The Second Round of the PHAR-QA Survey of Competences for Pharmacy Practice.

This paper presents the results of the second European Delphi round on the ranking of competences for pharmacy practice and compares these data to those of the first round already published. A comparison of the numbers of respondents, distribution by age group, country of residence, etc., shows that whilst the student population of respondents changed from Round 1 to 2, the populations of the professional groups (community, hospital and industrial pharmacists, pharmacists in other occupations and academics) were more stable.

Hospital and Community Pharmacists' Perceptions of Which Competences Are Important for Their Practice.

The objective of the PHAR-QA (Quality assurance in European pharmacy education and training) project was to investigate how competence-based learning could be applied to a healthcare, sectoral profession such as pharmacy. This is the first study on evaluation of competences from the pharmacists' perspective using an improved Delphi method with a large number of respondents from all over Europe. This paper looks at the way in which hospital pharmacists rank the fundamental competences for pharmacy practice.

A Study on How Industrial Pharmacists Rank Competences for Pharmacy Practice: A Case for Industrial Pharmacy Specialization.

This paper looks at the way in which industrial pharmacists rank the fundamental competences for pharmacy practice. European industrial pharmacists ( = 135) ranked 68 competences for practice, arranged into 13 clusters of two types (personal and patient care). Results show that, compared to community pharmacists ( = 258), industrial pharmacists rank competences centering on research, development and production of drugs higher, and those centering on patient care lower.

What is a Pharmacist: Opinions of Pharmacy Department Academics and Community Pharmacists on Competences Required for Pharmacy Practice.

This paper looks at the opinions of 241 European academics (who provide pharmacy education), and of 258 European community pharmacists (who apply it), on competences for pharmacy practice. A proposal for competences was generated by a panel of experts using Delphi methodology. Once finalized, the proposal was then submitted to a large, European-wide community of academics and practicing pharmacists in an additional Delphi round.

How Do European Pharmacy Students Rank Competences for Practice?

European students ( = 370), academics ( = 241) and community pharmacists ( = 258) ranked 13 clusters of 68 personal and patient care competences for pharmacy practice. The results show that ranking profiles for all three groups as a rule were similar. This was especially true of the comparison between students and community pharmacists concerning patient care competences suggesting that students have a good idea of their future profession.

The PHAR-QA Project: Competency Framework for Pharmacy Practice-First Steps, the Results of the European Network Delphi Round 1.

PHAR-QA, funded by the European Commission, is producing a framework of competences for pharmacy practice. The framework is in line with the EU directive on sectoral professions and takes into account the diversity of the pharmacy profession and the on-going changes in healthcare systems (with an increasingly important role for pharmacists), and in the pharmaceutical industry. PHAR-QA is asking academia, students and practicing pharmacists to rank competences required for practice.

Does the Subject Content of the Pharmacy Degree Course Influence the Community Pharmacist's Views on Competencies for Practice?

Do community pharmacists coming from different educational backgrounds rank the importance of competences for practice differently-or is the way in which they see their profession more influenced by practice than university education? A survey was carried out on 68 competences for pharmacy practice in seven countries with different pharmacy education systems in terms of the relative importance of the subject areas chemical and medicinal sciences. Community pharmacists were asked to rank the competences in terms of relative importance for practice; competences were divided into personal and patient-care competences. The ranking was very similar in the seven countries suggesting that evaluation of competences for practice is based more on professional experience than on prior university education.

A European Competence Framework for Industrial Pharmacy Practice in Biotechnology.

The PHAR-IN ("") looked at whether there is a difference in how industrial employees and academics rank competences for practice in the biotechnological industry. A small expert panel consisting of the authors of this paper produced a biotechnology competence framework by drawing up an initial list of competences then ranking them in importance using a three-stage Delphi process. The framework was next evaluated and validated by a large expert panel of academics ( 37) and industrial employees ( = 154).

Clinical and biological characteristics of diabetic patients under age 40 in Cameroon: relation to autoantibody status and comparison with Belgian patients.

Aims: We investigated the prevalence of diabetes autoantibodies (Abs) in Cameroonian patients and controls, assessed their contribution in disease classification and compared results with data from Belgium.

