Patient navigation for perinatal substance use disorder treatment: A systematic review.

Background: Substance use during the perinatal period (i.e., pregnancy through the first year postpartum) can pose significant maternal and infant health risks.

Safety and Efficacy of Direct Oral Anticoagulants vs Warfarin in Patients With Obesity and Venous Thromboembolism: A Retrospective Analysis.

Background: Current venous thromboembolism guidelines recommend using direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) over warfarin regardless of obesity status; however, evidence remains limited for the safety and efficacy of DOAC use in patients with obesity. This retrospective analysis sought to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of DOACs compared with warfarin in a diverse population of patients with obesity in light of current prescribing practices.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at a large academic health system between July 2014 and September 2019.

Old Habits Die Hard: Regression in Learning and Study Strategies Inventory Scores in PharmD Students.

Objective: Prior studies have demonstrated that "learning to learn" (L2L) courses can lead to significant improvements in students' Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) scores immediately following the course. This study aimed to analyze whether improvements in LASSI scores are sustained 1 year following an L2L elective course.

Methods: First-year pharmacy students in the classes of 2024 and 2025 completed the LASSI at the start of the fall semester and again immediately following an L2L course.

Revealing rural motivations in pharmacy students pursuing a graduate certificate program.

Introduction: To assist recruitment and retention efforts and influence the need for an increased supply of future rural pharmacists, this study examines perceptions and key motivators of pharmacy students who chose to participate in the Rural Pharmacy Health Certificate (RPHC) program and pursue pathways to rural practice.

Methods: We interviewed six RPHC students prior to or shortly after beginning their first semester in the RPHC program. Interview questions assessed applicants' reasons for pursuing the RPHC, perceptions of living in and providing healthcare in rural and small communities, awareness of barriers and health disparities in rural areas, and qualities needed to be a successful rural pharmacist.

The landscape of real-world evidence of rituximab utilization and clinical outcomes in patients with cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis: A scoping review.

Background: Rituximab (RTX) is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that is used to treat various conditions in cancer, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and multiple sclerosis (MS). Although RTX has been used in the United States for almost 3 decades, questions remain regarding its real-world utilization and effectiveness.

Objective: To describe the state of observational research and real-world evidence evaluating RTX in oncology, RA, and off-label use in MS.

Ten-Year Outcomes: Community Health Center/Academic Medicine Partnership for Rural Family Medicine Training.

Background And Objectives: The widening gap between urban and rural health outcomes is exacerbated by physician shortages that disproportionately affect rural communities. Rural residencies are an effective mechanism to increase physician placement in rural and medically underserved areas yet are limited in number due to funding. Community health center/academic medicine partnerships (CHAMPs) can serve as a collaborative framework for expansion of academic primary care residencies outside of traditional funding models.

Enabling Factors for the Implementation of Competency-Based Curricula in Colleges and Schools of Pharmacy.

Objectives: To review the implementation drivers of competency-based pharmacy education (CBPE) and provide recommendations for enablers.

Findings: Competency-based education is an emerging model in the health professions, focusing on time-variable competency development and achievement compared with a time-bound, course-based, traditional model. CBPE is an outcomes-based organized framework of competencies enabling pharmacists to meet health care and societal needs.

Lessons Learned From State-Based Efforts to Leverage Medicaid Funds for Graduate Medical Education.

Purpose: Total Medicaid funds invested in graduate medical education (GME) increased from $3.78 billion in 2009 to $7.39 billion in 2022.

Pediatric Mental Health Care and Scope-of-Practice Expansions.

To examine the association between psychologist and nurse practitioner scope-of-practice (SoP) regulations and pediatric mental health service access. A nationally representative sample of children with mental health needs was identified using 5 years of National Survey of Children's Health (2016-2020). Utilization was measured in two ways: (1) unmet mental health care needs and (2) receipt of mental health medication.

North Carolina Medicaid System Perspectives on Substance Use Disorder Treatment Policy Changes During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objective: This study aimed to describe perspectives from stakeholders involved in the Medicaid system in North Carolina regarding substance use disorder (SUD) treatment policy changes during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Methods: We conducted semistructured interviews in early 2022 with state agency representatives, Medicaid managed care organizations, and Medicaid providers (n = 22) as well as 3 focus groups of Medicaid beneficiaries with SUD (n = 14). Interviews and focus groups focused on 4 topics: policies, meeting needs during COVID, demand for SUD services, and staffing.

Real-World Incidence and Severity of Hypertension Caused by Abiraterone Acetate in Patients With Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

Background: Abiraterone acetate (AA) is used in treatment of patients with metastatic prostate cancer. Despite the survival advantage, AA is associated with hypertension due to mineralocorticoid excess syndrome.

Objective: We conducted a single-center retrospective analysis to evaluate the real-world incidence and severity of AA-induced hypertension.

Skills laboratory faculty job satisfaction: Effects of high-contact teaching and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: The objective of this study is to describe the workload responsibilities and job satisfaction of skills laboratory faculty, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: School of pharmacy (SOP) skills laboratory faculty were surveyed in fall 2021 to gather information on workload responsibilities and job satisfaction, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Quantitative data were reported using descriptive statistics and, when appropriate, student t-tests were used to compare responses from before and during COVID-19.

Impact of restrictive urinalysis reflex to culture criteria at a large community hospital.

Treatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) is a common, but often unnecessary, practice. Our objective was to determine the impact of restrictive urinalysis reflex to culture (UARC) criteria on rate of urine cultures (UC) ordered and ASB treatment. Criteria were modified from positive leukocyte esterase, positive nitrites, or white blood cells (WBC) >10 cells to only WBC >10 cells.

Transfer learning to leverage larger datasets for improved prediction of protein stability changes.

Amino acid mutations that lower a protein's thermodynamic stability are implicated in numerous diseases, and engineered proteins with enhanced stability can be important in research and medicine. Computational methods for predicting how mutations perturb protein stability are, therefore, of great interest. Despite recent advancements in protein design using deep learning, in silico prediction of stability changes has remained challenging, in part due to a lack of large, high-quality training datasets for model development.

Changes in Metabolic Parameters of Hemoglobin A1c, Weight, and Blood Pressure During and After COVID-19 Stay-at-Home Orders.

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a "state of emergency" was declared in North Carolina on March 10, 2020. Subsequent "stay-at-home" (SAH) orders restricted activities including use of fitness facilities, and teleworking was encouraged. This study investigates metabolic effects of these changes in activity level.

Factors Associated with Delaying and Forgoing Care Due to Cost among Long-term, Appalachian Cancer Survivors in Rural North Carolina.

Background: Little research exists on delayed and forgone health and mental health care due to cost among rural cancer survivors.

Methods: We surveyed survivors in 7 primarily rural, Appalachian counties February to May 2020. Univariable analyses examined the distribution and prevalence of delayed/forgone care due to cost in the past year by independent variables.

Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives on Improving Dietary Supplement Documentation in the Electronic Medical Record: Current Challenges and Opportunities to Enhance Quality of Care and Patient Safety.

Background: Around half the US population uses dietary supplements (DS), and concomitant use with medications is common. Many DS include bioactive substances that can interact with medications; therefore, accurate tracking is critical for patient safety. Unfortunately, documentation of patients' DS use is often missing or incomplete in the electronic medical record (EMR), leaving patients susceptible to potential adverse events.

Patterns of Mental Health Service Use During the Transition to Adulthood Among Autistic Adolescents and Young Adults.

Background: The time of transition into adulthood, especially when leaving school, is a time when many autistic adolescents and young adults (AYA) may stop receiving mental health services that they have relied on, leading to worse mental health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to describe patterns of mental health service use during transition to adulthood among autistic AYAs.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study using electronic health records from years 2015 to 2019 from one large university health care system.

Bacille Calmette-Guérin preparation and intravesical administration to patients with bladder cancer: Risks to healthcare personnel and patients, and mitigation strategies.

Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a standard therapy for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer used in urology clinics and inpatient settings. We present a review of infection risks to patients receiving intravesical BCG, healthcare personnel who prepare and administer BCG, and other patients treated in facilities where BCG is prepared and administered. Knowledge of these risks and relevant regulations informs appropriate infection prevention measures.

Low daily oral PrEP adherence and low validity of self-report in a randomized trial among PWID in Ukraine.

Background: The efficacy of daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing HIV transmission among people who inject drugs (PWID) was demonstrated over a decade ago. However, only a few studies among PWID have since measured PrEP adherence using laboratory markers.

Methods: In this trial, we randomized recently injecting PWID in Kyiv, Ukraine, to receive daily oral TDF/FTC with or without SMS reminders.

Pharmacists Colocated With Primary Care Physicians: Understanding Delivery of Interprofessional Primary Care.

Background: While evidence supports interprofessional primary care models that include pharmacists, the extent to which pharmacists are working in primary care and the factors associated with colocation is unknown.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the physical colocation of pharmacists with primary care providers (PCPs) and examine predictors associated with colocation.

Research Design: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study of pharmacists and PCPs with individual National Provider Identifiers in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System's database.

Psychotropic Medication Prescribing Across Medical Providers, 2016-2019.

Objective: The authors sought to provide updated estimates of the proportion of psychotropic medications prescribed by different medical providers.

Methods: This pooled cross-sectional study used data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2016-2019). Nationally representative estimates of the percentages of all psychotropic medications prescribed by each provider type were calculated, and analyses stratified by medication type, insurance type, and age were conducted.

Assessing Workplace Factors That Influence Burnout and Identifying Recommendations to Support Well-being in Pharmacy Faculty.

Objective: Creating environments that promote well-being is critical as studies have shown that burnout, and thus poor well-being, results in poor health outcomes and declining workplace retention. While studies have measured the prevalence of burnout in pharmacy faculty, a gap exists regarding workplace factors that impact faculty well-being. The purpose of this study was to assess factors influencing pharmacy faculty burnout and identify recommendations to improve faculty well-being.

Nonspecific membrane bilayer perturbations by ivermectin underlie SARS-CoV-2 activity.

Since it was proposed as a potential host-directed antiviral agent for SARS-CoV-2, the antiparasitic drug ivermectin has been investigated thoroughly in clinical trials, which have provided insufficient support for its clinical efficacy. To examine the potential for ivermectin to be repurposed as an antiviral agent, we therefore undertook a series of preclinical studies. Consistent with early reports, ivermectin decreased SARS-CoV-2 viral burden in models at low micromolar concentrations, five- to ten-fold higher than the reported toxic clinical concentration.