Carbamazepine and carbamazepine-10, 11-epoxide therapeutic drug monitoring and biochemical and hematological evaluation in bipolar disorder outpatients

The objective of this study was to validate an analytical technique with HPLC-PDA for plasma measurement of carbamazepine (CBZ) and its metabolite carbamazepine-10, 11-epoxide (CBZ-E) for therapeutic monitoring (TM) of patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD), as well as evaluating hematological and biochemical parameters of patients using CBZ. Sixteen patients registered with the Public Service of Psychiatry were selected. CBZ and CBZ-E measurements were performed with HPLC-PDA shimadzu LC-20 AT Prominence, under concentration gradient. Validation criteria: selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, recovery, stability. Hematological and biochemical tests were performed using conventional methods. As a result, it was obtained: accuracy >85% and precision <15%, good selectivity, robustness and stability, LOQ = 250 ng.mL-1 and HQL = 60,000 ng.mL-1. Among patients, 25% and 6.25% had CBZ and CBZ-E levels within the therapeutic range, respectively. There were hematological and biochemical changes related to the drug. The validated method is reliable for its intended purpose. TM proved to be extremely useful for detecting therapeutic failure.

The usefulness of copeptin for the diagnosis of nephrogenic diabetes insipidus in infancy: a case report

Objectives We report a case of an infant with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus (NDI) diagnosed by the measurement of serum copeptin. There is only one study that previously evaluated the use of copeptin measurement in a pediatric patient. Case presentation We present a 10-month-old child with polyuria–polydipsia syndrome (PPS) and hypernatremia that could not support water restriction due to increased risk of dehydration and worsening of his condition. Therefore, plasma measurement of copeptin allowed the diagnosis of NDI. Conclusions The water deprivation test (WDT) is considered the gold standard for diagnosis in PPS. However, WDT has serious limitations regarding its interpretation. Furthermore, the WDT can cause dehydration and hypernatremia, especially in young children. Therefore, the measurement of plasma copeptin seems to be a promising method to perform an earlier, safer, and accurate investigation of PPS. Up to now, our study is the second to report the usefulness of copeptin in children.

Influence of time-variable solar wind on the response of Mercury’s magnetosphere

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span lang=&quot;EN-GB&quot;&gt;BepiColombo is going to conduct its first Mercury flyby in October 2021. During this flyby,&amp;#160; plasma measurement will be obtained and bring new insights on the Hermean magnetosphere and its interaction with the Sun despite the limited field of view of the instruments during the cruise phase. Unlike Mariner-10 ion measurements will be obtained, and unlike MESSENGER, low energy electrons and ions will be measured simultaneously. In this study, we have revisited Mariner 10 and MESSENGER observations with the help of the global hybrid model LatHyS in order to understand the influence of time-variable solar wind and to constraint the plasma environment. We are able to reproduce the magnetic field observations of Mariner 10 along its trajectory with in particular two distinct signatures consisting of a quiet and disturbed state of the magnetosphere. In addition, the plasma spectrogram is also collected in the model and this enables us to detail the properties of the charged particles observed during the flyby. We will discuss all these signatures both in term of an interaction with a time-variable solar wind and localized processes occurring in the magnetosphere. We will then present the virtual sampling of both the magnetic field and plasma spectrogram along BepiColombo&amp;#8217;s first Mercury flyby trajectory and discuss the possible signatures to be observed at that time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

The Relationship Between Plasma Oxytocin and Executive Functioning in Huntington’s Disease: A Pilot Study

The role of oxytocin (OT) in social cognition of patients with Huntington’s disease (HD) has been studied, but its impact on executive functioning has not been explored yet. Healthy controls, premanifest HD, and manifest HD participants underwent executive functioning assessment and OT plasma measurement. There were no significant group differences in plasma OT levels. Higher OT levels were associated with better executive functioning in premanifest HD participants. Our findings revealed an association between OT levels and depressive symptoms in premanifest and manifest HD participants. The potential role of OT in HD deserves further investigation.

On the Calculation of the Effective Polytropic Index in Space Plasmas

The polytropic index of space plasmas is typically determined from the relationship between the measured plasma density and temperature. In this study, we quantify the errors in the determination of the polytropic index, due to uncertainty in the analyzed measurements. We model the plasma density and temperature measurements for a certain polytropic index, and then, we apply the standard analysis to derive the polytropic index. We explore the accuracy of the derived polytropic index for a range of uncertainties in the modeled density and temperature and repeat for various polytropic indices. Our analysis shows that the uncertainties in the plasma density introduce a systematic error in the determination of the polytropic index which can lead to artificial isothermal relations, while the uncertainties in the plasma temperature increase the statistical error of the calculated polytropic index value. We analyze Wind spacecraft observations of the solar wind protons and we derive the polytropic index in selected intervals over 2002. The derived polytropic index is affected by the plasma measurement uncertainties, in a similar way as predicted by our model. Finally, we suggest a new data-analysis approach, based on a physical constraint, that reduces the amount of erroneous derivations.