US-based scientists have been trialling a remote-controlled drug delivery device with exciting results.
The implanted chip was given to female osteoporosis patients and its contents supplied in controlled doses from the outside. Those involved have said the doses given were correct and no side effects were reported.
Therefore, the world's moved one step closer to operational drug-streaming microchips and details of the team's work were unveiled at the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science organisation's AGM, which began on 16 February and concludes on 20 February.
Microchip Drug Delivery
They also made it into the current edition of the Science Translational Medicine publication and come 15 years after the ‘telemedicine' concept was dreamed up by two MIT professors. They've since launched a corporate MIT spin-off - MicroCHIPS Inc - to develop the microchip drug delivery idea.
"You could literally have a pharmacy on a chip", MicroCHIPs' Professor Robert Langer was quoted as having said in an MIT press release. He added: "You can do remote control delivery, you can do pulsatile drug delivery and you can deliver multiple drugs."
The telemedicine drug trial involved seven test subjects - all women, all aged between 65 and 70 and all suffering from osteoporosis. At the start of 2011, the chips were implanted, under anaesthetised surgical conditions and they remained in the women until May.
Into each of these chips were loaded 20 teriparatide doses stored in separate chambers. These were sealed by titanium and platinum layers and, when an electrical current was applied, these layers broke up, allowing the drug to break free. Not only can these chips be told, in real time, when to discharge the drugs inside them, but they can also be programmed ahead of time, so they release the drugs to a precise and planned schedule.
Remote-Controlled Drug Delivery
At present, the operational range of the remote-controlled drug delivery set-up is just a few inches, but the development team expect to be able to achieve a greater distance in due course.
"The whole device is approximately 3cm by 5cm and 1cm thick", MicroCHIPS Inc's chief operating officer, Professor Robert Farra, commented. He continued: "Like other medical implants, it's made out of biocompatible materials. It has a housing with the electronics on the inside, together with the microchips that contain the discrete doses of the hormone.
"Patients with chronic diseases, regular pain-management needs or other conditions that require frequent or daily injections could benefit from this technology."
Photo: M. Scott Brauer - Courtesy MIT
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AstraZeneca has unveiled its "first-ever direct-to-patient programme", which will see the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker offer its breast cancer drug Arimidex to US patients for $40 a month.
Under the scheme, patients with a valid prescription for Arimidex (anastrozole or a generic of the aromatase inhibitor (it went off-patent in the USA in the middle of 2010 can have the branded version delivered directly to their home by pharmacy benefit management company Express Scripts. AstraZeneca says that "calls from patients seeking information on how to obtain the brand Arimidex more affordably helped spur creation of the direct-to-patient programme".
The company adds that upon further research, it felt that eligible patients could realise "significant cost savings through Arimidex Direct". However, AstraZeneca notes that "prescription insurance coverage, including Medicare and Medicaid, cannot be used for any type of reimbursement", so the scheme only applies to patients who pay out of their own pockets.
At $40 a month, the price is above the normal $10 co-payment for generic anastrozole, but well below what insured patients could pay for the branded version - the price of 30 tablets of Arimidex at drugstore.com is listed at $458.97.
