An Online, Self-directed Pharmacy Bridging Course for Incoming First-Year Students.

To evaluate the short-term effectiveness of an online bridging course to increase the knowledge of struggling incoming students' in crucial content areas within the Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) curriculum. An assessment was administered to all incoming first-year pharmacy students (N=180) during orientation to determine their foundational knowledge in key areas. Students who scored <70% on the assessment (N=137) were instructed to complete a 10-module, online, self-directed bridging course focusing on physiology, biochemistry, math, and medical terminology during the first two weeks of the quarter to prepare them for first-quarter coursework.

Inclusion of calcium during isolation of high-density lipoprotein from plasma maintains antioxidant function.

We investigated how inclusion of calcium during isolation of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) affected its antioxidant function. Following isolation, HDL was dialyzed against 0.154 M NaCl without or with added calcium (1mM).

Critical thinking and reflection exercises in a biochemistry course to improve prospective health professions students' attitudes toward physician-pharmacist collaboration.

Objective: To determine the impact of performing critical-thinking and reflection assignments within interdisciplinary learning teams in a biochemistry course on pharmacy students' and prospective health professions students' collaboration scores.

Design: Pharmacy students and prospective medical, dental, and other health professions students enrolled in a sequence of 2 required biochemistry courses. They were randomly assigned to interdisciplinary learning teams in which they were required to complete case assignments, thinking and reflection exercises, and a team service-learning project.

Interprofessional workshop to improve mutual understanding between pharmacy and medical students.

Objective: To measure changes in pharmacy and medical students' physician-pharmacist collaboration scores resulting from a workshop designed to promote understanding of the others' roles in health care.

Methods: More than 88% of first-year pharmacy (n = 215) and medical (n = 205) students completed the Scale of Attitudes Toward Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration on 3 occasions in order to establish a baseline of median scores and to determine whether the scores were influenced by an interprofessional workshop.

Results: Participation in the interprofessional workshop increased pharmacy students' collaboration scores above baseline (p=0.

Vitamin C attenuates hypochlorite-mediated loss of paraoxonase-1 activity from human plasma.

Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) is a cardioprotective enzyme associated with high-density lipoprotein (HDL). We tested the hypothesis that vitamin C protects HDL and PON1 from deleterious effects of hypochlorous acid, a proinflammatory oxidant. In our experiments, HDL (from human plasma) or diluted human plasma was incubated with hypochlorite in either the absence (control) or presence of vitamin C before measuring chemical modification and PON1 activities.

Modification with homocysteine does not increase susceptibility of human low-density lipoprotein to iron-mediated oxidation.

Oxidation of human low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is centrally involved in the development of cardiovascular diseases. This study investigated whether homocysteine-mediated thiolation of LDL rendered it more susceptible to oxidation by iron. After in vitro exposure to homocysteine thiolactone for 60 minutes, LDL's thiol content increased from 26 +/- 5 (control) to 224 +/- 20 nmol/mg of protein (thiolated; P < .

Vitamin C preserves the cardio-protective paraoxonase activity of high-density lipoprotein during oxidant stress.

HDL-associated paraoxonase (PON) antioxidant enzyme activity is cardio-protective. We investigated whether vitamin C prevented loss of PON activity from HDL during oxidant stress. HDL was incubated with either hydrophilic or lipophilic peroxyl radical initiators in the absence (control) or presence of vitamin C (50 and 100 micromol/L).

Differential modulation of microglia superoxide anion and thromboxane B2 generation by the marine manzamines.

Background: Thromboxane B2 (TXB2) and superoxide anion (O2-) are neuroinflammatory mediators that appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases. Because activated-microglia are the main source of TXB2 and O2- in these disorders, modulation of their synthesis has been hypothesized as a potential therapeutic approach for neuroinflammatory disorders. Marine natural products have become a source of novel agents that modulate eicosanoids and O2- generation from activated murine and human leukocytes.

Vitamin C inhibits lipid oxidation in human HDL.

HDL are susceptible to oxidation, which affects their cardioprotective properties. Although several studies have reported inhibition of HDL oxidation by vitamin E, none has determined the potential protective effect of vitamin C, another important blood antioxidant. We investigated whether vitamin C protects HDL from oxidation by incubating HDL (0.

Cadmium alters the localization of N-cadherin, E-cadherin, and beta-catenin in the proximal tubule epithelium.

Recent studies on proximal tubule-derived cells in culture have shown that Cd has relatively specific damaging effects on the cadherin-dependent junctions between the cells. The objective of the present study was to determine whether Cd can affect cadherin-dependent junctions in the proximal tubule epithelium in vivo. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received subcutaneous injections of Cd (0.

Vitamin C protects low-density lipoprotein from homocysteine-mediated oxidation.

Homocysteine, an atherogenic amino acid, promotes iron-dependent oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). We investigated whether vitamin C, a physiological antioxidant, could protect LDL from homocysteine-mediated oxidation. LDL (0.

Assessment of student pharmacists' knowledge concerning folic acid and prevention of birth defects demonstrates a need for further education.

Adequate periconceptional consumption of folic acid can prevent neural tube birth defects, and all women capable of becoming pregnant are recommended to consume 400 microg/d. Most women, however, are unaware of this recommendation and do not consume adequate amounts of folic acid. It is important, therefore, that healthcare professionals, such as pharmacists, be capable of educating women regarding folic acid.