Reliability of peer assessment of patient education simulations.

Background: At Belmont University College of Pharmacy, the final introductory pharmacy practice experience (IPPE) course in the IPPE series, IPPE V, is designed to assess readiness for advanced pharmacy practice experiences and includes three patient counseling simulations. These simulations have required greater resources. The objective of our study was to determine if student performance on patient counseling simulations can be accurately assessed by peers.

Suggested pharmacy practice laboratory activities to align with pre-APPE domains in the Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum.

Our Situation: The Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education outlines ability statements that pharmacy students should be able to demonstrate prior to beginning their Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPEs). Practice laboratory courses offer extensive opportunities for students to participate in activities and assessments that enable them to meet the objectives outlined in the Pre-APPE Core Domains in Standards 2016. This review identifies selected published literature, activities, and assessment methods that can be adapted and implemented in practice laboratory courses to help achieve the abilities outlined within the Pre-APPE Core Domains.

Hospital readmission and emergency department use based on prescribing patterns in patients with severely uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Patients with uncontrolled diabetes are more likely to be readmitted to the hospital. The study objective was to determine the risk of hospital admission or emergency department (ED) use in patients with severely uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus based on whether their diabetes medication regimen was intensified at discharge.

Subjects And Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients admitted to the medicine services at an academic medical center was conducted during a 9-month period.

Pancreatitis: a potential complication of liraglutide?

Objective: To review the evidence surrounding a potential association between liraglutide and pancreatitis.

Data Sources: A literature search was conducted in MEDLINE (1948-July 12, 2012) and EMBASE (1974-week 27, 2012) using the search terms pancreatitis, liraglutide, and glucagon-like peptide 1/adverse effects. Reference citations from identified publications were reviewed.

Acute pancreatitis associated with liraglutide.

Objective: To report what is, to our knowledge, the first postmarketing case of acute pancreatitis associated with liraglutide.

Case Summary: A 60-year-old female with type 2 diabetes presented with a 16-hour history of mid-epigastric pain 3 weeks after treatment was changed from exenatide 10 μg twice daily, which she had taken for 4 years, to liraglutide 1.8 mg daily.

Acquired progressive lymphangioma in an HIV-positive patient.

Acquired progressive lymphangioma (APL) is a rare condition characterized by benign proliferation of thin-walled vessels lined by flattened endothelial cells.(1-4) Although benign, the acquired nature of this tumor may lead to misdiagnosis as a malignant vascular tumor. This is especially true if the patient has risk factors, such as immunodeficiency.

Genetic alteration of endothelial heparan sulfate selectively inhibits tumor angiogenesis.

To examine the role of endothelial heparan sulfate during angiogenesis, we generated mice bearing an endothelial-targeted deletion in the biosynthetic enzyme N-acetylglucosamine N-deacetylase/N-sulfotransferase 1 (Ndst1). Physiological angiogenesis during cutaneous wound repair was unaffected, as was growth and reproductive capacity of the mice. In contrast, pathological angiogenesis in experimental tumors was altered, resulting in smaller tumors and reduced microvascular density and branching.

Expression and potential function of cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides in dermatophytosis and tinea versicolor.

Objectives: This study was designed to characterize the role of the human cathelicidin LL-37 in fungal skin infections such as dermatophytosis and tinea versicolor.

Methods: The in vitro antimicrobial activity of synthetic antimicrobial peptides including the human cathelicidin LL-37 against Malassezia furfur and several dermatophytes was determined. Immunostaining was performed to determine expression of cathelicidin in skin biopsies from patients with tinea pedis, tinea corporis and tinea versicolor.

Anti-fungal activity of cathelicidins and their potential role in Candida albicans skin infection.

Cathelicidins have broad anti-microbial capacity and are important for host defense against skin infections by some bacterial and viral pathogens. This study investigated the activity of cathelicidins against Candida albicans. The human cathelicidin LL-37, and mouse cathelicidin mCRAMP, killed C.

Expression of an additional cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide protects against bacterial skin infection.

Cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides are effectors of innate immune defense in mammals. Humans and mice have only one cathelicidin gene, whereas domesticated mammals such as the pig, cow, and horse have multiple cathelicidin genes. We hypothesized that the evolution of multiple cathelicidin genes provides these animals with enhanced resistance to infection.

Dermatan sulfate proteoglycan and glycosaminoglycan synthesis is induced in fibroblasts by transfer to a three-dimensional extracellular environment.

Composition and architecture of the extracellular matrix dictate cell behavior. Proteoglycans bind multiple components of the extracellular matrix by serving as important regulators of cell behavior. Given the influence of culture architecture on cell function, we investigated whether switching NIH3T3 fibroblasts from growth on type 1 collagen in monolayer to a collagen gel might influence dermatan sulfate expression.

HB-107, a nonbacteriostatic fragment of the antimicrobial peptide cecropin B, accelerates murine wound repair.

Antimicrobial peptides are essential to innate host defense as effectors of pathogen clearance and can modify host cell behaviors to promote wound repair. While these two functions appear interrelated, it is unclear whether the ability to aid in wound repair requires inherent antimicrobial function. We hypothesized that the influence of antimicrobial peptides on wound repair is not dependent on antimicrobial function.