Evaluation Of Antimicrobial Agents Prescribed By Universiti Sains Malaysia Panel Of Doctors: A Pharmacoepidemiology Approach

Kajian penggunaan drug adalah penting untuk menentukan tahap penggunaan drug dalam sesebuah negara. Drug utilization study is important in establishing the status of drug use in a particular country, irrational prescribing is a global phenomenon

An ontology for formal representation of medication adherence-related knowledge : case study in breast cancer

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Medication non-adherence is a major healthcare problem that negatively impacts the health and productivity of individuals and society as a whole. Reasons for medication non-adherence are multi-faced, with no clear-cut solution. Adherence to medication remains a difficult area to study, due to inconsistencies in representing medicationadherence behavior data that poses a challenge to humans and today’s computer technology related to interpreting and synthesizing such complex information. Developing a consistent conceptual framework to medication adherence is needed to facilitate domain understanding, sharing, and communicating, as well as enabling researchers to formally compare the findings of studies in systematic reviews. The goal of this research is to create a common language that bridges human and computer technology by developing a controlled structured vocabulary of medication adherence behavior—“Medication Adherence Behavior Ontology” (MAB-Ontology) using breast cancer as a case study to inform and evaluate the proposed ontology and demonstrating its application to real-world situation. The intention is for MAB-Ontology to be developed against the background of a philosophical analysis of terms, such as belief, and desire to be human, computer-understandable, and interoperable with other systems that support scientific research. The design process for MAB-Ontology carried out using the METHONTOLOGY method incorporated with the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) principles of best practice. This approach introduces a novel knowledge acquisition step that guides capturing medication-adherence-related data from different knowledge sources, including adherence assessment, adherence determinants, adherence theories, adherence taxonomies, and tacit knowledge source types. These sources were analyzed using a systematic approach that involved some questions applied to all source types to guide data extraction and inform domain conceptualization. A set of intermediate representations involving tables and graphs was used to allow for domain evaluation before implementation. The resulting ontology included 629 classes, 529 individuals, 51 object property, and 2 data property. The intermediate representation was formalized into OWL using Protégé. The MAB-Ontology was evaluated through competency questions, use-case scenario, face validity and was found to satisfy the requirement specification. This study provides a unified method for developing a computerized-based adherence model that can be applied among various disease groups and different drug categories

Predisposing, Enabling, and Need Factors Associated with the Choice of Pharmacy Type in the US: Findings from the 2015/2016 National Consumer Survey on the Medication Experience and Pharmacists’ Roles

Background: Knowing the type of pharmacy used by the patient is meaningful to the pharmacist. Previous studies have assessed different factors predicting the kind of pharmacy selection and reached inconsistent findings. Objectives: To identify patient and health-related factors associated with pharmacy type selection. Methods: The Andersen Behavioral Model of Health Service Use was used to organize the selection of patient characteristics and categorize them as predisposing, enabling, and need factors. The dependent variable was the type of pharmacy used. Logistic regression was used to predict the association between patient-related characteristics and the type of pharmacy used. Results: Older age respondents were less likely to use independent pharmacies (OR = 0.992) and more likely to use mail pharmacy services (OR = 1.026). Highly educated people showed higher use of chain and mail pharmacies (OR = 1.272, 1.185, respectively) and less tendency to use the independent, supermarket, and prescription-only pharmacy types. Men were less likely to use chain pharmacies (OR = 0.932) and more likely to use supermarket pharmacies than women. Patients who use Medication Therapy Management (MTM) services had higher odds of using independent and supermarket pharmacies (OR = 2.808, 1.689, respectively). Patients with a higher number of chronic diseases and experienced side effects of medications were more likely to use independent pharmacies (OR for number of disease = 1.097 and for side effects = 1.095). Conclusions: This study’s findings identify characteristics associated with selecting certain pharmacy settings and direct future research to include other predictors encompassing beliefs, attitudes, and other social factors

The Impact of Information Technology on Patient Engagement and Health Behavior Change: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Background: Advancements in information technology (IT) and its increasingly ubiquitous nature expand the ability to engage patients in the health care process and motivate health behavior change. Objective: Our aim was to systematically review the (1) impact of IT platforms used to promote patients' engagement and to effect change in health behaviors and health outcomes, (2) behavior theories or models applied as bases for developing these interventions and their impact on health outcomes, (3) different ways of measuring health outcomes, (4) usability, feasibility, and acceptability of these technologies among patients, and (5) challenges and research directions for implementing IT platforms to meaningfully impact patient engagement and health outcomes. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar were searched for studies published from 2000 to December 2014. Two reviewers assessed the quality of the included papers, and potentially relevant studies were retrieved and assessed for eligibility based on predetermined inclusion criteria. Results: A total of 170 articles met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed in detail. Overall, 88.8% (151/170) of studies showed positive impact on patient behavior and 82.9% (141/170) reported high levels of improvement in patient engagement. Only 47.1% (80/170) referenced specific behavior theories and only 33.5% (57/170) assessed the usability of IT platforms. The majority of studies used indirect ways to measure health outcomes (65.9%, 112/170). Conclusions: In general, the review has shown that IT platforms can enhance patient engagement and improve health outcomes. Few studies addressed usability of these interventions, and the reason for not using specific behavior theories remains unclear. Further research is needed to clarify these important questions. In addition, an assessment of these types of interventions should be conducted based on a common framework using a large variety of measurements; these measurements should include those related to motivation for health behavior change, long-standing adherence, expenditure, satisfaction, and health outcomes. [JMIR Med Inform 2016;4(1):e1

