INTRODUCTION Information on benefits and risks of drugs is a key element affecting doctors' prescribing decisions. Outreach visits promoting independent information have proved moderately effective in changing prescribing behaviours. OBJECTIVES Testing the short and long-term effectiveness on general practitioners' prescribing of small groups meetings led by pharmacists. METHODS Two cluster...

This review evaluates the role of α-adrenoceptor antagonists as a potential treatment of prostate cancer (PCa). Cochrane, Google Scholar and Pubmed were accessed to retrieve sixty-two articles for analysis. In vitro studies demonstrate that doxazosin, prazosin and terazosin (quinazoline α-antagonists) induce apoptosis, decrease cell growth, and proliferation in PC-3, LNCaP and DU-145 cell lines...

The mechanism of hormonally induced cell hypertrophy is unknown. Stimulation of cardiac myocytes by alpha 1-adrenergic agents, phorbol esters, and serum induces an increase in the cell size of nondividing cardiac myocytes in primary culture. Expression of the c-myc gene, known to be increased in growth factor-induced cell division, was studied in this model of cell hypertrophy. The alpha-adrene...

AIM we aimed to systematically review drugs to treat lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) regularly used in older persons to classify appropriate and inappropriate drugs based on efficacy, safety and tolerability by using the Fit fOR The Aged (FORTA) classification. METHODS to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of drugs used for treatment of LUTS in older persons, a systematic revi...

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common disease affecting elderly men with 70% of men over 70 years showing microscopic evidence of hyperplasia. Transurethral resection of the prostate is the gold standard treatment. Medical management of BPH has involved the use of plant extracts, amino acids, kampo and animal organ preparations in various countries with unsatisfactory results. The use ...

OBJECTIVE The incidence of heart attack and stroke undergo diurnal variation. Molecular clocks have been described in the heart and the vasculature; however it is largely unknown how the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) entrains these peripheral oscillators. METHODS AND RESULTS Norepinephrine and epinephrine, added to aortic smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) in vitro, altered Per1, E4bp4, and dbp expr...

Background Progressive ventricular remodeling after myocardial damage is associated with a poor prognosis. Optimal prevention of the histopathological processes involved in remodeling requires a more complete understanding of the mechanisms involved in initiating and maintaining these structural changes. Since the sympathetic nervous system and the renin-angiotensin system may be involved in th...

alpha(1)-Adrenoceptor antagonists are the mainstay of medical treatment of male voiding dysfunction which typically is attributed to benign prostatic hyperplasia. While original concepts have assumed that they relieve voiding dysfunction by relaxing prostatic smooth muscle, newer data indicate that their therapeutic effects at least partly occur independent of prostatic relaxation, perhaps invo...

The development, validation and evaluation of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for quantifying mycophenolic acid in human plasma is described. The method involved protein precipitation using acetonitrile, after addition of terazosin as an internal standard. Separation was achieved with a reversed-phase C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm) employing UV detection at 215 nm. The mobile...

Since intraoperative floppy iris syndrome (IFIS) was first described in 2005, its association with the systemic alpha-1 adrenergic antagonist, tamsulosin (Flomax®, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, CT), has become well established [1-7]. The clinical manifestations of IFIS complicating cataract surgery are poor preoperative pupil dilation, iris billowing and prolapse, and ...