There are few reports on drug utilization and drug-drug interactions in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in Egypt. A total of 94 patients participated in this retrospective observational study. Patient’s ...medical records were used to collect demographics, medical history, admission and discharge dates and medications used. The mean ± SD of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores was 9.9 ± 4.4 and the median length of stay was 7 days (range 1–47 days). The total number of prescribed medications ranged from 4–29 with a mean ± SD of 14.1 ± 5.5 medications per patient. The top three most prescribed categories belonged to (1) anti-infective agents (23.9%); (2) electrolyte, caloric and water balance agents (14.6%); and (3) blood formation, coagulation and thrombosis (11.3%). The proton pump inhibitor, esomeprazole, was the most frequently prescribed medication accounting for 6.5% of total prescriptions, followed by clindamycin and magnesium sulfate each accounting for 3.5% of total prescriptions. The potential Drug-Drug Interactions (pDDIs) showed a total of 968 pDDIs with a mean ± SD (range) of 10.2 ± 9.4 (0–43) pDDIs per patient: severe (contraindicated) (3), major (178), moderate (618) and minor (169). Overall, the drug utilization patterns in this study were consistent with ICU drug utilization from other countries in the region. The implementation of clinical decision support systems and the involvement of clinical pharmacists may help improve medication safety.
COVID-19 and Peripheral Smear Chat Alabbadi, Ali M; Yassin, Dima F; Mansour, Ahmad T ...
Acta cytologica,
2021, Letnik:
65, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recently, we have investigated the cucurbit7uril (CB7) recognition of the α- and β-anomers of neutral, protonated, and acetylated forms of glucosamine in water. In the present work, we employed ...molecular dynamics (MD) and thermodynamic integration methods (TI) to investigate the recognition of these molecules by cucurbit6uril (CB6) and cucurbit8uril (CB8). MD revealed the formation of stable 1:1 inclusion complexes by all studied molecules with cucurbitnurils (CBn), and 2:1 complex by the α-anomer of the acetylated form of glucosamine with the large homologue CB8. CB6 forms roughly twice as many hydrogen bonds with the guest molecules as CB8. MM-PBSA results indicated that the electrostatic contribution to the binding free energy of each guest:CB complex was larger for CB6 than for CB8, and that CB6 and CB8 have lower affinity toward the different forms of glucosamine compared to CB7. Furthermore, TI was used to estimate the relative affinities of CB6 and CB8 toward the α- and β-anomers for each form of the studied glucosamine and compare with CB7.
Molecular dynamics simulations were performed in aqueous solution to elucidate an atomistic level picture of complex formation between cucurbit7uril (CB7) and three standard aromatic amino acids: ...tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine. It was found that all three amino acids formed stable host–guest complexes with CB7, in which the side chain was included inside the hydrophobic cavity and the ammonium and carboxylate groups were excluded. The major forces driving complexation, as calculated from the MM-PBSA method, were the electrostatic and van der Waal interactions. To better understand the effect of pH and the roles of the ammonium and carboxylate groups in the complexation process, simulations were performed for phenylalanine considering different protonation state (at low and high pH) as well as for the deaminated and decarboxylated forms of phenylalanine. The results showed that, compared to phenylalanine at neutral pH (exists as zwitterion), low pH resulted in an increased complex stability for the cationic form, deamination and high pH reduced the stability, while decarboxylation did not result in a significant change. Results from quantum-chemical calculations correlated well with the simulation data.
Graphical abstract
Jordan relies heavily on rainwater stored in reservoirs because it has extremely limited alternative water resources. These reservoirs are essential for drinking water and irrigation, so monitoring ...their water quality is extremely important. In this study we monitored 55 semi-volatile organic chemicals (SVOCs) in monthly samples from the Zarqa River and three reservoirs between April and August 2010, and also screened the samples for non-target pollutants. Twelve SVOCs were detected and quantified at King Talal Dam followed by ten at Zarqa River and four each at Wadi Al-Arab and Mujib dams. Phenol and phthalate esters were detected at wide range concentrations (0.01–25μg/L) in all water samples. Phenol has the highest level at the Zarqa River (18.5±5.5μg/L) followed by King Talal (12.5±2.5μg/L) and Wadi Al-Arab (2.5±0.63μg/L). Phthalate esters (total) were detected at the Zarqa River, King Talal, Wadi Al-Arab, and Mujib dams at levels 3.85, 3.75, 1.03 and 0.12μg/L. Other contaminants, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were detected at low concentrations in the King Talal Dam reservoir and Zarqa River samples. Two non-targeted phosphate plasticizers, tri-n-butylphosphate and tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate were identified in the July and August Zarqa River samples. A comparison study reveals that SVOC pollution of surface water in Jordan is within acceptable international limits, but long-term monitoring programs should be implemented.
