Proof of Learning Outcome by the Advanced Clinical Competency Examination Trial after the Long-term Student's Practice in Pharmaceutical Education.

At Setsunan University, a debrief session (a poster session) is commonly performed by the students who have completed the long-term students' practice. Since the valuable changes in practical competency of the students cannot be evaluated through this session, we specified items that can help evaluate and methods that can help estimate the students' competency as clinical pharmacists. We subsequently carried out a trial called the "Advanced Clinical Competency Examination". We evaluated 103 students who had concluded the students' practice for the second period (Sep 1, 2014, to Nov 16, 2014): 70 students (called "All finish students") who had completed the practice in a hospital and pharmacy, and 33 students (called "Hospital finish students") who had finished the practice at a hospital only. The trial was executed in four stages. In the first stage, students drew pictures of something impressive they had learned during the practice. In the second stage, students were given patient cases and were asked, "What is this patient's problem?" and "How would you solve this problem?". In the third stage, the students discussed their answers in a group. In the fourth stage, each group made a poster presentation in separate rooms. By using a rubric, the teachers evaluated each student individually, the results of which showed that the "All finish students" could identify more problems than the "Hospital finish students".

Effective elimination of contaminants after oral care in elderly institutionalized individuals.

After mechanical cleaning in oral care, eliminating residual oral contaminants has an important role in preventing their aspiration, especially in individuals with weak airway protection. We examined the effectiveness of wiping the oral cavity after oral care on eliminating contaminants in 31 patients who were hospitalized in our neurology inpatient unit. The amount of bacteria on the tongue, palate, and buccal vestibule was counted before and just after oral care, after eliminating contaminants either by rinsing with water and suction or by wiping with mouth wipes, and 1 h after oral care. Oral bacteria amounts were decreased significantly by both elimination procedures after oral care. These findings suggest that wiping with mouth wipes is as effective as mouth rinsing to decrease bacteria following oral care. With a lower risk of contaminant aspiration, wiping may be a suitable alternative to rinsing, especially in dysphagic individuals.

HPLC-method for deliberation of drug mammary transfer-evaluation of over-the-counter drugs (Loxonin(®)-S, Bufferin(®) A) in mother mice.

Loxoprofen (Loxonin(®)), an antipyretic painkiller, was approved as an over-the-counter (OTC) drug (Loxonin(®)-S) in January 2011. With regard to self-medication using OTC drugs, the information that pharmacists provide to consumers is very important. Although loxoprofen is a very versatile drug and can be used during breastfeeding, information regarding its mammary gland transfer is inadequate. In this study, we established a simple method to evaluate mammary transfer of drugs, and compared loxoprofen's mammary gland transfer with that of aspirin. Loxoprofen 12 mg/kg and aspirin 132 mg/kg was orally administered to mother mice (ddY), and blood and milk samples were collected. Twenty microliters of ethanol was added to the blood and milk samples (10 µL), and the mixture was centrifuged for 15 min (12000 g); the supernatant was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. Since aspirin was immediately metabolized, we analyzed salicylic acid concentrations. Maximum concentration of loxoprofen was observed at around 15 min after its oral administration, with the concentrations in the blood and milk being 2.9 and 0.5 µg/mL, respectively. The drug was metabolized promptly thereafter. In contrast, maximum concentration of salicylic acid was observed at 30 min after aspirin administration, with the concentrations in the blood and milk being 187.2 and 64.4 µg/mL, respectively. These concentrations remained constant from 60 to 120 min. Salicylic acid could be detected 240 min after aspirin administration. Thus, mammary gland transfer of loxoprofen is lower than that of aspirin, suggesting that loxoprofen does not accumulate in milk.

Transducible form of p47phox and p67phox compensate for defective NADPH oxidase activity in neutrophils of patients with chronic granulomatous disease.

Protein delivery to primary cells by protein transduction domain (PTD) serves as a novel measure for manipulation of the cells for biological study and for the treatment of various human conditions. Although the method has been employed to modulate cellular function in vitro, only limited reports are available on its application in the replacement of deficient signaling molecules into primary cells. We examined the potential of recombinant proteins to compensate for defective cytosolic components of the NADPH oxidase complex in chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) neutrophils in both p47(phox) and p67(phox) deficiency. The p47(phox) or p67(phox) protein linked to Hph-1 PTD was effectively expressed in soluble form and transduced into human neutrophils efficiently without eliciting unwanted signal transduction or apoptosis. The delivered protein was stable for more than 24h, expressed in the cytoplasm, translocated to the membrane fraction upon activation, and, most importantly able to restored reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Although research on human primary neutrophils using the protein delivery system is still limited, our data show that the protein transduction approach for neutrophils may be applicable to the control of local infections in CGD patients by direct delivery of the protein product.