Tag: nevin manimala

Iran J Pharm Res. 2023 Mar 23;22(1):e134772. doi: 10.5812/ijpr-134772. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Amphotericin B (AmB) is the first-line drug to treat invasive fungal infections. However, its delivery to the body and clinical use faces many challenges because of its poor solubility, poor pharmacokinetics, and severe nephrotoxicity.

OBJECTIVES: Due to the necessity for designing safer and more effective nanocarriers for AmB and the importance of preclinical pharmacokinetic studies in evaluating these novel drug delivery systems, the present study was framed to explore the influence of rat strain on the pharmacokinetic profile of this drug.

METHODS: Twenty-four Wistar and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were intravenously injected with 1 mg/kg AmB as Fungizone or AmBisome, which are the two most commonly marketed formulations of the drug. Blood samples were collected before and at regular intervals up to 24 h after administration. Drug concentration was analyzed by a validated HPLC method, and pharmacokinetic parameters were determined by the non-compartmental method.

RESULTS: Irrespective of the type of formulation, the AUC_0-t and AUC_0-∞ values were significantly higher (P < 0.001), and Cl as an important PK parameter was markedly lower (P < 0.001) in SD rats compared to the Wistar strain. For Fungizone, the mean Cl values in SD and Wistar rats were 206.90 and 462.95 mL/h/kg (P < 0.001), respectively. The apparent volume of distribution (V_ss) was also lower in SD rats compared to Wistar; however, for AmBisome, the difference in V_ss was not statistically significant. Our further investigation suggested that the higher amount of total protein in the SD strain may justify the higher plasma concentrations and lower Cl and V_ss of amphotericin B in this strain compared to the Wistar strain.

CONCLUSIONS: Overall, following intravenous administration of AmB, there were significant differences in the pharmacokinetic parameters of the drug between two rat strains for both formulations. The obtained data is important for correctly interpreting experimental data from different research groups.

PMID:38116555 | PMC:PMC10728861 | DOI:10.5812/ijpr-134772

Iran J Pharm Res. 2023 Apr 17;22(1):e132736. doi: 10.5812/ijpr-132736. eCollection 2023 Jan-Dec.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Community pharmacists play an important role in improving outcome by providing advice and counselling services to patients.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to measure the willingness to pay (WTP) for pharmacist counselling services in community pharmacies and identify determinant factors on consumers’ WTP.

METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire-based survey was conducted in community pharmacies in Tehran (capital of Iran) from January 1, 2020 to February 20, 2021. Contingent valuation method was applied to evaluate respondents’ maximum WTP using three hypothetical scenarios illustrating different levels of counselling services. Logistic regression was used to analyze the association between different variables and WTP for pharmacy services.

RESULTS: Total number of participants who completed the questionnaire were 332 and 60% of the participants were male. In the first scenario 70.2% of participants were willing to pay for oral counselling pharmacy services. In the second and third scenario, percentage of people willing to pay increased to 79.5%. and 86.1%, respectively. In the first scenario, monthly income (OR = 0.041, P value = 0.04), the duration of underlying illness (OR = 0.04, P value = 0.04) and the using internet (OR = 2.59, P value = 2.59) had a statistically significant relationship with willingness to pay. In the third scenario, the willingness to pay increased as the age decreased. The possibility of using the internet (OR = 3.32, P value = 0.00) and the need for a community pharmacist (OR = 2.19, P value = 0.03) increased the chance of willingness to pay.

CONCLUSIONS: More consumers are willing to pay for more pharmacist counselling services. Therefore, improving the quality of counselling services could have positive economic effects on community pharmacies.

