Assessment of patients’ knowledge and practices regarding their medication use and risks in Lebanon

Background Patients’ knowledge of their medications play a pivotal role in their disease management. Objective Assess the knowledge and practices of Lebanese outpatients regarding their own medication use and risks. Setting Four hundred and sixty community pharmacies across Lebanon. Method It was a cross-sectional study performed from March through May 2016 among Lebanese outpatients, using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate all participants’ responses. The association between categorical variables were evaluated using Pearson χ2 test or Fisher’s exact test. Binary logistic regressions were performed to identify factors associated with medication patients’ knowledge and interest. Main outcome measure Ability of the patients to identify own medications’ elements: name, strength, dosage regimen, indication, and adverse drug reactions. Results Our study comprised 921 patients, with around 16% taking ≥5 medications/day. Around 56% of our patients showed sub-optimal medication knowledge. Patients’ higher educational level, number of chronic diseases, and patient physician interaction were associated with higher medication knowledge. Many patients admitted not discussing their medications each time they visit their physicians (38.7%); not reading the leaflet of each medication they take (61.2%); and not regularly asking their pharmacist about the potential interactions of OTC drugs with prescribed medications (53.9%). Conclusion This study showed suboptimal medication-related knowledge, and suboptimal patient’s interactions with primary care givers. Our findings serve as a platform for healthcare providers to understand patients’ needs and educate them about medication use and risks. © 2017, Springer International Publishing AG

TDDFT and quantum-classical dynamics: A universal tool describing the dynamics of matter

Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is currently the most efficient approach allowing to describe electronic dynamics in complex systems, from isolated molecules to the condensed phase. TDDFT has been employed to investigate an extremely wide range of time-dependent phenomena, as spin dynamics in solids, charge and energy transport in nanoscale devices, and photoinduced exciton transfer in molecular aggregates. It is therefore nearly impossible to give a general account of all developments and applications of TDDFT in material science, as well as in physics and chemistry. A large variety of aspects are covered throughout these volumes. In the present chapter, we will limit our presentation to the description of TDDFT developments and applications in the field of quantum molecular dynamics simulations in combination with trajectory-based approaches for the study of nonadiabatic excited-state phenomena. We will present different quantum-classical strategies used to describe the coupled dynamics of electrons and nuclei underlying nonadiabatic processes. In addition, we will give an account of the most recent applications with the aim of illustrating the nature of the problems that can be addressed with the help of these approaches. The potential, as well as the limitations, of the presented methods is discussed, along with possible avenues for future developments in TDDFT and nonadiabatic dynamics

TDDFT and Quantum-Classical Dynamics: A Universal Tool Describing the Dynamics of Matter

Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is currently the most efficient approach allowing to describe electronic dynamics in complex systems, from isolated molecules to the condensed phase. TDDFT has been employed to investigate an extremely wide range of time-dependent phenomena, as spin dynamics in solids, charge and energy transport in nanoscale devices, and photoinduced exciton transfer in molecular aggregates. It is therefore nearly impossible to give a general account of all developments and applications of TDDFT in material science, as well as in physics and chemistry. A large variety of aspects are covered throughout these volumes. In the present chapter, we will limit our presentation to the description of TDDFT developments and applications in the field of quantum molecular dynamics simulations in combination with trajectory-based approaches for the study of nonadiabatic excited-state phenomena. We will present different quantum-classical strategies used to describe the coupled dynamics of electrons and nuclei underlying nonadiabatic processes. In addition, we will give an account of the most recent applications with the aim of illustrating the nature of the problems that can be addressed with the help of these approaches. The potential, as well as the limitations, of the presented methods is discussed, along with possible avenues for future developments in TDDFT and nonadiabatic dynamics