Methods: Abs against GAD (GADA), IA-2 (IA-2A) and zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8A) were assessed in 302 recently diagnosed Cameroonian patients with diabetes and 184 control subjects without diabetes aged below 40 years.

Results: Only 27 (9%) Cameroonian patients were younger than 15 years.

Tuning research competences for Bologna three cycles in medicine: report of a MEDINE2 European consensus survey.

Medical curricula, like healthcare systems and medical practice, have a strong cultural component and vary considerably between countries. Increasing mobility of medical graduates, and increasing pressure to ensure they are all fit for practice, have highlighted an urgent need to establish common ground in learning outcomes at all stages of training. A research-based approach, developed by the Tuning project, was used previously by the MEDINE Thematic Network to gain consensus on core learning outcomes/competences for primary medical degrees ( www.

In antibody-positive first-degree relatives of patients with type 1 diabetes, HLA-A*24 and HLA-B*18, but not HLA-B*39, are predictors of impending diabetes with distinct HLA-DQ interactions.

Aims/hypothesis: Secondary type 1 diabetes prevention trials require selection of participants with impending diabetes. HLA-A and -B alleles have been reported to promote disease progression. We investigated whether typing for HLA-B*18 and -B*39 may complement screening for HLA-DQ8, -DQ2 and -A*24 and autoantibodies (Abs) against islet antigen-2 (IA-2) and zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) for predicting rapid progression to hyperglycaemia.

Sensitive and specific time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay of rat C-peptide for measuring hormone secretory and storage capacity of β-cells in vivo and in vitro.

The limitations of current rat C-peptide assays led us to develop a time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay for measurements in plasma, incubation media, and tissue/cell extracts. The assay uses 2 monoclonal antibodies, binding to different parts of the C-peptide molecule, and allowing, respectively, capture of the peptide and its detection by europium-labeled streptavidin. It is performed on 25-μL samples for a dynamic range from 66pM up to 3900pM C-peptide and displays over 95% recovery of added peptide in the range of 111pM to 2786pM.

Exploring the integration of the biomedical research component in undergraduate medical education.

Background: A task force of MEDINE (Thematic Network on Medical Education in Europe) organized a survey of European Medical Schools.

Aim: To investigate the link between education and biomedical research in the medical curriculum questioning university staff responsible for the curriculum.

Method: The survey was online between 10/2006 and 3/2007.

LC-MS/MS identification of doublecortin as abundant beta cell-selective protein discharged by damaged beta cells in vitro.

There is a clinical need for plasma tests that can directly detect injury to pancreatic beta cells in type 1 diabetes. Such tests require biomarkers that are abundantly and selectively released into plasma by damaged beta cells. We combined LC-MS/MS proteomics and tissue-comparative transcriptomics of FACS-purified beta cells for bottom-up identification of candidate markers.

HLA-A*24 is an independent predictor of 5-year progression to diabetes in autoantibody-positive first-degree relatives of type 1 diabetic patients.

We investigated whether HLA-A*24 typing complements screening for HLA-DQ and for antibodies (Abs) against insulin, GAD, IA-2 (IA-2A), and zinc transporter-8 (ZnT8A) for prediction of rapid progression to type 1 diabetes (T1D). Persistently Ab(+) siblings/offspring (n = 288; aged 0-39 years) of T1D patients were genotyped for HLA-DQA1-DQB1 and HLA-A*24 and monitored for development of diabetes within 5 years of first Ab(+). HLA-A*24 (P = 0.

Validation of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for C-peptide analysis in Cameroon.

Aims: To validate an ELISA method for C-peptide analysis in Cameroon.

Methods: We evaluated the linearity, detection limit, functional sensitivity, precision and accuracy, and further investigated for cross-reactivity by proinsulin, and interferences by lipids, bilirubin and hemoglobin. This method was compared with the Roche electrochemiluminescence immunoassay.

Protein markers for insulin-producing beta cells with higher glucose sensitivity.

