Nucynta

Nucynta

Generic Name: tapentadol (ta PEN ta dol)

Brand Names: Nucynta

What is Nucynta?

Nucynta (tapentadol) is in a group of drugs called narcotic pain relievers. It is similar to morphine.

Nucynta is used to treat moderate to severe pain.

Nucynta may also be used for other purposes not listed in this medication guide.

Important information about Nucynta

You should not use Nucynta if you are allergic to tapentadol, or if you have severe liver or kidney disease, if you are having an asthma attack, or if you have a bowel obstruction called paralytic ileus. Do not take Nucynta if you have used an MAO inhibitor such as isocarboxazid (Marplan), phenelzine (Nardil), rasagiline (Azilect), selegiline (Eldepryl, Emsam), or tranylcypromine (Parnate) within the past 14 days. Serious, life-threatening side effects can occur if you take Nucynta before the MAO inhibitor has cleared from your body. Nucynta may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person it was prescribed for. This medicine should never be given to another person, especially someone who has a history of drug abuse or addiction. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it. Do not drink alcohol while you are taking Nucynta. Dangerous side effects or death can occur when alcohol is combined with a narcotic pain medicine. Check your food and medicine labels to be sure these products do not contain alcohol.

Tooting my own horn -- one of 50 top blogs!

Allow me a moment of self-indulgence.

This blog has been rated in the Top 50 Medical Ethics Blogs in the world by the web site Uspharmd.com -- 23rd overall and Number One internationally. Or, at least, first on the international list.

Congratulations to me.

Uspharmd.com targets pharmacists, pharmacology students and consumers, rating schools, giving industry news and offering consumer information -- and has its own blog.

Here's what they say about this blog:

International Medical Ethics Blogs.

As the world grows more connected, medicine cannot be isolated to ethics in just one country. The following bioethics blogs offer an international perspective.

Stem cells in US election

Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate in the upcoming U.S. election, has questioned how the Republicans can claim to care about the needs of families with disabled children and still oppose embryonic stem cell research.

The Wall Street Journal says his comments are apparently directed at Sarah Palin, his rival on the Republican ticket.

"I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both...the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect," Biden told a rally in Columbia, Mo. this week.

Health Care Globalization, Part 2

Where this blog began, it now returns.

Canadians have always had a theoretical ability to jump the queue and get faster health care by simply going to a hospital in the United States. But the fact that the care would cost tens of thousands - even hundreds of thousands - of dollars kept most people from doing so.

Only the rich could afford it.

But as Leigh Turner, a medical ethicist at McGill University told me, international queue jumping is now a viable option for the middle class because places like India and Singapore offer surgery at prices as low as one-tenth those in the US. That's a potential threat to medicare, he says, because it could lead to pressure to let people spend the money to queue jump at home, keeping the money and jobs here.

Brain steroids urged

Steroids are wrong for athletes, but okay for scientists. Or pilots. Or students cramming for an exam or would-be job applicants hoping to do well in an interview. Or maybe just about anybody who is really, really busy. Like your doctor.

That's the argument made by seven researchers in a paper published in the prestigious journal Nature over the weekend.

Stanford University law professor Henry Greely, one of the authors, said the moral repugnance that is often focused on steroid use in sports should not be applied to drugs meant to enhance mental capacity.

"Better-working brains produce things of more lasting value than longer home runs."

Assisted suicide in HD TV

At 9 pm tonight in London, 4 pm in Toronto, a British TV show will broadcast the assisted suicide of an American man with an incurable motor neurone disease.

Craig Ewert, 59, died two years ago at a Swiss clinic. His death, the result of ingesting a lethal dose of barbiturates, is part of the documentary Right To Die? by Oscar-winning Canadian director John Zaritsky, who last year released the documentary The Suicide Tourist.

His death, for which Ewert paid $3,000 (US), has sparked a debate in Britain about assisted suicide, where the practice is illegal. Dr. Peter Saunders, director of the campaign group Care Not Killing, said the show was a "cynical attempt to boost television ratings."

Stem cell breakthrough

There's news of a scientific breakthough tonight that could help avoid the ethical and religious objections to stem cell research.

Toronto scientists have scored a major coup in stem cell research, coming first in a world-wide race to find a safer way to make human skin cells act like embryonic stem cells. The discovery could well bring the promise of personalized organ repair within reach of patients.

