Theophylline concentrations in plasma and saliva after administration of three kinds of suppository and tablet were measured according to Schack and Waxier. Theophylline concentration with Witepsol base (Cmax 2.75μg/ml) was almost on a level with that with P. E. G. base (Cmax 2.81μg/ml) in respect to rectal absorption of aminophylline suppositories. Theophylline concentration of the suppositories (Cmax 2.40μg/ml) was lower than that of the aminophilline suppositories. Rectal absorption of the suppositories was slightly inferior to absorption by oral administration. Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed between the concentrations of orally administered theophylline in plasma and saliva.

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Effects of Witepsol base, P. E. G. base and aminophylline suppositories (Witepsol base, P. E. G. base) on the rectal mucous membrane in rabbits were investigated. These suppositories were administered once in a single dose or once a day for 2 weeks. The rectum extirpated 6 hrs after last insertion was examined with unaided eyes and optical and scanning electron microscopes. As a result, no damage by aminophylline suppositories and bases was observed, and irritative effect of Witepsol base was in about the same degree as that of P. E. G. base.

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Determination of tegafur (FT-207) by micro high performance liquid chromatography (MHPLC) was studied. The analytical conditions were as follows: column: HP-175 (5μm, 0.5mm×22cm, Teflon tube); flow rate: 16μl / min.; internal standard: uracil. The precision was 1.5%(C. V.) for the 12 assays of the sample with concentration of 2.8 mg/ ml. The volumes of mobile phase and sample solution necessary for one assay were 200-300μl and 1-0.01μl, respectively. Consequently, MHPLC is considered to be convenient method; it may be used primarily, for the analysis of pharmaceutical preparations and for the preliminary estimation. of analytical conditions for HPLC.

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Commercially available corticosteroid ointments and creams were investigated in terms of physical evaluation. In 33 products of commercial ointments and about 50 of creams, the presence of particles or crystals of corticosteroid and the occurance of recrystallization in these products were studied by polarizing microscopic method. In addition, the measurement of yield of these products was made with the spread meter. Results were as follows:
1) Crystals of corticosteroid were observed in 25 of 33 ointment products and in 30 out of 50 cream products.
2) Diameters of corticosteroid particles existed in ointment products, ranging from 100μm to 200 kem, were smaller rhan those in cream products.
3) 73% of ointment products showed yield value ranging from 4000 to 10000 dyne/ cm², while 70% of cream products showed the value below 4000 dyne/ cm².

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in order to evaluate a practicability of the machine (L-2) equipped with a linear vibrating feeder, comparative examinations were made on the uniformity of the mixtures after the division by each of 3 machines (L-2, B and R). The machines used were the same as that which had been used in the previous work. The samples used were the powder-granule mixtures in 8 grades of mixture ratio (powder/ granule) ranging from 1/15 to 15/1, and powder and granule were prepared in our pharmacy. 10g of the sample was divided into 15 parts by each of these machines, and dividing was repeated 5 times.
As for variation of percent powder content after the division, the difference between the machine L-2 and B was not significant. However, as for mixture weight and powder weight after division, the machine L-2 showed smaller variations than the machine B. When the machine L-2 is used, the mixture shows a separation tendency because of vibration, which is one of two main functions of the feeder. However, each of the components is considered to be divided accurately by alternating motion, which is the other function of the feeder. The machine R caused larger variations of mixture weight, powder weight and percent powder content after the division than any other machine tested.

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The actual condition of dispensing errors in our hospital pharmacy was investigated and analyzed by a simple statistical method. Prescriptions to inpatients and outpatients were used as samples. The distribution of daily error rate (i. e. the number of detected errors to the number of prescriptious made daily) was slightly shifted to the higher error rate in histogram. The number of errors akkowed a significant correlation with the number of prescriptions. When the prescriptions of inpaticats were made for a week, the number of errors increased as compared with a general rule under which the weekly dispensing schedule was divided into 3-day and 4-day cycles. Though the counting of drugs is simple operation, the errors of tablet or capsule counting occupied about 50% of total errors. The error rate by day of the week did not show statistically significant difference.
From these results, it is considered that the number of dispensing errors are in proportion to the number of prescriptions made daily or are related to the disorder of general rule in routine work.

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Compatibility tests on Urokinase (UK) with 39 kinds of drugs prescribed in combination with UK in our hospital were performed in terms of visible change, pH and residual potency of UK as determined by fibrin-plate method after the mixture. The results may be summarized as follows:
determined by fibrin-plate method after the mixture. The results may be summarized as follows:
1) Mixture of UK and Calcicol or Persantin showed precipitation immediately after mixing, while mixture of UK and Keflin, K. C. L., Penbritin or Celtol showed a decrease in potency 0-3 hours after mixing. Therefore, these mixtures are incompatible.
2) Mixture of UK and Solita T₃, Pydoxal, Vitamedin, Vitaneurin, MDS or Novoheparin showed a decrease in potency 6 hours after mixing. Hence these mixtures should be made carefully.