This study sought to verify the independent role of heart rate in the prediction of all-cause, cardiovascular, and noncardiovascular mortality in a low-risk male population.
In an Italian ...population-based observational study, heart rate was measured in 2533 men, aged 40 to 69 years, between 1984 and 1993. Data on cardiovascular risk factors were collected according to standardized procedures. Vital status was updated to December 1997.
Of 2533 men followed up (representing 24,457 person-years), 393 men died. Age-adjusted death rates for 5 heart rate levels showed increasing trends. The adjusted hazard rate ratios for each heart rate increment were 1.52 (95% confidence interval CI = 1.29, 1.78) for all-cause mortality, 1.63 (95% CI = 1.26, 2.10) for cardiovascular mortality, and 1.47 (95% CI = 1.19, 1.80) for noncardiovascular mortality. Relative risks between extreme levels were more than 2-fold for all endpoints considered.
Heart rate is an independent predictor of cardiovascular, noncardiovascular, and total mortality in this Italian middle-aged male population.
Introduction
Recent automated hematology analyzers (HAs) can identify and report nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) count as a separate population out of white blood cells (WBC). The aim of this study ...was to investigate the analytical performances of NRBC enumeration on five top of the range HAs.
Methods
We evaluated the within‐run and between‐day precision, limit of blank (LoB), limit of detection (LoD), and limit of quantitation (LoQ) of XE‐2100 and XN‐module (Sysmex), ADVIA 2120i (Siemens), BC‐6800 (Mindray), and UniCel DxH 800 (Beckman Coulter). Automated NRBC counts were also compared with optical microscopy (OM).
Results
The limits of detection for NRBC of the BC‐6800, XN‐module, XE‐2100, UniCel DxH 800, and ADVIA 2120i are 0.035×109/L, 0.019×109/L, 0.067×109/L, 0.038×109/L, and 0.167×109/L, respectively. Our data indicated excellent performance in terms of precision. The agreement with OM was excellent for BC‐6800, XN‐module, and XE‐2100 (Bias 0.023, 0.019, and 0.033×109/L, respectively). ADVIA 2120i displayed a significant constant error and UniCel DxH 800 both proportional and small constant error.
Conclusion
Regards to NRBC counting, the performances shown by BC‐6800, XN‐module, and XE‐2100 are excellent also a low count, ADVIA 2120i and UniCel DxH 800 need to be improved.
Background
The aims of this study were to compare the diagnostic accuracy of blood smear review criteria, by means of three different panel rules, those proposed by: the International Consensus Group ...for Hematology 41‐ICGH rules, the Italian Survey IS rules and the Working Group on Hematology‐SIBioC (WGH) consensus rules (WGH rules).
Methods
This study is based on 2707 peripheral blood (PB) samples referred for routine hematological testing to the WGH‐associated laboratories displaced all over the Italian territory. The PB samples were processed on seven different hematology analyzers (HAs): Advia 2120i, XE‐2100, BC‐6800, ABX Pentra, XN‐1000, Cell‐DYN Sapphire, and DxH800, respectively. All the results provided by the HAs were analyzed through the application of three different blood smear review criteria: that is, the 41‐ICGH, IS, and WGH rules. Finally, data were compared with those obtained by optical microscopy (OM), as the current gold standard.
Results
The overall the agreement OM classification with ICGH, IS, and WGH panel rules is 0.83, 0.83, and 0.85, respectively. The false negatives are 2.1%, 3.0%, and 2.9%, while false positives are 15.1%, 13.7%, and 11.7%, respectively. All the seven HAs showed variable interinstrument performance, as three different criteria for OM review were adopted on each of them from time to time.
Conclusion
These results presented show that the customization of validation rules is necessary for enhancing the quality of hematological testing and optimizing workflow.
The principal design of a newly developed two-zone valved cracking phosphorus P2 molecular beam source with greatly improved performance based on InP thermal decomposition is outlined. Precise dimer ...phosphorus beam flux control is accomplished due to a thoughtfully designed and externally activated faucet placed between the InP decomposition zone and the cracking area of P4 vapors. Experimental tests show that the source can be easily incorporated into the standard ion-pumped molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) machine and can be used successfully for the MBE growth of device quality III-V single and multi-component phosphide epilayers incorporated into single- and multi-layer heterostructures with sharp interfaces.
PDF
