• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.133-141
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• 2001

Purpose: Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) has been found to be the causative factors of apnea, stridor, feeding intolerance, poor weight gain, and sudden infants death syndrome (SIDS) in infants. GER is a well-described in infants and children, but only scant mention of the premature infants with GER can be found in the literature. Methods: Esophageal pH was measured during 24 hour in 21 healthy preterm infants, using a silicone microelectrode with an external reference electrode connected to a portable recorder. The mean age of the patients was $29{\pm}8$ days, mean gestational age was $30^{+5}{\pm}2^{+0}$ weeks, mean birth weight was $1,468{\pm}329$ g, mean postconceptional age was $34^{+6}{\pm}1^{+4}$ weeks and mean weight was $1,750{\pm}329$ g. We evaluated the following reflux parameters; number of acid reflux, number of long acid reflux, longest acid reflux minutes, and reflux index. Results: Pathologic GER was detected in 12 (57%) subjects and most interesting parameters are reflux index and number of episodes with a pH<4 during 24 hour (high correlation with postprandial reflux index). Reflux was not correlated to gestational age, birth weight, age, postconceptional age, weight, sex and medication of the theophylline. Conclusion: Gastroesophageal reflux is common in preterm infants, but it is usually not apparent, even with severe reflux.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.308-314
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• 2007

The analytical method of HPLC with the radial-flow electrochemical cell (RFEC) has been developed to determine doxorubicin, epirubicin, nogalamycin, daunorubicin and idarubicin simultaneously by employing a reversed-phase chromatography. Anthracyclines were detected at -0.74 V vs. a Ag/AgCl (0.01 M NaCl) reference electrode, a potential of diffusion current plateau in the mobile phase. At a $V_f$ of 1.0 mL/min doxorubicin, epirubicin, daunorubicin and idarubicin appeared at a retention time ($t_r$) of 6.4 min, 7.4 min, 12.7 min and 18.4 min, respectively, while at a $V_f$ of 0.6 mL/min, doxorubicin, epirubicin, nogalamycin, daunorubicin and idarubicin appeared at a $t_r$ of 9.9 min, 11.5 min, 13.5 min, 19.6 min and 28.7 min, respectively. The linearity between each anthracycline injected ($2.40{\times}10^{-7}M{\sim}1.42{\times}10^{-5}M$) and peak area (charge) was excellent with the square of the correlation coefficient ($R^2$) higher than 0.999. The detection limits were $1.0{\times}10^{-8}M{\sim}1.5{\times}10^{-7}M$ for the five anthracyclines. Within-day precision for the five anthracyclines were in reasonable relative standard deviations less than 3 % ($1.00{\times}10^{-6}M{\sim}1.42{\times}10^{-5}M$) except the lower concentrations less than $0.7{\mu}M$. Solid phase extractions of $1.00{\times}10^{-5}M$ epirubicin, $0.48{\times}10^{-5}M$ nogalamycin and $1.52{\times}10^{-5}M$ daunorubicin from human serum with a $C_{18}$ cartridge resulted in 97 %, 100 % and 90 % of recoveries, respectively.