Determination of anticarcinogenic and rescue therapy drugs in urine by photoinduced spectrofluorimetry using multivariate calibration: comparison of several second-order methods.

This paper shows the potential of excitation-emission fluorescence spectroscopy and several second-order methods, such as parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC), multiway partial least-squares (N-PLS) or bilinear least-squares (BLLS), as a multicalibration technique for the analysis of leucovorin (LV) and irinotecan (CPT-11). Although CPT-11 presents native fluorescence, leucovorin has little native fluorescence; however, under irradiation with short-wavelength UV light in the presence of traces of hydrogen peroxide, leucovorin was converted into a highly fluorescent compound. This reaction has been used for the sensitive and selective determination of both compounds. The convenience of analysing the total luminescence spectrum information when using multivariate calibration methods on fluorescence data is demonstrated. Direct determination of mixtures of both drugs in urine was accomplished on the basis of excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) and the three-way multivariate methods.

A vaccine to prevent herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia in older adults.

BACKGROUND: The incidence and severity of herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia increase with age in association with a progressive decline in cell-mediated immunity to varicella-zoster virus (VZV). We tested the hypothesis that vaccination against VZV would decrease the incidence, severity, or both of herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia among older adults. METHODS: We enrolled 38,546 adults 60 years of age or older in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of an investigational live attenuated Oka/Merck VZV vaccine ("zoster vaccine"). Herpes zoster was diagnosed according to clinical and laboratory criteria. The pain and discomfort associated with herpes zoster were measured repeatedly for six months. The primary end point was the burden of illness due to herpes zoster, a measure affected by the incidence, severity, and duration of the associated pain and discomfort. The secondary end point was the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia. RESULTS: More than 95 percent of the subjects continued in the study to its completion, with a median of 3.12 years of surveillance for herpes zoster. A total of 957 confirmed cases of herpes zoster (315 among vaccine recipients and 642 among placebo recipients) and 107 cases of postherpetic neuralgia (27 among vaccine recipients and 80 among placebo recipients) were included in the efficacy analysis. The use of the zoster vaccine reduced the burden of illness due to herpes zoster by 61.1 percent (P<0.001), reduced the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia by 66.5 percent (P<0.001), and reduced the incidence of herpes zoster by 51.3 percent (P<0.001). Reactions at the injection site were more frequent among vaccine recipients but were generally mild. CONCLUSIONS: The zoster vaccine markedly reduced morbidity from herpes zoster and postherpetic neuralgia among older adults.

Late prosthetic valve endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus hemolyticus.

We describe a case of late PVE in a 78-year-old man that was caused by Stapylococcus hemolyticus and occurred 5 years after aortic valve replacement. This is the first reported case of PVE due to this organism.

Bacitracin versus mupirocin for Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization.

We performed a randomized prospective study of 5-day treatment with topical mupirocin or bacitracin for the elimination of Staphylococcus aureus nasal colonization in healthcare workers (HCWs). Nasal cultures were obtained from 141 HCWs, 37 (26%) of whom showed S. aureus. After 72 to 96 hours of treatment, the organism was eradicated in 15 (94%) of 16 by mupirocin and in 8 (44%) of 18 by bacitracin (P = .0031). Similar efficacy was demonstrated at 30 days. Mupirocin may be more effective than bacitracin for eradication of S. aureus in healthy HCWs.

Poliovirus immunizations. What goes around, comes around.

Although poliovirus vaccination is nto new, the recent changes in ACIP recommendations involving polio vaccinations are. Currently, wild type poliovirus has been eliminated in the Western hemisphere, but vaccine-associated cases (VAPP) still occur. The new recommendations are intended to continue providing protection and to eliminate VAPP cases from occurring in vaccinees or close contacts.