Design and students' perceptions of a virtually facilitated outpatient pharmacy practice laboratory course.

Background And Purpose: Web conferencing, interactive video conferencing, and classroom and lecture capture are widely used in pharmacy education. This study aimed to determine student pharmacists' receptiveness to a virtually facilitated outpatient pharmacy practice laboratory course.

Educational Activity And Setting: A new course design was implemented for a first-year (P1) laboratory course utilizing Zoom, an internet-based "cloud" video and chat conference room, for communication across two campuses.

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Pharmacist-Led Transitions of Care Services on the 30-Day All-Cause Readmission Rate of Patients with Congestive Heart Failure.

Background And Objective: A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to determine the cumulative effect of pharmacist-led transitions of care on the 30-day all-cause readmission rates of patients with congestive heart failure with the objective to isolate and assess the effect of pharmacy intervention to a condition-specific service. Previous studies that review pharmacist-led transitional care services involve multiple condition-specific services or a pharmacy service integrated into the healthcare team that presents complications in interpreting the independent effectiveness of component services by pharmacy professionals.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted using articles identified from MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and clinicaltrials.

Spirituality and Religiosity of Pharmacy Students.

To characterize the religiosity and spirituality of final year pharmacy students and examine the impact on performance in pharmacy school and future practice. An electronic survey was sent to 308 students in their final year of pharmacy school at four universities (two private and two public institutions). There were 141 respondents to the survey for a response rate of 46%.

Impact of Students' Strengths, Critical Thinking Skills and Disposition on Academic Success in the First Year of a PharmD Program.

To determine the critical thinking skills, critical thinking disposition, and personal strengths that contribute to student success and excellence in the first year of a doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) program. Student pharmacists from three cohorts completed the Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT) to assess their critical thinking skills, the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) to assess their critical thinking disposition, and the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment to determine their top five Signature Themes.

Predicting lithium treatment response in bipolar patients using gender-specific gene expression biomarkers and machine learning.

We sought to test the hypothesis that transcriptome-level gene signatures are differentially expressed between male and female bipolar patients, prior to lithium treatment, in a patient cohort who later were clinically classified as lithium treatment responders. Gene expression study data was obtained from the Lithium Treatment-Moderate dose Use Study data accessed from the National Center for Biotechnology Information's Gene Expression Omnibus via accession number GSE4548. Differential gene expression analysis was conducted using the Linear Models for Microarray and RNA-Seq (limma) package and the Decision Tree and Random Forest machine learning algorithms in R.

Nanoformulation properties, characterization, and behavior in complex biological matrices: Challenges and opportunities for brain-targeted drug delivery applications and enhanced translational potential.

Nanocarriers (synthetic/cell-based have attracted enormous interest for various therapeutic indications, including neurodegenerative disorders. A broader understanding of the impact of nanomedicines design is now required to enhance their translational potential. Nanoformulations in vivo journey is significantly affected by their physicochemical properties including the size, shape, hydrophobicity, elasticity, and surface charge/chemistry/morphology, which play a role as an interface with the biological environment.

In vivo measurement of trabecular meshwork stiffness in a corticosteroid-induced ocular hypertensive mouse model.

Ocular corticosteroids are commonly used clinically. Unfortunately, their administration frequently leads to ocular hypertension, i.e.

Extracellular Microvesicles as New Industrial Therapeutic Frontiers.

Microvesicles (MVs) are subcellular physiological vehicles present in all body fluids that mediate the transfer of intercellular information within biological systems and contribute to healthy conditions. MVs have lipid bilayer membranes decorated with multiple ligands that can interact with receptors on target cells, rendering them as promising candidates for targeted delivery. The biotechnology and cell therapy industries are developing MV-based preparations that use this subcellular therapeutic machinery (in a naïve or modified state) for regenerative medicine, as substitutes for intact cell therapy, and as intelligent targeted drug delivery carriers.

A Systematic and Evidence-Based Review of Published and Pending Reports of Andexanet Alfa.

Andexanet alfa is the newly approved factor Xa inhibitor reversal agent for the treatment of life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding from apixaban or rivaroxaban. This decoy protein directly binds factor Xa inhibitors reversing their action. A systematic and evidence-based evaluation of the available clinical trials is lacking in the literature.