Background And Methodology: Pancreatic beta cells show intercellular differences in their metabolic glucose sensitivity and associated activation of insulin production. To identify protein markers for these variations in functional glucose sensitivity, rat beta cell subpopulations were flow-sorted for their level of glucose-induced NAD(P)H and their proteomes were quantified by label-free data independent alternate scanning LC-MS. Beta cell-selective proteins were also identified through comparison with rat brain and liver tissue and with purified islet alpha cells, after geometrical normalization using 6 stably expressed reference proteins.

Association of IL-2RA/CD25 with type 1 diabetes in the Belgian population.

Our goals were to study the proposed association of IL-2RA /CD25 with type 1 diabetes in the Belgian population over a broad age range, and to explore possible correlations with disease phenotypes, immune markers, HLA-DQ, INS, and PTPN22. Patients (n = 1954), healthy controls (n = 2082), and families (n = 420) were genotyped for IL-2RA/CD25 rs41295061(C>A), HLA-DQ, INS-VNTR and PTPN22. IL-2RA/CD25 was associated with type 1 diabetes (χ(2) = 26.

Development of a multipurpose time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay for rat insulin.

We present a time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay (TR-FIA) for the measurement of rat insulin in cell extracts and culture media. This assay is based on the binding of two monoclonal antibodies to different parts of the insulin molecule in a 96-well microtiter plate. For the detection, europium-labeled streptavidin that interacts with the second biotinylated antibody is used.

IFIH1 gene polymorphisms in type 1 diabetes: genetic association analysis and genotype-phenotype correlation in the Belgian population.

The evaluation of susceptibility loci in a registry-based setting could be an important addition to the current predictive and screening models in T1D. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of one of these loci, IFIH1. T1D patients (n=1981), control subjects (n=2092) and 430 families were genotyped for HLA-DQ and IFIH1 nsSNP rs1990760 (Ala946Thr).

Total error profiling of a proinsulin time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay.

We applied total error profiling to evaluate the conversion of a known proinsulin (PI) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) into a time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay (TRFIA). The formula and acceptance criteria proposed by the Ligand Binding Assay Bioanalytical Focus Group (LBABFG) of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) were applied. We found that the expected dynamic range enlargement with TRFIA compared to ELISA ([0.

Simultaneous measurement of plasma concentrations of proinsulin and C-peptide and their ratio with a trefoil-type time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay.

Background: When the concentrations of 2 or more substances are measured separately, their molar ratios are subject to the additive imprecisions of the different assays. We hypothesized that the cumulative error for concentration ratios of peptides containing a common sequence might be minimized by measuring the peptides simultaneously with a "trefoil-type" immunoassay.

Methods: As a model of this approach, we developed a dual-label time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay (TRFIA) to simultaneously measure proinsulin, C-peptide, and the proinsulin-C-peptide ratio (PI/C).

Adiponectin levels do not predict clinical onset of type 1 diabetes in antibody-positive relatives.

Aims/hypothesis: Insulin resistance has been proposed as a risk factor for type 1 diabetes. We investigated whether adiponectin, an insulin sensitiser, can serve as an additional predictive marker for type 1 diabetes in first-degree relatives of known patients.

Methods: Adiponectin was followed in 211 persistently islet antibody-positive (Ab+) first-degree relatives of type 1 diabetic patients and in 211 age- and sex-matched persistently antibody-negative relatives, and correlated with antibody status, random proinsulin:C-peptide ratio and HLA-DQ genotype.

TNFa microsatellite polymorphism modulates the risk of type 1 diabetes in the Belgian population, independent of HLA-DQ.

To determine the contribution of the tumor necrosis factor alpha gene (TNFA) to the immunogenetic risk prediction of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in the Belgian population, well-characterized antibody-positive patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D), nondiabetic control subjects, and nuclear families were analyzed for HLA-DQA1-DQB1, TNFA -308 G/A promoter single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and TNFa microsatellite markers in both case-control and transmission studies. A total of 1,029 patients (mean age at onset, 18 years; male/female ratio, 1.2), 575 control subjects and 179 nuclear families were analyzed for the -308 SNP and 1,082 patients (mean age at onset, 17 years; and male/female ratio, 1.