St Bartholomew's Hospital

About: St Bartholomew's Hospital is a healthcare organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Cancer. The organization has 11054 authors who have published 13229 publications receiving 501102 citations. The organization is also known as: St. Bartholomew's Hospital & The Royal Hospital of St Bartholomew.

History of aspirin and its mechanism of action

Abstract: The history of Aspirin goes back many thousands of years to the early uses of decoctions or preparations of plants that contain salicylate. Salicylic acid was chemically synthesized in 1860 in Germany, and its ready supply led to even greater use as an external antiseptic, as an antipyretic, and in the treatment of rheumatism. Aspirin itself was synthesized by Felix Hoffman while working at Bayer at the turn of the century, and Hermann Dreser introduced it in 1899 when he published a report suggesting that Aspirin was a convenient way of supplying the body with the active substance salicylate. Pharmacologists have put forth many different possible modes of action of Aspirin, but the one that has gained general recognition is through inhibition of prostaglandin biosynthesis by irreversible interaction with the enzyme cyclooxygenase. This discovery in 1971 led to a veritable explosion in research, which resulted in several new, more potent Aspirin-like drugs and in an extension of the uses of Aspirin. This mode of action of Aspirin is discussed in this review as well as some of the surviving alternative hypotheses.

The Effects of Treatment and the Individual Responsiveness to Growth Hormone (GH) Replacement Therapy in 665 GH-Deficient Adults

Abstract: Data from 665 adults with GH deficiency (GHD; 332 women; 169 childhood-onset GHD; mean age, 44 yr) were analyzed to determine the efficacy of and individual responsiveness to GH replacement therapy. GH replacement was started at enrolment into KIMS (Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc. International Metabolic Database). Mean maintenance doses of GH after 6 and 12 months were 0.43 and 0.53 mg/day (1.3 and 1.6 IU/day) for men and women, respectively. Serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) sd score increased from −2.2 and− 4.2 in men and women, respectively, to 1.8 and −0.9 at 6 months and 0.8 and −0.7 at 12 months. The waist/hip ratio decreased after 6 and 12 months, with the changes more pronounced in men. The waist/hip ratio was not influenced by age of onset of GHD, severity of hypopituitarism, or gonadal status. Total cholesterol decreased significantly in men, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol increased in women. Systolic blood pressure was unchanged during GH therapy, but diastolic blood pressure decre...

Efficacy and safety of bortezomib in patients with renal impairment: results from the APEX phase 3 study

Abstract: Renal impairment is associated with poor prognosis in multiple myeloma (MM). This subgroup analysis of the phase 3 Assessment of Proteasome Inhibition for Extending Remissions (APEX) study of bortezomib vs high-dose dexamethasone assessed efficacy and safety in patients with relapsed MM with varying degrees of renal impairment (creatinine clearance (CrCl) 80 ml min(-1)). Time to progression (TTP), overall survival (OS) and safety were compared between subgroups with CrCl 50 ml min(-1) (no/mild impairment). Response rates with bortezomib were similar (36-47%) and time to response rapid (0.7-1.6 months) across subgroups. Although the trend was toward shorter TTP/OS in bortezomib patients with severe-to-moderate vs no/mild impairment, differences were not significant. OS was significantly shorter in dexamethasone patients with CrCl 50 ml min(-1) (P=0.003), indicating that bortezomib is more effective than dexamethasone in overcoming the detrimental effect of renal impairment. Safety profile of bortezomib was comparable between subgroups. With dexamethasone, grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs), serious AEs and discontinuations for AEs were significantly elevated in patients with CrCl 50 ml min(-1). These results indicate that bortezomib is active and well tolerated in patients with relapsed MM with varying degrees of renal insufficiency. Efficacy/safety were not substantially affected by severe-to-moderate vs no/mild impairment.