Journal of Research in Pharmacy Practice
Volume:1 Issue: 1, Jul -Sep 2012

A rough 24-hour cycle driven endogenously in biochemical, physiological or behavioral processes is called circadian rhythm. Chronobiology is the study of biological temporal rhythms. For decades, we know that the biological rhythm and the drug metabolism are also affected from daylight and chronopharmacology became recognized by scientists in the early 1970s. Its lateral branch chronocopharmacokinetics is the study of rhythmic, predictablein-time differences in the pharmacokinetics of drugs. Chronopharmacokinetic studies are performed at every step of the biotransformation i.e., absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. Feeding schedules, sex and phenotype must be taken into consideration while applying pharmacotherapy to increase the efficiency and to decrease side effects. The impact of drugs on circadian rhythm should be not neglected. On the other hand, new special drug delivery systems can be used to synchronize drug concentrations according to circadian rhythms. “Chronopharmaceuticals” can identify the proper dosing time and this amelioration will lead to improved progress and diffusion of pharmacotherapy. Chronopharmaceuticals coupled with nanotechnology could be the future of drug delivery systems, and lead to safer and more efficient disease therapy in the future. In this review, we will discuss the pharmacokinetic effects of circadian rhythm and its toxicological outcomes. Besides, we will try to give some practical points for clinical pharmacist/pharmacy practitioners, concerning chronopharmacokinetics.

Medication errors (ME) and adverse drug reactions still continue to be the important factors for out- and in-patient treatments. MEs are critical troubles in all hospitalized populations that can increase length of hospital stay, expenses, mortality and morbidity. In many countries, clinical pharmacists have been involved in reducing MEs from years ago. A growing body of evidence suggests that pharmacist interventions have major impact on reducing MEs in pediatric patients, thus improving the quality and efficiency of care provided. This paper presents a literature review on the role of clinical pharmacists in reducing MEs, and underscores the importance of pharmacist-physician-patient collaboration for all patients notably in the pediatric age group.

There is a great recognition that store interiors and exteriors can be designed to create feelings in potential customers which can have an important reinforcing effect on purchase. In this study it is mainly aimed to explore the behaviors of the community pharmacists related to their store’s physical environment. Also we aimed to determine whether any difference exist between behaviors of pharmacists serving in high and low socio-economic regions.

A total of 200 pharmacists that work socio-economically different regions were randomly selected from 1424 pharmacists registered in Ankara Chamber of Pharmacists. A uniform questionnaire was applied to the pharmacists by using a face-to-face interview technique.

There are differences in terms of behavior between the pharmacists serving in high and low socio-economic regions within the context of putting importance to their stores’ atmosphere. More pharmacists attach importance to the physical sight of their pharmacy serving in high socio-economic regions (90%) vs. pharmacists in low socio-economic regions (70%). Also pharmacists in high socio-economic regions indicated higher importance level of selection of the decoration equipments (84%) than pharmacists serving in high socioeconomic regions (60%).

Our study suggests that some pharmacists pay more attention to interior atmospheric elements and others do not. There is a difference in terms of attaching importance to some store atmospheric elements (i.e. physical site, decoration equipment, it’s color, wall color, etc.) serving in high versus low socio-economic regions in this context.

Synergistic effect between commonly used antibiotics against nosocomial multidrug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, if present, could provide a viable option as an alternative therapy for infections due to this pathogen. The aim of this study was searching for any synergistic effect between several antibiotics against drug-resistant strains of S. aureus with nosocomial origin using double-disk synergy test and to determine the applicability of this test for such a purpose.

Over a 6-month period, strains of S. aureus isolated from clinical specimens of hospitalized patients with documented nosocomial infection underwent disk diffusion test using antibiotic disks of oxacillin, cephalothin, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, cotrimoxazole, rifampin, erythromycin, gentamicin and meropenem. Double-disk synergy test was performed for all isolates resistant to at least two of applied antibiotics. Combinations of all possible pairs of antibiotics (to which the microorganism was resistant) were tested by placing antibiotic disks at distance of 20 mm from each other (center to center). After 16-20 hours of incubation, if synergistic effect was present among two antibiotics, an inhibition zone was formed between their disks.

Among all of possible two-antibiotic combinations tested for 41 resistant isolates, only two cases of synergistic effect were detected; both effects were among rifampin and cotrimoxazole.

The combination of rifampin and cotrimoxazole could provide a viable option for treatment of infections due to resistant strains of S. aureus; however, clinical trials are needed before any new recommendation. Also, double-disk synergy test seems to be capable of detecting the synergistic effect between antibiotics at in vitro level.

It is well known that a brief exposure to 100% oxygen for only a few minutes could be toxic for a preterm infant. The effectiveness of neonatal resuscitation was compared with low concentration oxygen (30%) and high concentration oxygen (HOG) (100%).

