Development and clinical application of an evidence-based pharmaceutical care service algorithm in acute coronary syndrome.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Drug therapies are critical for preventing secondary complications in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The purpose of this study was to develop and apply a pharmaceutical care service (PCS) algorithm for ACS and confirm that it is applicable through a prospective clinical trial. METHODS: The ACS-PCS algorithm was developed according to extant evidence-based treatment and pharmaceutical care guidelines. Quality assurance was conducted through two methods: literature comparison and expert panel evaluation. The literature comparison was used to compare the content of the algorithm with the referenced guidelines. Expert evaluations were conducted by nine experts for 75 questionnaire items. A trial was conducted to confirm its effectiveness. Seventy-nine patients were assigned to either the pharmacist-included multidisciplinary team care (MTC) group or the usual care (UC) group. The endpoints of the trial were the prescription rate of two important drugs, readmission, emergency room (ER) visit and mortality. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The main frame of the algorithm was structured with three tasks: medication reconciliation, medication optimization and transition of care. The contents and context of the algorithm were compliant with class I recommendations and the main service items from the evidence-based guidelines. Opinions from the expert panel were mostly positive. There were significant differences in beta-blocker prescription rates in the overall period (P = .013) and ER visits (four cases, 9.76%, P = .016) in the MTC group compared to the UC group, respectively. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION: We developed a PCS algorithm for ACS based on the contents of evidence-based drug therapy and the core concept of pharmacist services.

Changes in cognitive function and brain glucose metabolism in elderly women with subjective memory impairment: a 24-month prospective pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: Subjective memory impairment (SMI) may precede mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage and would offer an earlier therapeutic opportunity than MCI would. However, it is not clear whether complaints of forgetfulness are truly reflective of objective memory dysfunction or of impairments in other cognitive domains. The aim of this current longitudinal study was to investigate changes in various cognitive functions and in regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (rCMRglc) among elderly women with SMI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical evaluation, comprehensive neuropsychological test, and 18 F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography scans were conducted on 24 women with SMI at the baseline and 24-month follow-up. Changes in the cognitive domain scores and rCMRglc were assessed, and the relationships between them were analyzed. RESULTS: All participants stayed in SMI all the way till the follow-up, not converted to MCI or dementia. A significant reduction in executive function was found (mean difference in z-score: -0.21, P = 0.02) without changes in other cognitive domains. Declines in rCMRglc were detected in the left superior temporal gyrus, right posterior cingulate gyrus, left parahippocampal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, and right angular gyrus. The change in executive function had a positive correlation with the percent change of rCMRglc in the right posterior cingulate gyrus (ß = 0.43, P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that elderly women with SMI symptoms should be carefully monitored for declines in executive function and related brain glucose metabolism over time.

Pharmacist-involved care for patients with heart failure and acute coronary syndrome: a systematic review with qualitative and quantitative meta-analysis.

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE: Many trials have indicated that interventions by pharmacists resulted in beneficial outcomes with positive effects on cardiovascular diseases. The interventions through pharmacist-involved pharmaceutical care in patients with heart failure (HF) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) were reviewed systemically and examined. METHODS: A systematic literature search was conducted to identify relevant articles describing pharmacist interventions in HF and ACS. Most studies were evaluated qualitatively, and the strength of evidence was graded according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) guidelines. Some of the studies were also assessed by a meta-analysis. RESULTS: A total of 26 studies containing data on 9415 patients were identified. For all studies, the strength of the body of evidence was reviewed and graded, and 14 studies among them were meta-analysed. The evidence was not strong enough to determine the effects of pharmaceutical care on major and patient-centred outcomes, except the prescription rates of angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) with a high strength of evidence. In the meta-analysis, all-cause hospitalization [odds ratio (OR), 0·74; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0·58-0·94] was reduced and the prescription rates of angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors (ACEI; OR 1·43; 95% CI, 1·07-1·91) and beta-blockers (OR 1·92; 95% CI, 1·24-2·96) were significantly higher in the pharmaceutical care group compared with the usual care group. WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSIONS: All-cause hospitalization showed improvement in the pharmaceutical care group. However, the strength of evidence for the majority of outcomes with pharmaceutical care, except direct performance measures such as prescription rates, was either insufficient or low. This could be explained by the presence of imprecision and inconsistency derived from the diversity of pharmaceutical care, the heterogeneity of patient populations or clinical settings. Moreover, it may indicate the necessity for homogeneous applicable criteria for assessment. A standardized consensus of the guidelines for pharmaceutical care service should be considered to improve homogeneity.

