The database industry in Catalonia: a ten year overview

Reviews growth in database production in Catalonia (ASCII, videotext, CD-ROM) over the past decade, with particular attention to the level of development, classification of producers, distribution, users and language. Examines the principal problems affecting the Catalan context: the lack of an informationand documentation policy, deficiencies in distribution of databases, the special situation in telecommunications, insufficient financial resources and the lack of specialized personnel.

Ten years follow-up after deep sclerectomy with collagen implant.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term success rate and complications of nonpenetrating deep sclerectomy with collagen implant in open-angle glaucoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Clinical, prospective, monocentric, nonrandomized, unmasked study on 105 patients with medically uncontrolled glaucoma. A standard procedure deep sclerectomy with collagen implant was performed. Complete examinations were performed before surgery and postoperatively at 1 and 7 days; 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months and then every 6 months during the 10 following years. RESULTS: The mean follow-up was 101.5+/-43.1 (3 to 144) months [mean+/-SD, (range)]. The preoperative intraocular pressure (IOP) was 26.8+/-7.7 (14 to 52) mm Hg and the best-corrected visual acuity 0.71+/-0.33 (0.02 to 1.5). Ten years after surgery IOP was 12.2+/-4.7 (6 to 20) mm Hg and best-corrected visual acuity 0.63+/-0.34 (0.01 to 1.2) (number of remaining patients=52). The mean number of medications per patient went from 2.3+/-0.7 (1 to 4) down to 1.3+/-1.1 (0 to 3). An IOP <or=21 mm Hg without medication was achieved in 47.7% patients and in 89% with or without treatment. One major complication was reported. Goniopuncture was performed in 61 eyes (59.8%), 5-fluorouracil treatment given to 25 patients postoperatively and included needling (n=5). CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of a 10-year follow-up deep sclerectomy with collagen implant demonstrated its efficacy in controlling IOP with few postoperative complications.

On the way to Iowa: An address delivered at Iowa City, Iowa, before the State Historical Society of Iowa on May the twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred ten, 1910

This book is the address delivered at Iowa City, Iowa, before the State Historical Society of Iowa on May 25, 1910 by Laenas Gifford Weld. His speech covers the history and the discovery of the territory of the Mississippi Valley and Iowa. He talks about early pioneers and explorers, the routes they took and how they navigated into this newly discovered territory.

Fast quantification of ten psychotropic drugs and metabolites in human plasma by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for therapeutic drug monitoring.

A sensitive and selective ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method was developed for the fast quantification of ten psychotropic drugs and metabolites in human plasma for the needs of our laboratory (amisulpride, asenapine, desmethyl-mirtazapine, iloperidone, mirtazapine, norquetiapine, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine and risperidone). Stable isotope-labeled internal standards were used for all analytes, to compensate for the global method variability, including extraction and ionization variations. Sample preparation was performed by generic protein precipitation with acetonitrile. Chromatographic separation was achieved in less than 3.0min on an Acquity UPLC BEH Shield RP18 column (2.1mm×50mm; 1.7μm), using a gradient elution of 10mM ammonium formate buffer pH 3.0 and acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0.4ml/min. The compounds were quantified on a tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer operating in positive electrospray ionization mode, using multiple reaction monitoring. The method was fully validated according to the latest recommendations of international guidelines. Eight point calibration curves were used to cover a large concentration range 0.5-200ng/ml for asenapine, desmethyl-mirtazapine, iloperidone, mirtazapine, olanzapine, paliperidone and risperidone, and 1-1500ng/ml for amisulpride, norquetiapine and quetiapine. Good quantitative performances were achieved in terms of trueness (93.1-111.2%), repeatability (1.3-8.6%) and intermediate precision (1.8-11.5%). Internal standard-normalized matrix effects ranged between 95 and 105%, with a variability never exceeding 6%. The accuracy profiles (total error) were included in the acceptance limits of ±30% for biological samples. This method is therefore suitable for both therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacokinetic studies.