Gentamicin, whether administered either intravenously, incorporated into bone cement or for local intra-operative irrigation, is a commonly used antibiotic in orthopaedic practice. The former two have been well studied, however the literature on the therapeutic efficacy and safety of gentamicin irrigation is sparse. The objective of this study was to assess systemic absorption of gentamicin irrigation in joint replacement surgery. This was a non-randomised, prospective study. Ninety-eight patients (group A) who underwent total joint replacement and 40 patients (group B) who underwent hemi-arthroplasty were treated traoperatively with gentamicin irrigation. Serum gentamicin levels were assayed at 4 hours and 24 hours post-surgery. Sixteen of 98 patients in group A (16%) and 12 out of 40 patients in group B (30%) were found to have serum gentamicin level above 2mcg/ml at 4 hours post-surgery. We conclude that intra-articular gentamicin irrigation is systemically absorbed at substantial levels.
Algal have attracted attention from biomedical scientists as they are a valuable natural
source of secondary metabolites that exhibit antioxidant activities. In this study, singlefactor
experiments were conducted to investigate the best extraction conditions (ethanol
concentration, solid-to-solvent ratio, extraction temperature and extraction time) in extracting
antioxidant compounds and capacities from four species of seaweeds (Sargassum polycystum,
Eucheuma denticulatum , Kappaphycus alvarezzi variance Buaya and Kappaphycus alvarezzi
variance Giant) from Sabah. Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC)
assays were used to determine the phenolic and flavonoid concentrations, respectively, while
2,2-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picylhydrazyl
(DPPH) radical scavenging capacity assays were used to evaluate the antioxidant capacities of
all seaweed extracts. Results showed that extraction parameters had significant effect (p < 0.05)
on the antioxidant compounds and antioxidant capacities of seaweed. Sargassum polycystum
portrayed the most antioxidant compounds (37.41 ± 0.01 mg GAE/g DW and 4.54 ± 0.02 mg
CE/g DW) and capacities (2.00 ± 0.01 μmol TEAC/g DW and 0.84 ± 0.01 μmol TEAC/g DW)
amongst four species of seaweed.