in substantia nigra and basal ganglia. Changes in Cp-genes might be causative in these disorders. By inducing neuromelanin synthesis Cp may protect neurons in substantia nigra. In AD Cp activity in serum, but not concentration, is significantly lowered. Changes in Cp-genes have not been verified in AD. Total amounts of iron are not increased in AD brains although iron deposits and cortical lesions are numerous. Total copper is significantly lowered in AD brains. This may result in defective synthesis of Cp and other copper enzymes. - In conclusion, the defective Cp activity, associated with iron disorders, is seemingly of importance in PD and also in AD with other copper enzyme defects possibly involved.
Asunto(s)
Enfermedad de Alzheimer/enzimología , Encéfalo/enzimología , Ceruloplasmina/metabolismo , Hierro/metabolismo , Enfermedad de Parkinson/enzimología , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/sangre , Enfermedad de Alzheimer/patología , Encéfalo/patología , Ceruloplasmina/deficiencia , Ceruloplasmina/genética , Humanos , Hierro/sangre , Trastornos del Metabolismo del Hierro/enzimología , Trastornos del Metabolismo del Hierro/genética , Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas/enzimología , Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas/genética , Oxidación-Reducción , Enfermedad de Parkinson/sangre , Enfermedad de Parkinson/patologíaRESUMEN
The first reliable syringes and hollow needles for the injections of drugs subcutaneously, intramuscularily and intravenously or for other injections came into use shortly after 1850. As far is known, morphine was the first drug to be injected subcutaneously, using a syringe and a hollow needle. Use of injection medicines, especially containing morphine or other alkaloids, became widespread among European doctors in the latter half of the 19th century. The use of injection medicines began before the existence of infectious microbes or microorganisms in general had become common knowledge, or the equilibria of electrolytes in and around living cells had been understood. Thus, injection medicines, their production and procedures of use had to pass through lengthy development lasting nearly one hundred years, in order to reach the levels of quality standards now universally accepted. It was also a definite advancement when disposable syringes and needles came into general use around 1960. Accessibility to injection medicines and their use was seemingly on a low scale in Iceland until 1930 or thereabout. The production of injection medicines in Iceland began in substance in the fourth decade of the last century. The production was generic, following official formulas, and was based in several pharmacies and a few drug companies. Only two producers offered a sizeable assortment of drugs. The production gradually became concentrated in a few firms and was finally handled by only one international, locally based, generic drugs firm, where the domestic production of injection medicines ended shortly after 2000.
Asunto(s)
Industria Farmacéutica/historia , Medicamentos Genéricos/historia , Inyecciones/historia , Equipos Desechables/historia , Medicamentos Genéricos/administración & dosificación , Diseño de Equipo , Historia del Siglo XIX , Historia del Siglo XX , Humanos , Islandia , Agujas/historia , Jeringas/historia , Factores de TiempoRESUMEN
The finding in 1972 of two World War II mustard gas artillery shells in crushed shell sediment dredged in the Faxaflói Bay and transported as raw material for cement production at Akranes (Western Iceland) is reported. One of the shells was wedged in a stone crusher in the raw material processing line and was ruptured. As a result dark fluid with a garlic like smell seeped out from the metal canister. The attending employees believed the metal object to be inert and tried to cut it out with a blow torch. This resulted in the explosion of the shell charge and in the exposure of four employees to mustard gas. All suffered burns on their hands and two of them in the eyes also. The second shell was detonated in the open at a distance from the factory. Emphasis is given to the fact that instant, or at least as soon as possible, cleansing and washing is the most efficient measure to be taken against the debilitating effects of mustard gas. It is also pointed out that the active principle in mustard gas (dichlorodiethyl sulphide) can easily be synthesized and none of the precursor substances are subjected to any restrictions of use. The authors conclude that mustard gas bombs may still be found in the arsenals of some military powers in spite of an international convention that prohibits the production, stockpiling and the use of chemical weapons. Terrorist groups have also seemingly tried to aquire mustard gas bombs and other chemical weapons. Therefore cases of mustard gas poisoning might still occur.