An improved and reliable ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the determination of lercanidipine in human plasma. Plasma samples with lercanidipine-d3 as an internal standard (IS) were prepared by solid phase extraction on Phenomenex Strata-X cartridges using 100 mL of human plasma. Chromatographic analysis was performed on UPLC BEH C18 (50 mm ? 2.1 mm, 1.7 mm) column under isocratic conditions. Linear calibration curves were obtained over a wide dynamic concentration range of 0.010–20.0 ng/mL. Matrix effect was assessed by post-column infusion, post-extraction spiking and standard-line slope methods. The mean extraction recovery was 4 94%for the analyte and IS. Inter-batch and intra-batch precision (%CV) across five quality controls was o 5.8%. Bioequivalence study was performed with 36 healthy sub-jects after oral administration of 10 mg of lercanidipine and the assay reproducibility was evaluated by reanalysis of 133 incurred samples.

Background: and Purpose Changes to hospital systems were implemented from March 2020 in Australia in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, including decreased resources allocated to stroke units. We investigate changes in the quality of acute care for patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack during the pandemic according to patients’ treatment setting (stroke unit or alternate ward). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients admitted with stroke or transient ischemic attack between January 2019 and June 2020 in the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry (AuSCR). The AuSCR monitors patients’ treatment setting, provision of allied health and nursing interventions, prescription of secondary prevention medications, and discharge destination. Weekly trends in the quality of care before and during the pandemic period were assessed using interrupted time series analyses. Results: In total, 18,662 patients in 2019 and 8,850 patients in 2020 were included. Overall, 75% were treated in stroke units. Before the pandemic, treatment in a stroke unit was superior to alternate wards for the provision of all evidence-based therapies assessed. During the pandemic period, the proportion of patients receiving a swallow screen or assessment, being discharged to rehabilitation, and being prescribed secondary prevention medications decreased by 0.58% to 1.08% per week in patients treated in other ward settings relative to patients treated in stroke units. This change represented a 9% to 17% increase in the care gap between these treatment settings during the period of the pandemic that was evaluated (16 weeks). Conclusions During the first 6 months of the pandemic, widening care disparities between stroke units and alternate wards have occurred.