The Report of the 2012-2013 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee

The RGA Committee met on October 29-30, 2012, in Crystal City, VA. The Committee corresponded via e-mail throughout the year, and had a conference call on June 13, 2013. The charge for the RGA Committee was to develop strategies on how to get our members to the right tables and at the right time for advancing pharmacy research and graduate education

Report of the 2011-2012 AACP Special Advisory Committee on Research and Graduate Education

According to the Bylaws of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) shall provide assistance to the Association in developing its research, graduate education, and scholarship agenda. This assistance may include facilitating colleges and schools in formulating and advancing legislative and regulatory initiatives, and nurturing collaborative activities with organizations sharing an interest in issues related to the pharmaceutical sciences

The Report of the 2012-2013 Research and Graduate Affairs Committee

The RGA Committee met on October 29-30, 2012, in Crystal City, VA. The Committee corresponded via e-mail throughout the year, and had a conference call on June 13, 2013. The charge for the RGA Committee was to develop strategies on how to get our members to the right tables and at the right time for advancing pharmacy research and graduate education

Report of the 2011-2012 AACP Special Advisory Committee on Research and Graduate Education

According to the Bylaws of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP), the Research and Graduate Affairs Committee (RGAC) shall provide assistance to the Association in developing its research, graduate education, and scholarship agenda. This assistance may include facilitating colleges and schools in formulating and advancing legislative and regulatory initiatives, and nurturing collaborative activities with organizations sharing an interest in issues related to the pharmaceutical sciences

The Lower Serum Immunoglobulin G2 Level in Severe Cases than in Mild Cases of Pandemic H1N1 2009 Influenza Is Associated with Cytokine Dysregulation ▿

The majority of patients with pandemic influenza H1N1 2009 had mild illness, but some, including those with no risk factors for severe disease, may succumb to this infection. Besides viral factors such as the D222/225G substitution of the hemagglutinin, host factors such as IgG2 subclass deficiency recently was reported to be associated with severe disease in a cohort of Australian patients besides other known risk factors, including underlying chronic illness, extremes of age, and pregnancy. We conducted a case-control study of 38 Asian patients with respiratory failure due to severe pandemic influenza and compared the results to those for 36 mild cases. None had selective IgG2 deficiency, but the level of IgG2 subclass was significantly lower in the severe cases (3.55 g/liter versus 4.75 g/liter; P = 0.002), whereas the levels of IgG1, IgG3, and IgG4 were not significantly different from those of the mild cases. Previous studies suggested that some IgHG2 and FcγRIIa genotypes were associated with IgG2 deficiency. The allelic frequency of the IgHG2 genotypes in our severe cases was not correlated with their levels of IgG2, while that of FcγRIIa was not significantly different from that of the general Han Chinese population (P = 0.216). Only the overall cytokine/chemokine profile (P = 0.029) and serum globulin level (P = 0.005) were found to be independently associated with the IgG2 level by multivariate analysis. The lower IgG2 level in our severe group might be related to cytokine dysregulation rather than being a significant risk factor for severe pandemic influenza. The importance of this finding for therapeutic intervention will require further studies of larger cohorts of patients

Prevalence of sleep disturbances during COVID-19 outbreak in an urban Chinese population: a cross-sectional study

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic is a large-scale public health emergency that likely precipitated sleep disturbances in the community. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and correlates of sleep disturbances during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This web-based cross-sectional study recruited 1138 Hong Kong adults using convenience sampling over a two-week period from 6th April 2020. The survey collected data on sleep disturbances, mood, stress, stock of infection control supplies, perceived risk of being infected by COVID-19, and sources for acquiring COVID-19 information. The participants were asked to compare their recent sleep and sleep before the outbreak. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was used to assess their current insomnia severity. Prevalence was weighted according to 2016 population census. Results: The weighted prevalence of worsened sleep quality, difficulty in sleep initiation, and shortened sleep duration since the outbreak were 38.3%, 29.8%, and 29.1%, respectively. The prevalence of current insomnia (ISI score of ≥10) was 29.9%. Insufficient stock of masks was significantly associated with worsened sleep quality, impaired sleep initiation, shortened sleep duration, and current insomnia in multivariate logistic regression (adjusted OR = 1.57, 1.72, 1.99, and 1.96 respectively, all p < 0.05). Conclusion: A high proportion of people in Hong Kong felt that their sleep had worsened since the COVID-19 outbreak. Insufficient stock of masks was one of the risk factors that were associated with sleep disturbances. Adequate and stable supply of masks may play an important role to maintain the sleep health in the Hong Kong general population during a pandemic outbreak