Differences in prescribing patterns of opioid dependence drugs among patients with primary alcohol use problems and opioid use disorders within New York State by social determinant factors, 2005-2018.

Background: The increase in alcohol use problems and opioid use disorder (OUD) highlights the need for research on effective medication treatments for patients with dual diagnoses.

Objectives: This study analyzed trends and social disparities in prescribing OUD medications for patients who initially had alcohol use problems and later received their first OUD diagnosis.

Methods: This study utilized merged data from the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports and the Medicaid to analyze individuals aged 18 and older who initially had primary alcohol use problems and later had OUD for the first time between 2005 and 2018.

Pharmacists and transitions of care from emergency department to home.

Objectives: To determine the impact of a pharmacist-led telephone outreach program among patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) to home.

Study Design: We conducted a randomized controlled study from February to November 2019 at a tertiary care academic medical center.

Methods: At ED discharge, participants were randomly assigned to usual care (controls) or usual care plus the pharmacist's review (intervention group).

A cohort of patients in New York State with an alcohol use disorder and subsequent treatment information - A merging of two administrative data sources.

Objective: Despite the high prevalence of alcohol use disorder (AUD) in the United States, limited research is focused on the associations among AUD, pain, and opioids/benzodiazepine use. In addition, little is known regarding individuals with a history of AUD and their potential risk for pain diagnoses, pain prescriptions, and subsequent misuse. Moreover, the potential risk of pain diagnoses, prescriptions, and subsequent misuse among individuals with a history of AUD is not well known.

Medication Use Among Patients Reporting Xerostomia of an Academic Dental Clinic.

Background: Global prevalence of xerostomia has been reported at 22% (range 0.01%-45%), negatively impacting oral health, nutrition intake, and quality of life. The causal relationship between xerostomia and medications remains uncertain but greater understanding could guide interventions.

Can machine learning predict pharmacotherapy outcomes? An application study in osteoporosis.

Background And Objective: The specific aim of this study is to develop machine learning models as a clinical approach for personalized treatment of osteoporosis. The model performance on outcome prediction was compared between four machine learning algorithms.

Methods: Retrospective, electronic clinical data for patients with suspected or confirmed osteoporosis treated at Wan Fang Hospital between 2011 to 2018 were used as inputs for building the following predictive machine learning models,i.

Trends in Prescribing Opioids, Benzodiazepines, and Both Among Adults with Alcohol Use Disorder in New York State.

Background: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a highly prevalent public health problem that contributes to opioid- and benzodiazepine-related morbidity and mortality. Even though co-utilization of these substances is particularly harmful, data are sparse on opioid or benzodiazepine prescribing patterns among individuals with AUD.

Objective: To estimate temporal trends and disparities in opioid, benzodiazepine, and opioid/benzodiazepine co-prescribing among individuals with AUD in New York State (NYS).

A cross-sectional survey of attitudes and barriers toward pharmacist services at predoctoral academic dental institutions.

Background: The pharmacy profession continues to evolve through novel practice settings and collaborations. Recent reports have highlighted services provided by pharmacists in academic dental settings.

Objectives: This study aimed to measure attitudes and barriers to pharmacist services at academic dental institutions via a survey of dental school administrators.

Pharmacokinetic drug interactions of integrase strand transfer inhibitors.

The integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI)-containing regimens are currently considered as the first-line treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Although possessing a common mechanism of action to inhibit HIV integrase irreversibly to stop HIV replication cycle, the INSTIs, including raltegravir, elvitegravir, dolutegravir, and bictegravir, differ in pharmacokinetic characteristics. While raltegravir undergoes biotransformation by the UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs), elvitegravir is primarily metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 and co-formulated with cobicistat to increase its plasma exposure.

Accessibility of postgraduate training program information to graduates from US doctor of pharmacy programs holding F-1 visas.

Purpose: To evaluate information provided by residency and fellowship programs to graduates of Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education-accredited doctor of pharmacy programs holding F-1 visas who are seeking postgraduate training opportunities.

Methods: A 2-phase review of all US-based postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) residency and fellowship programs was conducted. In phase 1, program eligibility criteria were reviewed from the residency and fellowship directories published by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP).

