Comparison of Drug-Related Problems in COVID-19 and Non-COVID-19 Patients Provided by a German Telepharmacy Service for Rural Intensive Care Units

Telepharmacy is used to bridge the persisting shortage of specialist ward-based pharmacists, particularly in intensive care units (ICU). During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), pharmacotherapy was rapidly developed, which resulted in multiple changes of guidelines. This potentially led to a differing risk for drug-related problems (DRPs) in ICUs. In this study, DRPs were detected in telepharmacy consultations of a German state-wide telemedicine network for adult patients in rural ICUs. The analysis included ICUs of ten general care hospitals with a total of 514 patients and 1056 consultations. The aim of this retrospective, observational cohort study was to compare and analyze the DRPs resulting from ICU patients with or without COVID-19. Furthermore, known risk groups for severe COVID-19 progression (organ insufficiency [kidney, liver], obesity, sex, and/or older age) were investigated with their non-COVID-19 counterparts. As a result, in both groups patients with acute renal insufficiency and without renal replacement therapy showed a significantly higher risk of being affected by one or more DRPs compared to patients with normal renal function. In COVID-19 patients, the initial recommendation of therapeutic anticoagulation (ATC-code B01AB ‘Heparin group’) resulted in significantly more DRPs compared to non-COVID-19 patients. Therefore, COVID-19 patients with therapeutic anticoagulation and all ICU patients with renal insufficiency should be prioritized for telepharmacy consultations.</p

Pharmaceutical Interventions for Inpatients with Liver Cirrhosis and Liver Transplantation: A Systematic Review of Experimental Studies

Liver cirrhosis, which is considered one of the leading causes of death in the world, can lead to severe complications, and is often followed by a liver transplantation. These patients take an average of nine medications daily. If not managed adequately, it can be accompanied by serious drug-related problems. To reduce this risk, a clinical pharmacist may be included as part of the healthcare team to optimize medication therapy in this population. This study aimed to systematically identify the pharmaceutical interventions which reduced drug-related problems and improved medication therapy for adult hospitalized liver cirrhotic and liver transplant patients when compared to standard care. Three databases (PubMed, Embase, and CENTRAL) were systematically searched from the inception of each database to 25 October 2023, and interventional studies in the English language were included. The risk of bias was assessed according to RoB-I for the UBA study and RoB2 for the identified RCT. The detected interventions to reduce drug-related problems in liver cirrhotic and liver transplant patients were extracted and classified according to a “Hierarchy of Controls” model. Two studies from Germany and the USA met our inclusion criteria, respectively. In these studies, we identified two interventions that included education, expert consultation, and the monitoring of the immunosuppressive medications serum level. The main objective of the two included studies was improving patients’ compliance through adherence. These pharmaceutical interventions identified were classified as administrative controls, which is one of the lowest levels in the “Hierarchy of Controls” with which to address a potential risk. Pharmaceutical interventions to optimize medication therapy were found to be rare in the examined population, and were limited to “administrative controls”. These interventions were limited to transplant patients’ education and the monitoring of the immunosuppressive medication serum levels. No interventional studies were found to have investigated pharmaceutical interventions in patients with liver cirrhosis. Especially regarding this patient group, future studies to reduce DRPs using pharmaceutical interventions are needed. This study received no external funding and its PROSPERO registration number is CRD42022309122

Autoregulation of Th1-mediated inflammation by twist1

The basic helix-loop-helix transcriptional repressor twist1, as an antagonist of nuclear factor {kappa}B (NF-{kappa}B)–dependent cytokine expression, is involved in the regulation of inflammation-induced immunopathology. We show that twist1 is expressed by activated T helper (Th) 1 effector memory (EM) cells. Induction of twist1 in Th cells depended on NF-{kappa}B, nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT), and interleukin (IL)-12 signaling via signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 4. Expression of twist1 was transient after T cell receptor engagement, and increased upon repeated stimulation of Th1 cells. Imprinting for enhanced twist1 expression was characteristic of repeatedly restimulated EM Th cells, and thus of the pathogenic memory Th cells characteristic of chronic inflammation. Th lymphocytes from the inflamed joint or gut tissue of patients with rheumatic diseases, Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis expressed high levels of twist1. Expression of twist1 in Th1 lymphocytes limited the expression of the cytokines interferon-{gamma}, IL-2, and tumor necrosis factor-{alpha}, and ameliorated Th1-mediated immunopathology in delayed-type hypersensitivity and antigen-induced arthritis