The impact of Covid-19 on community and hospital pharmacists: a thematic analysis study

Abstract There are a limited number of studies examining the effects of the pandemic on the daily lives of Turkish community pharmacists, and no research investigating the impact on the lives of Turkish hospital pharmacists has been found. This study aimed to examine the effects of the pandemic on the personal and professional lives of Turkish community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists. In this qualitative study design, a comprehensive set of interviews was conducted with a total of 13 community pharmacists and 7 hospital pharmacists, employing a semi-structured interview guide. Through thematic content analysis of the interviews, four main themes, 1) long-term impacts, 2) dealing strategies, 3) professional life impacts, 4) personal life impacts, have emerged for both community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists. In addition to the psychological impacts and supply chain issues commonly mentioned in the literature, the study revealed ongoing effects such as the inability to sell available products and economic difficulties. Also, the increased demand for over-the-counter products during the pandemic highlights the need for the government to develop policies to address this issue.

Lack of association between the MDM2-SNP309 polymorphism and breast cancer risk.

BACKGROUND: A T-to-G polymorphism (SNP309) at the promoter region of MDM2 has been recently reported to extend the Sp1 binding site that positively regulates the MDM2 transcription level and consequently, its expression level. MDM2 is the negative regulator of p53 tumor suppressor protein and elevated levels of MDM2 hamper the stress response driven by the p53 pathway. Whether MDM2-SNP309 was associated with breast cancer as a predisposing factor was investigated. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A case-control study of 223 females diagnosed with breast cancer and 149 female controls sampled from the Turkish population was carried out and the T/G MDM2-SNP309 genotype of participants was determined. RESULTS: There was no significant association of the G/G or G/T genotypes with breast cancer risk (odds ratio (OR) 1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.59-2.22, and OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.67-2.12, respectively). Stratification of the data for onset age or for menopausal status at the time of diagnosis also revealed no association for either group.