body, being contained in infusion solutions not only cause infusion-related phlebitis but also have been suggested to damage various organs such as the lungs, brain, kidneys, liver, and spleen. However, in Asian countries such as Japan, adequate attention is not paid to particulate contamination of parenteral solutions. For example, many drugs in glass ampoules are added to parenteral nutrition...

Opioid receptors of the mu-, delta- and kappa-subtypes mediate the potent analgesic and addictive actions of opioid drugs. They also regulate responses to pain, stress and emotions when activated by endogenous opioid peptides. Recently, mice lacking opioid receptors or opioid peptides have been produced by gene targeting, providing molecular tools to study opioid function in vivo. Observations ...

We prospectively compared 2 groups of multiple myeloma patients who had undergone autologous stem cell transplantation. The first group (group 1, n=30) received amifostine (740 mg/mq) whereas the second group (group 2, n=36) did not receive this treatment, before melphalan infusion, as cytoprotectant for mucosal damage. Our results demonstrated that amifostine did not reduce the incidence or gr...

Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is an important means for postoperative analgesia with parenteral opioid. However, postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) remains a major problem with a PCA system. Droperidol is used in PCA to prevent PONV. Extrapyramidal reactions by droperidol are, however, occasionally induced. We describe two cases of severe extrapyramidal hypertonic syndrome with an in...

Pain-related issues represent the most common reason for which people seek health care. 1 Opioids, such as morphine, are the most commonly prescribed class of drugs for treating moderate to severe pain. Morphine is a μopioid, δ-opioid and κ-opioid receptor agonist. Whereas, butorphanol is a synthetic opioid analgesic exhibiting partial agonist and antagonist activity at the μ-opioid receptor as...

Development of new opioid drugs that provide analgesia without producing dependence is important for pain treatment. Opioid agonist drugs exert their analgesia effects primarily by acting at the mu opioid receptor (MOR) sites. High-resolution differentiation of opioid ligands is crucial for the development of new lead drug candidates with better tolerance profiles. Here, we use a label-free int...