PMID:38116550 | PMC:PMC10728831 | DOI:10.5812/ijpr-132736

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Dec 5;10:1250404. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1250404. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To assess the relationship of genetically predicted sexual behavior (age at first sex (AFS) and the number of sexual partners (NSP)) on cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) with publicly available datasets from the UK Biobank and FinnGen Study, and analyzed genome-wide association results for sexual behaviors and twelve types of CVDs. The univariable MR method provided a total effect of AFS and NSP on CVDs, and showed evidence that early AFS rather than NSP was associated with CVDs, including angina pectoris (AP), atrial fibrillation and flutter (AFF), coronary atherosclerosis (CAS), deep vein thrombosis of the lower extremity (DVT-LE), heart failure (HF), hypertension (HTN), ischaemic stroke (IS), and myocardial infarction (MI). Given sex as a social determinant of CVD risk, we used gender-stratified SNPs to investigate gender differences in the development of CVDs. These results showed a stronger causal relationship of AFS on CVDs in females than in males. Further multivariable MR analyses indicated a direct effect after accounting for insomnia, number of days of vigorous physical activity 10 + minutes (VPA 10 + min), and time spent watching television (TV). Two-step MR demonstrated these three risk factors act as a mediator in AFS associated AP/HTN/HF.

CONCLUSIONS: We provide evidence that early AFS increased the risk of CVDs. These associations may be partly caused by VPA 10 + min, insomnia, and the time spent on TV. The causality of AFS on CVDs in females was stronger than in males. Conversely, genetically predicted NSP was not associated with CVDs.

PMID:38116537 | PMC:PMC10728475 | DOI:10.3389/fcvm.2023.1250404

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Dec 5;10:1274786. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1274786. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

Developing and evaluating novel diagnostic assays are crucial components of contemporary diagnostic research. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) are frequently used to evaluate diagnostic assays’ performance. The variation in AUC estimation can be quantified nonparametrically using resampling methods, such as bootstrapping, and then used to construct interval estimation for the AUC. When multiple observations are observed from the same subject, which is very common in veterinary diagnostic tests evaluation experiments, a traditional bootstrap-based method can fail to provide valid interval estimations of AUC. In particular, the traditional method does not account for the correlation among data observations and could result in interval estimation that fails to cover the true AUC adequately at the desired confidence level. In this paper, we proposed two novel methods to calculate the confidence interval of the AUC for correlated diagnostic test data based on cluster bootstrapping and hierarchical bootstrapping, respectively. Our simulation studies showed that both proposed methods had adequate coverage probabilities which were higher than the existing traditional method when there were intra-subject correlations. We also discussed applying the proposed methods to evaluate a novel whole-virus ELISA (wv-ELISA) diagnostic assay in detecting porcine parainfluenza virus type-1 antibodies in swine serum.

PMID:38116513 | PMC:PMC10728486 | DOI:10.3389/fvets.2023.1274786

Adv Med Educ Pract. 2023 Dec 15;14:1425-1431. doi: 10.2147/AMEP.S426199. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Learning fine motor skill is central to preclinical dental education. Dental students are introduced to anatomical tooth carving to facilitate the development of their fine motor skill and manual dexterity. Various carving technique exists, such as wax build-up, and geometric (block carving technique). Since substantial laboratory Time and instructors’ effort are required to teach students the desired techniques, blended learning approach via pre-recorded demonstration may improve the teaching and learning efficiency of anatomical tooth carving. For years, we used the Geometric method to teach preclinical dental students to carve down tooth sculptures after performing live demonstrations for them. Multiple practical laboratory demonstrations are necessary to deepen the student’s comprehensive understanding of dental anatomical features and teach them correct instrumentation; this is time-consuming and challenging due to limited laboratory hours and limited view field. Accordingly, in 2016 the teaching staff created videos for tooth drawing, carving, and identification, and uploaded them to the students’ university platform. Years later, we decided to perform this retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the enhancement in students’ tooth carving skills after implementing blended learning with video demonstrations.

METHODS: The student’s total grades were used for comparative purposes. The students’ total grades between 2010 and 2019 were collected and categorized into two groups: Group 1 (n=858), which learned tooth carving by the Geometric method after live demonstrations, and Group 2 (972), which benefited from blended learning with video demonstrations in learning. The two groups’ mean, median, mode, Percentile 75, and Percentile 90 were compared.

RESULTS: Group 2 showed higher grades than group 1, and the differences between the two groups’ mean and median were statistically significant p<0.001. Moreover, the mode, P75 and P90 favored group 2.

CONCLUSION: Results show that blended learning with video demonstrations enhanced the achievements of dental students in tooth carving.

