Prescription opioid use during pregnancy and risk for preterm birth or term low birthweight.

Objective: Examine the relationship between prescription opioid analgesic use during pregnancy and preterm birth or term low birthweight.

Design, Setting, And Participants: We analyzed data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a US multisite, population-based study, for births from 1997 to 2011. We defined exposure as self-reported prescription opioid use between one month before conception and the end of pregnancy, and we dichotomized opioid use duration by ≤7 days and >7 days.

Neurocognitive effects associated with proprotein convertase subtilisin-kexin type 9 inhibitor use: a narrative review.

Neurocognitive adverse events have been observed with the widespread use of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase inhibitors or "statins," which reduce low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and subsequently cardiovascular risk. The United States Food and Drug Association directed manufacturers of proprotein convertase subtilisin-kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors to monitor for neurocognitive adverse events due to their potent effects on LDL-C reduction, which is a proposed mechanism for neuronal cell dysfunction. Other proposed mechanisms for PCSK9 inhibitor-associated neurocognitive adverse events include N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor modulation, dysregulation of lipid and glucose metabolism, and patient-specific risk factors for cognitive impairment.

An Elective Course in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health and Practice Issues.

To design, implement and assess a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health and practice elective course for second- and third-year Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) students. The course focused on health promotion, health care barriers, disease prevention, and treatment throughout an LGBT person's lifespan. The course included topic discussions, reading assignments, various active-learning activities, an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) with a transgender person, and guest speakers from the LGBT community.

The Evolving Role of Pharmacists in Transgender Health Care.

Pharmacists are increasingly part of a multifaceted team providing health care to members of the often marginalized transgender (TG) community. Some pharmacists, however, may feel unprepared to care for and interact with TG individuals. By providing comprehensive, respectful, and gender-affirming support, improving physical pharmacy environments with policies and procedures, pharmacists can be trustworthy providers for TG patients.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Use and Risk of Gastrointestinal and Intracranial Bleeding.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are among the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States. Although SSRIs are highly tolerable relative to other antidepressants, they are associated with a number of adverse effects, including increased gastrointestinal tract bleeding and intracranial bleeding. Mechanisms include increased gastric acid secretion and inhibition of serotonin entrance into platelets.

Correction to: Long-Acting Injectable Second-Generation Antipsychotics: An Update and Comparison Between Agents.

1. In Page 244, under General Pharmacokinetic Principles, Column 1-the following sentence should come after reference 21.

Long-Acting Injectable Second-Generation Antipsychotics: An Update and Comparison Between Agents.

Schizophrenia is a chronic medical condition with periods of remission and relapses over a patient's lifetime. Antipsychotic medications represent the mainstay of treatment for this disease. Long-acting injectable (LAI) formulations of antipsychotics are an attractive alternative to their oral counterparts, as they enhance patient adherence.

Development of an enantioselective assay for simultaneous separation of venlafaxine and O-desmethylvenlafaxine by micellar electrokinetic chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry: Application to the analysis of drug-drug interaction.

To-date, there has been no effective chiral capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) method reported for the simultaneous enantioseparation of the antidepressant drug, venlafaxine (VX) and its structurally-similar major metabolite, O-desmethylvenlafaxine (O-DVX). This is mainly due to the difficulty of identifying MS compatible chiral selector, which could provide both high enantioselectivity and sensitive MS detection. In this work, poly-sodium N-undecenoyl-L,L-leucylalaninate (poly-L,L-SULA) was employed as a chiral selector after screening several dipeptide polymeric chiral surfactants.

Diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorders in adults: a review of the evidence on pharmacologic treatments.

Background: Patients with bipolar disorder are exceptionally challenging to manage because of the dynamic, chronic, and fluctuating nature of their disease. Typically, the symptoms of bipolar disorder first appear in adolescence or early adulthood, and are repeated over the patient's lifetime, expressed as unpredictable recurrences of hypomanic/manic or depressive episodes. The lifetime prevalence of bipolar disorder in adults is reported to be approximately 4%, and its management was estimated to cost the US healthcare system in 2009 $150 billion in combined direct and indirect costs.

Unique collaboration between a private college of pharmacy and a private academic health system.

Advanced experiential education represents the culmination of a pharmacy student's training, where students can apply the knowledge they have learned in the classroom to real patients. Unfortunately, opportunities for students to provide the direct patient care recommended by pharmacy organizations and accrediting bodies are lacking. Additionally, academic health systems that can provide these experiences for students are experiencing hardships that have stalled the expansion of postgraduate training programs and services.

Benzodiazepines: a major component in unintentional prescription drug overdoses with opioid analgesics.

The misuse and abuse of prescription medications in the United States continues to increase despite interventions by health care professionals, regulatory, and law enforcement agencies. Opioid analgesics are the leading class of prescription drugs that have caused unintentional overdose deaths. Benzodiazepines when taken alone are relatively safe agents in overdose.

Clinically significant drug interactions with atypical antipsychotics.

