Polymorphism: an evaluation of the potential risk to the quality of drug products from the Farmácia Popular Rede Própria

Polymorphism in solids is a common phenomenon in drugs, which can lead to compromised quality due to changes in their physicochemical properties, particularly solubility, and, therefore, reduce bioavailability. Herein, a bibliographic survey was performed based on key issues and studies related to polymorphism in active pharmaceutical ingredient (APIs) present in medications from the Farmácia Popular Rede Própria. Polymorphism must be controlled to prevent possible ineffective therapy and/or improper dosage. Few mandatory tests for the identification and control of polymorphism in medications are currently available, which can result in serious public health concerns

Clinical usefulness of red cell distribution width to angiographic severity and coronary stent thrombosis

Aysun Erdem,1 Ufuk Sadik Ceylan,1 Aycan Esen,1 Ertugrul Zencirci,2 Birol Topcu,3 Kivilcim Ozden,1 Selcuk Yazici,1 Sait Terzi,1 Ayse Emre,1 Kemal Yesilcimen1 1Department of Cardiology, Siyami Ersek Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey; 2Department of Cardiology, Acibadem Hospital Maslak, Istanbul, Turkey; 3Department of Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Namik Kemal University, Tekirdag, Turkey Background: Red cell distribution width (RDW) is a quantitative measurement and shows heterogeneity of red blood cell size in peripheral blood. RDW has recently been associated with cardiovascular events and cardiovascular diseases, and it is a novel predictor of mortality. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinical usefulness of measuring RDW in patients with coronary stent thrombosis.Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed 3,925 consecutive patients who presented with acute coronary syndrome and who underwent coronary angiography at the Siyami Ersek Hospital between May 2011 and December 2013. Of the 3,925 patients, 73 patients (55 males, mean age 59±11 years, 55 with ST elevated myocardial infarction) with stent thrombosis formed group 1. Another 54 consecutive patients who presented with acute coronary syndrome (without coronary stent thrombosis, 22 patients with ST elevated myocardial infarction, 44 males, mean age 54±2 years) and underwent percutaneous coronary intervention in May 2011 formed group 2. Data were collected from all groups for 2 years. The RDW values were calculated from patients 1 month later at follow-up. Syntax scores were calculated for all the patients. The patients were also divided as low syntax score group and moderate–high syntax score group.Results: The patients in group 1 with stent thrombosis had significantly higher RDW level (13.85) than the patients in group 2 without stent thrombosis (12) (P<0.001). In addition, in all study patients, the moderate–high syntax score group had significantly higher RDW level (13.6) than the low syntax score group (12.9) (P=0.009). A positive correlation was determined between RDW and syntax scores (r=0.204).Conclusion: RDW is a new marker of poor prognosis in coronary artery disease. Increased RDW level is correlated with angiographic severity of coronary artery disease, and RDW may be an important clinical marker of coronary stent thrombosis in patients undergoing coronary intervention.Keywords: syntax score, stent thrombosis, red cell distribution width, coronary artery diseas

Protest, Bodies, and the Grounds of Memory: Taksim Square as ‘heritage site’ and the 2013 Gezi Protests

This paper examines heritage representations within the 2013 “Gezi” protests in Turkey, focusing on the contest over the historical, social, and political significance of Gezi Park in Taksim, Istanbul. Gezi Park is a multi-layered urban space, once associated with the Armenian community, then with the Ottoman military and finally, from the 1930s, with the modernist urbanism of the secular Republic. Prior to the protests, the conservative Islamist administration planned to erase and refashion Gezi Park as a site of neo-Ottoman nostalgia. While the protests were associated with ecological and civil society concerns, the contest between protestors and state actors was also characterized by competing mobilizations of histories and notions of legitimate heritage over a range of representational sites and forms, from political speeches to protestors’ performances. Combining an analysis of these representations with interview data we explore Taksim-Gezi as a site of “ground memories” that are selectively articulated and strategically renewed by different groups. The state attempt to erase and remake place in a specific historical image was countered by people's diverse mnemonic and socio-ideological relations to place histories, that became repertories for reaction. We argue that civil crises like protests may help us to understand and problematize the spatio-temporal, multi-relational articulations of heritage, and, vice versa, a view through heritage and memory opens critical exposures of socio-political conflict