Effectiveness of a brief motivational intervention in the management of risky alcohol use in primary care: ALCO-AP20 study protocol.

Background: Motivational interviewing (MI) could be a method for minimizing alcohol-related harm. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of a brief intervention, based on a MI, in patients with risky alcohol use attended in Primary Care (PC).

Materials And Methods: A cluster-randomized, two-arm parallel, multicenter, open-label, controlled clinical trial.

Sanguiin H-6 Fractionated from Cloudberry () Seeds Can Prevent the Methicillin-Resistant Biofilm Development during Wound Infection.

is the most common cause of surgical site infections and its treatment is challenging due to the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains such as methicillin-resistant (MRSA). Natural berry-derived compounds have shown antimicrobial potential, e.g.

Assessment of pharmacists' views on biosimilar naming conventions.

Background: As the date for the introduction of biosimilars in the United States approaches, questions remain regarding the naming, coding, and approval process for these agents that will need to be carefully considered.

Objectives: To (a) ascertain pharmacists' awareness of and comfort level with biosimilars and (b) determine the impact of identical or different nonproprietary names on pharmacists' confidence in substituting interchangeable biologics.

Methods: The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the American Pharmacists Association, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists fielded a survey to their membership or a partial segment of their membership.

Quality improvement initiatives: the missed opportunity for health plans.

Background: The increase in healthcare cost without direct improvements in health outcomes, coupled with a desire to expand access to the large uninsured population, has underscored the importance of quality initiatives and organizations that provide more affordable healthcare by maximizing value.

Objectives: To determine the knowledge of managed care organizations about quality organizations and initiatives and to identify potential opportunities in which pharmaceutical companies could collaborate with health plans in the development and implementation of quality initiatives.

Methods: We conducted a survey of 36 pharmacy directors and 15 medical directors of different plans during a Managed Care Network meeting in 2008.

Guanine-rich DNA nanocircles for the synthesis and characterization of long cytosine-rich telomeric DNAs.

Short synthetic oligonucleotides derived from the human telomeric repeat have been studied recently for their ability to fold into four-stranded structures that are thought to be important to their biological function. Because telomeric DNAs are several kilobases in length, however, their folding might well be affected by cooperative or high-order interactions in these long sequences. Here, we present a new molecular system that allows for easy synthesis of very long stretches of the cytosine-rich strand of human telomeric DNA.