Atypical antipsychotics [also known as second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs)] have become a mainstay therapeutic treatment intervention for patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and other psychotic conditions. These agents are commonly used with other medications--most notably, antidepressants and antiepileptic drugs. Drug interactions can take place by various pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and pharmaceutical mechanisms.

Development of a chiral micellar electrokinetic chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay for simultaneous analysis of warfarin and hydroxywarfarin metabolites: application to the analysis of patients serum samples.

The enantioseparation of warfarin (WAR) along with the five positional and optical isomers is challenging because of the difficulty to simultaneously separate and quantitate these chiral compounds. Currently, no effective chiral CE-MS methods exist for the simultaneous enantioseparation of WAR and all its hydroxylated metabolites in a single run. Polymeric surfactants (aka.

Lack of a pharmacokinetic drug-drug interaction with venlafaxine extended-release/indinavir and desvenlafaxine extended-release/indinavir.

Purpose: To assess the effects of venlafaxine extended-release (XR) capsules and desvenlafaxine extended-release (XR) tablets upon indinavir pharmacokinetic properties when co-administrated to healthy volunteers.

Methods: This was an open-label, two-period, fixed-dose study conducted at the clinical research unit located on a university campus. Twenty-four healthy volunteers enrolled in the study (mean age 28.

Advanced strategies for treatment of Parkinson's disease: the role of early treatment.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with significant patient disability and costs to the healthcare system. It is questioned whether early treatment may improve outcomes and delay disability. Early treatment relies on early diagnosis, which can be difficult to achieve because the diagnosis of PD is based on motor symptoms, is clinical in nature, and is complicated by potential presentation of nonmotor symptoms prior to motor symptoms.

Maternal treatment with opioid analgesics and risk for birth defects.

Objective: We examined whether maternal opioid treatment between 1 month before pregnancy and the first trimester was associated with birth defects.

Study Design: The National Birth Defects Prevention Study (1997 through 2005) is an ongoing population-based case-control study. We estimated adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIS) for birth defects categories with at least 200 case infants or at least 4 exposed case infants.

Antidepressant agents for the treatment of chronic pain and depression.

Depression and painful somatic symptoms commonly occur together. Depression and chronic pain can have devastating effects on a patient's health, productivity, and overall quality of life. When moderate-to-severe pain exists, it can impair patient function while making treatment more difficult or resistant, with increased severity in depressive symptoms and worse outcomes.

Endogenous histamine and cortisol levels in subjects with different histamine N-methyltransferase C314T genotypes : a pilot study.

Background: Histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT) catalyzes the methylation of histamine and plays an important role in histamine biotransformation in bronchial epithelium. Enzymatic activity of HNMT has been shown to be regulated by genetic factors, including polymorphisms in the HNMT gene. In this pilot study we determined endogenous levels of histamine and cortisol in plasma and whole blood samples from subjects with different genotypes for the HNMT C314T polymorphism, and investigated whether these parameters differed between individuals with the HNMT CC genotype and those with the CT genotype.

Reduced methylprednisolone clearance causing prolonged pharmacodynamics in a healthy subject was not associated with CYP3A5*3 allele or a change in diet composition.

The influence of diet and genetics was investigated in a healthy white person who had distinctly low methylprednisolone clearance. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameter values were similar on 2 occasions during the consumption of a low-carbohydrate diet and a Weight Watchers diet, indicating that the decreased clearance was unlikely attributable to a change in diet composition. Although the subject was found to be homozygous for CYP3A5*3, genetic findings were not significant for a number of other CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 allelic variants.

Lack of pharmacokinetic interaction between lamotrigine and olanzapine in healthy volunteers.

Study Objective: To investigate the potential drug-drug interaction between lamotrigine, an antiepileptic agent used to treat bipolar disorders, and olanzapine, an atypical antipsychotic drug also used to treat bipolar disorders, both of which are metabolized by the uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase system.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: University center for clinical research.

Altered methylprednisolone pharmacodynamics in healthy subjects with histamine N-methyltransferase C314T genetic polymorphism.

This study investigated the potential differences in methylprednisolone pharmacodynamics between healthy subjects with different histamine N-methyltransferase (HNMT) C314T genotypes. Six individuals with C/C genotype and 4 with C/T genotype were administered a single intravenous dose of methylprednisolone 0.6 mg/kg ideal body weight in a randomized 2-period manner.

Implications for atypical antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia: neurocognition effects and a neuroprotective hypothesis.

Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia occurs in the early phases of the disease and remains throughout its course. The basis for cognition lies in two main brain regions: the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Positron emission tomography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and proton magnetic spectroscopy studies have shown that prefrontal cortex and hippocampus activity and cell density are lower in patients with schizophrenia than in healthy controls.

Dose-dependent alternations in the pharmacokinetics of olanzapine during coadministration of fluvoxamine in patients with schizophrenia.

Olanzapine, an atypical antipsychotic agent, is a substrate of the cytochrome P4501A2 (CYP1A2) enzyme. Administration of a potent CYP1A2 inhibitor (eg, fluvoxamine) may alter the pharmacokinetics of olanzapine. This study investigated the pharmacokinetic interactions between olanzapine and fluvoxamine in patients with schizophrenia.