Perfluorocarbon Emulsion Contrast Agents: A Mini Review

Perfluorocarbon emulsions offer a variety of applications in medical imaging. The substances can be useful for most radiological imaging modalities; including, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasonography, computed tomography, and positron emission tomography. Recently, the substance has gained much interest for theranostics, with both imaging and therapeutic potential. As MRI sequences improve and more widespread access to 19F-MRI coils become available, perfluorocarbon emulsions have great potential for new commercial imaging agents, due to high fluorine content and previous regulatory approval as antihypoxants and blood substitutes. This mini review aims to discuss the chemistry and physics of these contrast agents, in addition to highlighting some of the past, recent, and potential applications.

Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers: Potential Applications in Solid Organ Preservation

Ameliorating graft injury induced by ischemia and hypoxia, expanding the donor pool, and improving graft quality and recipient prognosis are still goals pursued by the transplant community. The preservation of organs during this process from donor to recipient is critical to the prognosis of both the graft and the recipient. At present, static cold storage, which is most widely used in clinical practice, not only reduces cell metabolism and oxygen demand through low temperature but also prevents cell edema and resists apoptosis through the application of traditional preservation solutions, but these do not improve hypoxia and increase oxygenation of the donor organ. In recent years, improving the ischemia and hypoxia of grafts during preservation and repairing the quality of marginal donor organs have been of great concern. Hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOCs) are “made of” natural hemoglobins that were originally developed as blood substitutes but have been extended to a variety of hypoxic clinical situations due to their ability to release oxygen. Compared with traditional preservation protocols, the addition of HBOCs to traditional preservation protocols provides more oxygen to organs to meet their energy metabolic needs, prolong preservation time, reduce ischemia–reperfusion injury to grafts, improve graft quality, and even increase the number of transplantable donors. The focus of the present study was to review the potential applications of HBOCs in solid organ preservation and provide new approaches to understanding the mechanism of the promising strategies for organ preservation.

History of the research laboratory (medicinal and environmental toxicology) of the Military medical academy named after S.M. Kirov

This paper presents the history of the formation of the Research Department of the Experimental Medicine of the Research Center of the Military Medical Academy named after S.M. Kirov. The department is the only division of the academy that conducts experiments on animal models and field tests using laboratory animals in the interests of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The paper also presents the main scientific achievements and development prospects of one of the three laboratories of the department Research Laboratory of Medicinal and Environmental Toxicology. In the direction of drug toxicology, the laboratory staff worked for 15 years in cooperation with the Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Pushchino) on the problems of perfluorocarbon-based blood substitutes. The results of the study helped deepen the understanding of the mechanisms of the physiological activity of perfluorocarbon emulsions and the expansion of the areas of clinical application of perftoran. The ecotoxicological direction of scientific research is represented by two large-scale cycles of scientific studies. The first was devoted to the medical support of oil refining to increase the protection of personnel who have been professionally exposed to toxic chemicals from the damage caused by chemical accidents. The second area of environmental research, which has been significantly updated in recent years, is devoted to the study of remote environmental and biomedical consequences of the use of chemical weapons by the US Army in the period from 1966 to 1972 in Vietnam. In recent years, the laboratory has focused on problems related to the search and development of new radiation countermeasure agents including biotechnological products and their compositions. Studies are also being conducted to improve the complex therapy of patients with sepsis, in which methods of extracorporeal blood purification are used in the treatment. These works are relevant for military and civilian health care and are performed in cooperation with the departments of the academy and several leading research organizations in St. Petersburg.

Industrially Compatible Transfusable iPSC-Derived RBCs: Progress, Challenges and Prospective Solutions

Amidst the global shortfalls in blood supply, storage limitations of donor blood and the availability of potential blood substitutes for transfusion applications, society has pivoted towards in vitro generation of red blood cells (RBCs) as a means to solve these issues. Many conventional research studies over the past few decades have found success in differentiating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) from cord blood, adult bone marrow and peripheral blood sources. More recently, techniques that involve immortalization of erythroblast sources have also gained traction in tackling this problem. However, the RBCs generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) still remain as the most favorable solution due to many of its added advantages. In this review, we focus on the breakthroughs for high-density cultures of hiPSC-derived RBCs, and highlight the major challenges and prospective solutions throughout the whole process of erythropoiesis for hiPSC-derived RBCs. Furthermore, we elaborate on the recent advances and techniques used to achieve cost-effective, high-density cultures of GMP-compliant RBCs, and on their relevant novel applications after downstream processing and purification.

