In-class Exercises Regarding the Roles of Excipients in a Pharmaceutics Course.

To assess student perceptions regarding: 1) exercises designed to enhance student comprehension of the roles of pharmaceutical excipients in dosage forms and 2) the use of resources to identify the roles of excipients. In-class exercises regarding the roles of excipients were implemented in a foundational pharmaceutics course. The exercises covered the topics of liquid single-phase systems, liquid multiphase systems, drug delivery to the skin, and parenteral, ophthalmic, and nasal dosage forms.

Lead/Drug Discovery from Natural Resources.

Natural products and their derivatives have been shown to be effective drug candidates against various diseases for many years. Over a long period of time, nature has produced an abundant and prosperous source pool for novel therapeutic agents with distinctive structures. Major natural-product-based drugs approved for clinical use include anti-infectives and anticancer agents.

Course design, delivery, and assessment strategies for pharmaceutical calculations course in a doctor of pharmacy program: A review.

Background: Pharmaceutical calculations is a fundamental course taken by doctor of pharmacy students in United States schools and colleges of pharmacy. To minimize medical errors and increase the accuracy with which future pharmacists perform calculations, a comprehensive training during the program is deemed. This review attempts to summarize research outcomes of interventions described thus far in the literature concerning the improvement of course design, delivery, and assessment strategies.

The use of ratio and proportion, dimensional analysis, and equations to solve pharmacy calculations problems.

Introduction: To evaluate the effects of using different problem-solving approaches on the success rates of student pharmacists in solving problems throughout a pharmacy calculations course.

Methods: A survey was administered to first-year students (N = 96, response rate 100%) near the completion of a pharmacy calculations course. The survey assessed whether students used the approaches of ratio and proportion (RP) or equations vs.

An Integrative Review of Approaches Used to Assess Course Interventions.

The objectives of this review are to describe the utility of approaches used for the assessment of course interventions in pharmacy education and to provide recommendations that may guide faculty members in their scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) efforts that encompass assessment of course interventions. Thirty-four articles that included educational interventions published between 2016 and 2020 in the and were selected for analysis. Those articles used various approaches for the assessment of course interventions.

Evaluating the effects of a mindfulness mobile application on student pharmacists' stress, burnout, and mindfulness.

Purpose: Pharmacists report high levels of burnout. Mindfulness approaches have been demonstrated to have positive results in the general population and in other healthcare professions. However, limited studies have been performed evaluating mindfulness approaches in student pharmacists.

Survey data on orientations, boot camps, and pre-matriculation programs in schools/colleges of pharmacy.

A survey about orientations, boot camps, and pre-matriculation programs in schools/colleges of pharmacy was approved by the South College Institutional Review Board (IRB). The survey was sent electronically to Assistant/Associate Deans of Academic Affairs or administrators in similar positions at schools/colleges of pharmacy in October 2016. The survey was closed two months later, in December, with 50 responses.

Implementation, Revisions, and Student Perceptions of a Pre-Matriculation Program in a School of Pharmacy.

To characterize the development, revision, and student perceptions of a pre-matriculation program entitled Pharmacy Readiness and Enrichment Program (PREP) in a school of pharmacy. The program was first implemented in June 2013 for the incoming class of 2016. The main components of PREP were curriculum and scientific content review, professionalism, time management, critical thinking, and personal interactions.

Corneal gene delivery: chitosan oligomer as a carrier of CpG rich, CpG free or S/MAR plasmid DNA.

Background: Corneal gene therapy can potentially treat acquired and inherited corneal disorders that otherwise lead to blindness. In a previous study on the development of effective vectors for corneal gene delivery, we showed that a particular formulation of chitosan-DNA nanoparticles, based on ultrapure chitosan oligomers injected into rat corneas, led to transgene expression that was 5.4-fold higher than that obtained using polyethylenimine-DNA nanoparticles.

Ultrapure chitosan oligomers as carriers for corneal gene transfer.

NOVAFECT chitosans are ultrapure chitosan oligomers that were recently marketed as carriers for non-viral gene therapy. There are no reports on systematic design and improvement of formulations based on NOVAFECT chitosans for gene delivery. Therefore, we have designed and characterized chitosan-DNA nanoparticles based on NOVAFECT.

Corneal gene therapy.

Gene therapy to the cornea can potentially correct inherited and acquired diseases of the cornea. Factors that facilitate corneal gene delivery are the accessibility and transparency of the cornea, its stability ex vivo and the immune privilege of the eye. Initial corneal gene delivery studies characterized the relationship between intraocular modes of administration and location of reporter gene expression.

Novel gastroretentive dosage forms: evaluation of gastroretentivity and its effect on levodopa absorption in humans.

Purpose: To design novel expandable gastroretentive dosage form (GRDFs) and evaluate their gastroretentive properties. Then, to assess the pharmacokinetics of levodopa compounded in such a GRDF in healthy volunteers.

Methods: Thin (<0.

Furosemide pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics following gastroretentive dosage form administration to healthy volunteers.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of furosemide following gastroretentive dosage from (GRDF) administration. A furosemide (60 mg) GRDF, releasing the drug during 6 hours in vitro, or an immediate-release tablet was administered to healthy male volunteers (N = 14) in a crossover design. Food and liquid intake were standardized; urine was collected, weighed, and assayed for furosemide and sodium concentrations.

Expandable gastroretentive dosage forms.

Expandable gastroretentive dosage forms (GRDFs) have been designed for the past 3 decades. They were originally created for possible veterinary use, but later the design was modified for enhanced drug therapy in humans. These GRDFs are easily swallowed and reach a significantly larger size in the stomach due to swelling or unfolding processes that prolong their gastric retention time (GRT).

Novel levodopa gastroretentive dosage form: in-vivo evaluation in dogs.

Due to its narrow absorption window, levodopa has to be administered continuously to the upper parts of the intestine in order to maintain sustained therapeutic levels. This may be achieved by a controlled release (CR) gastroretentive dosage form (GRDF). The aim of this work was to develop a novel GRDF, based on unfolding polymeric membranes, that combines extended dimensions with high rigidity, and to examine the pharmacokinetics of levodopa compounded in the GRDF.

Novel gastroretentive dosage forms: evaluation of gastroretentivity and its effect on riboflavin absorption in dogs.

Purpose: [corrected] The purpose of this study was to design novel gastroretentive dosage forms (GRDFs) based on unfolding multilayer polymeric films, to investigate the mechanism of their gastroretentivity in dogs, and to assess the effect of compounding a narrow absorption window drug in a GRDF on the drug's absorption properties.

Methods: Dosage forms (DFs) with different dimensions and mechanical properties were administered to beagle dogs with acidic buffer (pH = 1.5), whose gastric retention time (GRT) was then determined by X-ray pictures.