Drug adherence

Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) is the causative agent of Chagas' disease, a parasitic infection responsible for significant morbidity and mortality in Latin America. The current treatments have many serious drawbacks and new drugs are urgently required. In the UK, T. cruzi is classified by the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) as a Hazard Group 3 organism and strict safety practices must be adhered to when handling this pathogen in the laboratory. Validated inactivation techniques are required for safe T...

BACKGROUND: Medication review with follow-up is essential for optimising medication utilisation among the older adult population in primary healthcare. AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of implementing medication reviews with follow-up for older adults in community pharmacies and examined potential outcomes on medication use. METHOD: A pilot randomised controlled trial was conducted with 4 cluster-randomised community pharmacies to assess the feasibility of the intervention...

AIMS: To investigate the negative attitudes of Japanese psychiatrists toward atypical long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics, which are the current mainstream LAIs in Japan. METHODS: We surveyed 69 Japanese psychiatrists using a 5-point Likert scale to assess their attitudes toward atypical LAI antipsychotics. Our assessment referenced concerns identified in a study conducted in Japan a decade ago, which found significant differences when compared with a survey of German psychiatrists...

INTRODUCTION: Essential tremor (ET) is the most common movement disorder in adults, with an estimated incidence of up to 1% of the population and 5% of people older than 65 years of age. ET is manifested primarily by bilateral postural and kinetic tremor of the upper limbs with or without neurological symptoms and cognitive deficits. ET disrupts daily tasks and significantly lowers quality of life. Currently available medications alone are often insufficient to control severe symptoms...

BACKGROUND: To address antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) principles must be implemented and adhered to. Clinical decision aids such as the MicroGuideTM app are an important part of these efforts. We sought to evaluate the consistency of core AMS information and the diversity of classification thresholds for healthcare-associated pneumonia (HAP) in the MicroGuide app. METHODS: Guidelines in the MicroGuide app were extracted and analysed for content related to AMS and HAP...

INTRODUCTION: Physical activity is a major determinant in the prevention of chronic diseases, equally on the side effects of treatments and the consequences of the disease. It improves quality of life, but also reduces morbidity and mortality, and therefore health expenses. A sedentary lifestyle is the fourth cause of premature death in the world, in the context of chronic non-communicable diseases. In France, the prescription for adapted physical activity (APA) has been included in the law since 2016...

Self-healing hydrogel is a promising soft material for applications in wound dressings, drug delivery, tissue engineering, biomimetic electronic skin, and wearable electronic devices. However, it is a challenge to fabricate the self-healing hydrogels without external stimuli. Inspired by mussel, the metal-catechol complexes were introduced into the hydrogel systems to prepare the mussel-inspired hydrogels by regulating the gelation kinetics of Fe3+ crosslinkers with gallic acid (GA) in this research. The amine-functionalized carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was grafted with GA and then chelated with Fe3+ to form a multi-response system...

INTRODUCTION: Up to 50% of asthma/COPD patients make critical errors in dose preparation and dose inhalation with current marketed DPIs which negatively impact clinical outcomes. Others fail to adhere to their chronic treatment regimen. AREAS COVERED: For this review, we describe how a human-factors approach to design of a dry powder inhaler can be used to improve usability, proficiency, and functionality of DPIs, while effectively mitigating critical errors associated with DPIs...

CONTEXT: Current clinical guidelines recommend a drug holiday after extended use of oral bisphosphonates. However, no studies have investigated the impact of drug holidays before hip fractures on post-fracture mortality. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of drug holiday on post-fracture mortality in patients with extended use of oral bisphosphonates. DESIGN: Retrospective population-based cohort study. SETTING: All patients with hip fractures in Victoria, Australia from 2014-18...

BACKGROUND: Methamphetamine is associated with increased HIV risk and suboptimal adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Interventions to support PrEP adherence for people who use methamphetamine are needed. METHODS: We evaluated peer navigation to support adherence among people initiating PrEP who use methamphetamine. The <u>H</u>IV Prevention in <u>M</u>ethamphetamine <u>U</u>sers (HMU!) study enrolled participants from May 2018-January 2022 in Seattle, WA, and followed them for 6 months...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate how medication adherence is addressed in online gout resources in six countries. We investigated how often adherence was referred to, the strategies suggested to improve patient adherence, and the types of nonadherence that were targeted. We also examined the readability of the adherence material. METHODS: A content analysis was conducted on 151 online gout resources from medical and health organisations in six predominantly English-speaking countries...

