Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection caused more than five million deaths throughout the world and more than five thousand deaths in Libya, a little is known about the mortality rate and the risk factors for death from this serious infectious disease in Libya. Thus, it is aimed in this study to identify the potential risk factors for mortality from SARS-CoV-2 infections among 176 Libyan COVID-19 patients in Zawia city. This research is a retrospective cohort study that was conducted on 176 randomly selected volunteers who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 during a period of December 2020 to February 2021 in Zawia city, Libya. Following filling the prepared validated questionnaire by COVID-19 patients, the data was analyzed to determine the previously mentioned risk factors. The mean age (SD) of the total 176 participated COVID-19 patients was 45.06 (± 17.7) and the mortality rate among these total involved cases (mild to severe cases) was 10.8%. It is found that the mortality among the severe COVID-19 cases was 41.3% and the mean age (SD) of COVID-19 deaths was 69.1 years (13.8) and 73.7% of them were 60 years old or older. In addition, it is found that 63.2% of the SARS-CoV-2 deaths were females and 78.9% of them had a positive history of chronic diseases. Moreover, it was found that the most common chronic diseases among COVID-19 deaths are diabetes mellitus and hypertension (73.3% and 53.3%, respectively). Collectively, it is concluded that COVID-19 elderly female patients aging 60 years or older with a positive history of chronic disease are more likely at high risk for death from SARS-CoV-2 infection among the participated COVID cases.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Background: Formaldehyde is found in different kinds of medicine and industrial products, cigarette smoke, and even numerous vegetables, fruits and seafood that have been illegally preserved with formalin. The water soluble vitamin C is a strong antioxidant that scavenges free radicals and other reactive nitrogen and oxygen species. Even in small amounts, vitamin C can defend nucleic acids, lipids and proteins against oxidative damage. Objectives: the aim of this study is to elucidate the possible changes that take place in the liver of adult male albino rats after intraperitoneal injection of formaldehyde and the possibility of oral vitamin C’s hepatoprotectivity against it. Design: forty-five adult male albino rats were utilized in this work. These animals were allocated randomly into three main groups. Group I (control groups) included 3 subgroups each contained 9 rats : –ve control received no treatment , +ve control which were injected intraperitoneally by 1 ml of distilled water for 10 days and vit.C +ve control group which received a daily dose of ascorbic acid (100mg/kg bw) dissolved in distilled water by gavage for 10 days. Group ΙΙ: contained 9 rats, which were injected intraperitoneally with a daily dose of formaldehyde (10mg/kg BW) for 10 days. Group IΙΙ: contained 9 rats that were injected intraperitoneally with a daily dose of formaldehyde (10mg/kg BW) concomitantly with daily dose of ascorbic acid (100mg/kg BW) by gavage for 10 days. By the end of the experiment, blood samples were collected for biochemical study of ALT (Alanine aminotransferase), AST (Aspartate aminotransferase) and albumin and all animals were anaesthetized by ether inhalation. Liver specimens were dissected out and weighed then subjected to histopathological, immunohistochemistry, and morphometrical examination. Results: Administration of formaldehyde at a dose of 10 mg/kg caused increase in serum activities of ALT and AST ,but regarding albumin ,it remained unaffected .It caused increase in the liver weights and induced several histopathological changes in the liver of adult male albino rats as congested dilated central veins, portal veins and blood sinusoids with increase in the thickness of the wall of the portal vein. Meanwhile, some hepatic lobules showed multiple necrotic foci around central and portal veins. On the other hand, vit.C partially improved the state of oxidative stress as evidenced by iNOS (inducible nitric oxide synthase) immunohistochemistry. It also reduced the degree of hepatic fibrosis as evidenced by Mallory trichrome histochemical staining. Conclusion: Exposure to formaldehyde led to pronounced hepatic damage which is partially limited by vit.C coadministration. Recommendations: Many special precautions should be taken to limit the occupational and environmental exposure and the level of food and water contamination with formaldehyde and use vit.C as a supplement to limit the toxic effects on the liver.
The drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are actions or events that occur when two or more drugs administered together, may cause a clinical significance or not. There are certain factors that may affect the severity of DDIs such as age, gender, number of drugs prescribed, and physician specialists. This study aims to answer: Is there DDI in Libyan community pharmacies? In addition, to explore the factors that might be affecting DDI. Drug Interactions Checkers are used. 200 prescriptions were collected randomly from two different areas ( high and low income),100 from each one and were used to investigate the DDIs by using two different sources (Drugs.com and BNF platforms), bearing in mind, age, gender, prescribers’ specialty, and drug number (prescription size). A personal interview questionnaire with pharmacists for investigate a source of DDI knowledge was considered. The correlation test was used to analysis the findings. The randomly selected sample has 316 drug combinations. The study has revealed a minimum of three drugs (46.0%). In general, Drugs.com was the richer source of DDI than BNF (66.5% and 34.5%, respectively). It is found that 66.5% (67.0% of this is moderate DDI) of these combinations have DDI by Drugs.com. A significant correlation between DDI and gender (male > female, p = 0.035) was found. In a state of residential areas, the results are similar in both selected pharmacies. Most moderate DDIs (21.0% and 15.0%) are prescribed by orthopedics and psychiatrists, respectively. The observational interview questionnaire indicated that 100% of the participating pharmacists had no source of knowledge regarding DDI, 100% of 200 prescriptions had no chick it regarding DDI and 100% of found DDI is released to use by community pharmacies to patients. More than half of the prescribed drug combinations have DDIs (classified as moderate DDIs), and all of them are released for use by pharmacists.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Acenocoumarol is the only oral antivitamin K anticoagulant prescribed and marketed in Algeria for the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic diseases. Nevertheless, the difficulty of handling this drug linked to a narrow therapeutic index and to great inter- and intra- individual variabilities of the response to the treatment poses a major public health issue because of its iatrogenic risk. To improve the management of patients on acenocoumarol and optimize its dosage adjustment and reduce iatrogenic secondary to vitamin K antagonists, our main objective work is to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of health care professionals regarding this anticoagulant agent. We conducted a multicenter descriptive cross-sectional study from April to May 2021. We interrogated 152 health professionals of all ages, all sexes and all grades from different health departments in Oran City (Algeria) prescribing anticoagulants, through a validated questionnaire made up of 26 questions. Statistical analysis was achieved by SPSS version 20 software. Thus, 59.9% were women with a sex ratio of 0.67, 92.8% knew that acenocoumarol belongs to the antivitamin K class, 45.0% chose INR and PT as follow-up parameters, 36.0% chose INR alone and 78.9% were unaware of acenocoumarol dose adjustment algorithms as well as 82.0% were unaware of the existence of pharmacogenetics testing. 54.0% use the recommendations of the HAS for dosage adjustment of patients on acenocoumarol. 07.9% suggested using pharmacogenetic tests to improve the dosage adjustment of acenocoumarol, 06.6% suggested patient follow-up and 05.9% suggested therapeutic patient education as well as 74.3%, wanted to do training on. Therefore, this study highlighted gaps in the medical practice of physicians in terms of dosage adjustment, pharmacogenetics and its impact on dosage optimization. However, the evaluation of their knowledge was considered unsatisfactory. To overcome this lack of knowledge, it seems necessary to make physicians aware of the contribution of pharmacogenetics of acenocoumarol in Algeria.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
