Potential drug-related problems detected by routine pharmaceutical interventions: safety and economic contributions made by hospital pharmacists in Japan

Abstract Background Pharmaceutical intervention enables safe and effective pharmacotherapy by avoiding of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and efficacy attenuations. Many prescriptions require optimization, and pharmaceutical interventions are inextricably associated with the prevention of potential drug-related problems (DRPs). Although the analysis and understanding of pharmaceutical interventions can lead to improvement in prescription, the analysis of routine pharmaceutical interventions in Japan in insufficient. Thus, we conducted this study to understand potential DRPs by analyzing routine pharmaceutical interventions made by pharmacists in Japan. Methods Pharmacists register the details of pharmaceutical interventions (excluding personal patient information) in a web-based database. We classified data of pharmaceutical interventions into 13 DRP types, 43 DRP subtypes, and 10 intervention categories (e.g., avoidance of serious ADRs and renal dosing recommendations). These data were analyzed with a focus on renal dysfunction and polypharmacy. Results During the study period, 2376 pharmaceutical interventions were performed. Overall, 68.2% of pharmaceutical interventions were for patients aged over 65 years. The most frequently detected potential DRP was overdosage, followed by omission of prescription, contraindications, and duplication of a drug with similar effect. The main cause of contraindication and overdosage was renal function deterioration, and that of polypharmacy was duplication of a drug with similar effect. Using our original evidence-based approach, we found that 2376 pharmaceutical interventions prevented ADRs for 1678 drugs, with potential cost savings of up to USD 2,657,820. Conclusions Our results indicate that the analysis of routine pharmaceutical interventions is beneficial for detecting potential DRPs. Our findings also show that, in an aging society, pharmacists have an important role in providing medication safety, with potential cost savings

Inhibition of Hepatitis C Virus Replication by a Specific Inhibitor of Serine-Arginine-Rich Protein Kinase ▿

Splicing of messenger RNAs is regulated by site-specific binding of members of the serine-arginine-rich (SR) protein family, and SR protein kinases (SRPK) 1 and 2 regulate overall activity of the SR proteins by phosphorylation of their RS domains. We have reported that specifically designed SRPK inhibitors suppressed effectively several DNA and RNA viruses in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that an SRPK inhibitor, SRPIN340, suppressed in a dose-dependent fashion expression of a hepatitis C virus (HCV) subgenomic replicon and replication of the HCV-JFH1 clone in vitro. The inhibitory effects were not associated with antiproliferative or nonspecific cytotoxic effects on the host cells. Overexpression of SRPK1 or SRPK2 resulted in augmentation of HCV replication, while small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown of the SRPKs suppressed HCV replication significantly. Immunocytochemistry showed that SRPKs and the HCV core and NS5A proteins colocalized to some extent in the perinuclear area. Our results demonstrate that SRPKs are host factors essential for HCV replication and that functional inhibitors of these kinases may constitute a new class of antiviral agents against HCV infection

GNU Radio

GNU Radio is a free & open-source software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software radios. It can be used with readily-available, low-cost external RF hardware to create software-defined radios, or without hardware in a simulation-like environment. It is widely used in hobbyist, academic, and commercial environments to support both wireless communications research and real-world radio systems