Evolution of a capstone exam for third-year doctor of pharmacy students.

Background And Purpose: Pharmacy capstone exams are an example of an assessment strategy to evaluate student competency and practice-readiness. Capstone exam processes have been discussed in the literature; however, description of format, evolution of the process, and implementation in the year prior to rotations is lacking. This manuscript discusses the development, implementation, and utilization of a third professional year pharmacy capstone exam to assess advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) readiness.

Treatment of Mood and Depressive Disorders With Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Efficacy Review.

There has been a steady increase in people with symptoms of depression over the past several years (since 2011). The further increase in stress and depression in the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by an increase in unmet mental health needs. Many have turned to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies such as bright-light therapy, yoga, meditation, and dietary supplements like St.

Academic Activism: An Avenue to Action.

Until now, the term "advocacy" in pharmacy education and practice has focused on advocating for the advancement of the pharmacy profession or patient advocacy. With the 2022 Curricular Outcomes and Entrustable Professional Activities publication, the focus of advocacy has broadened to include advocacy for other causes that impact the health of patients. This commentary will highlight 3 pharmacy-focused organizations advocating for social issues impacting the health of patients as well as encourage members of the Academy to continue to expand personal social advocacy efforts.

Transcranial Electromagnetic Wave Treatment: A Fountain of Healthy Longevity?

Most diseases of older age have as their common denominator a dysfunctional immune system, wherein a low, chronic level of inflammation is present due to an imbalance of pro-inflammatory cytokines over anti-inflammatory cytokines that develops during aging ("inflamm-aging"). A gerotherapeutic that can restore the immune balance to that shared by young/middle-aged adults and many centenarians could reduce the risk of those age-related diseases and increase healthy longevity. In this perspectives paper, we discuss potential longevity interventions that are being evaluated and compare them to a novel gerotherapeutic currently being evaluated in humans-Transcranial Electromagnetic Wave Treatment (TEMT).

Pharmacy Education, Make Way for GenZ.

Although our classrooms are filled with students spanning multiple generations, students entering pharmacy school are largely members of Generation Z (GenZ). To optimize pharmacy education in and outside of the classroom, we must appreciate the distinctions making GenZ unique. GenZ students want to change the world! Although much of this population is currently emerging in classrooms and careers, preliminary observations indicate they are loyal, hard-working, self-sufficient, willing to earn hierarchical advancement, and may change jobs less frequently compared with predecessors.

Hypoxia and Cancer: From Bench to Bedside.

This Special Issue of (two original articles, five reviews), presented by international experts in tumor hypoxia, focuses on the role of hypoxia, or low oxygen levels, in the development and progression of cancer [...

International college students' perceptions on complementary and alternative medical practices.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the complementary and alternative medicinal (CAM) choices of international college students in the U.S.

Participants: A total of 192 international college students participated in this study.

Impact of Overbasalization on Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Post Hoc Analysis of a Large Randomized Controlled Trial.

The American Diabetes Association's emphasize the need for awareness regarding overbasalization (basal insulin doses >0.5 units/kg/day without bolus insulin) in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, outcomes data on the impact of overbasalization are limited.

Development and curricular alignment of a pharmacy travel medicine elective.

Background And Purpose: Describe the design, implementation, and value of a travel medicine pharmacy elective. Students translated skills from rotations and practice environments addressing travel health-related needs. Content and educational outcomes align with the Center for the Advancement of Pharmacy Education, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and Pharmacists' Patient Care Process core components of student learning and assessment.

Rapamycin Perfluorocarbon Nanoparticle Mitigates Cisplatin-Induced Acute Kidney Injury.

For nearly five decades, cisplatin has played an important role as a standard chemotherapeutic agent and been prescribed to 10-20% of all cancer patients. Although nephrotoxicity associated with platinum-based agents is well recognized, treatment of cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury is mainly supportive and no specific mechanism-based prophylactic approach is available to date. Here, we postulated that systemically delivered rapamycin perfluorocarbon nanoparticles (PFC NP) could reach the injured kidneys at sufficient and sustained concentrations to mitigate cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury and preserve renal function.

Cathepsin B Deficiency Improves Memory Deficits and Reduces Amyloid-β in hAβPP Mouse Models Representing the Major Sporadic Alzheimer's Disease Condition.

The lysosomal cysteine protease cathepsin B (CTSB) has been suggested as a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) because elevated serum CTSB in AD patients has been found to correlate with cognitive dysfunction. Furthermore, CTSB gene knockout (KO) in non-transgenic and transgenic AD animal models showed that elimination of CTSB improved memory deficits. However, conflicting CTSB KO results on amyloid-β (Aβ) pathology in transgenic AD models have been reported.

The Relationship Between Pharmacist Resilience, Burnout, and Job Performance.

Resilience aids healthcare professionals in navigating through and bouncing back from stressful situations in the workplace. Resilience can increase job satisfaction, work motivation, and professional commitment while decreasing burnout, and ultimately job turnover. More resilient employees experience lower instances of burnout and greater life satisfaction.

The Impact of a Culturally Meaningful Storytelling Intervention on Stigma and Attitudes About Mental Health Treatment.

The fear of being devalued or discriminated against is a salient deterrent to seeking mental health care, especially in communities of color where racial stigma also impacts mental health and perceptions of service utilization. To address this issue, our research team partnered with This Is My Brave Inc to develop and evaluate a virtual storytelling intervention to highlight and amplify the voices of Black and Brown Americans living with mental illness and/or addiction. We utilized a pretest-posttest survey design administered electronically to viewers of the series ( n = 100 Black, indigenous, people of color and n = 144 non-Hispanic White).

