The discovery of potential tumor necrosis factor alpha converting enzyme inhibitors via implementation of K Nearest Neighbor QSAR analysis

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha converting enzyme (TACE) is considered as a pro-inflammatory cytokine which catalyzes the formation of TNF-α from membrane bound TNF-α precursor protein. It has important role in various pathological diseases such as inflammation, anorexia, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and viral replication. Despite the reporting of a variety of TACE inhibitors of diverse chemical scaffolds whether peptide, peptide-like compounds or others, the bioavailability and pharmacokinetic problems are reflected strongly on its clinical effectiveness. In this effort we employed a novel combination of k-nearest neighbor QSAR modeling to select the best critical ligand-TACE contacts capable of elucidation of TACE inhibitory bioactivity among a long list of inhibitors. The recurrence of one valid pharmacophore hypothesis among the successful models emerged the pharmacophore to be used as 3D search queries to screen the National Cancer Institute’s structural database for new TACE inhibitors. Eight potent TACE inhibitors were discovered with inhibition percentage exceeding 50% at 100 μM inhibitor concentration

Dispensing errors in hospital pharmacies in Yemen: an exploratory study

Aims. This study aimed to describe the dispensing errors that occurred during the dispensing process in selected hospital pharmacies in Sana'a, Yemen, and to describe their types and causes. Methodology. A prospective study was carried out in selected hospital pharmacies in Yemen over 40 days using a validated tool. Results. A total of 9000 dispensed prescriptions were evaluated for the dispensing errors, and 2.13% dispensing errors were identified. Wrong dosage form (134/192), incorrect strength (24/192), wrong drug (18/192), incorrect quantity, wrong instructions written and drug available in the pharmacy but not given (6/192) and dispensing expired drugs (3/192) were the dispensing errors reported in this study. Poor handwriting, similar drug names, similar drug packaging, fatigue, heavy work, workforce issues, and poor communication were the most commonly reported causes of dispensing errors. Conclusion. There is a wide variation in the rates of prevalence of medication errors observed during this prospective study. Dispensing errors were the most common. This variation may be attributed to the nature and heterogeneity of the prescription’s sources. Study results indicate that medication errors imposed an extraordinary challenge to the healthcare system in Yemen and post significant potential harm to the patient in light of the current economic, social and security conditions. Well-designed nationwide future studies aimed at investigating the causes of medication errors to guide the design of interventions aimed at reducing their burden on the national healthcare system is highly recommended