*Vertical and Iatrogenic Infections * Transplacental and transmammary transmission occurs in carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores as a result of naïve host infection during pregnancy.2,8 In congenital transmission, T. gondii replicates and infects placental tissue whereby it gains access to the fetus. Outcome in these cases is most severe (e.g. abortion, stillbirth when infection occurs during the first half of the pregnancy.2 Alternatively, when tachyzoites are shed in milk, transmammary transmission may occur and result in clinical illness of varying degrees in newborns.2 Additionally, although less commonly observed, infection is also possible in recipients of donor fluids or tissue thereby underscoring the importance of thoroughly screening donors asT. gondii can survive at 4°C for up to 50 days in stored blood products.9 *Clinical Disease* Although there is a high seroprevalence of T. gondii infection among Felidae, significant clinical disease in domestic cats is relatively infrequent. When disease does occur, it may be attributed to a primary infection in which an inadequate immune response failed to arrest invasive tachyzoites.1,2,4 Alternatively, disease may result from reactivation of subclinical infection in an immunocompromised individual with encysted bradyzoites which may then form rapidly multiplying tachyzoites.2 Such incidents are thought to relate directly to variables such as the age and sex of the host, presence of immunodeficient states (such as feline leukemia virus or feline immunodeficiency virus infection ,concomitant stress or illness, and organism load*.2 * Clinical illness appears to be most frequent among cats less than 2 years of age which may be due in part to an insufficient immune response by young cats.1,2,4 In one study involving 25 kittens experimentally infected with neonatal T. gondii infection, 3 kittens were stillborn.10 Among the 22 live kittens, approximately 95% exhibited proliferative interstitial pneumonia, necrotizing hepatitis, myocarditis, and skeletal myositis to the extent that euthanasia was necessary.10 Infected neonates also often develop central nervous system infections.2 Organism ingestion followed by initial enteroepithelial replication may lead to a self-limiting small bowel diarrhea that occurs due to an IgA response elicited by T. gondii resulting in increased intestinal secretions.2 Clinical illness may progress when naïve hosts are infected or when prior infections are reactivated. Extraintestinal spread of the parasite may occur as rapid multiplication of tachyzoites within host cells results in cell rupture, promoting organism dissemination and, ultimately, tissue necrosis.1,2,4 Disease onset may be sudden or insidious, and clinical signs are often multiple and varied as most types host cells are vulnerable to infection.11 Respiratory, CNS, hepatic, pancreatic, cardiac, and ocular tissues were among the most commonly affected tissues in a group of 100 adult cats with confirmed toxoplasmosis.7 Associated clinical signs included dyspnea, tachypnea, intermittent fever, icterus, vomiting, weight loss, hyperesthesia, shifting lame lameness, ataxia, dermatitis, and death.2 *Clinicopathologic Findings* Laboratory testing may detect several abnormal parameters in animals with acute systemic toxoplasmosis. A nonregenerative anemia may be detected with a concurrent neutrophilic leukocytosis, lymphocytosis, monocytosis, and eosinophilia.2 The biochemical profile of cats with chronic toxoplasmosis may demonstrate hyperglobulinemia due to chronic antigenic stimulation and immune response. Hepatocellular disease may result in elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT enzyme activity, and muscle damage may cause an increase in aspartate aminotransferase (AST and creatine kinase (CK activity.2 Hyperbilirubinemia may occur in cats with cholangiohepatitis or hepatic lipidosis secondary to liver dysfunction.2 Histologically, lesions associated with toxoplasmosis are a result of cell death secondary to intracellular replication of T. gondii. The associated inflammatory reaction is primarily composed of macrophages in adult cats and neutrophils and macrophages (pyogranulomatous , with or without a lymphoplasmacytic component, in neonates.10,11 Tissue cysts often persist in the absence of host reaction. In the CNS, encephalitis may result from tachyzoites primarily infecting astrocytes.11 A resultant diffuse necrotizing and nonsuppurative lymphocytic infiltrate may develop in the brain and extend to the meninges.11 Necrotizing hepatitis with focal areas of coagulative lobular necrosis may be observed with the presence of few organisms.11 Other gross lesions include pulmonary edema and congestion with failure of lung collapse as well as multifocal areas of firm white, yellow, or gray discoloration in the pulmonary parenchyma.11 Toxoplasma organisms invade type 1 and 2 