Maternal resveratrol supplementation ameliorates bisphenol A-induced atherosclerotic lesions formation in adult offspring ApoE-/- mice.

Current evidence suggests that intrauterine bisphenol A (BPA) exposure increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in later stages of life. The beneficial effect of resveratrol (Rsv) on developmental programming of atherosclerosis lesions formation in offspring is seldom reported. Hence, we sought to study the effect of maternal Rsv in ameliorating perinatal BPA exposure-induced atherosclerosis lesions formation in adult offspring using the apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE-/-) mice model. The pregnant ApoE-/- mice were allocated into three groups: control, BPA, BPA + resveratrol (BPA + Rsv). The BPA group mice received BPA in their drinking water (1 µg/ml). BPA + Rsv group mice received BPA in their drinking water (1 µg/ml) and were treated orally with Rsv (20 mg kg-1 day-1). All the treatments were continued throughout the gestation and lactation period. Quantitative analysis of Sudan IV-stained aorta revealed a significantly increased area of atherosclerotic lesions in both female (p < 0.01) and male adult offspring mice (p < 0.01) in the BPA group. Supplementation with Rsv significantly reduced the BPA-induced atherosclerotic lesion development in the female offspring mice (p < 0.05). Transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of a significantly high incidence of autophagic endothelial, smooth muscle, and macrophage cells in the aorta of BPA-exposed mice. Rsv treatment reduced the incidence of autophagic cells in BPA-exposed mice. In conclusion, maternal Rsv supplementation significantly prevents the BPA-induced atherosclerotic lesions formation in a sex-dependent manner potentially by acting as an autophagy modulator. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-021-03078-y.

Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing among Elderly Patients at a Primary Care Clinic in Oman.

Drug prescribing to the elderly increases the risk of potential adverse drug reactions as well as potentially inappropriate medications. The goal of this study was to describe drug prescribing patterns in elderly patients and to measure the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications using updated Beers' criteria and the STOPP criteria. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study for all patients aged ≥65 years who attended regularly a primary care clinic at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Oman. Data of 377 patients were analyzed using the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23.0 (SPSS™, Chicago, IL, USA). Using Beers criteria, the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications was 12.7% as 48 patients had at least one potentially inappropriate medication. Beers criteria revealed a statistical association between the occurrence of potentially inappropriate medications with polypharmacy (p < 0.001), with female gender (p = 0.002) and with asthma as a comorbidity (p = 0.020). STOPP criteria showed that the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications was 17.2% as 65 patients had at least one potentially inappropriate medication. STOPP criteria revealed a statistical association between the occurrence of potentially inappropriate medications and osteoarthritis as a comorbidity (p = 0.032). The study revealed moderate prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications prescribing in elderly patients which was mainly associated with polypharmacy and female gender. Safe prescribing practices in the elderly requires increasing the awareness of healthcare providers and efficiently reporting drug-related problems.

Antibiotic prescribing trends in an omani paediatric population.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate antibiotic prescribing patterns for paediatric patients at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH), a tertiary care hospital in Muscat, Oman. METHODS: This retrospective cross-sectional study included all 1,186 prescriptions issued for 499 patients at the paediatric outpatient clinic and paediatric inpatient ward at SQUH between March and May 2012. RESULTS: Of the 499 patients, 138 (27.6%) were prescribed a total of 28 different antibiotics. A total of 185 (15.6%) antibiotic prescriptions were issued among the total drug prescriptions. Preschool children aged 0-6 years were prescribed antibiotics most frequently (n = 110). Co-amoxiclav was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in both inpatients and outpatients (27.0% and 33.9%, respectively), followed by cefuroxime in inpatients (13.5%) and azithromycin in outpatients (18.6%). Co-amoxiclav was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic in both 0-6 (31.3%) and 7-11 (23.3%) year-olds, while cefuroxime was most commonly prescribed in children ≥12 years old (25.0%). CONCLUSION: Antibiotic prescription patterns in this population were similar to those in North America, Europe and Asia. To confirm the findings of this study, further research on antibiotic prescription trends across the wider paediatric population of Oman should be initiated.