{"title":"Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Treating Hepatic Encephalopathy: Experimental and Clinical Evidence and Possible Underlying Mechanisms","authors":"W. Xie, Xiao-Ya Yang, H. Xia, Xingxiang He","doi":"10.14218/JERP.2018.00017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14218/JERP.2018.00017","url":null,"abstract":"Gut microbiota changes play a key role in the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an efficient way to manipulate the gut microbiota. This review collects the experimental and clinical evidence that supports the use of FMT in the treatment of HE. Animal experiments showed that the blood ammonia level, mortality and cognitive impairment were decreased when animals with HE were transplanted with the selected gut microbiota or the fecal material from human donor. Successful clinical application of FMT for treating HE was first reported in 2016. A subsequent randomized clinical trial demonstrated further that FMT from a “rationally selected donor” reduced hospitalizations and improved cognition and dysbiosis in patients with recurrent HE. Possible underlying mechanisms of FMT treating HE include restoration of the impaired gut-liver-brain axis, as well as reduction of ammonia production, systemic inflammation and blood-brain barrier permeability.","PeriodicalId":73746,"journal":{"name":"Journal of exploratory research in pharmacology","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43175345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Computational Approach for Stent Elution Rate Determined Specific Drug Binding and Receptor-mediated Effects in Arterial Tissue","authors":"Ramprosad Saha","doi":"10.14218/jerp.2018.00018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14218/jerp.2018.00018","url":null,"abstract":"In the present article the effects of drug binding (both specific and nonspecific) in the porous arterial wall following stent-based drug delivery from drug-eluting stents (DESs) are investigated. A three-phase (free, extracellular matrix-bound, and specific receptor-bound) second-order nonlinear saturable reversible binding model is considered in order to describe the binding process with the constituents of the porous arterial wall. Although, there are currently some precise forms of a drug binding model in the arterial tissue in the literature, analyzed by various authors. The specific interest in this present context is in assessing to what extent modelling of specific and nonspecific binding within a single-layered homogeneous porous arterial wall is possible. A novel axi-symmetric model of drug delivery from three stent struts has been developed and is presented.","PeriodicalId":73746,"journal":{"name":"Journal of exploratory research in pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49555533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Role of Predictive Markers in Outcome and Value of Anticancer Drugs in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer","authors":"H. Guirgis","doi":"10.14218/JERP.2018.00020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14218/JERP.2018.00020","url":null,"abstract":"Rising costs and stagnant value of anticancer drugs are of serious concerns to authorities and patients worldwide. The widely used methodology of comparing value of one intervention with another has been the foundation of various additions and modifications.1,2 Quality-of-life (QoL) measures were later introduced and incorporated. At present, the methodology is mainly utilized by medical economists and specialized oncologists. Over the last 10 years, we have developed simplified platforms for use by the practicing physicians, oncologists, pharmacists and nurses.3 The main objective was to facilitate communication of outcome, cost and value of anticancer drugs between oncologists and patients with clarity, transparency and full disclosure. The proposed platforms have been applied successfully in multiple types of cancer, including prostate cancer, and used in the present communication to assess drugs in non-small cell cancer (NSCLC).","PeriodicalId":73746,"journal":{"name":"Journal of exploratory research in pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49236916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dendritic Cell Vaccines Presenting Autologous Tumor Antigens from Self-renewing Cancer Cells in Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma","authors":"R. Dillman, C. Depriest","doi":"10.14218/JERP.2018.00012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14218/JERP.2018.00012","url":null,"abstract":"Metastatic renal cell cancer is typically resistant to chemotherapy but does respond to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor signal transduction inhibition and to a variety of immunotherapies, including interleukin (IL)-2 and monoclonal antibodies that inhibit immune checkpoints. Enhanced immune recognition of tumor antigens may improve clinical outcomes. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a patient-specific approach utilizing autologous dendritic cell vaccines and self-renewing autologous tumor cells in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.","PeriodicalId":73746,"journal":{"name":"Journal of exploratory research in pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45886085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}