pneumocytes as well as pulmonary alveolar macrophages, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells.11 The subsequent proliferative reaction in alveolar walls may resemble adenomatosis. Severe lymphadenopathy may occur.11 Pericardial effusion is occasionally reported and likely due to organisms invading the myocardium.2 Intestinal lymphatic tissue invasion may result in small bowel ulcerative disease.11 If the muscularis is involved, occasionally a chronic necrotizing process leads to large granulomatous nodules that can impede the transport of luminal contents and possible lymphangiectasia.2,11 Ocular lesions are frequent and may cause inflammation of the retina or anterior segment (anterior uveitis with granulomatous inflammation being the prominent cytologic feature.2 Placental lesions can include focal necrosis with or without foci of mineralization.7 *Diagnosis* Diagnosis of clinical toxoplasmosis in cats is challenging due to the high seroprevalence of the infection among non-affected cats as well as the many potential antibody responses that may occur in disease as well as in health. Sinceseroconversion also occurs in the absence of clinical disease, titers should be interpreted in conjuction with clinical signs consistent with toxoplasmosis. Accordingly, the exclusion of other causes of clinical disease paired with serologic evidence (such as a four-fold increase in titer and a positive response to appropriate therapy may be simultaneously employed in order to reach a tentative diagnosis.2 *Serology * Near 80% of cats are thought to develop IgM antibodies within 1-2 weeks after exposure. These antibodies may remain detectable for months to years.2 As a result, the presence of IgM antibody cannot reliably be used to predict recent infection and oocyst shedding. Similarly, IgG antibodies may not develop for 4-6 weeks and may peak in 2-3 weeks with some cats remaining high for several years.1,2,4 T. gondii titers may be by indirect fluorescent antibody testing, modified agglutination, enzyme-linked immunosorbent antibody assays, and Sabin-Feldman serologic testing.7 Because many cats have T. gondii antibodies from previous exposure, it is necessary to demonstrate either a four-fold rise in IgG titers over a 2-3 week period or a single high IgM titer (> 1:64 .1,2,4,7 Clinical signs may develop before seroconversion occurs in 1-2 weeks or not until after peak titers have developed.1,2,7 For these reasons, antibody titers may be difficult to interpret and single antibody titers are often insufficient for definitive diagnosis.2 *Cytology* Definitive diagnosis for T. gondii is possible through identification of the organisms in body tissue or fluids (see Figures 3,4 . In acute illness, tachyzoites may be present in large numbers in body fluids such as abdominal and pleural effusions.2 Peripheral blood smears, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF , fine needle aspirates of tissues, and airway washings are less likely to provide direct organism detection.2 Such biologic samples can be used for bioassays in mice, tissue cultures, or PCR to demonstrate the presence of T. gondii organisms.2,7 [TR] [TD]Image: http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/clerk/addante/fig03.jpg [/TD] [TD]Image: http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/clerk/addante/fig04.jpg [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 316"]*Figure 3*. Transtracheal washing from a cat. A large binucleate phagocytic cell contains intracytoplasmic Toxoplasma tachyzoites (arrow . Wrights stain, 50X.[/TD] [TD="width: 325"]*Figure 4*. Fine needle aspirate from cat lung. A ruptured large mononuclear cell with multiple Toxoplasma tachyzoites. Wrights stain, 100X.[/TD] [/TR] Fecal samples may also be examined for the presence of T. gondii oocysts but are relatively insensitive and nonspecific. Clinical signs usually do not develop until after oocyst shedding has ceased, and oocyst shedding may occur in the absence of clinical toxoplasmosis.1,2,7 Furthermore, the microscopic appearance of T. gondii oocysts is indistinguishable from the oocysts of other coccidians such as Hammondia and Besnoitia that may also infect cats.2,7 *CNS and Aqueous Humor Analysis* Diagnosis of toxoplasmosis-induced uveitis or encephalitis is also possible through antibody testing and subsequent calculation of Goldman-Witmer coefficients.2, 7 Antibody measurements for T. gondii and another agent-specific-antibody (ASA in aqueous humor or CSF must be compared to the same measurements obtained for serum.2,7 The ASA should be from an agent that is expected to have a high serum titer but does not cause CNS disease. Calicivirus antibody has been used for this purpose in cats.2 This procedure allows for higher antibody levels occurring simply due to increased vascular permeability that may result from inflammation of any cause.2 To calculate the coefficient, the