Virtual accreditation visits for pharmacy programs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic: Team members' perspective.

Purpose: This wisdom of experience commentary, from peer academic reviewers serving on accreditation teams, will discuss benefits and challenges of international and national virtual accreditation visits (VAVs) using a "What? So What? Now What?" reflective model.

Description: Onsite accreditation reviews for health professional education programs require investments in time, effort, and money to maintain program alignment with accreditation standards and continuously generate quality practitioners. When COVID-19 entered the accreditation world, reviewers had to pivot modalities to a VAV format.

The Case for Authentic Student Assessment in Distance Digital Pharmacy Education.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Distance online assessment is facing serious challenges.

Pharmacy Students Perceptions of Their Distance Online Learning Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic imposed dramatic changes on educational practices worldwide. Many universities and schools have moved into the delivery of their courses and educational programs utilizing fully electronic online modes. This study aims to evaluate the pharmacy student distance online learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implementation of an ACPE-Accredited PharmD Curriculum at a Saudi College of Pharmacy.

To establish an academic curricular collaboration between the newly established college of pharmacy at King Saud Bin Abdulaziz Saudi University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) and a US college of pharmacy accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, and assess measures of success. Criteria for selecting a college for collaboration were established. A systematic approach was followed in negotiating legal, logistical, and financial issues with the selected collaborating institution.

The impact of immunosuppressant therapy on the recurrence of hepatitis C post-liver transplantation.

The use of immunosuppressants to reduce the likelihood of acute graft rejections is a cornerstone in the post-transplantation management of recipients. However, these agents were always associated with increased risk of deleterious effects such as infections vulnerability and comorbidities. The objective of this review is to discuss the impact of different immunosuppression strategies used in liver transplant recipients (LTRs) on the recurrence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections after transplantation.

Pharmacy Educators' Knowledge of Medication Safety and Their Perception Toward Its Integration into the Doctor of Pharmacy Curriculum in Saudi Arabia.

To assess pharmacy educators' knowledge of medication safety and their perception toward its integration into the PharmD curriculum in Saudi Arabia. A survey was administered to pharmacy educators at a college of pharmacy and its affiliate hospital. Knowledge, training, and perception toward integrating medication safety into the PharmD curriculum were evaluated.

Medication Adherence and Treatment Satisfaction Among Renal Transplant Recipients.

BACKGROUND Evidence suggests that patients who are more satisfied with their treatment show better adherence with the prescribed therapy. Although there is valuable data about medication adherence among renal transplant recipients (RTRs), there is a limited literature about their treatment satisfaction and its relation to adherence. The aim of the present study was to investigate factors that can predict medication adherence and to explore the relationship between treatment satisfaction and medication adherence in renal transplant recipients.

Adherence and treatment satisfaction in liver transplant recipients.

Background/aims: Liver transplantation (LT) is a life-saving intervention for patients with liver failure. LT recipients' adherence to their therapeutic regimen is an essential element for graft survival. According to WHO, the impact of medication non-adherence in solid organ transplantation has shown to cost $15-100 million annually.

Strategic initiatives to maintain pharmaceutical care and clinical pharmacists sufficiency in Saudi Arabia.

Objectives: The shortage of clinical pharmacists in Saudi Arabia has limited the full implementation of pharmaceutical care in most of its hospitals. The National Guard Health Affairs hospitals. This work discussed the Department of Pharmaceutical Care, and the King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences College of Pharmacy four initiatives that were planned in 2009-2010 to develop and recruit clinical pharmacists, practitioners, or faculty.

Exploring quality of life among renal and liver transplant recipients.

Background And Objectives: Despite the worldwide recognition of the importance of quality of life (QOL) assessment, research data on QOL for renal and liver transplant recipients are limited. The main objective of this study was to explore and compare QOL in renal and liver transplant patients.

Design And Setting: This cross-sectional study was conducted at at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Saudi Arabia.

Ligand-based modeling followed by in vitro bioassay yielded new potent glucokinase activators.

Glucokinase (GK) has received recent interest as a valid antidiabetic target. With this in mind, we applied a computational workflow based on combining pharmacophore modeling and QSAR analysis followed by in silico screening toward the discovery of novel GK activators. Virtual screening identified 10 promising bioactivators from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) list of compounds.

Investigation of the effectiveness of antibacterial prophylaxis in renal transplant recipients.

Introduction: Bacterial urinary tract infections (UTIs) are very common complications in renal transplant recipients (RTRs).

Methodology: This study is a follow-up to a previous investigation of post-renal transplant UTIs, which led to changes in the antibacterial agents used for prophylaxis and its duration. In this retrospective study of the medical records of 86 RTRs, the incidence, risk factors, causative bacteria, and duration prophylaxis were investigated.

Medication adherence among adult patients on hemodialysis.

