This article is available in open access under Creative Common Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, allowing to download articles and share them with others as long as they credit the authors and the publisher, but without permission to change them in any way or use them commercially.

Our study aimed to verify the hypothesis of the existence of a programming effect of parental obesity on the growth, development and mineralization of the skeletal system in female and male rat offspring on the day of weaning. The study began with the induction of obesity in female and male rats of the parental generation, using a high-energy diet (group F). Females and males of the control group received the standard diet (group S). After 90 days of dietary-induced obesity, the diet in group F was changed into the standard. Rats from groups F and S were mated to obtain offspring which stayed with their mothers until 21 days of age. Tibia was tested using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), micro-computed tomography (µCT) and mechanical strength using the three-point bending test. Biochemical analysis of blood serum bone metabolism markers was performed. DXA analysis showed higher tibia bone mineral content (BMC) and area. pQCT measurements of cortical and trabecular tissue documented the increase of the volumetric bone mineral density and BMC of both bone compartments in offspring from the F group, while µCT of the trabecular tissue showed an increase in trabecular thickness and a decrease of its separation. Parental obesity, hence, exerts a programming influence on the development of the skeletal system of the offspring on the day of the weaning, which was reflected in the intensification of mineralization and increased bone strength.

The treatment of severe infections in intensive therapy units continues to be a challenge. This is because establishing optimum dosing regimens of antimicrobials still poses some difficulties, particularly for patients in septic shock. Septic patients are at risk of having subtherapeutic concentrations of antibiotics in the blood with a standard dosing regimen, owing to an increased volume of distribution and variable renal or hepatic clearance. Another cause of excessive decrease in antibiotic concentrations in

Background: Electromyography can be used for quantitative neuromuscular monitoring during general anesthesia, mostly using the stimulation train-of-four (TOF) pattern. Relaxometry measures the muscular response of the adductor pollicis muscle to electrical stimulation of the ulnar nerve, which is routinely used in clinical practices for monitoring the neuromuscular block. However, when it is not always possible to be used for all patients, the posterior tibial nerve is a suitable alternative. Objectives: Using electromyography, we compared the neuromuscular block between the ulnar and the posterior tibial nerves. Methods: In this study, the participants were 110 patients who met inclusion criteria and submitted their written consent. Following the administration of cisatracurium intravenously, the patients had relaxometry performed simultaneously on the ulnar and the posterior tibial nerves using electromyography. Results: Eighty-seven patients were included in the final analysis. The onset time was 296 ± 99 s at the ulnar nerve and 346 ± 146 s at the tibial nerve, with a mean difference of -50 s and a standard deviation of 164 s. The 95% limits of agreement ranged from -372 s to 272 s. The relaxation time was 105 ± 26 min at the ulnar nerve and 87 ± 25 min at the tibial nerve, with a mean difference of 18 min and a standard deviation of 20 min. Conclusions: Using electromyography, no statistically significant difference was noticed between the ulnar and the posterior tibial nerve during the neuromuscular block. The onset time and the relaxation time assessed with an electromyogram to compare the stimulation of the ulnar and posterior tibial nerves showed large limits of agreement.

Each drug has pharmacokinetics that must be defined for the substance to be used in humans and animals. Currently, one of the basic analytical tools for pharmacokinetics studies is high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. For this analytical method to be fully reliable, it must be properly validated. Therefore, the aims of this study were to develop and validate a novel analytical method for 4-acetamidobenzoic acid, a component of the antiviral and immunostimulatory drug Inosine Pranobex, and to apply the method in the first pharmacokinetics study of 4-acetamidobenzoic acid in pigs after oral administration. Inosine Pranobex was administered under farm conditions to pigs via drinking water 2 h after morning feeding at doses of 20, 40, and 80 mg/kg. For sample preparation, we used liquid–liquid extraction with only one step—protein precipitation with 1 mL of acetonitrile. As an internal standard, we used deuterium labeled 4-acetamidobenzoic acid. The results indicate that the described method is replicable, linear (r2 ≥ 0.99), precise (2.11% to 13.81%), accurate (89% to 98.57%), selective, and sensitive (limit of quantitation = 10 ng/mL). As sample preparation requires only one step, the method is simple, effective, cheap, and rapid. The results of the pilot pharmacokinetics study indicate that the compound is quickly eliminated (elimination half-life from 0.85 to 1.42 h) and rapidly absorbed (absorption half-life from 0.36 to 2.57 h), and that its absorption increases exponentially as the dose is increased.