ratio of the T. gondii antibody level in the aqueous or CSF over the T. gondii antibody level in the serum is multiplied by the ratio of the ASA level in body fluids (i.e. in the aqueous or CSF over the serum ASA level.2,7 A coefficient greater than 1 is significant, and a result greater than 8 is considered compatible with T. gondii infection.2,7 *Treatment* [TR] [TD="bgcolor: #990000"]Note: Treatment of animals should only be performed by a licensed veterinarian. Veterinarians should consult the current literature and current pharmacological formularies before initiating any treatment protocol. [/TD] [/TR] Clindamycin at 10-12mg/kg every 8-12 hours for 4 weeks, by oral or parenteral route, is often used for treatment of cats with clinical toxoplasmosis.2,7 Resolution of clinical signs may begin within 24 to 48 hours of instituting therapy.2 Clindamycin doses necessary to treat toxoplasmosis in cats may lead to such adverse reactions as anorexia, vomiting, and diarrhea.12 If clindamycin cannot be tolerated at the recommended dose, pyrimethamine or trimethoprim may be combined with a sulfonamide for treatment. However, the risk of anti-folate drug related bone marrow suppression necessitates frequent monitoring for hematologic abnormalities.2,7 Dietary supplementation with folic acid (5mg/day or yeast (100 mg/kg may aide in correcting hematopoietic disruption.2,7 The prognosis for cats with toxoplasmosis is guarded, as available drugs are unable to completely eliminate the parasite and the risk for relapse of clinical disease is possible.2 Recurrence is particularly common in immunocompromised cats.2,7 *Zoonotic Potential* An estimated 30-50% of the human population is currently infected with Toxoplasma in the asymptomatic cyst form.3 In immunocompromised patients, the cyst form may potentially lead to serious disease.3,13 Because of the potential for disastrous outcomes in infections that occur during pregnancy, women planning to become pregnant may opt for T. gondii antibody testing.13 Positive antibody detection indicates previous infection and suggests that the likelihood of congenital transmission upon re-exposure to the parasite during pregnancy is limited.13 Conversely, antibody-negative women are at far greater risk of transmitting Toxoplasma to the fetus if they should become infected during pregnancy.13 This risk becomes magnified as 70 million domestic cats are kept as pets in American households, making them the most numerous in the nation among domestic companion species.14 Clearly, it is vital to clarify the role of cats in the transmission of Toxoplasma to humans. The primary means by which most humans are infected with T. gondii are through oocyst-contaminated soil and eating undercooked infected meat such as lamb and pork.3 People who own cats are not at a significantly higher risk for T. gondii infection than those who do not.7 Since oocysts are highly resistant to environmental conditions, exposure can be minimized by wearing rubber gloves during contact and washing hands thoroughly after possible exposure to potentially contaminated soil.1,3,13 Areas such as sandboxes should be kept covered to avoid oocyst contamination. 1,3,13 Meat should routinely be cooked to an internal temperature of 70°C (158°F for at least 15 to 30 minutes in order to destroy tissue cysts.13 Restricting the access of pet cats to hunting and disallowing the ingestion of uncooked meat may prevent cats exposure to T. gondii. When they are exposed. most healthy cats will shed oocysts only during acute infection.1,2,7,13 As the infected cat develops an immune response, oocyst shedding is halted, and the development of tachyzoites is arrested with the resultant formation of bradyzoites (slowly replicating forms of the organism conyained within tissue cysts.2 Cats previously unexposed to T. gondii usually begin shedding oocysts between 3 and 10 days after ingestion of infected tissue and continue shedding for 10-14 days, during which time many millions of oocysts may be produced.1,2,7,13 However, once a cat has developed an immune response, further shedding of oocysts is extremely rare.1,2,7,13 In the few cats that do re-excrete oocysts after another exposure to Toxoplasma, the number of oocysts shed is lower and may even be insufficient to transmit the parasite effectively.2,7 An antibody-negative cat, particularly a kitten, is most susceptible to infection and will shed oocysts for one to two weeks post-exposure to T. gondii.2 In a healthy cat, positive antibody titers are suggestive that the cat is immune, not excreting oocysts, and an unlikely source of infection.2 In any case, daily cleaning of feces from litter boxes, paired with regular disinfection of the boxes, will prevent any oocysts that are shed from sporulating to the infective form.1,2,7,13 It is still recommended, however, that women who are or may become pregnant avoid cleaning the litter box.
