Pharmacy in transition: A work sampling study of community pharmacists using smartphone technology

Introduction

The nature of community pharmacy is changing, shifting from the preparation and distribution of medicines to the provision of cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS); however, often the provision of traditional services leaves little time for innovative services. This study investigated the time community pharmacists spend on the tasks and activities of daily practice and to what extent they are able to implement CPS-related services in daily practice.

Metabolic and hormonal parameters of humans during long-term hyperbaric exposure (the recompression treatment table)]

Several metabolic and hormonal parameters were evaluated in blood of two human subjects during simulation of an extended saturation dive. Increases in creatine kinase and an upward trend in cholesterol and glucose were observed after decompression. The levels of TTH and thyroxin went up in both subjects during exposure. The significant changes in cortisol, ACTH, insulin and C-peptide were a fingerprint of stress-reaction. After eight days of recovery most of the parameters returned to baseline values. The investigation suggests that the recompression treatment table did not cause pathological changes in the biochemical and hormonal parameters of humans.     

Alterations of cortical neurons and their dendrites after chronic alcohol intoxication

Alterations occurring in the neurons of rat sensorimotor cortex 1, 2, and 4 months after a 4-month alcohol intoxication and 1 and 4 months after a 1-year alcoholization are studied by the methods of Nissl and Golgi. Pronounced dystrophic changes in cortical neurons and dendrites as well as reparative processes in the cell body are revealed 1 month after a 4-month intoxication. The recovery period for the upper cortical layer neurons (phylogenetically younger) is faster than that of neurons from the lower layers (phylogenetically older), as well as that of hypochromatousvs. hyperchromatous cells. Normalization of dendrite structure is slower than that of the cell body. Four months after a 1-year alcohol intoxication the structure of cortical neurons and dendrites is not restored. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 122, No. 10, pp. 467–470, October, 1996     

Fractionation of a chalone-containing preparation from Ehrlich's ascites tumor by high performance liquid chromatography

Department of Biology, Medico-Biological Faculty, and Applied Research Laboratory of Ecology, Toxicology, and Metabolism of Medicinal Preparations, attached to the Department of Biochemistry, Medico-Biological Faculty, N. I. Pirogov Second Moscow Medical Institute. Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 112, No. 10, pp. 418–419, October, 1991.     

An automated technique for measuring the area of contrasted bronchi

Central Scientific-Research Institute for Tuberculosis. Institute for Problems of Information Transmission, Moscow. Translated from Meditsinskaya Tekhnika, No. 3, pp. 30–32, May–June, 1992.     

Protective effect of interferon-α on the DNA- and RNA-degrading pathway in anti-Fas-antibody induced apoptosis

Aim: Fas membrane-associated polypeptide antigen is a receptor molecule responsible for apoptosis-mediated signals. In animal models of acute viral hepatitis, apoptosis of hepatocytes is mediated by Fas-death receptors; therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of interferon (IFN)-alpha on apoptotic markers and nuclease activity against different coding and non-coding single and double stranded RNAs during Fas-induced liver apoptosis. Methods: An in vivo experiment was performed with simultaneous administration of anti-Fas (CD95) antibodies and IFN-alpha, and an in vitro experiment was performed in hepatocyte cultures treated with anti-Fas antibodies and IFN-alpha. Results: Detection of apoptosis using Annexin V-FITC/propidium iodide, Bcl-2 and Bax expression in hepatocyte cultures confirmed the appearance of early apoptotic events and progression toward late apoptosis after anti-Fas antibody treatment. IFN-alpha had a tendency to retard the apoptosis process in Fas-induced apoptosis by increasing the number of viable cells and decreasing the number of cells in late apoptosis, by increasing the percentage of Bcl-2 positive cells, by decreasing the percentage of Bax positive cells, and by decreasing the nuclease activity compared to the anti-Fas antibody treated group. Total DNA and RNA concentration was much reduced in the Fas group and DNA fragmentation assay provided evidence for increased DNA degradation. Enhanced nuclease activity against DNA, rRNA, poly(A), poly(C), poly(U), poly(I:C), and poly(A:U) was manifested in the anti-Fas antibody treated group, except for the inhibitory-bound alkaline RNase. Conclusions: The results demonstrate that the RNA-degrading pathway in Fas-induced apoptosis can accelerate the liberation of the latent enzyme from the inhibitor complex. IFN-alpha prevented enormous, Fas-ligand induced degradation of all the substrates used in this experimental study, most probably due to similarities in the signal transduction pathways. Investigations of death receptor-induced apoptosis may lead to novel treatment combinations for patients with acute or chronic liver diseases.     

The most frequent hormone dysfunctions in juvenile bleeding

The main goal of this study was to investigate the precise hormone dysfunction that leads to dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB) in adolescent girls so that, with the appropriate therapy, the occurrence of organic dysfunctions of their reproductive function can be prevented. This study included 70 adolescents with DUB aged 14.70 +/- 1.70 and 30 healthy adolescents aged 13.7 +/- 1.83. Hormone examinations indicated the presence of three typical endocrinological findings of the adolescents with DUB: the first group with FSH values within the normal range, but low LH values, the lower value of estradiol and absence of hyperandrogenism; the second group with higher LH values and normal FSH values but one third with hyperandrogenism; and the third group with normal FSH and LH values, but with hyperinsulinemia and hyperandrogenism. Comparing the hormone values obtained in the control group and the group with DUB, we have concluded that hyperandrogenism, hyperinsulinemia, lower values of progesterone, and dysfunctions in secretion of gonadotropin are statistically important factors for the origin of juvenile bleeding.