Readmissions and costs among younger and older adults for targeted conditions during the enactment of the hospital readmission reduction program.

Background: The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP) was introduced to reduce readmission rates among Medicare beneficiaries, however little is known about readmissions and costs for HRRP-targeted conditions in younger populations. The primary objective of this study was to examine readmission trends and costs for targeted conditions during policy implementation among younger and older adults in the U.S.

An environmental scan of pharmacists supporting pre-doctoral dental education institutions.

Purpose/objectives: Reports have described pharmacists providing services within academic dental settings. The full scope of these activities and where they exist is unreported. This environmental scan was performed to identify and summarize the levels in which pharmacists provide support to predoctoral dental education programs.

Immuno-stimulatory activity of a polysaccharide-enriched fraction of Sutherlandia frutescens occurs by the toll-like receptor-4 signaling pathway.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R. Br.

Inhibition of microglial activation by elderberry extracts and its phenolic components.

Aims: Elderberry (Sambucus spp.) is one of the oldest medicinal plants noted for its cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory, and immune-stimulatory properties. In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects of the American elderberry (Sambucus nigra subsp.

Peptidomics study of anthocyanin-rich juice of elderberry.

Biologically active peptides play a role in plant signaling and defense. Elderberry juice is known to contain a variety of anthocyanin compounds, a sub-set of polyphenols, which are responsible for the deep purple color of the juice. In this paper, we describe a method utilizing solid phase extraction (SPE) to remove anthocyanins from peptides.

Sutherlandia frutescens ethanol extracts inhibit oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in neurons and microglial cells.

Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br.

Biosynthesis of highly enriched 13C-lycopene for human metabolic studies using repeated batch tomato cell culturing with 13C-glucose.

While putative disease-preventing lycopene metabolites are found in both tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) products and in their consumers, mammalian lycopene metabolism is poorly understood. Advances in tomato cell culturing techniques offer an economical tool for generation of highly-enriched (13)C-lycopene for human bioavailability and metabolism studies. To enhance the (13)C-enrichment and yields of labelled lycopene from the hp-1 tomato cell line, cultures were first grown in (13)C-glucose media for three serial batches and produced increasing proportions of uniformly labelled lycopene (14.

Laboratory-scale production of 13C-labeled lycopene and phytoene by bioengineered Escherichia coli.

Consumption of tomato products has been associated with decreased risks of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, and therefore the biological functions of tomato carotenoids such as lycopene, phytoene, and phytofluene are being investigated. To study the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of these carotenoids, a bioengineered Escherichia coli model was evaluated for laboratory-scale production of stable isotope-labeled carotenoids. Carotenoid biosynthetic genes from Enterobacter agglomerans were introduced into the BL21Star(DE3) strain to yield lycopene.

Lycopene biodistribution is altered in 15,15'-carotenoid monooxygenase knockout mice.

15,15'-carotenoid monooxygenase (CMO I) is generally recognized as the central carotenoid cleavage enzyme responsible for converting provitamin A carotenoids to vitamin A, while having little affinity for nonprovitamin A carotenoids, such as lycopene. To investigate the role of CMO I in carotenoid metabolism, approximately 90-d-old C57BL/6 x 129/SvJ [CMO I wild-type (WT)] and B6;129S6-Bcmo1tm1Dnp [CMO I knockout (KO)] mice were fed a high-fat, moderate vitamin A, cholesterol-containing diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg diet of beta-carotene, lycopene, or placebo beadlets for 60 d (n = 12-14). CMO I KO mice fed lycopene (Lyc-KO) exhibited significant decreases in hepatic, spleen, and thymus lycopene concentrations and significant increases in prostate, seminal vesicles, testes, and brain lycopene concentrations compared with WT mice fed lycopene (Lyc-WT).

Optimization of lycopene extraction from tomato cell suspension culture by response surface methodology.

Radioisotope-labeled lycopene is an important tool for biomedical research but currently is not commercially available. A tomato cell suspension culture system for the production of radioisotope-labeled lycopene was previously developed in our laboratory. In the current study, the goal was to optimize the lycopene extraction efficiency from tomato cell cultures for preparatory high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation.