Pharmacist-led medication reconciliation on admission to an acute psychiatric hospital unit.

Background: Therapy management in patients suffering from mental health disorders is complex and the risks derived from changes or interruptions of treatment should not be ignored. Medication reconciliation in psychiatry may reduce medication errors and promote patient safety during transitions of care.

Objective: To identify the influence of complementary information sources in the construction of the best possible medication history, and to ascertain the potential clinical impact of discrepancies identified in a medication reconciliation service.

Contribution of Different Patient Information Sources to Create the Best Possible Medication History.

Introduction: Obtaining the best possible medication history is the crucial step in medication reconciliation. Our aim was to evaluate the potential contributions of the main data sources available - patient/caregiver, hospital medical records, and shared electronic health records - to obtain an accurate 'best possible medication history'.

Material And Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted.

Consequences of ignoring patient diagnoses when using the 2015 Updated Beers Criteria.

Background: Beers Criteria are one of the best known explicit criteria to identify inappropriate medication in elderly that can be used in medication review. The access to patients' medical records may be different among healthcare professionals and settings and, subsequently, the identification of patients' diagnoses may be compromised.

Objective: To assess the consequences of ignoring patient diagnoses when applying 2015 Beers Criteria to identify potentially inappropriate medication (PIM).

Developing an adherence in hypertension questionnaire short version: MUAH-16.

The Maastricht Utrecht Adherence in Hypertension (MUAH) questionnaire provides clinicians with information about the causes of a patient's poor adherence to antihypertensive drugs. In this study, the authors aimed to develop and validate a short version of the MUAH questionnaire. After an exploratory factor analysis, the number of MUAH items was reduced.

Influence of the mode of administration on the results of medication adherence questionnaires.

Introduction And Objectives: Adherence to medication regimen is commonly assessed through questionnaires, some of which are validated via self-administration. The inadequate health literacy of elderly people pushes researchers to the use of interviews as a method of administration. The aims of this study were to compare the results obtained with an interviewer-administered and a self-administered medication adherence questionnaire and to evaluate the consequences of the adherence status classification of individuals.

[Pharmacovigilance in Portugal: Activity of the Central Pharmacovigilance Unit].

Introduction: The aim of this study was to characterize the spontaneous reports of adverse events that were received by the Central Portugal Regional Pharmacovigilance Unit.

Material And Methods: Spontaneous reports received between 01/2001 and 12/2013 were considered. The annual reporting ratios were estimated.

Assessing the impact of multi-compartment compliance aids on clinical outcomes in the elderly: a pilot study.

Background: Medication non-adherence is a major problem for elderly people. Multicompartment compliance aids (MCAs) have been advocated as a solution for this problem.

Objective: To assess the impact of using MCAs in self-reported adherence and clinical biomarkers of elderly patients followed in a community pharmacy.

Factors associated with arterial hypertension in pharmacy users in Portugal.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence, treatment and control of hypertension, and to identify factors associated in community pharmacy users.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,042 pharmacy users, aged between 40 and 65 years, in 60 community pharmacies of continental Portugal, between October 2005 and January 2006. Data were obtained with the application of a questionnaire and measurement of biological parameters.

Disposition of eslicarbazepine acetate in the mouse after oral administration.

Eslicarbazepine acetate is a promising antiepileptic drug structurally related to carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine, which is in the final phase of clinical development. The metabolism of eslicarbazepine acetate is clearly species dependent and, in this case, among small laboratory animals, the mouse seems to be the most relevant species to humans. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the plasma, brain and liver disposition of eslicarbazepine acetate in mice to better understand its disposition in humans.

CA-125 AUC as a predictor for epithelial ovarian cancer relapse.

Purpose: The aim of the present work was to evaluate the usefulness of CA-125 normalized in time area under the curve (CA-125 AUC) to signalise epithelial ovarian cancer relapse.

Patients And Methods: Data from a hundred and eleven patients were submitted to two different approaches based on CA-125 AUC increase values to predict patient relapse. In Criterion A total CA-125 AUC normalized in time value (AUC(i)) was compared with the immediately previous one (AUC(i-1)) using the formulae AUC(i) > or = F * AUC(i-1) (several F values were tested) to find the appropriate close related increment associated to patient relapse.