Andras Nagy, and his team of scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital, are the first to re-program adult human cells into embryonic-like stem cells without using potentially dangerous viruses that could cause cancer.

Obama to move on stem cells today

US President Barack Obama is expected to make official today his long-held promise to reverse his predecessor's ban on embryonic stem cell research.

More than that, according to the Washington Post, he will use the executive order he signs today to shield research in the US from politics.

"The president believes that it's particularly important to sign this memorandum so that we can put science and technology back at the heart of pursuing a broad range of national goals," Melody C. Barnes, director of Obama's Domestic Policy Council, told reporters during a telephone briefing yesterday.

Although officials would not go into details, the memorandum will order the Office of Science and Technology Policy to "assure a number of effective standards and practices that will help our society feel that we have the highest-quality individuals carrying out scientific jobs and that information is shared with the public," said Harold Varmus, who co-chairs Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

Hospital apartments, and political unrest

Bangkok Hospital Medical Centre is now offering full-service apartments for the families of medical tourist who travel to Thailand for medical help.

In the latest move to up the ante in the increasingly competitive market of international medical care, the hospital says the apartments -- complete with cooking facilities -- will make it easier for families to travel to Bangkok for treatment. Rates start at $77 (US) a night for a studio. The apartments are located within the hospital complex, making visitations easier.

Bangkok Hospital serves almost half the 1.2 million medical tourists who visit Thailand each year. It also offers complimentary visa extensions, should a patient's hospital stay extend longer than expected.

GlaxoSmithKlein plan for developing countries backfires

A recent announcement by drug giant GlaxoSmithKlein to spend 20 per cent of its profits from developing country sales on building the health care infrastructure of those same countries, and to sell patented drugs there at a quarter of their market price, sounded quite generous.

At least on the surface.

The plan, however, has not held up to the scrutiny of some of those analyzing it, including The Global Bioethics Blog, which focuses on biotech research in developing countries.

These promises may make GSK look saintly, but the impression largely fades on reflection. 20% of GSK's profits in developing countries does not amount to much. ...

Aggregation Inhibitors-Vasodilators Drug - How does it Works?

Aggregation Inhibitors-Vasodilators Drug - How does Aggregation Inhibitors-Vasodilators Works?

Type of Drug:

Antiplatelet agent; pulmonary artery vasodilator.

How the Drug Works:

Pulmonary artery hypertension is excessive blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries (arteries in the lung). Treprostinil dilates (widens) pulmonary arteries and reduces elevated blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries. It also keeps platelets (blood cells that aid in blood clot formation) from clumping together.

Uses:

For the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II through IV symptoms to reduce symptoms (eg, difficulty breathing, chest pain, fatigue) associated with exercise.

Propoxyphene

Propoxyphene

Generic Name: propoxyphene (pro POX i feen)

Brand names: Darvon, Darvon-N, PP-Cap

What is propoxyphene?

Propoxyphene is in a group of drugs called narcotic pain relievers.

Propoxyphene is used to relieve mild to moderate pain.

Propoxyphene may also be used for purposes other than those listed in this medication guide.

Important information about propoxyphene

Do not use propoxyphene if you have a history of suicidal thoughts or actions. Propoxyphene should never be taken together with a sedative (such as Valium or Xanax) or an antidepressant if you are also drinking large amounts of alcohol. Propoxyphene may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person it was prescribed for. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it. Do not drink alcohol while you are taking propoxyphene. Dangerous side effects or death can occur when alcohol is combined with a narcotic pain medicine. Check your food and medicine labels to be sure these products do not contain alcohol.

Venlafaxie - Benefits and Uses

Type of Drug:

Antidepressant; mood-elevating agent

How the Venlafaxie Product Works:

Venlafaxine inhibits neuronal uptake of serotonin and norepinephrine in the central nervous system, which is believed to combat depression and other behavioral disorders.

Uses of The Venlafaxie:

The treatment of depression. The extended-release form is also used to treat generalized anxiety disorder.

Pregnancy: Adequate studies have not been done in pregnant women. Use only if clearly needed and potential benefits to the mother outweigh the possible hazards to the fetus.

Breastfeeding: Venlafaxine appears the breast milk. A decision should be made to either discontinue nursing or discontinue the drug, taking into account the importance of the drug to the mother.