Chemicals and Drugs Commons^™

The Physiological Basis For Vitamin C As A Potential Treatment For Sepsis, Jennifer Johnston

BU Well

Accounting for one third of all hospital patient deaths in America, sepsis remains one of the most deadly and complicated conditions that healthcare providers treat. Septic shock, a progressed form of sepsis, is even more troublesome, as mortality rates typically fall between 50-72%. It has been proposed that administration of high doses of vitamin C could be an effective treatment for the condition due to the nutrient’s anti-stress and anti-shock properties. This investigation of the physiological reasoning for administering high doses of vitamin C evaluates the viability of its use in patients with septic shock.

Nanomedicine For The Treatment Of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, Tanvi Gandhi, B.Pharm

BU Well

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, or NHL, is the predominant category of lymphoma. NHL is a type of lymphoid hematopoietic malignancy which approximately 70,000 Americans are diagnosed with annually, with the number of diagnoses growing annually. For decades, chemotherapy was the standard treatment of care, but since the discovery in 1997, monoclonal antibodies are increasingly used as an alternate form of therapy. Nonetheless, almost 20,000 Americans succumb to NHL annually, which highlights the translational gap between preclinical research and the market. Although a lot of progress has been made in therapy options by immunotherapy and combination chemotherapy, the ingenuity of nanomedicine may bridge …

Ascorbic Acid For The Treatment Of Rasburicase Induced Methemoglobinemia In The Setting Of Acute Renal Failure, David J. Reeves, Lindsay Saum, Ruemu Birhiray

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

Purpose A case of apparent rasburicase-induced methemoglobinemia and acute kidney injury treated with i.v. ascorbic acid because of suspected glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is reported.

Summary A 46-year-old African-American man with a recent diagnosis of multiple myeloma and renal insufficiency was admitted to the hospital with a cough, hemoptysis, and fatigue. His medical history included hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, ventricular tachycardia, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and pleural effusion. No treatments for multiple myeloma were started before hospital admission. Levofloxacin 750 mg orally daily for possible pneumonia, lenalidomide 10 mg orally daily, and dexamethasone 20 mg orally weekly were administered. Plasmapheresis was also initiated. …

Tolerability Of Induction Chemotherapy Dosing Practices In Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients, Kaylene M. Peric, David J. Reeves

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

For patients with high body surface areas (BSA), differing chemotherapy dosing strategies have been utilized in attempts to reduce toxicity. In a retrospective evaluation, we compared the effects of chemotherapy dosing in acute myeloid leukemia patients with high BSA (>2 m²) who received capped doses (n = 12) to those who received uncapped doses (n = 24), and to patients with BSA ≤ 2 m² (n = 42). There were no statistically significant differences among groups (BSA ≤ 2 m², BSA > 2 m² capped, and BSA > 2 m² uncapped) …

Drug-Drug Interaction Between Methotrexate And Levetiracetam Resulting In Delayed Methotrexate Elimination, Emily Bain, Ruemu E. Birhiray, David J. Reeves

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

Objective: To report a case of delayed methotrexate (MTX) elimination while receiving concomitant levetiracetam. Case Report: A 46-year-old man with relapsed osteosarcoma of the base of the skull receiving high-dose MTX tolerated his first cycle of MTX with elimination to nontoxic MTX levels (≤0.1 µmol/L) within 90 hours. After hospital discharge, the patient experienced seizures secondary to brain metastasis and started on levetiracetam, which was continued as maintenance therapy. The patient experienced delayed MTX elimination during cycles 2, 3, and 4 while receiving levetiracetam. On average, elimination to nontoxic MTX levels took 130 hours (106-144 hours). Before the fifth cycle …

Bone Health Management In Prostate Cancer Patients Receiving Androgen Deprivation Therapy, Vishnuprabha Dhanapal, David J. Reeves

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

Purpose. Patients receiving androgen deprivation therapy undergo a rapid decline in bone mineral density during the first 6 to 12 months of initiating therapy. The World Health Organization has developed and implemented the Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX) to predict the ten year risk of a major fracture & hip fracture. Additionally, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and the National Osteoporosis Foundation have developed osteoporosis guidelines. This study aims to characterize the fracture risk (based on the FRAX tool) and the current management of bone health based on national guidelines compliance.

Methods. A retrospective chart review of patients receiving a …

Successful Desensitization To Docetaxel After Severe Hypersensitivity Reactions In Two Patients, David J. Reeves, Michael J. Callahan, Gregory P. Sutton

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

Purpose Two cases of successful desensitization to docetaxel after severe hypersensitivity reactions are reported.

Summary Two patients with gynecological malignancies (uterine leiomyosarcoma and ovarian adenocarcinoma) experienced severe hypersensitivity reactions with docetaxel, including flushing, numbness, sharp radiating pain, severe nausea and vomiting, apnea, and unresponsiveness. Both patients received ondansetron before docetaxel. One patient received dexamethasone, diphenhydramine, and famotidine premedication before docetaxel, as she had previously reacted to paclitaxel. Docetaxel infusions were stopped, and the reactions were treated with diphenhydramine and dexamethasone (one patient also received famotidine). After resolution of symptoms, the docetaxel was not reinitiated due to the nature of the …

Functional Interplay Between Chromatin Remodeling Complexes Rsc, Swi/Snf And Iswi In Regulation Of Yeast Heat Shock Genes, Tamara Y. Erkina, Y. Zou, S. Freeling, V. I. Vorobyev, Alexander M. Erkine

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

Chromatin remodeling is an essential part of transcription initiation. We show that at heat shock gene promoters functional interactions between individual ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes play critical role in both nucleosome displacement and Pol II recruitment. Using HSP12, HSP82 and SSA4 gene promoters as reporters, we demonstrated that while inactivation of SNF2, a critical ATPase of the SWI/SNF complex, primarily affects the HSP12 promoter, depletion of STH1- a SNF2 homolog from the RSC complex reduces histone displacement and abolishes the Pol II recruitment at all three promoters. From these results, we conclude that redundancy between SWI/SNF and RSC complexes …

Different Requirements Of The Swi/Snf Complex For Robust Nucleosome Displacement At Promoters Of Heat Shock Factor And Msn2- And Msn4-Regulated Heat Shock Genes, Tamara Y. Erkina, P. A. Tschetter, Alexander M. Erkine

Scholarship and Professional Work – COPHS

The stress response in yeast cells is regulated by at least two classes of transcription activators—HSF and Msn2/4, which differentially affect promoter chromatin remodeling. We demonstrate that the deletion of SNF2, an ATPase activity-containing subunit of the chromatin remodeling SWI/SNF complex, eliminates histone displacement, RNA polymerase II recruitment, and heat shock factor (HSF) binding at the HSP12 promoter while delaying these processes at the HSP82 and SSA4 promoters. Out of the three promoters, the double deletion of MSN2 and MSN4 eliminates both chromatin remodeling and HSF binding only at the HSP12 promoter, suggesting that Msn2/4 activators are primary determinants of …