Stereoselective disposition of S- and R-licarbazepine in mice.

The stereoselective disposition of S-licarbazepine (S-Lic) and R-licarbazepine (R-Lic) was investigated in plasma, brain, liver, and kidney tissues after their individual administration (350 mg/kg) to mice by oral gavage. Plasma, brain, liver, and kidney concentrations of licarbazepine enantiomers and their metabolites were determined over the time by a validated chiral HPLC-UV method. The mean concentration data, attained at each time point, were analyzed using a non-compartmental model.

Simultaneous and enantioselective liquid chromatographic determination of eslicarbazepine acetate, S-licarbazepine, R-licarbazepine and oxcarbazepine in mouse tissue samples using ultraviolet detection.

Herein is reported, for the first time, a simple and reliable chiral reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method coupled to ultraviolet (UV) detection for simultaneous determination of eslicarbazepine acetate (ESL) and its metabolites, S-licarbazepine (S-LC), R-licarbazepine (R-LC) and oxcarbazepine (OXC), in mouse plasma and brain, liver and kidney tissue homogenates. All analytes and the internal standard were extracted from plasma and tissue homogenates by a solid-phase extraction procedure using Waters Oasis hydrophilic-lipophilic balance cartridges. The chromatographic separation was performed by isocratic elution with water/methanol (88:12, v/v), pumped at a flow rate of 0.

Enantioselective HPLC-UV method for determination of eslicarbazepine acetate (BIA 2-093) and its metabolites in human plasma.

Eslicarbazepine acetate (BIA 2-093) is a novel central nervous system drug undergoing clinical phase III trials for epilepsy and phase II trials for bipolar disorder. A simple and reliable chiral reversed-phase HPLC-UV method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of eslicarbazepine acetate, oxcarbazepine, S-licarbazepine and R-licarbazepine in human plasma. The analytes and internal standard were extracted from plasma by a solid-phase extraction using Waters Oasis HLB cartridges.

Performance of gentamicin population kinetic parameters in Portuguese neonates.

Aim: To evaluate the performance of eight different sets of gentamicin populational pharmacokinetic parameters, regarding potential implementation in clinical pharmacokinetic software as prior information.

Methods: The study involved 49 patients of 31.3+/-4.

Relationship between plasma and brain levels and the anticonvulsant effect of lamotrigine in rats.

The aims of the present research were to characterize the plasma and brain concentration-time profiles of lamotrigine after its acute administration and to establish the relationship between these profiles and the anticonvulsant effect of lamotrigine in rats. Adult male Wistar rats were given 10 mg/kg of lamotrigine intraperitoneally. The lamotrigine profiles in plasma and brain were determined at predetermined times over 120-h post-dose.

Differential roles of hydrogen peroxide and superoxide in mediating IL-1-induced NF-kappa B activation and iNOS expression in bovine articular chondrocytes.

Our previous studies showed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are required for the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 beta (IL-1) to induce the activity of the Nuclear transcription Factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B) and the expression of the inducible isoform of the nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in bovine articular chondrocytes. This study aimed at elucidating the role of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) and the superoxide radical, two major ROS, in mediating those IL-1-induced responses. The results obtained show that chondrocytes produce both H(2)O(2) and superoxide radical in response to IL-1.

Role of mitogen-activated protein kinases and tyrosine kinases on IL-1-Induced NF-kappaB activation and iNOS expression in bovine articular chondrocytes.

Nitric oxide (NO), produced by the inducible isoform of the NO synthase (iNOS), plays an important role in the pathophysiology of arthritic diseases. This work aimed at elucidating the role of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), p38MAPK and p42/44MAPK, and of protein tyrosine kinases (PTK) on interleukin-1beta (IL-1)-induced iNOS expression in bovine articular chondrocytes. The specific inhibitor of the p38MAPK, SB 203580, effectively inhibited IL-1-induced iNOS mRNA and protein synthesis, as well as NO production, while the specific inhibitor of the p42/44MAPK, PD 98059, had no effect.