The current study was conducted to explore the antiemetic activity of ten aromatic medicinal plants viz., Carissa carandus L. (fruits), Chichorium intybus L (flowers), Cinnamum tamala L (leaves), Curcuma caesia Roxb (rhizomes), Lallemantia royleana Benth (leaves), Matricaria chamomila L (flowers), Piper longum L (fruits), Piper methysticum G. Forst (fruits), Piper nigrum Linn. (fruits) and Syzygium aromaticum (Linn.) Merr. & Perry (flowering buds) was studied using a chick emetic model. The ethanol extracts of these plants were administered at 150 mg/kg body weight orally. Domperidone was given at 100 mg/kg as a reference drug. All the extracts decrease in retches induced by copper sulphate pentahydrate given orally at 50 mg/kg body weight and showed comparable antiemetic activity with domperidone. Compound targeted antiemetic activity is further suggested. Aromatic plants have tendency to relief from nausea. Alpinea offinarum,Zingiber officinale, Mentha piperita, Menthaspicata and Lavandula angustifola,are aromatic plants reported to possess antiemetic activity. So, presentinvestigation was done to evaluate more aromatic plantsregarding their antiemetic activity. Results of the antiemeticactivity of the ethanol extracts of Carissa carandus,Chichorium intybus, Cinnamum tamala, Curcuma caesia,Lallemantia royleana, Matricaria chamomila, Piper longum, Piper methysticum, Piper nigrum and Syzygium aromaticum are shown in the Table. All the extracts showed antiemeticactivity comparable with domperidone. The % inhibition was recorded as Carissa carandus (68.29), Chichorium intybus (73.86), Curcuma caesia (89.97), Cinnamum tamala (70.64), Lallemantia royleana (83.61), Matricaria chamomila (59.92), Piper longum (81.65), Piper methysticum (80.03), Piper nigrum (89.48) and Syzygium aromaticum (87.81). The highest % inhibition was shown by Curcuma caesia (89.97) and the lowest by Matricaria chamomila (59.92), whereas domperidone showed 80.18 % inhibition of emesis.
A zoonotic disease is an infectious disease caused by pathogens such as bacteria, virus, rickettsia, fungi, parasite or prion that has been transmitted from an animal, especially a vertebrate to human beings. Usually, the first infected human transmits the infectious agent to other humans very rapidly; it is one of the important concerns of zoonoses. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently list the Emerging infectious diseases (EID) of epidemic issues in their research and development blueprint as COVID-19 (Corona viruses), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Ebola and Marburg viruses (Filovirus), Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever (Nairo virus), Lassa Fever (Lassa virus), Nipah (Henipa virus ), Rift Valley fever (Phlebo virus) and Zika (Flavi virus). Due to the deadly pandemics facing by the globe, it is essential to understand the way of transmission of emerging viruses, its mode of infection and important measures to eliminate or control them from the world is essential. However, mankind overcomes so many deadly viruses with the help of scientific knowledge, through vaccination, new therapies, drugs etc. Nowadays, viral zoonoses like rabies (Lyssa virus) are 100% preventable through vaccination and medication even though, humans face lots of new threats especially emerging zoonosis diseases like Covid19. This review summarized the major zoonotic viruses affecting human beings, their source, pathogenicity and its important ways to overcome the transmission of microbes from animal to humankind.
In the context of emerging sustainability challenges, demarketing has continued to draw the attention of academicians and practitioners globally over the past few years. It is interesting to note that demarketing is as old as marketing itself, yet its application and scope have grown from the past two decades only. Kotler and Levy, (1971) has defined demarketing as “that aspect of marketing which deals with discouraging customers in general or a certain class of customers in particular on a temporary or permanent basis”. This systematic literature review attempts to enrich the discussion on demarketing research through a systematic and comprehensive review of 64 articles published between 2000 and 2022. Using TCCM framework, we present relevant theories, research contexts, study characteristics, and methodologies used in demarketing research. Our review (1) Presents a systematic and comprehensive overview of the research in demarketing over the last two decades (2) Examines studies in demarketing within the framework of ‘triple bottom line’ approach for sustainability (3) Suggests a suitable definition of demarketing considering its exorbitant application within the sustainability context (4) Identify gaps and sets agenda for future research. Our systematic literature review found that research in demarketing has been growing considerably over the past two decades, twice as much in the last decade compared to the previous decade with spill-over to new sectors. The literature review, through the lens of ‘triple bottom line’ approach, is able to establish that demarketing can be employed to effectively address the sustainability challenges encountered by policymakers and practitioners.
