RESUMEN
Background: Patients with substance use disorders are often encountered in an acute care setting and withdrawal management is important. Available literature reveals inadequate acute management of substance withdrawal due to lack of experience and knowledge of medications. Methods: A quality improvement project was implemented to improve hospital pharmacists' knowledge, application, and practice of inpatient opioid and alcohol withdrawal management through provision of didactic and case-based education and implementation of practice based prospective drug utilization review (PDUR). Pharmacists' knowledge of the management of alcohol and opioid withdrawal was assessed by a 10-item survey pre-and post-intervention. Results: Twenty-one pharmacists completed the education and pre- and post-surveys. Scores for the 21 pharmacists improved significantly, with pre- and post-intervention scores of 7.33 ± 1.98 and 8.86 ± 0.91, respectively (P = .0035). Most pharmacists completed their required PDUR submission, and several pharmacist interventions were made and accepted post-education. Pharmacists indicated that the education increased their confidence and enabled them to learn new information that could be directly applied to their pharmacy practice. Conclusion: Providing education and requiring a PDUR improved pharmacists' knowledge, application, and practice of inpatient opioid and alcohol withdrawal management. Re-education or expanded education may be warranted to further increase pharmacists' competence.
RESUMEN
Cardiomyocyte ploidy has been described but remains obscure in cardiac interstitial cells. Ploidy of c-kit+ cardiac interstitial cells was assessed using confocal, karyotypic, and flow cytometric technique. Notable differences were found between rodent (rat, mouse) c-kit+ cardiac interstitial cells possessing mononuclear tetraploid (4n) content, compared to large mammals (human, swine) with mononuclear diploid (2n) content. In-situ analysis, confirmed with fresh isolates, revealed diploid content in human c-kit+ cardiac interstitial cells and a mixture of diploid and tetraploid content in mouse. Downregulation of the p53 signaling pathway provides evidence why rodent, but not human, c-kit+ cardiac interstitial cells escape replicative senescence. Single cell transcriptional profiling reveals distinctions between diploid versus tetraploid populations in mouse c-kit+ cardiac interstitial cells, alluding to functional divergences. Collectively, these data reveal notable species-specific biological differences in c-kit+ cardiac interstitial cells, which could account for challenges in extrapolation of myocardial from preclinical studies to clinical trials.