Parallel PRC2/cPRC1 and vPRC1 pathways silence lineage-specific genes and maintain self-renewal in mouse embryonic stem cells.

The transcriptional repressors Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) and PRC2 are required to maintain cell fate during embryonic development. PRC1 and PRC2 catalyze distinct histone modifications, establishing repressive chromatin at shared targets. How PRC1, which consists of canonical PRC1 (cPRC1) and variant PRC1 (vPRC1) complexes, and PRC2 cooperate to silence genes and support mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) self-renewal is unclear. Using combinatorial genetic perturbations, we show that independent pathways of cPRC1 and vPRC1 are responsible for maintenance of H2A monoubiquitylation and silencing of shared target genes. Individual loss of PRC2-dependent cPRC1 or PRC2-independent vPRC1 disrupts only one pathway and does not impair mESC self-renewal capacity. However, loss of both pathways leads to mESC differentiation and activation of a subset of lineage-specific genes co-occupied by relatively high levels of PRC1/PRC2. Thus, parallel pathways explain the differential requirements for PRC1 and PRC2 and provide robust silencing of lineage-specific genes.

Clinical features and treatment of Malassezia folliculitis with fluconazole in orthotopic heart transplant recipients.

Orthotopic heart transplant recipients need immunosuppressive treatment and are at an increased risk for opportunistic infections such as Malassezia folliculitis. During a 4-month period (July to October 1990), 11 such cases were identified and treated; all were male with mean age of 43+/-9 years and on standard triple immunosuppressive therapy. Skin scrapings in potassium hydroxide (KOH) preparation with microscopy and/or culture identified either Malassezia furfur or Malassezia pachydermatis as the etiologic agent. A treatment with topical preparation (clotrimazole 1% and selenium sulfide lotion) was effective in 6 patients, whereas the rest received systemic fluconazole treatment with satisfactory outcome; all lesions were resolved within 3 weeks. Fluconazole appears to be an effective agent with excellent therapeutic outcome when administered for 3 weeks.

Effect of age, gender, rat strain, and dietary restriction, on norepinephrine release from cardiac synaptosomes.

The purpose of the present study was to determine if dietary restriction affected NE release from cardiac synaptosomes obtained from old male F344 rats. Female F344 rats and male and female B/N rats were also examined to determine if age-related changes in norepinephrine (NE) release capacity in the heart are strain- and/or gender-specific. F344 and Brown-Norway (B/N) rats were examined at 6, 12, and 24 months; B/N rats were also examined at 28-30 months. K(+)-induced NE release significantly declined with age in male F344 and B/N rats; this decline was attenuated in female rats and in dietary restricted rats, especially at 24 months. The present study demonstrates that aging reduces the capacity of cardiac adrenergic nerve terminals to release NE, this age-related change is not strain specific, and that dietary restriction and gender alter the extent of this change with age.

A case of pulmonary cysticercosis.

Cysticercosis, which has a worldwide distribution is found in man, who is usually infected by eating inadequately cooked pork or other contaminated food. Cysticercosis develops most commonly in the muscles and brain. Pulmonary involvement is very rare and also difficult to recognize because pulmonary lesions caused by the presence of cysticerci are difficult to discern from pulmonary infiltrates, because other parasitic infestations or tuberculosis, as well as metastatic lesions, produce similar chest X-ray findings and similar clinical symptoms. We experienced a case of pulmonary cysticercosis confirmed at Gyeongsang National University Hospital by means of an open lung biopsy and treated successfully with praziquantel (50 mg/kg per day for 15 days). This case seems to indicate that pulmonary cysticercosis should be considered as a diagnostic possibility in patients with nodular infiltrates in the lungs, especially in endemic areas, until such infiltrates are otherwise explained.