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The effects of Fe ion on lipase activity of pancreatin (J. P.) and gastric soluble parts of five kinds of microorganism-derived digestive enzyme preparations were studied. The lipase activity in acetate buffer solution at pH 3.3, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, where the substrate was olive oil emulsion, was measured by the back titration. The Fe ions used were ferrous sulfate and ferric choride. Test solutions were the mixtures of 5ml of emulsion, 4ml of buffer and 1 ml of sample; they were kept at 37°C for 30min. Then, the lipase activity with Fe substrate (Fe ion solution 1ml) and that without Fe substrate were compared. As a result, no inhibitory action of Fe ion was showed in each sample. On the other hand, it was found that the action on gastric soluble part of two kinds of digestive enzyme preparations increased remarkably at pH 5.0 and 6.0.

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The effects of Fe ion on lipase activity of two kinds of Rhizopus japonicus sp. were studied. The enzyme activities with Fe and without Fe were compared in various pH values. In sample A, almost same activities were observed at pH 3.2, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0, while in sample B, the activity was low at pH 3.2 without Fe ion and increased in proportion to pH values. Activity was almost same at pH 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0, but increased at pH 3.2 with Fe and almost same at pH 3.2, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0. It was found that samples A and B had the same components, but the different molecular states in protein as tested by the electrophoresis method and molecular filtering. In low pH values, sample B was in higher molecular state than sample A. However, in the presence of Fe ion, it changed to the low molecular state. It was considered that the lipase activity accelerated in the presence of Fe ion influenced the molecular state.

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The immunoprecipitation inhibition technique (i-PiT method) was used in the clinical application to determine the concentration of carbamazepine (CBZ) and theophylline (TH) in serum. Each coefficient of variation for the 3 levels of CBZ or TH was less than 9% within-run and betweenrun. The serum CBZ concentration determined by the i-PiT method was compared with that determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The correlation coefficient was 0.990, but serum CBZ concentration determined by the i-PiT method was about 15% higher than that determined by HPLC because of the cross reactivity in carbamazepine-10, 11-epoxide. Other antiepileptic drugs, such as phenytoin, phenobarbital and primidone, did not interfere with the i-PiT method under therapeutic condition. The serum TH concentration determined by the i-PiT method was compared with that determined by HPLC. There was good agreement between the i-PiT method and HPLC results, where the correlation coefficient was 0.994. The metabolites of TH, such as caffeine and theobromine, did not interfere with the i-PiT method under therapeutic conditions. Therefore, the i-PiT method may be useful for the serum level monitoring of patients undergoing TH therapy.

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In order to examine the reliability of substrate labeled fluorescent technique (SLFIA method) using AMES TDATM Antiepileptic Drug Kit, phenobarbital and phenytoin concentrations in Patients' plasma as well as in spiked serum samples were determined to compare with those obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and homogeneous enzyme immunoassay technique (EMIT method). Results showed that SLFIA method is a useful technique for the determination of concentration of antiepileptic drugs in plasma to meet the clinical requirements.

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Brompton mixture was used for reducing the pain in cancer patients at the terminal stage. The mixture was effective in treatment and caused no adverse reactions, such as cloudiness of consciousness, personality deviation, and psychological dependency and tolerance. Some patients were able to take the mixture orally until the day just before death. The effectiveness of the Brompton mixture was investigated on 34 patients. It was considered that the increase in dose to reduce a pain might be due to the increase of pain associated with exacerbation of cancer and/ or malabsorption of morphine rather than drug tolerance to morphine. Morphine concentration in plasma of a patient with pain well-controlled by the mixture was about 0.4μg/ml. Adverse reactions of the Brompton mixture were decreased in parallel with the use of prochlorperazine and other drugs.

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There are two kinds of dispensed medicines which remain in hospital pharmacy not received by outpatients. One of them is the temporary unreceived medicines that patients did not take in the office hour but received later, and the other is the medicines that were not finally received. The latter was examined mainly. When the electric number indicative system was installed in the Public Ishikawa Central Hospital, the unreceived medicines decreased significantly. The, decrease was remarkable at the departments with small number of prescriptions. It has been reported that waiting time or number of accepted prescriptions is correlated with number of unreceived medicines. But this correlation is observed only in temporary unreceived medicines, and no correlation between finally unreceived medicines and number of prescriptions was observed.

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