Bone wax-filled defects remained unchanged at all time points with negligible healing observed. At 3 weeks, no evidence of alkylene oxide copolymer was observed at the application site, with fractional bone volume significantly greater than bone wax-treated defects (0.20 +/- 0.03 versus 0.02 +/- 0.01; P = 0.0003). At 6 and 12-weeks, alkylene oxide copolymer-treated defects continued to show significantly greater healing versus bone wax (0.18 +/- 0.04 versus 0.05 CRT0066101 +/- 0.01 and 0.31 +/- 0.04 versus 0.06 +/- 0.02, respectively). At all time points, alkylene oxide copolymer-treated and control defects showed good healing with no significant

difference.

CONCLUSION: Alkylene oxide copolymer is an effective hemostatic agent that does not inhibit osteogenesis or bone healing.”
“Azacitidine is a pyrimidine nucleoside analog of cytidine with hypomethylating and antileukemia activity. Azacitidine has been shown to have survival benefits in patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and has activity in the treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). It is administered by subcutaneous (s.c.) or intravenous (i.v.) injection daily at a dose of 75mg/m(2) for 7 days every 4 weeks.

An oral formulation would facilitate dosing, reduce administration side effects and potentially maximize azacitidine pharmacologic action. Previously, oral formulations of this class of AS1842856 agent have failed due to rapid catabolism by cytidine deaminase and hydrolysis in aqueous environments. Development of a film-coated formulation has circumvented this difficulty. In a formulation feasibility pilot study, four subjects with solid malignant tumors, AML or MDS received single oral doses

of 60 or 80mg azacitidine. Subjects demonstrated measurable plasma concentrations of azacitidine, Selleckchem MK-4827 allowing bioavailability comparisons to be made to historical pharmacokinetic data for s.c. azacitidine. Subjects safely tolerated 80 mg, a dose for which the mean bioavailability was 17.4% of historic s.c. exposure. No severe drug-related toxicities were observed. These data suggest that oral azacitidine is bioavailable in humans and should be studied in formal phase 1 trials.”
“OBJECTIVE: To describe our system of external lumbar drainage for normal pressure hydrocephalus, detail its complications, and discuss changes made to that system with time.

METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of lumbar drainage in 233 consecutive patients with symptoms treated at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, from February 2002 to August 2006.

RESULTS: The lumbar drain was successfully placed at the bedside in 223 of 233 patients; fluoroscopic guidance was used in 10 cases. There were significant complications in 3.0% of patients, including symptomatic subdural or subarachnoid hemorrhage in 1.7%, meningitis in 0.8%, and retained catheter in 0.4%. Another 5.2% of patients had minor problems, including nerve root irritation in 2.