PMID:38116478 | PMC:PMC10729676 | DOI:10.2147/AMEP.S426199

BMJ Neurol Open. 2023 Dec 9;5(2):e000527. doi: 10.1136/bmjno-2023-000527. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) is a neurometabolic condition severely impacting the quality of life of people living with IIH (PwIIH). Most PwIIH are overweight or live with obesity, and weight loss is recommended by healthcare professionals (HCPs) as it is central to disease management. There is currently no research evaluating patient-clinician interactions when discussing weight management in IIH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the patient experience of communication with HCPs regarding weight management from the perspective of PwIIH.

METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was developed and distributed by the IIH UK charity via their mailing list and social media network. Eligible participants were adults with IIH who have been recommended to lose weight by their HCP. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise quantitative responses and content analysis was used to inductively draw out themes from open-ended free-text responses.

RESULTS: There were 625 respondents. One-fifth of PwIIH (n=127/603, 21%) felt that HCPs were supportive and empathetic about weight management. Five themes were identified on how experiences regarding weight management for IIH can be improved, with PwIIH recommending for HCPs to: (1) detail the relationship between IIH and weight, (2) individualise care, (3) give advice, (4) provide support and (5) adapt communication.

CONCLUSION: The majority of PwIIH recalled a poor experience and negative emotions when engaged in discussions regarding weight management with their HCPs. Further research should explore the HCPs perspective and evaluate interventions aiming to improve the quality of patient-HCPs communication in IIH.

PMID:38116470 | PMC:PMC10729070 | DOI:10.1136/bmjno-2023-000527

Burns Trauma. 2023 Dec 18;11:tkad031. doi: 10.1093/burnst/tkad031. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that occurs when the body’s response to infection leads to widespread inflammation and tissue damage. Negative cultures can make it difficult for clinicians to make a diagnosis and may raise questions about the validity of the definition of sepsis. In addition, the clinical distinctions between burn patients with blood culture-positive and -negative sepsis are also poorly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the clinical differences between blood culture-positive and -negative sepsis in burn patients in order to improve the understanding of the pathophysiology and epidemiology of sepsis in this population.

METHODS: This study had a retrospective design, and the participants were adults aged ≥18 years. Patients diagnosed with sepsis were divided into two groups based on their blood culture results within 1 week of sepsis diagnosis.

RESULTS: We enrolled 1643 patients admitted to our institution’s burn intensive care unit between January 2010 and December 2021. pH, platelet count, bicarbonate and haematocrit were significant in both the positive and negative groups. However, lymphocyte, red cell distribution width and blood urea nitrogen were significant only in the positive group, whereas lactate dehydrogenase was significant only in the negative group. Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumonia are common gram-negative bacterial species, and Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis are common gram-positive bacterial species seen in burn patients with positive blood cultures. Carbapenem resistance was found to be associated with an unfavourable prognosis in gram-negative bacteria, with the exception of P. aeruginosa.

CONCLUSIONS: pH, platelet count, bicarbonate and haematocrit were routine biomarkers that demonstrated statistical significance in both groups. Lactate dehydrogenase was significant in the blood-negative group, while red cell distribution width, blood urea nitrogen and lymphocyte count were significant in the positive group. Furthermore, the most common causes of sepsis are gram-negative bacteria, including A. baumannii, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa. Additionally, resistance to carbapenems is associated with unfavourable outcomes.

PMID:38116468 | PMC:PMC10729782 | DOI:10.1093/burnst/tkad031

Obstet Gynecol Int. 2023 Dec 11;2023:9970818. doi: 10.1155/2023/9970818. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Endometriosis is a benign disorder that is generally defined as the presence of endometrial glands and stroma outside their normal location. TGF-β1 is found in stromal cells and its expression is increased in epithelial cells of endometriotic cysts. Endometriosis diagnostics take a long time, so new markers are needed to diagnose endometriosis. This study aims to determine the diagnostic value of TGF-β1 in menstrual blood in diagnosing endometriosis.