Plants, the beauty of nature, have been the basis For treating human ailments. The current accepted modern medicine has gradually developed over the years and is undoubtedly the gift of God in the sense of traditional knowledge about different medicinal plants. However, what is needed are rapid screening techniques, structure base design and combinatorial chemistry for drug development under innovations, which will share the profit of products derived from indigenous plants. There is less known information about Ficus exasperata Vahl., and Cleome ciliata Schmach and Thonn. However, the author of this book presents comprehensive information about traditional uses and the biological and phytochemical investigation of Ficus exasperata Vahl. and Cleome ciliata Schmach and Thonn.
India is not known as a country to be in for a bisexual person. Homosexual acts even within wedlock are a punishable offence in India. Legal battles over provisions in the Indian Penal Code which criminalizes any sexual act “against the order of nature” are rife. Even though Kerala has been hailed as a paradox inside India (mainly due to its human development parameters), the social, cultural and legal environment in the state is hostile to individuals who question hetero-normativity. Non-judgemental and unbiased scientific therapy or counselling are seldom available to sexual minorities. This paper is an attempt to map the experiences of a female who is openly bisexual, and is living in Kerala. An ethnographic interview was conducted where the experiences of the participant are explored, from the relationship dynamics as seen by her, to sexual experiences and difficulties in relationships. A reference is also made to the personal and social support systems that are in place for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community in Kerala and their role in initiating discourses regarding the topic. A few pointers for future studies in the topic, especially within the context of Kerala are also put forward.
Urolithiasis has been a common problem for centuries and has a high recurrence. This review covers the forty-nine (49) antiurolithiatic plants of the family Lamiaceae used in 11 countries. Hopefully, this review will be helpful for the general public and attract the scientific world for antiurolithiatic drug discovery.
AIM: The present cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted to assess the knowledge, and perception related to pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting among the B.pharm Final year students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To assess the demographic details of the pharmacy students, their knowledge and perception toward pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting; a validated pretested questionnaire was used which comprises 11 knowledge-based closed-ended questions and 14 perceptions based agree/disagree questions. RESULT: The questionnaire was distributed to the 150 respondents of B. Pharm final year students who were willing to participate in the study. A response rate of 75% was recorded. The number of female respondents 53.3% was comparatively higher than the male respondents 46.6%. Most of the respondents were between 20 -22 years of age and only 4.7% were of 25 years of age. The average positive response for the knowledge-related statements was found to be 86.5% and the average positive response for the perception-related statements was found to be 70.67%. CONCLUSION: The findings showed adequate knowledge among pharmacy students and positive perception towards pharmacovigilance and ADRs reporting. This survey strongly suggests that there is a great need for increasing knowledge in clinical pharmacy courses and practical exposure to cases in the hospitals through internship programs which are meant to provide a unique opportunity for the pharmacy students that they must learn and practice the skills required for quality ADR reporting
OBJECTIVE Study was designed to assess sexual experience, thoughts, and problems of women who have been treated with pelvic radiotherapy for cervical cancer. METHODS Seventeen sexually active patients who received minimum 3-month course of pelvic radiotherapy between March 20, 2014 and June 20, 2014 gave consent to participate in the study. Sexual life before cancer diagnosis and effects of treatment on sexual life were assessed with semi-configured score scale created by research group. RESULTS Main diagnostic finding was post-coital and post-menopausal bleeding, and vaginal stricture, vaginal dryness, and decreased sexual desire in partner or patient were primary sexual problems reported. CONCLUSION Health professionals should be aware of these effects and should encourage patients to express their problems and provide effective, individual counsel to each patient.
