ABSTRACT
Brucellosis is one of the most common and important diseases between humans and animals. Herein, we developed a nanovaccine against Brucella melitensis based on oligopolysaccharide (OPS) antigen and PLGA nanoparticles. The conjugation of extracted OPS with poly lactic-co-glycolic acid was performed. The antigenicity evaluation was conducted in 4 groups of 5 female BALB/c mice including OPS-PLGA conjugate, OPS alone, PLGA alone and PBS as a control. The mice were vaccinated intra-peritoneal three times with two-week intervals. To determine the immune response and functional capacity of the antibodies, the enzyme linked immunosorbent, opsonophagocytosis and challenge tests were performed. For checking the immunization ability of the nanovaccine, the challenge test was performed. The results showed a significant increase in the total IgG and IgM antibody titres in the mice vaccinated with OPS-PLGA conjugate in comparison with other groups. The sera of animals immunized with OPS-PLGA conjugate promoted efficient opsonophagocytosis of Brucella bacteria. The results of challenge assay showed that the immunization with OPS-PLGA conjugate gave a high level of protection in comparison with other groups. These findings showed that the new nanovaccine can be considered as a candidate for immunization of animals and humans against the diseases caused by B. melitensis that needs further investigations.
Subject(s)
Antigens, Bacterial/immunology , Bacterial Vaccines/chemistry , Bacterial Vaccines/immunology , Brucella melitensis/immunology , Nanoparticles/chemistry , Polylactic Acid-Polyglycolic Acid Copolymer/chemistry , Polysaccharides/chemistry , Animals , Female , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB CABSTRACT
Considering the importance of accreditation for hospital pharmacies, this study was to determine the challenges of medication management in hospital pharmacies affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. The study was a mix-method research conducted in two qualitative and quantitative phases during the years 2014-2015 in Shiraz, Iran. National Accreditation Standard checklist for hospitals was used for data collection in the first phase, and Delphi method was applied in three rounds to achieve the most challenges of medication management and the related solutions. Results indicated a medium status of accreditation for all three dimensions in the above hospital pharmacies (3.53, 42.15 and 7, respectively). Lack of clinical pharmacists, nonparticipation of the pharmacy director in annual budgeting, lack of access to patient information, discontinuity of pharmaceutical care for patients discharged, defects in pharmacy staff training, lack of legislation in support of pharmacists and lack of adequate access to physicians' prescriptions, shortages in reporting medication errors, and lack of evidence related to microbial contamination are the most challenges extracted from the second phase. It seems that the studied hospital pharmacies encounter numerous problems regarding accreditation, pharmaceutical care as well as appropriate medication management and supply chain. Attempts to solve these problems can play an important role in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of pharmacies in Iran.
