PHARMACISTS’ KNOWLEDGE AND PERCEPTION REGARDING DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS IN PALESTINE: DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Objective: To assess pharmacists’ knowledge with regards registered dietary supplements DS and their perception toward DS registration by the ministry of health MOH Methods: A questionnaire was designed to assess pharmacists’ knowledge about newly registered food supplements (registered after 2012) and to assess their view about the current measures followed by MOH in registering these supplements. The questionnaire was distributed to pharmacists in West Bank–Palestine during the period from December 2017 to March 2018. Data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences program (SPSS) version 10. Results: Pharmacists’ knowledge with regards to registered DS was high with approximately 86% have recorded the right answers. Their perception about the current increasing registration of DS, pharmacists (67%) thinks that ‘what available DS in the market’ is enough and there is no need for more DS to be registered. Almost half of the pharmacists (48%) think that the information provided regarding dietary supplements is inadequate and almost 30% think is adequate. More than 70% of the pharmacists they never or rarely access the MOH web site to access for information about DS. Conclusion: This study highlighted the importance of controlling DS registration by the MOH and the necessity to effectively update pharmacists about these DS for effective counseling

∈φ-contraction and some fixed point results via modified ω-distance mappings in the frame of complete quasi metric spaces and applications

In this Article, we introduce the notion of an ∈φ-contraction which based on modified ω-distance mappings and employ this new definition to prove some fixed point result. Moreover, we introduced an interesting example and an application to highlight the importance of our work

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Effects of vascular leakage on the phenotype and function of airway smooth muscle cells in asthma

Vascular leakage is a prominent feature of asthma. During this process many biologically active plasma proteins escape from the blood vessels into the surrounding airway tissues and induce alterations in the tissues and their cells. The effects of serum on the phenotype and function of dog airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells have been examined in detail (Ma, Wang et al. 1998; Halayko, Camoretti-Mercado et al. 1999). The findings of these studies demonstrate clearly that the presence or absence of serum for prolonged periods induces alterations in the phenotype and function of dog ASM cells in culture. Specifically, in the presence of serum, freshly isolated dog ASM cells modulate from a contractile to a proliferative/synthetic phenotype (Halayko, Salari et al. 1996). In contrast, when confluent ASM cells are serum deprived for a long time in culture, hyper-contractile ASM cells start to appear (Ma, Cheng et al. 2002). This process of phenotypic modulation has been hypothesised to occur in asthma particularly during periods of microvascular leakage (MVL) (Hirst 1996). The aim of this thesis was to examine the effects of serum and its prolonged withdrawal on the phenotype (chapter 2) and function (chapter 3) of human ASM cells with particular emphasis on cells from asthmatic donors. The phenotype of ASM cells was assessed by size, complexity and their expression of the adhesion molecule CD44, a proposed marker for proliferation, and proteins associated with contraction: muscarinic receptor sub-type 3 (M3R), sm-actin, hcalponin and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain (sm-MHC) using flow cytometry. In asthmatic ASM cells these phenotypic markers were the same before and after serum starvation. However, in non-asthmatic ASM cells after prolonged serum starvation, only significant decreases in the expression of CD44 and sm-actin and a significant increaseunderstanding o f the effects of serum on the phenotype and function of asthmatic and non-asthmatic ASM cells, and thus the possible effects of MVL on ASM in asthma

Ethyl 7-chloro-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-8-nitro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylate

In the title compound, C15H12ClFN2O5, molecules are packed in the crystal lattice in a parallel fashion sustained by various C—H...O [C...O = 3.065 (5)–3.537 (5) Å] and C—H...Cl [3.431 (5)–3.735 (4) Å] interactions