Thirty-two preterm neonates were born in Isfahan Shahid Beheshti hospital with gestational age of 29-34 weeks who required resuscitation were randomized into two groups. The resuscitation was begun with 30% O2 in low concentration oxygen group (LOG). The infants were examined every 60-90 seconds and if their HR was less than 100, 10% was added to the previous FIO2 (fraction of inspired oxygen) until the HR increased to 100 and SO2 (saturation of oxygen) increased to 85%. In HOG resuscitation begun with 100% O2 and every 60-90 seconds, FIO2 was decreased 10 – 15% until the HR reached to 100 and SO2 reached to 85%.

The FIO2 in LOG was increased stepwise to 45% and in HOG was reduced to 42.1% to reach stable oxygen saturation more than 85% at the fifth minute in both groups. At the first and third minutes after birth and there was no significant differences between groups in heart rate and after 1,2,4 and 5 minutes after the birth there was also no significant differences in SO2 between groups, regardless of the initial FIO2 .

We can safely initiate resuscitation of preterm infants with a low FIO2 (approximately 30%) oxygen and then oxygen should be adjusted with the neonates needs.

About 73% of death cases in the first 5 days after burning are due to infection complications. The aim of this study was to identify the causing agents of infections in burn patients and the sensitivity pattern of them to the commonly used antimicrobials in an Iranian Burn center University Hospital.

In this cross-sectional study, patients who were admitted to one of the Iranian Burn center University hospitals in 2009 and had nosocomial infection due to burn wound, whom received antimicrobial agents for therapeutic reasons, with a hospitalization period of more than 48 hours were enrolled. Gram stain analyses were performed to help identifying growing colonies. Differential tests for identification of pathogenic bacteria species were performed following primary tests. E-test strips of each antimicrobial were placed on the culture medium plate in order to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration Studied antimicrobials for isolated Gram-negative bacteria were meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam, ceftriaxone, cotrimoxazole, and for Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin, piperacillin/ tazobactam, cotrimoxazole, and cephalothin.

Only 16% of Pseudomonas aeruginosa species were sensitive to meropenem, and 13% were sensitive to piperacillin/tazobactam. Ten out of 29 Klebsiella species (34%) were sensitive to meropenem and piperacillin/tazobactam. All isolated strains of Staphylococcus aureus were sensitive to vancomycine while they were all resistant to cotrimoxazole.

Pseudomona, Klebsiella and Staphylococcoci are the most common species causing burn infection in this medical center. Results showed the importance of limiting irrational use of wide-spectrum antimicrobials and recommends strict management of infections in burn injury centers.

Coronary artery disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in populations. In opium abusers, level of circulating coagulation factors differs from nonabusers. The aim of this study was to evaluate response to thrombolytic therapy in opium abusers vs. non-abusers.

In this prospective observational study, 83 patients (36 opium abusers and 47 nonabusers) with AMI were evaluated for the presence and degree of response to thrombolytic agent. All patients were monitored for electrocardiographic changes and response to thrombolysis 2 hours before and after administration of thrombolytic agent. Serum CPK and LDH were measured 2 hours before and after thrombolysis. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed by independent t-test and chi-square using SPSS, respectively.

ST-resolution 2 hours after thrombolysis was 63.8% and 44.4% in opium users and non-users, respectively. Serum level of CPK cardiac biomarker 2 hours after thrombolysis was 980 ± 245 and 847 ± 130 IU/L in opium users and non-users, respectively.

Our data demonstrate that in those patients with opium abuse, electrocardiographic changes after thrombolysis were significantly lower than opium nonusers (P < 0.05). Opium users showed better ST-resolution compared with non-users. Opium addiction had effect on cardiac enzymes despite their effect on response to streptokinase.

Enteral feeding tube is employed for feeding of critically ill patients who are unable to eat. In the cases of oral medication administration to enterally fed patients, some potential errors could happen. We report a 53-year-old man who was admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) of a teaching hospital due to the post-CPR hypoxemic encephalopathy. The patient was intubated and underwent mechanical ventilation. A nasogastric (NG) tube was used as the enteral route for nutrition and administration of oral medications. Oral medications were crushed then dissolved in tap water and were given to the patient through NG tube. In present article we report several medication errors occurred during enterally drug administration, including errors in dosage form selection, methods of oral medication administration and drug interactions and incompatibility with nutrition formula. These errors could reduce the effects of drugs and lead to unsuccessful treatment of patient and also could increase the risk of potential adverse drug reactions. Potential leading causes of these errors include lack of drug knowledge among physicians, inadequate training of nurses and lack of pharmacists participation in medical settings.