Pharmacy Practice and Education in Finland.

The Pharmacy Education in Europe (PHARMINE) project studies pharmacy practice and education in the European Union (EU) member states. The work was carried out using an electronic survey sent to chosen pharmacy representatives. The surveys of the individual member states are now being published as reference documents for students and staff interested in research on pharmacy education in the EU, and in mobility.

Competence-Based Pharmacy Education in the University of Helsinki.

In order to meet the expectations to act as an expert in the health care profession, it is of utmost importance that pharmacy education creates knowledge and skills needed in today's working life. Thus, the planning of the curriculum should be based on relevant and up-to-date learning outcomes. In the University of Helsinki, a university wide curriculum reform called 'the Big Wheel' was launched in 2015.

Feasibility of SU-8-based capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry microfluidic chips for the analysis of human cell lysates.

Monolithically integrated, polymer (SU-8) microchips comprising an electrophoretic separation unit, a sheath flow interface and an ESI emitter were developed to improve the speed and throughput of proteomics analyses. Validation of the microchip method was performed based on peptide mass fingerprinting and single peptide sequencing of selected protein standards. Rapid, yet reliable identification of four biologically important proteins (cytochrome C, β-lactoglobulin, ovalbumin and BSA) confirmed the applicability of the SU-8 microchips to ambitious proteomic applications and allowed their use in the analysis of human muscle cell lysates.

Glucuronidation of racemic O-desmethyltramadol, the active metabolite of tramadol.

O-Desmethyltramadol, the active metabolite of analgesic tramadol, is metabolised through glucuronidation. The present study was conducted to identify the human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) that catalyse the glucuronidation of O-desmethyltramadol, a racemic mixture of 1R,2R- and 1S,2S-enantiomers. We developed a fast and selective liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method to separate, analyse and quantify the diastereomeric phenolic O-glucuronides of O-desmethyltramadol.

Simple coupling of gas chromatography to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

A simple method for direct coupling of gas chromatography (GC) with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI/MS) has been developed. The outlet of the GC capillary column was placed between the ESI needle and the atmospheric pressure ionization (API) source of a mass spectrometer. The ionization occurs via dissolution of neutral compounds into the charged ESI droplet followed by ion evaporation or via a gas-phase proton transfer reaction between a protonated solvent molecule and an analyte.