BJOG. 2009 Jul 7; Witt A, Kaufmann U, Bitschnau M, Tempfer C, Ozbal A, Haytouglu E, Gregor H, Kiss HPlease cite this paper as: Witt A, Kaufmann U, Bitschnau M, Tempfer C, Ozbal A, Haytouglu E, Gregor H, Kiss H. Monthly itraconazole versus classic homeopathy for the treatment of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis: a randomised trial. BJOG 2009; DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02262.x.Objective Antimycotics effectively treat sporadic and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC). Classic homeopathy (CH) is also used to treat this condition. We compared the efficacy of CH and itraconazole in reducing the frequency of RVVC episodes. Design Single-centre, prospective, randomised trial. Sample One hundred-and-fifty patients with a history of RVVC and an acute episode of VVC. Methods Women were randomised into 3 groups: itraconazole with lactobacilli (group 1), itraconazole without lactobacilli (group 2) and CH (group 3). Itraconazole treatment of acute infection was followed by a 6-month maintenance regimen with monthly single-day itraconazole (200 mg bid). Women in group 1 were given additional vaginal lactobacilli for 6 days per month throughout the maintenance regimen Thereafter, patients were followed without treatment for 6 months. CH treatment was performed for 12 months. Results Women in groups 1 and 2 reached a culture-free status significantly earlier than women in group 3 (log-rank test; P < 0.0001). Specifically, before the start of the maintenance regimen, 44 of 49 women (89.8%) in group 1 and 40 of 47 women (85%) in group 2 were free of Candida detectable by culture, 22 of 46 (47%) women in group 3 reached a culture-free status after the first visit, but had a recurrence significantly earlier compared with women in groups 1 and 2 (log-rank test; P = 0.002). After 12 months, 19 of 25 (76%) women in group 1, 18 of 23 (78%) women in group 2 and 9 of 23 (39%) women in group 3 were free of culture-detectable Candida. Assessment of RVVC-associated complaints by VAS score showed that women in group 3 had a significantly higher level of discomfort (36.8, 25.1 and 27.7 respectively; P < 0.001) and were significantly less satisfied (59.2, 68.2 and 71.7 respectively; P < 0.001) than patients in groups 1 and 2. Conclusions Monthly cycle-dependent itraconazole is more effective than CH in the treatment of RVVC. Lactobacilli do not confer an added benefit.

Rev Hist Pharm (Paris). 2009 Feb; 56(360): 469-82Pinet PMen were very early fascinated by magnetism because of its manifest and particular working at distance, which looked different of gravity. It was tryed to be explained by mecanism, for exemple Descartes and Boyle. Paracelse valued the therapeutics with magnets and conceived medicines as working by a magnetic virtue. Gilbert limited the medicinal properties of magnet but helded it to be animated. Many authors praised remedies that work at distance of the evil as Bacon, Van Helmont, Croll, Porta, Goclenius, Digby. Such a belief related to magic ideas of this time. In the Bacon's way Boyle collected facts of magnetic cures, and his actual testing of the divisibility of bodies led him to conceive imponderable corpuscles. Newton supposed a subtil and universel fluid going through every solid body. Mesmer misappropriated this idea by founding the animal magnetism of which physical working was only proceeding from the inside of the patient by an effect of suggestion (psychosomatic). Homeopathy took again the notion of remedies having an infinite or a magnetic virtue, which partly issued from Paracelse's and Mesmer's doctrines, which were extolled in Germany at the time of Hahnemann. The latter decided in favour of a spiritualist and not corpuscular interpretation of the working of his homeopathic medicines.

J Org Chem. 2009 Jul 2; Huang H, Jiang H, Chen K, Liu HWe developed a simple and convenient copper-catalyzed method for the synthesis of quinoline-2-carboxylate derivatives through sequential intermolecular addition of alkynes onto imines and subsequent intramolecular ring closure by arylation. The efficiency of this system allowed the reactions to be carried out at room temperature.

Acta Pharmacol Sin. 2009 Jul 6; Shi YF, Zhang HY, Wang W, Fu Y, Xia Y, Tang XC, Bai DL, He XCAim:To design novel bifunctional derivatives of huperzine B (HupB) based on the concept of dual binding site of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and evaluate their pharmacological activities for seeking new drug candidates against Alzheimer's disease (AD).Methods:Novel 16-substituted bifunctional derivatives of HupB were synthesized through chemical reactions. The inhibitory activities of the derivatives toward AChE and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) were determined in vitro by modified Ellman's method. Cell viability was quantified by the reduction of MTT.Results:A new preparative method was developed for the generation of 16-substituted derivatives of HupB, and pharmacological trials indicated that the derivatives were multifunctional cholinesterase inhibitors targeting both AChE and BuChE. Among the derivatives tested, 9c, 9e, 9f, and 9i were 480 to 1360 times more potent as AChE inhibitors and 370 to 1560 times more potent as BuChE inhibitors than the parent HupB. Further preliminary pharmacological trials of derivatives 9c and 9i were performed, including examining the mechanism of AChE inhibition, the substrate kinetics of the enzyme inhibition, and protection against hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2))-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells.Conclusion:Preliminary pharmacological evaluation indicated that 16-substituted derivatives of HupB, particularly 9c and 9i, would be potentially valuable new drug candidates for AD therapy, and further exploration is needed to evaluate their pharmacological and clinical efficacies.Acta Pharmacologica Sinica advance online publication, 6 July 2009; doi: 10.1038/aps.2009.91.