Serious Treatment Related Adverse Drug Reactions Amongst Anti-Retroviral Naïve MDR-TB Patients.

Serious Treatment Related Adverse Drug Reactions amongst Anti-Retroviral Naïve MDR-TB Patients.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(4): e58817
Van der Walt M, Lancaster J, Odendaal R, Davis JG, Shean K, Farley J

Globally treatment outcomes for multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) remain poor and this is compounded by high drug toxicity. Little is known about the influence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) on treatment outcomes in South Africa.We evaluated the impact of severe ADRs among a prospective cohort of MDR-TB patients in South Africa (2000-2004). The HIV-infected study participants were anti-retroviral naïve.Of 2,079 patients enrolled, 1,390 (66.8%) were included in this analysis based on known HIV test results (39.1% HIV-infected). At least one severe ADR was reported in 83 (6.9%) patients with ototoxicity being the most frequent ADR experienced (38.9%).We found that being HIV-infected but antiretroviral naïve did not increase occurrence of SADRs in patients on second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs. Early screening and proactive management of ADRs in this patient population is essential, especially given the rollout of decentralized care and the potential for overlapping toxicity of concomitant MDR-TB and HIV treatment. HubMed – drug

 

Correction: Exposure of Chlorpromazine to 266 nm Laser Beam Generates New Species with Antibacterial Properties: Contributions to Development of a New Process for Drug Discovery.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(3):
Pascu ML, Danko B, Martins A, Jedlinszki N, Alexandru T, Nastasa V, Boni M, Militaru A, Andrei IR, Staicu A, Hunyadi A, Fanning S, Amaral L

[This corrects the article on p. e55767 in vol. 8.]. HubMed – drug

 

Eupomatenoid-5 Isolated from Leaves of Piper regnellii Induces Apoptosis in Leishmania amazonensis.

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013; 2013: 940531
Garcia FP, Lazarin-Bidóia D, Ueda-Nakamura T, Silva Sde O, Nakamura CV

Leishmania spp. are protozoa responsible for leishmaniasis, a neglected disease that kills up to 50,000 people every year. Current therapies mainly rely on antimonial drugs that are inadequate because of their poor efficacy and safety and increased drug resistance. An urgent need exists to find new and more affordable drugs. Our previous study demonstrated the antileishmanial activity of eupomatenoid-5, a neolignan obtained from leaves of Piper regnellii var. pallescens. The aim of the present study was to clarify the mode of action of eupomatenoid-5 against L. amazonensis. We used biochemical and morphological techniques and demonstrated that eupomatenoid-5 induced cell death in L. amazonensis promastigotes, sharing some phenotypic features observed in metazoan apoptosis, including increased reactive oxygen species production, hypopolarization of mitochondrial potential, phosphatidylserine exposure, decreased cell volume, and G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest. HubMed – drug