Administering medication to children at home presents substantial challenges for caregivers. Errors in dosage, timing, or administration method could be harmful. A key contributor to such errors is inadequate knowledge of pediatric medication. The objective of this study was to explore how parents in Libya administer oral medications to their children and the self-care therapies they use for them. A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online self-designed questionnaire consisting of yes/no and multiple-response questions. The sample size was 523 parents with valid questionnaires. Inclusion criteria were being a parent of children aged six months to 10 years and consent to participate. The data were analyzed by the Chi-square test was employed to examine associations between demographic characteristics and parental behaviors and techniques of medication administration. One-third of parents used inappropriate tools to administer liquid medications to their children. When children resisted medication, 49.3% of parents insisted on administering it, 10.7% mixed it with milk or other drink, 5.2% mixed it with food, and 9.2% dissolved solid forms in water or another drink. Additionally, 9.4% of parents admitted to giving doses higher than prescribed, trying to achieve rapid recovery. Furthermore, 82.0% of the parents engaged in self-medication of children, mostly with antipyretics (86.4%) but also with antibiotics (2.5%). We concluded that knowledge of the correct practices for administering oral medication to children was inadequate. It is suggested to develop educational programs for parents on correct practices.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
cASUARINA EQUSITIFOLA IS A FAST GROWING EVERGREEN TREE GROWN BY FARMERS UNDER AGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS IN tAMILNADU state of Southern India
2-Pyrazolines are well known, and important nitrogen-containing five-membered heterocyclic compounds which belong to the family of azoles and have been found to possess considerable activities, like anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, immunosuppressant and antiamoebic activity. In the present work, ten novel pyrazolines were prepared from chalcones, characterized and evaluated for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli using Ciprofloxacin as standard and using DMSO as a solvent. Their activity was evaluated by measuring the zone of inhibition in mm. All the compounds exhibited antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Among ten derivatives of compounds synthesized, the derivative with 2-chloro and 4-chloro substituted phenyl rings attached to pyrazolines exhibited the highest activity against both types of organisms. The derivatives with an unsubstituted phenyl group attached to pyrazolines exhibited comparatively less activity. Thus it can be concluded that pyrazolines containing substituted phenyl groups are effective broad spectrum antibacterial agents, and they can be developed as effective antibacterial agents.
In this paper, we propose a deep learning approach for visual recognition of bird species in noisy environments. Bird species recognition has been a challenging task due to the high variation in bird appearances and the presence of noise and clutter in natural environments. Our approach utilizes a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to learn discriminative features from bird images and classify them into different species. We also incorporate data augmentation techniques to increase the diversity of the training data and improve the robustness of the model. To address the issue of noisy environments, we introduce a novel noise-robust loss function that penalizes the model for incorrect predictions caused by noise. We evaluate our approach on a dataset of bird images collected from diverse environments and compare it with state-of-the-art methods. Our results demonstrate that our approach achieves superior performance in both clean and noisy environments, highlighting the effectiveness of our noise-robust loss function. Our approach has the potential to be applied in real world scenarios for bird species recognition and conservation.
Postpartum depression is a major maternal health problem after childbirth. It can start at any time within the first year after delivery and continue for several years. It is characterized by an inability to experience pleasure, anxiety symptoms, panic attacks, spontaneous crying and depressed mood. Some women with postpartum depression even have thoughts of harming their child and self-harm. The aim of this study is to find out the status of postpartum depression and the associated factors among postnatal mothers at first-, fourth- and sixth-month. This study is a prospective descriptive study, carried out in three major health facilities in Misurata. This study consists of three-part questionnaire. Part 1 covers demographic characteristics of the participants, while part 2 explores the associated risk factors according to the variables used. Part 3 constitutes for the psychological evaluation of the participants. Hundred mothers (age are between 15 and 43 years) were enrolled in this study. The findings revealed that prevalence of depression is 60% and 22% are suffering from borderline depression. Development of depression was strongly correlated with the sleeping disturbances, state of the neonate after birth, excess consumption of stimulants, less weight acceptance by mothers during pregnancy and infant illness. There was a weak relation between depression and delivery state, maternal admission to