JUDY WOODRUFF: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, thank you for talking with us.
REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-Calif.: Thank you for having me.
JUDY WOODRUFF: This coming, evidently, agreement on the payroll tax cut. Speaker Boehner is saying today that this is necessary because of the president's failed economic policies.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, how sad. This is necessary because our economy and our people need this boost. For individual families, 160 million American families, this will be a boost. From a macro economic standpoint the demand that is injected into the economy as people spend this money will be a job creator. Again, a temporary measure to help give us a boost. The same as the unemployment insurance extension. Economists tell us that that's an immediate jumpstart to the economy because of the macroeconomics of getting money, spending it immediately, injecting demand, creating jobs.
Does he wants us to get into a discussion of how we got here before, the Bush meltdown of our financial institutions, two unpaid for wars, a prescription drug bill that gave away the store for the pharmaceutical industry, a tax cut for the wealthiest people in our country, unpaid for.
I don't think that we want to go down that path, the American people have been there, seen it, they know. Whatever it is. there is a ground truth in our country that we have to help the middle class.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you worry though that this does take money out of the Social Security trust fund and that it may never be fully be refunded, repaid?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: No, I don't worry about that. I think that this should be the last year for it.
I do believe that other factors in economic growth are weighing in now and we see an improvement in our growth possibilities but I think one or two years, no, the trust fund can handle that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: If this, this is now off the table assuming the vote goes as I think you and the speaker are suggesting it will. What else can Congress get done this year?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: I don't know, you'd have to ask him because so far any initiative the president has put on the table for job creation they have said no to.
What's really sad is as we are meeting this week, they have a highway bill on the floor of the House. Traditionally, highway bills have been a bipartisan initiative for job creation. This is a bill, that has been, for the first time in people say 50 years, has not been put together in a bipartisan way, it is not a job creator, but a job killer for over half a million jobs will be lost if this bill were to become law and it's dangerous to the public safety. For many reasons, this would have been the wrong path to go down and this would have been an important initiative for job creation.
JUDY WOODRUFF: I know that there's a real disagreement about that. What about the president's budget, even there are bi-partisan groups out there applauding the President for getting a start tackling the debt, but in fact the president promised he was going to cut the deficit in half by this point in his presidency. This is not a budget that goes after entitlement reform and it uses what it calls ‘savings' from ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that, again, bi-partisan outside groups are saying are really a gimmick, that isn't money that can really be counted on as savings.
