Potentially inappropriate medications defined by STOPP criteria and the risk of adverse drug events in older hospitalized patients.

Background: Previous studies have not demonstrated a consistent association between potentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs) in older patients as defined by Beers criteria and avoidable adverse drug events (ADEs). This study aimed to assess whether PIMs defined by new STOPP (Screening Tool of Older Persons' potentially inappropriate Prescriptions) criteria are significantly associated with ADEs in older people with acute illness.

Methods: We prospectively studied 600 consecutive patients 65 years or older who were admitted with acute illness to a university teaching hospital over a 4-month interval.

Inappropriate prescribing and adverse drug events in older people.

Inappropriate prescribing (IP) in older patients is highly prevalent and is associated with an increased risk of adverse drug events (ADEs), morbidity, mortality and healthcare utilisation. Consequently, IP is a major safety concern and with changing population demographics, it is likely to become even more prevalent in the future. IP can be detected using explicit or implicit prescribing indicators.

Alterations in the expression of inhibitors of apoptosis during differentiation of prostate epithelial cells.

Objective: To investigate alterations in the apoptotic phenotype, specifically the inhibitors of apoptosis (IAP) family, in prostate epithelial cells after differentiation from an apoptotic-resistant basal cell to an apoptotic-susceptible secretory cell.

Materials And Methods: Cells of the immortalized human prostate epithelial line HPr-1AR were cultured with and with no 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) to drive differentiation. Western blotting and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to determine changes in differentiation markers such as cytokeratins (CK) 14 and 18, and in XIAP, cIAP-1 and cIAP-2.