Background: Depression is a severe mental disorder that poses a significant threat to both the physical and mental wellbeing of individuals. Currently, there are various methods for treating depression, including traditional Chinese herbal formulations like Chaihu-Shugan-San (CSS), which have shown effective antidepressant effects in both clinical and animal research. Objective: This review aims to provide a comprehensive synthesis of evidence related to CSS, considering both preclinical and clinical studies, to uncover its potential multi-level, multi-pathway, and multi-target mechanisms for treating depression and identify its active ingredients...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm is a community of bacteria that adhere to live or non-living surfaces and are encapsulated by an extracellular polymeric substance. Unlike individual planktonic cells, biofilms possess a notable inherent resistance to sanitizers and antibiotics. Overcoming this resistance is a substantial barrier in the medical and food industries. Hence, while antibiotics are ineffective in eradicating P. aeruginosa biofilm, scientists have explored alternate strategies, including the utilization of natural compounds as a novel treatment option...

BACKGROUND: Globally, viral hepatitis is a leading cause of death and is highly prevalent in Ethiopia. Military personnel are more vulnerable to hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections, and there are no data on such populations in the study area. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of HBV and HCV infections and their associated factors among military personnel in military camps in Central Gondar, Ethiopia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted with 277 military personnel from April to August 2022 at military camps in Central Gondar, Ethiopia...

Epilepsy is a condition marked by sudden, self-sustained, and recurring brain events, showcasing unique electro-clinical and neuropathological phenomena that can alter the structure and functioning of the brain, resulting in diverse manifestations. Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) can be very effective in 30% of patients in controlling seizures. Several factors contribute to this: drug resistance, individual variability, side effects, complexity of epilepsy, incomplete understanding, comorbidities, drug interactions, and no adherence to treatment...

INTRODUCTION: The intricate nature of certain diseases necessitates complex medication regimens, utilization including high-cost medications, and continual vigilance to avoid potential complications. To address these exigencies, numerous healthcare institutions have instituted multidisciplinary management teams, exemplified in pharmaceutical care through Comprehensive Medication Management (CMM) programs. These programs oversee diverse facets such as patient education, medication adherence promotion, clinical monitoring, dose adjustments, and scrutiny of prescribed drug therapies...

Complement inhibitors are the mainstay of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) treatment. The anti-C5 monoclonal antibody eculizumab was the first treatment to improve hemolysis, thrombotic risk, and survival in PNH although at the price of a life-long intravenous fortnightly drug. Additionally, suboptimal response may occur in up to 2/3 of patients with persistent anemia due to incomplete control of intravascular hemolysis, development of upstream C3-mediated extravascular hemolysis (EVH), or concomitant bone marrow failure...

Twelve patients between 18 and 53 years of age were included. MAD plus nutritional supplementation was administered to 75% ( n  = 10) of the participants, one (8.3%) received MAD alone, and 16.7 ( n  = 2) received Classic Ketogenic Diet (cKD) plus nutritional supplementation. Oral nutritional supplementation, administered in the outpatient setting, provided patients with between 31 and 55% of the total caloric value. In the first month of KDT treatment, 83.3% ( n  = 10) of patients reduced the number of weekly seizures by 40% (median)...

BACKGROUND: Capacitively coupling electric fields (CCEF) is a method of non-invasive biophysical stimulation that enhances fracture repair and spinal fusion. This multicentre randomized controlled trial aimed to further examine the roles of CCEF in (1) the resolution of vertebral bone marrow oedema (VBME) using a follow-up MRI study and (2) pain relief, analgesic drug consumption and quality of life improvement in stimulated patients who were referred with acute vertebral fragility fractures (VFFs) compared to non-stimulated patients...

With the premise of drug safety and effectiveness, pharmacoeconomic evaluation can provide optimal solutions for diversified decision-making application scenarios from different research perspectives while maximizing the rational utilization of existing healthcare resources. Chinese patent medicine is an essential component of pharmaceutical utilization in China and a significant part of healthcare expenditure in China. However, the economic evaluation of post-marketing Chinese patent medicine is lacking. These evaluations often lack standardization, exhibit varying quality, and are unable to effectively support healthcare decisions, indicating a need for improvement in overall quality...