hospital during current pregnancy, and infant gender dissatisfaction. No correlation was found with development of depression regarding miscarriage, maternal medical problems after delivery, previous child sex, maternal age, education, parity or neonate weight. Thus, this study shows that a chance of having miscarriage and unhealthy neonate increases with advanced maternal age. It also shows that caesarean section is associated with bad neonatal outcomes, more weight gain and having gestational diabetes or preeclampsia during pregnancy. Maternal sleeping problems are more pronounced in the first month, attributing for the baby care, compared with fourth and sixth months. The study indicates that depression is a common state of psychiatric disorders among Libyan women and should have an appropriate attention by physicians and gynecologists.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Worldwide, the focus on online learning during the era of the COVID-19 pandemic faced many challenges. The present study aimed to evaluate the preferences, perceptions, and attitudes of university students toward various strategies of learning. A pre-piloted cross-sectional survey was posted on the internet in Arabic and English language. Questions covered the demographical characteristics of the participants and their preferences and perceptions of various learning strategies. We received 270 questionnaires from various countries. The majority (n=199, 73.7%) of respondents were from the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, with n=125 (46.3%) participants from the College of Pharmacy. The majority (n=198, 73.0%) of respondents were females, Arabs (n=262, 97.0%), living with their families (n=208, 77.0%), and with only the father working (n=174, 64.0%). Preference was, for online learning (n=145, 53.7%) as compared to in-class learning (n=119, 44.1%). More students (n=110, 40.7%) claimed improvement in their grades with online learning but 62 of students (23.0%) stated that their grades were worsened. Student’s performance in online exams was similar to that in paper exams. The majority (n=168, 62.2%) of students claimed that their overall expectations of online learning were not the same as those for in-class learning. 50.0%-60.0% of respondents believed that in-class learning allows them to learn more effectively, and achieve the best work preparation, best exam performance, and best education value, and they were more likely to recommend it. Despite the disadvantages of online learning, it remains the future strategy for higher education. Appropriate planning of courses, and helping students by reducing digital inequity, if any, would certainly prove satisfactory for the millennial generation of students
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Background: Pandemics are known to cause poor mental well-being and an increased risk of mental disorders. The foremost concern emerging from different aspects of COVID-19 is its impact on mental health. There were many surveys conducted on the general population related to the effect of COVID-19 and few studies on its psychological impact but there is sparse literature on how the containment measures affected the psychiatric patients. Objective of the study was to investigate whether the COVID-19 related lockdown affected the subjective mood and behavior of psychiatric patients and their caregivers. The secondary purpose is to assess the difficulties encountered in procuring medicines and the effect of non-availability of homoeopathic medicines if any. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on mentally ill patients and their care-givers in the Outpatient Department of Psychiatry in National Homoeopathy Research Institute in Mental Health (NHRIMH), Kottayam. Respondents were evaluated with a specially framed questionnaire containing 22 questions to assess the effect of lockdown on psychiatric patients and their caregivers, who attended the OPD after the COVID-19 related lockdown. The data generated through the study are analysed and presented in this article. Results: Out of the total 548 participants (M-65.9%, F-34.1%) who responded to the survey, 290 (53%) cases expressed that they were distressed to be under lockdown. 26.5% of the clients reported worsening of mental health conditions during lockdown compared to pre-lockdown. 54.2% of the patients found difficulty in procuring homoeopathic medicines during Lockdown. Conclusions: Authorities should consider the ways of limiting the effects of confinement on mentally ill patients and their caregivers by developing strategies to mitigate the adverse consequence of the pandemic.
The dominant sequence transduction models are based on complex recurrent or convolutional neural networks that include an encoder and a decoder. The best-performing models also connect the encoder and decoder through an attention mechanism. We propose a new simple network architecture, the Transformer, based solely on attention mechanisms, dispensing with recurrence and convolutions entirely. Experiments on two machine translation tasks show these models to be superior in quality while being more parallelizable and requiring significantly less time to train. Our model achieves 28.4 BLEU on the WMT 2014 Englishto-German translation task, improving over the existing best results, including ensembles, by over 2 BLEU. On the WMT 2014 English-to-French translation task, our model establishes a new single-model state-of-the-art BLEU score of 41.0 after training for 3.5 days on eight GPUs, a small fraction of the training costs of the best models from the literature.