Use and Interchange of Incretin Mimetics in the Treatment of Metabolic Diseases: A Narrative Review.

Purpose: Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) and now tirzepatide, a dual GLP-1 RA/glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide agonist, have numerous advantages in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity, yet only 11% of patients with type 2 diabetes are prescribed a GLP-1 RA. This narrative review addresses the complexity and cost issues surrounding incretin mimetics to support clinicians.

Methods: This narrative review summarizes key trials on the differing effects of incretin mimetics on glycosylated hemoglobin and weight, provides a table with rationale for how to interchange among agents, and summarizes the key factors that guide drug selection beyond guidance from the American Diabetes Association.

Clinical Impact of the Gene on Diazepam for the Management of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome.

Diazepam is a benzodiazepine widely prescribed for the management of patients with severe alcohol withdrawal syndrome to prevent agitation, withdrawal seizures, and delirium tremens. Despite standard dosing of diazepam, a subset of patients experience refractory withdrawal syndromes or adverse drug reactions, such as impaired motor coordination, dizziness, and slurred speech. The CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 enzymes play a key role in the biotransformation of diazepam.

Multi-Targeting Intranasal Nanoformulation as a Therapeutic for Alzheimer's Disease.

Melatonin, insulin, and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) have been shown to reverse cognitive deficits and attenuate neuropathologies in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) when used individually. Here, we evaluated the therapeutic properties of long-term intranasal treatment with a novel nanoformulation containing melatonin, insulin, and THC in aged APPswe/PS1ΔE9 (APP/PS1) mice, a transgenic model of AD. Transgenic mice at the age of 12 months were intranasally administered with a new nanoformulation containing melatonin, insulin, and THC at doses of 0.

Evaluation of bactericidal effects of silver hydrosol nanotherapeutics against 1449 drug resistant biofilms.

Introduction: Silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) are well documented for their broad-spectrum bactericidal effects. This study aimed to test the effect of bioactive Ag-hydrosol NPs on drug-resistant 1449 strain and explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for automated detection of the bacteria.

Methods: The formation of 1449 biofilms in the absence and presence of Ag-hydrosol NPs at different concentrations ranging from 12.

Vancomycin Flight Simulator: A Team-Based Learning Exercise.

Background: Team-based learning (TBL) encourages learners to think critically to solve problems they will face in practice. Pharmacokinetic dosing and monitoring are complex skills requiring the application of learned knowledge. The study sought to assess the impact of a TBL, vancomycin dosing activity in a Pharmaceutical Skills IV course measured with exam question performance during the second professional year.

Biomedicine Innovations and Its Nanohydrogel Classifications.

As one of the most cutting-edge and promising polymer crosslinked network nanoparticle systems. Polymer nano-sized hydrogels (nanogels) have been a hot topic in the biomedical field over the last few decades. Due to their unique characteristics, which include their relatively high drug encapsulation efficiency, ease of preparation, high tunability, low toxicity, high stability in serum and responsive behavior to a range of stimuli to facilitate drug release.

Expression level comparison of marker genes related to early embryonic development and tumor growth.

In tumor research, the occurrence and origin of tumors are the fundamental problems. In the 1970s, the basic discussion of the developmental biology problem of tumors was proposed, and it was believed that tumorigenesis is closely related to developmental biology. Tumors are abnormal biological structures in organisms, and their biological behavior is very similar to that of the early embryo.

Moving AACP Curriculum Quality Survey Results from Good to Great.

Although the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Curriculum Quality Surveys (CQS) are required for programs to distribute and utilize as part of accreditation standards, programs face challenges in survey administration and timing, interpreting data and results, and following up on action plans. Because the CQS surveys are standardized, they can allow for greater comparison among institutions, yet interpretation of the items can vary considerably. Programs have flexibility in determining samples for administration and timing of administration (ie, number of years), but some participants (such as preceptors) can suffer from survey overload if multiple institutions administer in the same year.

Classification of skin cancer from dermoscopic images using deep neural network architectures.

A powerful medical decision support system for classifying skin lesions from dermoscopic images is an important tool to prognosis of skin cancer. In the recent years, Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) have made a significant advancement in detecting skin cancer types from dermoscopic images, in-spite of its fine grained variability in its appearance. The main objective of this research work is to develop a DCNN based model to automatically classify skin cancer types into melanoma and non-melanoma with high accuracy.

The Impact of Leadership Program Formatting on Perceived Development Within Pharmacy Cohorts.

To assess the impact of variable leadership development program formats on perceived participant growth. In 2020, the Phi Lambda Sigma national office began offering national Leader Academies to members, while University of South Florida Health Taneja College of Pharmacy simultaneously offered a Leader Academy program to its Phi Lambda Sigma students. Both programs used virtual leadership development tools from GiANT Worldwide, but differed in meeting frequency, content focus, and participant diversity.

The Arf6/PIP5K pathway activates IKACh in cigarette smoke mediated atrial fibrillation.

Cigarette smoking (CS) is a major cause of cardiovascular diseases. Smokers are at a significantly higher risk for developing atrial fibrillation (AF), a dangerous and abnormal heart rhythm. In the US, 15.