Current Practices of Intraventricular Antibiotic Therapy in the Treatment of Meningitis and Ventriculitis: Results from a Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Central nervous system (CNS) infections are particularly prevalent in the adult neurocritical care patient population and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Factors relevant to the nature of CNS infections pose significant challenges to clinicians treating afflicted patients. Intraventricular (IVT) administration of antibiotics may offer several benefits over systemic therapy; however, the outcomes and current practices of such treatments are poorly described in the literature.

An fMRI investigation of the neural correlates underlying the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR).

: The "autonomous sensory meridian response" (ASMR) is a neologism used to describe an internal sensation of deep relaxation and pleasant head tingling which is often stimulated by gentle sounds, light touch, and personal attention. : An fMRI-based methodology was employed to examine the brain activation of subjects prescreened for ASMR-receptivity (n=10) as they watched ASMR videos and identified specific moments of relaxation and tingling. : Subjects who experienced ASMR showed significant activation in regions associated with both reward (NAcc) and emotional arousal (dACC and Insula/IFG).

Evaluation of modified team-based learning activities on student performance on therapeutic assessments.

Background And Purpose: To determine if changing the focus of team-based learning (TBL) grading from written to verbal responses impacted students' exam performance in those subjects and to assess student perception of utilization of course time.

Educational Activity And Setting: Assessment data from two consecutive respiratory therapeutics semesters was analyzed. These were the classes immediately before and after the TBL structural change.

Pharmacy student awareness, aspiration, and preparation for post graduate education (PGE) fellowship in US: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Fellowship opportunities are seen by pharmacy students and graduates as an option to assist in furthering pharmacy knowledge in a specific field or area of interest. Pharmaceutical industry fellowships are the most common pharmacy fellowship available to students. There has been little research on what motivates students to pursue a fellowship and what student characteristics may help predict interest in a fellowship.

An opportunity for clinical pharmacology trained physicians to improve patient drug safety: A retrospective analysis of adverse drug reactions in teenagers.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are a major cause of hospital admissions, prolonged hospital stays, morbidity, and drug-related mortality. In this study, we sought to identify the most frequently reported medications and associated side effects in adolescent-aged patients in an effort to prioritize clinical pharmacology consultation efforts for hospitals seeking to improve patient safety.   Quarterly reported data were obtained from the United States Food and Drug Administration Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS) from the third quarter of 2014 and ending in the third quarter of 2017.

Costs Associated with Productivity Loss Among U.S. Patients Newly Diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma Receiving Oral Versus Injectable Chemotherapy.

Background: The use of novel drug agents in the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) has been associated with improved therapeutic outcomes and survival; however, MM continues to pose a significant economic burden on patients and health care systems. Evaluating economic implications of therapies can provide key points of distinctions between available treatment options. Patients with MM may experience productivity loss, including lost days from work or inability to work due to MM symptoms or to undergoing treatment.

Combined Albendazole and Praziquantel Therapy in an Adult Female with Neurocysticercosis and Generalized Tonic-clonic Seizures.

The use of albendazole monotherapy has been favored as the treatment option for neurocysticercosis. This case reports an incidence of neurocysticercosis in a 32-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department with a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Neurocysticercosis was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and a positive Taenia solium serologic test.

Satisfied patients and pediatricians: a cross-sectional analysis.

Background: There is a lack of research in the USA comparing patient satisfaction with pediatricians and other primary care physicians (PCPs). We examined and compared patient satisfaction toward their pediatricians and PCPs and characterized factors associated with higher patient satisfaction in these two groups.

Methods: A random coefficient model with random slope and intercept was fit to the data, with patient satisfaction as a function of pediatrician/PCP, covariates, and physician random effects.

Toward the Synthesis and Improved Biopotential of an -methylated Analog of a Proline-Rich Cyclic Tetrapeptide from Marine Bacteria.

An -methylated analog of a marine bacteria-derived natural proline-rich tetracyclopeptide was synthesized by coupling the deprotected dipeptide fragments Boc-l-prolyl-l--methylleucine-OH and l-prolyl-l--methylphenylalanine-OMe. A coupling reaction was accomplished utilizing ,'-Dicyclohexylcarbodidimde (DCC) and 1-Ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC·HCl) as coupling agents and Triethylamine (TEA) or -methylmorpholine (NMM) as the base in the presence of the racemization suppressing agent. This was followed by the cyclization of the linear tetrapeptide fragment under alkaline conditions.