Patterns of medication errors involving pediatric population reported to the French Medication Error Guichet

Background: Medication error is a global threat to patient safety, particularly in pediatrics. Yet, this issue remains understudied in this population, in both hospital and community settings. Objectives: To characterize medication errors involving pediatrics reported to the French Medication Error Guichet, and compare them with medication errors in adults, in each of the hospital and community settings. Methods: This was a retrospective secondary data analysis of medication errors reported throughout 2013-2017. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were performed to compare actual and potential medication error reports between pediatrics (aged <18 years) and adults (aged >18 and <60 years). Two subanalyses of actual medication errors with adverse drug reaction (ADR), and serious ADR were conducted. Results: We analyzed 4,718 medication error reports. In pediatrics, both in hospital (n=791) and community (n=1,541) settings, antibacterials for systemic use (n=121, 15.7%; n=157, 10.4%, respectively) and wrong dose error type (n=391, 49.6%; n=549, 35.7%, respectively) were frequently reported in medication errors. These characteristics were also significantly more likely to be associated with reported errors in pediatrics compared with adults. In the hospital setting, analgesics (adjusted odds ratio (aOR)=1.59; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03:2.45), and blood substitutes and perfusion solutions (aOR=3.74; 95%CI 2.24:6.25) were more likely to be associated with reported medication errors in pediatrics; the latter drug class (aOR=3.02; 95%CI 1.59:5.72) along with wrong technique (aOR=2.28; 95%CI 1.01:5.19) and wrong route (aOR=2.74; 95%CI 1.22:6.15) error types related more to reported medication errors with serious ADR in pediatrics. In the community setting, the most frequently reported pediatric medication errors involved vaccines (n=389, 25.7%). Psycholeptics (aOR=2.42; 95%CI 1.36:4.31) were more likely to be associated with reported medication errors with serious ADR in pediatrics. Wrong technique error type (aOR=2.71; 95%CI 1.47:5.00) related more to reported medication errors with ADR in pediatrics. Conclusions: We identified pediatric-specific medication error patterns in the hospital and community settings. Our findings inform focused error prevention measures, and pave the way for interventional research targeting the needs of this population.

Application of DNA Containing Forensic Blood Substitute in the Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

We were able to diversify blood substitutes that emphasized the existing physical characteristics by adding the synthetic DNA, which was designed and produced in this study, to developed blood substitute. By doing so, we could improve the availability of developed blood substitute to the point where it can be identified similarly as in DNA analysis from the human blood.

The results of the analysis of medical prescriptions and the drug consumption in patients with lymphogranulomatosis in Ukraine

Aim. To analyze medical prescriptions and the structure of the drug consumption in patients with lymphogranulomatosis in Ukraine. Materials and methods. The data of medical records (455) of patients with lymphogranulomatosis were studied. The historical, analytical-comparative, systemic, logical, hypothetical-deductive, graphical methods of scientific research, as well as clinical and economic analysis as one of the components of health technology assessment were used. Results. It was found that, on average, the patients were in the hospital for 32 bed-days, and they received 16,835 medical prescriptions. There were 37 prescriptions per patient. The leaders in the number of prescriptions were drugs from groups L – Antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents, B – Drugs affecting the blood system and hematopoiesis, and A – Drugs affecting the digestive system and metabolism. These groups of drugs accounted for more than half of medical prescriptions (9247 or 54.93 %). The structure of prescriptions was dominated by drugs in the form of solutions or powders for their preparation (62.78 % of all prescriptions or 10569). In accordance with the II level of the ATC classification, the first three positions in the number of prescriptions were drugs used in the chemotherapy and elimination of symptoms of exacerbation of chronic pathologies. These drugs were from the following groups: L01 – Antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents (12.80 % or 2154 prescriptions), B05 – Blood substitutes and perfusion solutions (11.95 % or 2012, respectively), C01 – Drugs for the treatment of heart diseases (9.99 % or 1681, respectively). Antineoplastic prescriptions ranged from 31 (L01C D01 – Paclitaxel) to 289 (L01DB01 – Doxorubicin) ones. The most prescribed drugs were L01DB01 – Doxorubicin, AA01 – Cyclophosphamide, and L01CB01 – Etoposide. It was proven that patients with lymphogranulomatosis received an average of 8.3 prescriptions of antitumor drugs. The general indicator of the drug consumption was 23440.30 thousand UAH or 822.58 thousand US dollars, which, in terms of one patient, amounted to 51,517.14 UAH or 1807.86 US dollars. It was found that 38797,60 UAH or 1361.50 USD were spent on the effective chemotherapy and maintenance of the patient’s body, which was 8.21 and 17.1 times more than the minimum wage and living wage according to the data presented in the state budget for 2020 in Ukraine. Conclusions. It has been found that medical prescriptions and the consumption of drugs by patients with lymphogranulomatosis reflect the nature of the therapy, namely the need for intensive courses of chemotherapy, polymorbidity of patients, as well as the severity of the pathological process. Considering the high cost of the treatment the solution to the issue of increasing the level of its availability requires a systemic solution in various directions. Key words: clinical and economic analysis; medical prescriptions; lymphogranulomatosis; Hodgkin’s disease; antineoplastic drugs; health technology assessment.