Mapping community pharmacy services in Brazil: a scoping review

The delivery of clinical pharmacy services has been growing in Brazilian community pharmacies, and it is necessary to have a comprehensive understanding of the topic. This scoping review aimed to provide an overview of Brazilian studies about clinical pharmacy services in community pharmacies. Original research articles, with no restriction of time, study design, or patients health condition, were included. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Scielo, and Lilacs. Two reviewers conducted the screening, full-text reading, and data extraction independently. ROB and ROBINS-I were used for the assessment of quality. Charts and tables were built to summarise the data. Seventy-two articles were included. A diversity of study designs, number of participants, terms used, and outcomes was found. São Paulo and Sergipe States had the highest number of studies (n=10). Pharmacists interventions were not fully reported in 65% of studies, and most studies presented an unclear risk of bias. Studies were very diverse, impairing the comparisons between the results and hindering their reproducibility. This review suggests using guidelines and checklists for better structuration of pharmacists interventions as well as reporting results and measuring fidelity in future research. (c) 2022, Faculdade de Ciencias Farmaceuticas (Biblioteca). All rights reserved

Temporal evolution of roughness development on polymer surfaces exposed to non-thermal plasma

Brazilian agencies: CNPq and CAPES/PRINTUFSC, 2019Processes such as ablation, erosion and corrosion generally create roughness patterns on solid surfaces. Despite the randomness of this phenomenon, some patterns can be described mathematically by studying statistically the mechanisms behind them. This paper reports an experimental study on the temporal evolution of the roughness development of polymer surfaces exposed to argon non-thermal plasma under reduced pressure of 5 mbar and 65 W of applied power. The substrates studied were polypropylene, high density polyethylene, polyamide-6 and poly(ether ether)ketone. The mean roughness data as well as the saturation roughness values showed differences between polyolefin and polymers containing heteroatoms and notably the dependence of the etching on the packing density of the polymer chains. The plasma-etched surfaces were described statistically as self-affine surfaces using scaling law analysis, exhibiting roughness exponents of α ca.0.73 ± 0.2 and growth exponents of β ca. 1.0 ± 0.1. The roughness increases and decreases successively during treatment although presenting a general linear behavior in a non-monotonous way, as a function of time. The models for the shadowing and redistribution of active species can be complemented with the transient crosslinking model of the observed flattening stages.publishersversionpublishe

Changing emotional engagement with running through communal self-tracking: The implications of ‘teleoaffective shaping’ for public health,

Emerging research explores the role of self-tracking in supporting healthy behaviour. Self-tracking comprises a number of interrelated practices; some individual some communal. In this paper we focus on practices that enable interaction between self-trackers through data sharing and communication around personal data. For public health, communal self-tracking has been explored for the additional benefits it provides in addition to self-knowledge. However, under-explored is the emotional entanglement of self-tracking and tracked activities, or the role of practitioners in the dynamic evolution of tracked practices. Qualitative, mixed methods data was collected from leisure-time runners in the SW England who self-track using social fitness app ‘Strava’, and was interpreted through the lens of practice theory. We find that communal self-tracking affords the active shaping of the emotion and purpose of running. This ‘teleoaffective shaping’ allows practitioners to negotiate and reconstitute appealing meanings associated with running to protect their practice loyalty. We identify three mechanisms for teleoaffective shaping afforded by Strava: labelling, reward and materialising effort. Findings advance our understanding of how social fitness apps work to retain practitioners of physically active leisure practices. Future research should further explore the multiple ways that associations with tracked physical activity evolve through entanglement with self-tracking practices

Quality evaluation of compounded capsules

The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of compounded capsules of different drugs for chronic diseases. It were assessed two samples, from two different pharmacies, for each of the following drugs: ranitidine 150 mg, methyldopa 250 mg, enalapril maleate 20 mg, fluoxetine hydrochloride 20 mg, propranolol hydrochloride 40 mg, and furosemide 40 mg. The assays of mean weight, content determination, content uniformity and dissolution were performed according to Brazilian Pharmacopoeia. All samples were approved in the assay of mean weight, and the samples M1 and Flu1 had failed in the assay of content determination. In the test of uniformity of dosage units the samples M1, Flu1, E1, E2 and Flu2 had failed. Only the samples M2, P1, P2, F1 and F2 were accepted in all pharmacopoeial tests, evidencing that the others did not achieve the minimum requirements to ensure safety, quality and efficacy of the drugs.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Adsorption of glyphosate in a forest soil: a study using Mössbauer and FT-IR spectroscopy

We studied the adsorption of glyphosate (GPS) onto soil mineral particles, using FT-IR and Mössbauer spectroscopy. From IR measurements for samples collected under native vegetation of a forest reserve, bands at 1632 and 1407 cm-1 could be attributed to the interaction between the carboxylic group of GPS and structural Al3+ and Fe3+ on the surface of mineral particles; bands at 1075 and 1000 cm-1 were observed only for cultivated soil. Mössbauer spectra for these soils were definitely fitted using a broad central doublet in addition to the magnetic component. This multiple quadrupolar component may be attributed to all non-magnetic Fe3+ contributions, including that of the GPS/Fe3+ complex

A simple and low-cost method of sulfur functionalization and aqueous dispersion of graphene driven by gas-liquid non-thermal plasma discharge

Graphene is a 2D nanomaterial that has received increasing attention due to its remarkable properties, such as high electric and thermal conductivity and good mechanical properties. The insertion of heteroatoms onto graphene enables the control of various properties of the material, such as dispersion, catalysis and band gap. Among the heteroatoms studied, sulfur is attractive due to its versatility, being part of functional groups that enhance dispersion and enable further modification. Various methods of sulfur functionalization were studied, and non-thermal plasma distinguishes itself due to its energy efficiency, ease of operation, and low heating of the treated material. However, existing non-thermal plasma methods are limited due to the expense of the equipment, energy consumption due to vacuum conditions and limited treated mass.In this work, we present a brand new simple, low-cost method for sulfur functionalization of graphene by argon non-thermal plasma discharged over an aqueous medium containing potassium thiocyanate, operating at ambient pressure and temperature. The modified graphene obtained was analyzed by Raman, XPS, FTIR, zeta potential and thiol quantification. The results showed an increase in graphene dispersion in water caused by the insertion of sulfonic acid and thiol functional groups onto the graphene structure, while maintaining the pristine qualities of the starting material