Islamic Charitable Duty of Zakat Web-Based System: Student's Perspective

This study concerns about the Islamic legislation in term of Zakat boundaries according to Libyan web sites of Zakat asset management, the public can only get general information without providing the importance of the rate and the amount payable to Zakat. The study aims to solve Zakat issues from student's perspective especially the exact obligatory amount that properly calculated for different kinds of one's income. This study was established to help such issues narrated above. The importance as the objective study is to develop a web-based application to facilitate users as the system is provided a good knowledge of the Zakat operation. The estimated produces obtained in this study, it is to achieve a perfect system that simplifies the use and to be more useful to every customers

Comparison of active treatments for impaired glucose regulation : a Salford Royal Foundation Trust and Hitachi collaboration (CATFISH): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is highly prevalent and contributes to significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Behaviour change interventions that target health and lifestyle factors associated with the onset of diabetes can delay progression to diabetes, but many approaches rely on intensive one-to-one contact by specialists. Health coaching is an approach based on motivational interviewing that can potentially deliver behaviour change interventions by non-specialists at a larger scale. This trial protocol describes a randomized controlled trial (CATFISH) that tests whether a web-enhanced telephone health coaching intervention (IGR3) is more acceptable and efficient than a telephone-only health coaching intervention (IGR2) for people with prediabetes (impaired glucose regulation). METHODS: CATFISH is a two-parallel group, single-centre individually randomized controlled trial. Eligible participants are patients aged ≥18 years with impaired glucose regulation (HbA1c concentration between 42 and 47 mmol/mol), have access to a telephone and home internet and have been referred to an existing telephone health coaching service at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford, UK. Participants who give written informed consent will be randomized remotely (via a clinical trials unit) to either the existing pathway (IGR2) or the new web-enhanced pathway (IGR3) for 9 months. The primary outcome measure is patient acceptability at 9 months, determined using the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire. Secondary outcome measures at 9 months are: cost of delivery of IGR2 and IGR3, mental health, quality of life, patient activation, self-management, weight (kg), HbA1c concentration, and body mass index. All outcome measures will be analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis. A qualitative process evaluation will explore the experiences of participants and providers with a focus on understanding usability of interventions, mechanisms of behaviour change, and impact of context on delivery and user acceptability. Qualitative data will be analyzed using Framework. DISCUSSION: The CATFISH trial will provide a pragmatic assessment of whether a web-based information technology platform can enhance acceptability of a telephone health coaching intervention for people with prediabetes. The data will prove critical in understanding the role of web applications to improve engagement with evidence-based approaches to preventing diabetes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN16534814 . Registered on 7 February 2016

The response of mast cells and serglycin-dependent proteases to parasitic infection

The proteoglycan (PG), serglycin (SG), is expressed in several hematopoietic cells and studies of the SG knockout mice (SG-/-) revealed prominent effects on the storage of certain mouse mast cell proteases (mMCPs) such as mMCP-4, -5 and -6.In this thesis, the role of SGPG during parasitic infection was addressed. Both SG+/+ and SG-/- animals infected with Toxoplasma gondii had significantly elevated levels of hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate A PG in the peritoneum. In contrast, whereas heparin/heparan sulfate was confined to the peritoneal cells in SG+/+ animals, it was almost undetectable in SG-/- animals. Surprisingly, both SG+/+ and SG-/- animals were shown to secrete active MC proteases to almost the same levels in the peritoneal cavity, despite defective storage of proteases in SG-/- MCs. Furthermore, SG-/- animals showed a delayed neutrophil recruitment and decreased levels of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-6, IL-12, TNF-a and MCP-1. In vitro stimulation of peritoneal derived MCs (PCMCs) with soluble Toxoplasma antigen induced significantly lower secretion of IL-6, IL-12 and TNF-a in SG-/- PCMCs than in SG+/+ PCMCs. In addition, when studying aging SG-/- animals, the deficiency manifested as enlargements of lymphoid tissues, particularly spleens, Peyer’s patches and bronchus associated lymphoid tissue, and was not shown to be associated with infection. Analysis of this phenomenon revealed an expansion of naïve lymphocytes through an increase in the CD4+ and CD45RC+ leukocyte population. Moreover, peritoneal macrophages were markedly increased in number in aging SG-/- animals. In response to Dictyocaulus viviparus infection in calves, tryptase positive MCs in the bovine lung and BALF were shown to correlate with disease progression. The activity and expression levels of tryptase were increased in the lungs of infected calves compared to non-infected control animals. In conclusion, MCs are actively involved in the host response to Toxoplasma gondii infection in mice and Dictyocaulus viviparus infection in calves

Identifying and Visualizing risk factors of Breast Cancer data

PURPOSE: This study aims to identify and visualize various risk factors for breast cancer using data from The Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) to inform new measures and preventive care for potential breast cancer patients. SUBJECTS: The study utilized data from 26,173 Americans, focusing on age, race, menopausal status, BMI, and family history as factors associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Using R studio for analysis, the BCSC dataset covering a range of demographic and health-related attributes was employed to investigate the impact of identified risk factors on breast cancer incidence. ANALYSES: Statistical tests, including Chi-square and logistic regression analyses, were conducted to determine the significance of each risk factor in predicting breast cancer risk. RESULTS: Findings indicate that 39.58% of participants used digital platforms for health information, with a significant correlation found between digital platform use and factors such as age, education level, geographical location, and chronic illness prevalence. Notably, predictors of increased use included multiple chronic conditions, higher education levels, and certain racial demographics. CONCLUSIONS: The study concludes that individuals with more education and chronic conditions, particularly within specific racial demographics, are more likely to utilize digital resources for medication information. These insights emphasize the importance of tailoring digital health literacy programs to enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of online health resources