The impact of prulifloxacin on vaginal lactobacillus microflora: an in vivo study.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo effect of a repeated-dose regimen with prulifloxacin in comparison to amoxicillin/clavulanate on vaginal lactobacillus microflora. Thirty healthy female volunteers were treated with prulifloxacin or amoxicillin/clavulanate in this open, randomized, parallel-group, repeated-dose study. Vaginal signs and symptoms were assessed at the first doctor's Visit 0 (3 weeks prior to the start of the study), and subsequent examinations (1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8) (followup). Some volunteers treated with amoxicillin-clavulanate showed increased pH values and 73.3% of them had lower lactobacillus flora at Visit 3. this reduction was still present in 66.7% 3 days after the last dose and in 26.7% of subjects at the follow-up, about 7 - 13 days after the last dose. The situation was completely normalized at the second follow-up about one month after treatment stop. On the contrary, the repeated administration of prulifloxacin 600 mg tablets affected neither the pH nor the lactobacillus component of the vaginal flora in healthy fertile women. The oral administration of prulifloxacin may have advantages over some other antimicrobial agents because it preserves the normal vaginal microbiota in healthy women.

Comparative bioavailability of different formulations of levothyroxine and liothyronine in healthy volunteers.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative bioavailability of T4 sodium and liothyronine sodium (T3), administered in single doses as oral solution (drops) and tablet forms, according to two separate study protocols. METHODS: Twenty-four healthy, male volunteers were included in both studies. Two test drugs containing T4 or T3 (T4-Ibsa and T3-Ibsa, respectively) were compared to two reference drugs, ie Eutirox 100 and Ti-tre tablets, respectively. A single oral dose of 100 microg (1 ml or 1 tablet) of T4 and 20 microg (1 ml or 1 tablet) of T3 were administered with an open, randomized, crossover design. T4 and T3 serum concentrations were determined by a validated immunoassay in electro-chemo-luminescence method. RESULTS: Study 1: after administration of T4-Ibsa oral solution, Cmax was 14.26+/-0.61 microg/dl, AUC0-t was 282.70 +/-14.29 microg/dl/h, Tmax was 2.71+/-0.25 h. After administration of Eutirox 100 tablets, Cmax was 14.34+/-0.59 microg/dl, AUC0-t was 279.42+/-9.59 microg/dl/h and Tmax was 2.65+/-0.23 h. The 90% confidence interval ratios between test/reference drugs were 1.01 for AUC0-t and 0.99 for Cmax. Study 2: after administration of T3-Ibsa oral solution, Cmax was 3.19+/-0.25 ng/ml, AUC0-t was 44.79+/-2.15 ng/ml/h and Tmax was 2.31+/-0.25 h. After administration of Ti-tre tablets, Cmax was 3.16+/-0.23 ng/ml, AUC0-t was 45.19+/-2.19 ng/ml/h and Tmax was 2.44+/-0.34 h. The 90% confidence interval ratios between test /reference drugs were 0.99 for AUC0-t and 1.01 for Cmax. CONCLUSIONS: The bioavailability of the two oral solutions (T4-Ibsa and T3-Ibsa oral solutions) and the corresponding tablet forms (Eutirox 100 and Ti-tre tablets) were confirmed and they can be considered bioequivalent and therapeutically interchangeable.

Sweet's syndrome and Chlamydia pneumoniae infection.

We report the case of a patient in whom Sweet's syndrome developed during pneumonia caused by Chlamydia pneumoniae. Increased expression of helper T-cell type 1 cytokine secretion pattern in peripheral blood has recently been observed in patients with this syndrome, and chlamydia infection is known to primarily activate a helper T-cell type 1 immunologic response.

Constitutive Transcription and Stable RNA Accumulation in Plastids during the Conversion of Chloroplasts to Chromoplasts in Ripening Tomato Fruits.

The size distribution of plastid transcripts during chromoplast differentiation in ripening tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) fruits was determined using northern blot analysis. Hybridization of total cellular RNA from leaves and fruits with several tobacco chloroplast DNA probes showed distinct transcript patterns in chloroplasts and chromoplasts. We also compared transcriptional rates by probing immobilized DNA fragments of small size (representing about 85% of the plastid genome) with run-on transcripts from tomato plastids. The relative rates of transcription of the various DNA regions were very similar in chloro- and chromoplasts. Parallel determination of the steady-state levels of plastid RNA showed no strict correlation between synthesis rate and RNA accumulation. Differences in the relative abundance of transcripts between chloro- and chromoplasts were not very pronounced and were limited to a small number of genes. The results indicate that the conversion of chloroplasts to chromoplasts at the onset of tomato fruit ripening proceeds with no important variations in the relative transcription rates and with only moderate changes in the relative stability of plastid-encoded transcripts.

Chromoplast formation during tomato fruit ripening. No evidence for plastid DNA methylation.

Ripening of tomato fruits involves differentiation of chloroplasts into non-photosynthetic chromoplasts. Plastid DNAs isolated either from green leaf chloroplasts or mature red fruit chromoplasts were compared by restriction endonuclease and DNA/DNA hybridization analyses. The same restriction and gene maps were obtained for both types of DNAs, illustrating the lack of major recombinational events during chromoplast formation. Several enzymes were used that discriminate the presence of methylated bases in their target sequences (Pst I, Pvu II, Sal I, Mbo I/Sau 3AI, Msp I/Hpa II, Bst NI/Eco RII). Plastid DNA fragments generated by these enzymes were hybridized against DNA probes encompassing about 85% of the tobacco chloroplast genome. These probes represented genes that follow very different expression behaviors in response to plastid development. Extensive restriction and hybridization analyses failed to reveal any difference between the chloroplast and chromoplast genomes, indicating that no developmentally related DNA methylation was detected by these methods. The results presented here do not support the hypothesis that selective DNA methylation of the chromoplast genome might play a major role in the transcriptional control of gene expression in these non-photosynthetic plastids.