DRUG MISUSE AND SELF-MEDICATION AMONG PHARMACY STUDENTS IN JORDAN.

OBJECTIVE: Aim: To estimate risks and prevalence of self-medication and potential abuse risk among pharmacy students in Jordanian Universities. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted with 450 students, selected using multistage sampling methods, from seven different universities. Data was collected by self-administrated questionnaires covering demographic and academic information, health-related information, use of self-medication, and pattern of self-medication among pharmacy students. RESULTS: Results: Out of 394 students who answer the questions, 76.9% reported that they had usually treated themselves in case of simple cases without physician or pharmacist consultation. Most commonly used drugs among the surveyed students were Paracetamol 60%, multivitamins supplement 74.25%, and herbal products 37.2%, combination of NSAIDs and Paracetamol 20.6%, and laxatives 19.4%. Cold and flu 25.5%, headache 22.3%, abdominal pain 7.9%, gastric pain 7.9%, cold and flu, headache, abdominal pain, and gastric pain 14.9% were the main conditions which contribute to self-medication practice. It was also found that Pharmacy students were over-confident with the type of cases they could treat without referral to a specialist physician, despite knowing that some of the symptoms may be due to serious health problems. Misuse of analgesics and laxatives was clear, and there was a weakness in knowledge of the indications for the use of the most common drug. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The prevalence of self-medication among pharmacy students in Jordan is high, and medical teaching institutions need to educate students about the proper use of medicines. Strict legislation and more education on self-medication are necessary for effective use of medicines.

Synthesis of microwave-assisted carboxamides in Triton WR-1339-induced hyperlipidemic rats: possible hypolipidemic heterocyclic compounds.

The hypolipidemic effect of furan carboxamide derivatives was investigated using the Triton WR-1339 rat model. Nineteen compounds were synthesized, including furan-2-carboxamides of benzophenones and acetophenones (a(1-4)), anilines and amine derivatives (a(5-9)), picolinic-2-carboxamide derivatives of benzophenones and acetophenone (a(10-12)) and furan-2-carboxylate esters of benzophenones and acetophenones, substituted phenols and alcohols (b(1-7)). All the necessary steps were taken to synthesize, purify, and characterize these compounds. They were synthesized by reacting acyl chlorides of the heterocycles with their corresponding amines in the presence of pyridine and tert-butyl acetate. While the conventional heating method yielded acceptable yields for some of the reactions under reflux, the microwave synthesis reactor achieved significantly higher yields for others. Rats with hyperlipidemia were induced with Triton WR-1339 and then subjected to in vivo testing via an intraperitoneal injection of 200 mg kg-1 Triton WR-1339. The model was tested using an oral dose of bezafibrate (100 mg kg-1). After 7 hours of treatment with Triton, the new derivatives represented by compounds a(1-2), a(4-5), a7, and a(10-12) showed significant activity against the complete lipid profile, including a decrease in triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol plasma levels. At 20 mg kg-1 dose, these compounds were superior to other lipid-lowering agents in reducing triglyceride levels and slightly increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. These results indicate a mutual mechanism of action of novel compounds with fibrates, where they have a marked effect on triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels; for example, a5 causes a significant reduction (p 0.0001) of triglyceride levels by 86%, and a remarkable increase (p 0.0001) in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol plasma levels by 65% as compared to hyperlipidemic rats.

Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of novel unsubstituted indole-anthraquinone carboxamide derivatives as potent antihyperlipidemic agents.

Five novel derivatives of N-(9,10-dihydro-9,10-dioxoanthracenyl)-1H-indole-2-carboxamide were synthesized and their lipid-lowering effects studied in hyperlipidemic rats. Fusion of the anthraquinone derivatives at high temperature with 5-indole-2-carbonyl chloride, followed by recrystallization from chloroform/methanol gave the desired compounds in excellent yields. Compounds 1 to 5 at a non-toxic dose (1 ml of 57 microM solutions) and bezafibrate as positive control were administered to rats that were hyperlipidemic due to treatment with Triton WR-1339. A decrease in the plasma levels of triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and an increase in the plasma level of high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) were observed with compounds 1, 3, 4, and 5. Compounds 1, 4, and 5 significantly reduced total cholesterol (TC) levels as well. These compounds may provide agents for targeting dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease.

Synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of novel substituted and unsubstituted N-(benzoylphenyl)-1H-indole-2-carboxamides as potent antihypertriglyceridemic agents.

The N-(benzoylphenyl)-1H-indole-2-carboxamide derivatives 1-6 were synthesized, and the lipid-lowering effects of two of these novel compounds were studied using hyperlipidemic rats as an experimental model. Treatment of ethyl-1H-indole-2-carboxylate with aminobenzophenones in the presence of sodium ethoxide and DMF, followed by purification using column chromatography, gave the target compounds in good yields. The tested animals were divided into control, hyperlipidemic, compounds 2-, 3- and bezafibrate-treated groups. At a dose of 15 mg/kg body weight, compounds 2, 3 and bezafibrate significantly reduced the elevated plasma triglyceride levels after 7 and 24 h. Furthermore, the high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels were remarkably increased in all treated groups after 7 and 24 h compared to the hyperlipidemic control group. However, only compounds 2- and 3-treated groups obviously showed a significant reduction in plasma total cholesterol levels after 24 h. It is therefore reasonable to assume that 2 and 3 may have a promising potential in the treatment of hyperlipidemia and coronary heart diseases.