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After administration of 600 mg of the antiepileptic oxcarbazepine to 7 healthy volunteers, serum and stimulated saliva samples were collected for the next 72 h. Concentrations of 10-OH-carbazepine, the main metabolite of oxcarbazepine, were determined by an HPLC method. The time-concentration curves showed a median Tmax of 8 h followed by a plateau until 24 h indicating saturable kinetic processes. Based on the curves, the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated. The half-life of 10-OH-carbazepine in saliva, 13.8 +/- 3.7 (SD) h, was significantly shorter than in serum, 19.3 +/- 6.2 (SD) h. The half-life of 10-OH-carbazepine in serum was inversely correlated to the free fraction, estimated by the ratio saliva/serum concentrations. Calculation of free fraction by this method showed that 53.1 +/- 14.4 (SD) % of 10-OH-carbazepine is unbound in serum. There was a good correlation (r = 0.914) between serum and saliva concentrations of 10-OH-carbazepine from 8-72 h after administration of oxcarbazepine. This finding indicates that saliva concentrations may prove useful, as has been shown for carbamazepine, in therapeutic monitoring of oxcarbazepine treatment.

Introduction - Interobserver variation among four observers in evaluation of eight selected neurological signs was investigated. Material & methods - Two hundred and two consecutive unselected inpatients were examined by two senior neurologists and two trainees, all without knowledge of the neurological case history. The signs examined were: anisocoria, jerky eye movements, facial palsy, elbow extension force, finger-nose test, Barre sign, knee jerk, and extensor plantar reflex. Observed agreement rates and kappa coefficients were calculated in order to compare the interobserver variability among neurologists and trainees, and to evaluate differences in the interobserver variability between signs. Results - Observed agreement rates varied from 0.80 to 0.95 for neurologists and from 0.65 to 0.98 for trainees. For neurologists kappa coefficients ranged from 0.40 to 0.67 and for trainees from 0.22 to 0.81. The neurologists had higher kappa values than the trainees in 5 signs, but this difference was only statistically significant for jerky eye movements. For the individual signs the observed agreement rates were between 0.50 and 0.93 for all four examiners combined, and overall kappa values varied from 0.32 to 0.71 with highest agreement for facial palsy and lowest for knee jerk. Conclusion - The magnitude of the interobserver and intersign variation indicates that the interpretation of the neurological signs tested, without knowledge of the case history, should be done with some caution.

— The influence of hyperglycemia on peripheral nerve function was studied in 9 patients with long-term insulin-dependent diabetes. Blood glucose concentration was raised 13.5±0.5 mmol/1 (mean±SEM) within 15 min and kept approximately 15 mmol/1 over basal level for 120 min by intravenous glucose infusion. Hyperglycemia was accompanied by increased plasma osmolality. Sensory and motor nerve conduction and distal motor latency in the ulnar nerve were determined before, immediately after induction of hyperglycemia, and again after 120 min hyperglycemia. Distal (5th finger-wrist) and proximal (wrist-elbow) sensory nerve conduction showed an insignificant increase as hyperglycemia was induced. During hyperglycemia mean distal sensory conduction decreased from 53.1 m/s to 50.4 m/s (P < 0.05) and mean proximal sensory conduction decreased from 56.0 m/s to 54.2 m/s (P < 0.01). A mean of distal and proximal sensory conduction increased (53.5 m/s vs 54.6 m/s) (P < 0.05) as hyperglycemia was induced and decreased (54.6 m/s vs 52.3 m/s) (P < 0.01) during clamping. Motor nerve conduction decreased insignificantly throughout the study. Mean distal motor latency decreased from 3.1 ms to 2.8 ms (P< 0.005) immediately after induction of hyperglycemia. During hyperglycemia it increased from 2.8 ms to 3.1 ms (P< 0.001). We conclude that acute induction of hyperglycemia in long-term diabetics seems to increase sensory conduction and decrease distal motor latency, while 120 min hyperglycemia seems to decrease sensory conduction and increase distal motor latency. As the changes are small, it may not be necessary to pay attention to the concomitant blood glucose concentration when sequential nerve conduction measurements are made in diabetics.