COMMUNITY PHARMACIST-LED NEW MEDICINE SERVICE FOR PATIENTS WITH A LONG TERM MEDICAL CONDITION: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objective: This study assessed the impact of the new medicine service (NMS) on medication use in patients starting a new medication for a long-term medical condition in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in community pharmacies in the West Midlands area for three months from July to September 2012. The drug therapies/agents included in the study were antihypertensive, antidiabetics, anti-asthmatics and antiplatelet/anticoagulants.Results: 20 community pharmacists completed questionnaires related to 285 patients (160 female and 125 male). On the first NMS assessment, 82 patients reported drug-related problems including adverse effects and incorrect use of medications. Of these 82 patients, 58 received pharmacists' advice and 24 did not receive any advice. At the NMS follow up 39 (67%) of the 58 patients who received pharmacists' advice reported resolution of their drug-related problems while only four (17%) of the 24 patients who did not receive pharmacists' advice reported resolution of their problems (odds ratio 10.2, 95% CI 3.0-34.2 p<0.0001). The improvement in the correct use of medications by patients reported in this study for example by improving the inhaler technique of asthmatic patients is expected to have important implications for improving the healthcare outcome of patients with long-term conditions.Conclusion: This study provides support for the NMS as an opportunity to improve detection of adverse effects and improve the incorrect use of medicines by patients. Further research is needed to address the policy implications of the NMS, including analyses of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of this service, and the sustainability of this form of pharmacist intervention in the long-term in clinical practice

Evidence for a Fourteenth mtDNA-Encoded Protein in the Female-Transmitted mtDNA of Marine Mussels (Bivalvia: Mytilidae)

BACKGROUND: A novel feature for animal mitochondrial genomes has been recently established: i.e., the presence of additional, lineage-specific, mtDNA-encoded proteins with functional significance. This feature has been observed in freshwater mussels with doubly uniparental inheritance of mtDNA (DUI). The latter unique system of mtDNA transmission, which also exists in some marine mussels and marine clams, is characterized by one mt genome inherited from the female parent (F mtDNA) and one mt genome inherited from the male parent (M mtDNA). In freshwater mussels, the novel mtDNA-encoded proteins have been shown to be mt genome-specific (i.e., one novel protein for F genomes and one novel protein for M genomes). It has been hypothesized that these novel, F- and M-specific, mtDNA-encoded proteins (and/or other F- and/or M-specific mtDNA sequences) could be responsible for the different modes of mtDNA transmission in bivalves but this remains to be demonstrated. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated all complete (or nearly complete) female- and male-transmitted marine mussel mtDNAs previously sequenced for the presence of ORFs that could have functional importance in these bivalves. Our results confirm the presence of a novel F genome-specific mt ORF, of significant length (>100aa) and located in the control region, that most likely has functional significance in marine mussels. The identification of this ORF in five Mytilus species suggests that it has been maintained in the mytilid lineage (subfamily Mytilinae) for ∼13 million years. Furthermore, this ORF likely has a homologue in the F mt genome of Musculista senhousia, a DUI-containing mytilid species in the subfamily Crenellinae. We present evidence supporting the functionality of this F-specific ORF at the transcriptional, amino acid and nucleotide levels. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results offer support for the hypothesis that "novel F genome-specific mitochondrial genes" are involved in key biological functions in bivalve species with DUI

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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Using companion and coupled diagnostics within strategy to personalize targeted medicines

Regulatory authorities expect the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to accelerate their development of companion diagnostics and companion therapeutics towards the goal of personalized medicine, and expect health services to fund, prescribers to adopt and patients to accept these new therapeutic technologies. Expected benefits from more systematic development of combination products (companion diagnostic and its companion therapeutic) are expected to include safer and improved clinical and cost-effective use of medicines, more efficient patient selection for clinical trials, more cost-effective treatment pathways for health services, and a more profitable approach for drug developers. This review discusses challenges to timely development of companion diagnostics and provides case studies of single and multiple protein and genetic biomarkers of clinical response and risk of adverse drug effects