METHOD: Diagnostic tests to compare eutopic endometrial TGF-β1 levels from menstrual blood of patients with suspected endometriosis were undertaken in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Dr. Mohammad Hoesin General Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, from July 2019 to November 2020. 50 patients who were suspected with endometriosis met the inclusion criteria. Comparison of TGF-β1 levels between endometriosis and nonendometriosis patients was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test. The cutoff point of the TGF-β1 level towards the histopathological outcome was obtained using the ROC curve. Data analysis was performed by using SPSS version 22.0.

RESULTS: In this study, endometriosis patients were 31.6 ± 6.55 years of age with a range of 20 to 46 years. In statistical analysis, there was no difference in BMI (p = 0.181) and BMI classification (p = 0.207), the history of contraception (p = 0.097), infertility (p = 1.000), and dysmenorrhoea (p = 1.000) between endometriosis and nonendometriosis patients. In the study, there were differences in TGF-β1 between endometriosis and nonendometriosis patients (p ≤ 0.001). By using the ROC curve, the cutoff point for TGF-β1 levels has the best sensitivity and specificity, which is 515 ng/ml. The TGF-β1 level has a sensitivity of 80%, a specificity of 90%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.969, a negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.529, a positive likelihood ratio of 8, a negative likelihood ratio of 0.222, and an accuracy of 0.820 to the endometriosis outcome.

CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that the TGF-β1 level has a very good diagnostic value in establishing endometriosis diagnostics. This trial is registered with ISRCTN72218532.

PMID:38116460 | PMC:PMC10728358 | DOI:10.1155/2023/9970818

One Health. 2023 Nov 26;17:100657. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100657. eCollection 2023 Dec.

ABSTRACT

Recent outbreaks of Avian Influenza across Europe have highlighted the potential for syndromic surveillance systems that consider other modes of data, namely social media. This study investigates the feasibility of using social media, primarily Twitter, to monitor illness outbreaks such as avian flu. Using temporal, geographical, and correlation analyses, we investigated the association between avian influenza tweets and officially verified cases in the United Kingdom in 2021 and 2022. Pearson correlation coefficient, bivariate Moran’s I analysis and time series analysis, were among the methodologies used. The findings show a weak, statistically insignificant relationship between the number of tweets and confirmed cases in a temporal context, implying that relying simply on social media data for surveillance may be insufficient. The spatial analysis provided insights into the overlaps between confirmed cases and tweet locations, shedding light on regionally targeted interventions during outbreaks. Although social media can be useful for understanding public sentiment and concerns during outbreaks, it must be combined with traditional surveillance methods and official data sources for a more accurate and comprehensive approach. Improved data mining techniques and real-time analysis can improve outbreak detection and response even further. This study underscores the need of having a strong surveillance system in place to properly monitor and manage disease outbreaks and protect public health.

PMID:38116453 | PMC:PMC10728316 | DOI:10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100657

One Health. 2023 Nov 10;17:100651. doi: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100651. eCollection 2023 Dec.

ABSTRACT

Giardia duodenalis is one of the major causes of diarrhea among humans, especially in young children. Statistical analysis revealed that the pooled prevalence of G. duodenalis in humans, dogs, and cats was 9.72% (10,921/112383), 15.60% (7510/48140), and 14.53% (1125/7740), respectively. Unquestionably, the canine-specific assemblages C and D and the feline-specific assemblage F were the dominant genotypes in dogs and cats, respectively. Additionally, the prevalence of zoonotic G. duodenalis assemblages (A and B) in dogs and cats was 23.07% (875/3792) and 41.42% (169/408), respectively, implying that the potential transmission of G. duodenalis from dogs and cats to human infection cannot be ignored. The highest frequency of potentially zoonotic assemblages was found among working dogs (3.55%, 25/705) and the 1-5 age group (22.92%, 11/48). In summary, dogs and cats have a significant role in the zoonotic transmission of G. duodenalis due to their close contact with humans and the higher frequency presence of zoonotic assemblages. Further studies are necessary to explore the presence of G. duodenalis among humans and animals and in environmental samples. Researchers should adopt a one-health approach to gain a deeper understanding of G. duodenalis in dogs and cats and potential transmission routes to humans.

PMID:38116451 | PMC:PMC10728314 | DOI:10.1016/j.onehlt.2023.100651