Serum streptomycin (SM) concentrations in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were determined by fluorescence polarization immuoassay (FPIA) method, and the relationships between the pharmacokinetics and the side effects of SM were investigated.
SM clearance correlated with that of creatinine. However, some nonlinear pharmacokinetics were observed in patients who are over 60 years old and have less than 50ml/ min of Clcr, suggesting the relation to the appearance of the toxicity of SM. There was a tendency for the increase of oto-toxicity in patients with over 3 hrs of half-life (t_{1/ 2}) or over 35-50μg/ ml of maximum concentrations (C_max).
It was suggested that the determination of serum SM concentration at 1 hr after intramuscular injection is important to avoid the appearance of the toxicity, since it correlated with C_max and SM clearance.

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The effects of commercially available serum separators on measured serum drug concentrations were examined. Blood samples were drawn into Vacutainer Serum Separator Tube (SST) and tubes without the separator gel (Venoject Red Top tube) from patients taking antiepileptic drugs. The serum levels of phenytoin, phenobarbital, carbamazepine, and valproate were then determined by fluorescence polarization immunoassay procedure. A significant decrease in measured concentrations of phenytoin and phenobarbital was observed when SST was used.
Three commercially available serum separators, SST, Venoject AutoSep, and Auto Iso-Filter were compared for their effects on the measured concentrations of phenytoin using blood samples containing the known amounts of phenytoin. All of these separators caused decreases in drug concentrations, but the extents of the decreases were different among the three separators. The most remarkable effect was found in Auto Iso-Filter, followed by SST. The effect of AutoSep was slight. It was found that the decrease in the measured drug concentrations was greatly influenced by the duration of exposure to the separators and the volume of blood samples.
The similar effects of the separators were also found in lidocaine.
These results suggested that the serum separator must be carefully chosen before the use for the determination of serum levels of the drugs.

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Seralyzer system applying apoenzyme reactivation immunoassay system for determination of serum theophylline concentration (SERALYZER method) was evaluated. The coefficients of variation of within-run and between-run precisions for 3 concentrations of theophylline in serum were less than 4%. The serum theophylline concentrations determined by SERALYZER method for 40 samples were compared with those determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), substrate-labeled fluorescent immunoassay method-fluorostat (SLFIA method-A), SLFIA method-OPTIMATE (SLFIA method-B) and fluorescence polarization immunoassay method (FPIA method). There were good agreements between HPLC and SERALYZER method results, SLFIA method-A and SERALYZER method results, SLFIA method-B and SERALYZER method results, and FPIA method and SERALYZER method results, where all correlation coefficients were 0.996. The cross-reactivities of caffeine, 8-chlorotheophylline, 1, 3-dimethyluric acid, 1, 7-dimethylxanthine, 3-methylxanthine, theobromine, and 1, 3, 7-trimethyluric acid in SERALYZER method were found. However, these cross-reactivities are not serious problems in clinical condition. Therefore, the SERALYZER method may be useful for the drug-level monitoring of patients under theophylline therapy.

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We studied the influence of tea drinking on iron absorption from a controlled release iron product. The increases of serum iron level after oral administration of the product, which were measured as the index of the iron absorption, were inhibited by the combined use of tea. The inhibition was 64% in the case of the administration immediately after meal. In the case of that between meals it was lessened to 30%, however, it was enhanced to 57% by the additional use of 1 g of dried aluminium hydroxide gel.
From these results, the influence of tea on iron absorption was shown to be larger in the case of the administration immediately after meal than that between meals, which is assumedly caused by elevation of gastric pH value followed by the increase of iron-tannate complex formation.

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From the viewpoint of hospital management, importance of financial management of drugs has been significantly increased. We developed the computerized purchasing and inventory control system by the use of ABC analysis theory. This system was put into practice in Onoda Red Cross Hospital to control the drugs at a ward using personal computer (CPU: 256 KB, Floppy Disk: 2 drive 2 MB) and drug storage at a ward could be successfuly much reduced.
Traditionally, financial managements of drugs in most hospitals in Japan have been limited to drug storage only in pharmacy but it was found that this new system could be enlarged to control all drug storage in hospital and contributive largely toward hospital management.

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Injuries of enteric-coated granules by mixing were investigated by measuring the dissolution from them in pH 1.2 solution, using 5 kinds of mixers. The following results were obtained: The injuries were varied among mixers. The important causes were the rotation rate of the mixer and the gap between the rotor and the cup. Concerning the quality of the material of the cup, the polycarbonate cup caused the less injury than the stainless-steel cup.

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Weight variation and disintegration time were studied on 37 kinds of commercial hard capsules. All of the capsules complied with the weight variation test. It was difficult to determine the time for complete disintegration of capsules, therefore, the time was determined by judging following two types of the disintegration. Type I: the time when no content of the capsule remains in the test tube except for the film. Type II: the time when no residue remains in the test tube. The disintegration times determined as above were compared with the dissolution curve obtained by spectrophotometric method. The results showed that the time for the complete disintegration may be determined by the judgement of the type II.

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Three types of fat emulsions were combined with hyperalimentation; the appearance, pH, and light microscopic observations on the mixture kept in a cool place at room temperature were made. The changes in the diameters of the fat particles were studied by Coulter nanosizer and the addition of the multiple vitamin causing the physical changes on the fat particles was also investigated. The enlargement of the diameters of the fat particles occurred due to the aggregation of the fat particles after mixing the emulsions with the hyperalimentation. A significant difference in stability of the mixture was observed between egg yolk lecithin and soybean lecithin when used as emulsifiers. The addition of the multiple vitamin inhivited the changes in the diameters of the fat particles, thus giving no hindrance in the usual clinical use. It was found that the fat soluble vitamins in the mixture worked as solubilizing agents to inhibit the chages in the diameters.

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