Medication adherence was assessed in 89 patients on hemodialysis (HD) at the King Abdul Aziz Medical City using an Arabic version of the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MASS-8). The results of the study revealed that 31.46% and 40.

Novel N-substituted aminobenzamide scaffold derivatives targeting the dipeptidyl peptidase-IV enzyme.

Background: The dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) enzyme is considered a pivotal target for controlling normal blood sugar levels in the body. Incretins secreted in response to ingestion of meals enhance insulin release to the blood, and DPP-IV inactivates these incretins within a short period and stops their action. Inhibition of this enzyme escalates the action of incretins and induces more insulin to achieve better glucose control in diabetic patients.

Synthesis, Antibacterial Evaluation and QSAR of α-Substituted-N₄-Acetamides of Ciprofloxacin and Norfloxacin.

Twenty six α-substituted N₄-acetamide derivatives of ciprofloxacin (CIPRO) and norfloxacin (NOR) were synthesized and assayed for antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. The derivatives were primarily more active against Gram-positive bacteria. The CIPRO derivatives, CD-7 (Ar = 3-chlorophenyl), CD-9 (Ar = 2-pyrimidyl) and CD-10 (α-phenyl, Ar = 2-pyrimidyl), exhibited lower MIC values, 0.

Virtual lead identification of farnesyltransferase inhibitors based on ligand and structure-based pharmacophore techniques.

Farnesyltransferase enzyme (FTase) is considered an essential enzyme in the Ras signaling pathway associated with cancer. Thus, designing inhibitors for this enzyme might lead to the discovery of compounds with effective anticancer activity. In an attempt to obtain effective FTase inhibitors, pharmacophore hypotheses were generated using structure-based and ligand-based approaches built in Discovery Studio v3.

Methoxyphenylcipro induces antitumor activity in human cancer cells.

To examine the antitumor activity of a new derivative of ciprofloxacin called methoxyphenylcipro (CMPP). Cell viability was assessed using the MTT assay and apoptotic cells and reactive oxygen species were evaluated using flow cytometry. Results revealed that CMPP induces antiproliferative activity against breast cancer cells and melanoma and to a lesser extent against colorectal cancer cells.

Prodrugs of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), more than meets the eye: a critical review.

The design and the synthesis of prodrugs for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have been given much attention by medicinal chemists, especially in the last decade. As a therapeutic group, NSAIDs are among the most widely used prescribed and over the counter (OTC) medications. The rich literature about potential NSAID prodrugs clearly shows a shift from alkyl, aryalkyl or aryl esters with the sole role of masking the carboxylic acid group, to more elaborate conjugates that contain carefully chosen groups to serve specific purposes, such as enhancement of water solubility and dissolution, nitric oxide release, hydrogen sulfide release, antioxidant activity, anticholinergic and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory (AChEI) activity and site-specific targeting and delivery.

The hydrolysis kinetics of monobasic and dibasic aminoalkyl esters of ketorolac.

Six aminoethyl and aminobutyl esters of ketorolac containing 1-methylpiperazine (MPE and MPB), N-acetylpiperazine (APE and APB) or morpholine (ME and MB), were synthesized and their hydrolysis kinetics were studied. The hydrolysis was studied at pH 1 to 9 (for MPE, APE and ME) and pH 1 to 8 (for MPB, APB and MB) in aqueous phosphate buffer (0.16 M) with ionic strength (0.

Fast and pH-dependent release of domperidone from orally disintegrating tablets.

There has been growing interest in orally disintegrating tablets (ODTs) during the last decade due to their better patient acceptance and compliance. Further, drug dissolution and absorption may be significantly improved. This work describes the preparation of fast and pH-dependent release ODTs for domperidone by direct compression using crospovidone as superdisintegrant.

Qandil, A.M., Synthesis and Spectroscopic Analysis of Novel 1H-Benzo[d]imidazolylphenylsulfonylpiperazines. Pharmaceuticals 2012, 5, 460-468.

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a-Anilinoketones, Esters and Amides: A Chemical Study.

A group of a-anilinoketones, 2-aminoalcohols, a-anilinoesters and a-anilinoamides were successfully synthesized and characterized by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The yields were, in general, moderate to good (up to 75.4%), except for the a-anilinoesters (16.

Synthesis and Spectroscopic Analysis of Novel 1H-Benzo[d]imidazoles Phenyl Sulfonylpiperazines.

A group of benzimidazole analogs of sildenafil, 3-benzimidazolyl-4-methoxy-phenylsulfonylpiperazines 2-4 and 3-benzimidazolyl-4-methoxy-N,N-dimethyl- benzenesulfonamide (5), were efficiently synthesized. Compounds 2-5 were characterized by NMR and MS and contrary to the reported mass spectra of sildenafil, the spectra of the piperazine-containing compounds 2-4 showed a novel fragmentation pattern leading to an m/z = 316. A mechanism for the formation of this fragment was proposed.