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, you put several aspects of the budget on the table. Let me say that I'm proud of what the president's budget it. It's a statement of our national values, as to what is important to us as a country being reflected into our investment priorities in a budget. It talks about investments in our future, it talks about job creation, it talks about deficit reduction. It talks about lowering taxes for the middle class as an ongoing theme in his agenda. Many of these outside groups did not say the same thing when the Republicans put the savings from the overseas war in their budgets, so this is a legitimate place. The savings are there and can be used to offset other investments. But it is, again, a continuation of what the president started when he came into office and he made that statement, reduce the deficit, create jobs, lower taxes for the middle class, do so by investments in education and innovation into healthcare and to energy innovations for which he is in the lead. What's also important about it though and is important to note, is that when the new president made that statement he was basing his figures on those given to him by the Commerce Department of the previous administration which either didn't know or didn't tell what the actual fiscal situation was.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We are launching into an election year, in the last campaign Madam Minority Leader you became a negative symbol for the Democrats and the Republicans went after you with a vengeance, do you think they are going to do the same thing this year?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well it doesn't matter but what's important about that is they used money to win the election. They used money. Undisclosed, unlimited, special interest money, and that's why our focus is on disclose. We want to know where that money's coming from, we want people to stand by their ad. You have something to say? You're going to spend tens of millions of dollars to misrepresent the president's position on something, going to say and mischaracterize the record of a member of Congress, stand by your ad. So we want to disclose. We want to reform the system, after we win. We want to amend the Constitution to get rid of this Citizens United unlimited money in the system.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, what do you think about the fact the Obama campaign -- Democrats have embraced the system, the Super PACs, just as the Republicans have?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: No, I want to make the distinction. The Republicans' money was undisclosed. Undisclosed. The president is, I think, doing the right thing to win this election by disclosing what the source of the money is. That makes all the difference in the world when people know where the money is coming from, because if people have to stand by their ad they may not make such outrageous charges or they may not even put the money up. So, I think they president has to win, he can't go to a baseball game without a bat, and there is so much at stake for the American people in this election. But his is different from theirs in that his is disclosed, theirs was not, to the tune of about $150 million, as you said, directed at me.
JUDY WOODRUFF: You, I was mentioning that the Republicans used you, you became a negative symbol to the part of the Republicans in the last election, should Democrats do the same with Speaker Boehner or another Republican?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: I think the Democrats are running about the future. The Republicans have always got to attack sombody else because they're frankly bankrupt in terms of ideas for the future. We are talking about reigniting the American dream. The president will go out there and talk about what is at stake for the future. It isn't about attacking an individual because if you don't have the issues you attack the person. He has the issues. He has the values. Reignite the American dream, build ladders of opportunity for all who want to work hard, play by the rules, take responsibility. But we have work to do to do that, and we would hope to do it in a bipartisan way. I think that's what you'll see on the Democratic side. And winning the election to change the system to diminish the role of money in the campaigns so the people's voices and votes will decide the election, not the bankrolls of a very few people.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Another topic, the challenge to the healthcare reform law, the Affordable Care Act, coming up before the Supreme Court next month, are you worried about that?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well I think we're in pretty good shape constitutionally. I mean we wrote a bill understanding our responsibilities to the Constitution of the United States. You never know what happens in a court, but in terms of the substance and the constitutionality of it, we believe that we're on solid ground.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And if it were to be in part or fully overturned, what would that mean for the Congress?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, let's be on the positive side. Even some of the most conservative groups, the Heritage Foundation for example, supported the individual mandate and that's really the essence of the case going to the Supreme Court. The individual mandate. That has had support from the right to the left on the political spectrum. But you know what, it's the third branch of government. They will act on their responsibilities and the substance before them. In terms of what we legislated, we feel very strongly and believe that its on strong constitutional ground.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A question, Madam Leader about the war in Afghanistan, there was a report in the New York Times last week, about an exhaustive and a really devastating report written by an Army colonel who went over to Afghanistan. His assessment is that this war has essentially been a disaster, the military leaders of the United States have not leveled with the American people saying the situation on the ground is much worse than what the American people have been lead to believe. My question is, first of all, are you familiar with the report and if you are, do you agree with his assessment, you've spent time looking at this?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: I've gone to Afghanistan many times in the course of our involvement there and my last trip was most optimistic. It was bearing fruit from the changed approach that President Obama has taken. You have to remember, that when the president took office, there had been no plan for Afghanistan for the full time, for the seven years before he took office. It's a very sad tale to say we went in, we routed the Taliban we did not defeat them, and we went to Iraq. The president came in with a new approach for how to transfer the responsibility for security in Afghanistan to the Afghan forces and that I see much more progress in the past year than I had in the ten years before.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you have confidence in what the military leadership is saying about how the war is going?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: From what I have seen there. Now let me say this, I think we will be honoring the president's announcement that we will be reducing our number of troops or changing their mission in this year, in 2013 the year to come, in order for us to leave in 2014.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, thank you very much for talking with us.
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