Adverse Drug Reactions and Medication Errors: A Quantitative Insight in Aden, Yemen

Objectives: The study aimed to detect and assess common prescribing and dispensing Medication Errors (MEs); frequency of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs); the drugs causing frequent ADRs; and the typical types of ADRs. Methods: A cross sectional study was applied at three hospitals in Aden city. ADRs were verified through Micromedex, Martindale and British National Formulary. All patients admitted in different wards with informed consent were included in the study. Critical patients and children under five years of age were excluded. Data for MEs were evaluated to determine the types, frequency and other responsible factors. ADRs reporting form consisted of information relating to a patient with an Adverse Event (AE) suspected to be induced by a medicine, also information about the patient, AE, suspected medicines or other medicine use including self-medication, severity of the AE and name, address and telephone number of the reporter. Results: The MEs are estimated in 265 prescriptions, while a total of 225 ADRs were reported. The most common of prescribing error was inappropriate use of decimal point (n=252, 95.1%). The most common of dispensing error was inaccurate directions for the use of medication (n=253, 95.5%). AEs most commonly happened with oral medications (n=166, 73.7%), highly related to gastrointestinal system (n=72, 32%) and most commonly caused skin rash and allergic reactions (n=32, 14.2%). Antihypertensive (71.0%) and ceftriaxone (8.8%) accounted for the majority of the ADRs. Conclusion: Many of the MEs were preventable with pharmacist’s intervention. Pharmacovigilance activities and policy need to be strengthened to protect public from harmful effects of medicines. Key words: Adverse drug event, Drug-related problem, Pharmacovigilance, Resource poor setting, Pharmacy intervention.

Comparative in vitro Antidiabetic and Antioxidant Activity of Various Extracts of Ficus Species

Ficus religiosa, Ficus benghalensis and Ficus glomerata are plants from Ficus species used traditionally for the treatment of various ailments. This study aimed to investigate in vitro antidiabetic and antioxidant activity of three plants from Ficus species and effect of extracting solvents, total flavonoids and phenolics content on its in vitro activity. Methods: Dried leaf powder was extracted successively by using solvents with increasing order of polarity index (PI). In vitro antioxidant (RP: reducing power assay, DPPH: 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay and HP: Hydrogen peroxide assay) and antidiabetic (αA: α-amylase assay and αG: α-glucosidase assay) activities as well as total flavonoid (TF) and total phenolic (TP) contents of extracts were evaluated. The correlation between in vitro activities and solvent polarity index, total flavonoid and phenolic content were established by using pearson’s correlation coefficient (R). Results: Strong positive correlation was observed with PI of extracting solvents and TP content of Ficus religiosa (PI/ TP, R=0.8159) and Ficus glomerata (PI/ TP, R=0.9172). Comparatively benzene and water extracts of Ficus glomerata were found to have significantly (P<0.05) highest in vitro antidiabetic and antioxidant activity respectively. Strong positive correlation was observed between TF and αG inhibitory (TF/ αG, R=0.793) effects of Ficus benghalensis. In addition, strong positive correlation observed between TP and antioxidant activity (TP/DPPH, R=0.9744; TP/RP, R=0.9514 and TP/HP, R=0.8108) of Ficus glomerata. Conclusions: Finding of our research will help in selection of solvents for extracting antidiabetic and antioxidant rich phytoconstituents from Ficus species.

The Role of Pomelo Peel Extract for Experimentally Induced Wound in Diabetic Rats

Delayed wound healing is a chronic complication in diabetic patients than in healthy individuals. Pomelo belongs to the genus Citrus of the family Rutaceae, an important fruit with great benefits for humans in the world. Previous studies showed that pomelo peels contain an abundant bioactive compound, which may promote wound healing in experimental animals. Aim: The current study was carried to prepare optimized extraction of pomelo peels using different experimental conditions and investigate the possible healing effect of oral treatment with pomelo peel extract (PPE) on induced excision skin wound in diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: This study was done on rats divided into five groups each of 8 rats (two treatment groups given PPE (400 and 600) mg/kg by oral gavage compared to two control groups and standard plant for wound healing). Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of a single dose of Streptozotocin (STZ) 65 mg\kg body weight. After diabetes induction, full thickness excision wound was made in rats, and the study continued for 3 weeks. Results: This study showed significant reduction in blood glucose and both percentage and time to wound closure in the treated groups, also a significant increase in hydroxyproline and total protein content of the healed wound tissue in the treated groups compared with control groups and comparable to standard plant extract treated groups. Conclusion: Experimental data proposed that oral administration of pomelo peel extract rich in vitamins and flavonoids has a good therapeutic potential in the treatment of complicated wounds in diabetes.

Antibacterial and Cytotoxic Activities of Sponges Collected off the Coast of Togean Islands, Indonesia

Context: Marine sponges (Porifera: Demospongia) have astonishing structural diversity and broad biological activities. Aims: To evaluate the antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of five sponges collected off the coast of Togean Islands, Indonesia, identified as Spheciospongia inconstan, Melophlus sarasironum, Oceanapia amboinensis, Biemna sp and Axinella sp. Methods and Material: All dried sponges materials were extracted by maceration method using methanol and then evaporated by the rotary evaporator to obtain viscous extracts. The determination of antibacterial activity was performed by well agar diffusion method against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli while the cytotoxic activity was determined by MTT methods on human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and human colon colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116), followed by determination of the apoptosis mechanism by Annexin V-FTIC assay. Results: M. sarasinorum and Axinella sp showed strong inhibition against S.aureus and E.coli with the diameter of inhibition of 14.21 ± 0.92 mm and 14.36 ± 0.92 mm, and 10.01 ± 2.65 mm and 12.07 ± 1.54 mm, respectively. Moreover, they also exhibited potent cytotoxicity on HCT-116 with IC50 values of 0.002 and 8.518 μg/mL, respectively. Meanwhile, on MCF-7, only M. sarasinorum showed moderate inhibition with an IC50 value of 87.35 μg/mL. Annexin V-FTIC assay clearly showed that the cytotoxic mechanism of M. sarasinorum and Axinella sp on HCT-116 and MCF-7 was via apoptosis induction. Conclusion: The sponges of M. Sarasinorum and Axinella sp are undergoing further analysis to identify the active constituents which could be developed as potential antibacterial and anticancer agents.

Isolation and Characterization of Flavones from Artemisia monosperma

Comparison between High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography and High Performance Liquid Chromatography Methods for Determination of Rubraxanthone in the Stem Bark Extract of Garcinia cowa Roxb

Objectives: To develop simple, rapid, accurate methods for determination of rubraxanthone in the stem bark extract of Garcinia cowa using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Methods: The HPTLC method was performed on aluminum plate precoated with silica gel 60 F254 using Chloroform: Ethyl acetate: Methanol: Formic acid (88:2:2:8) as a developing system. Quantification was achieved using densitometric measurements at 243 nm. The HPLC method involved a 5 μm C18 column and an isocratic solvent using 0.4% formic acid: methanol (12:88) with a flow rate 1 mL minute-1. Quantitation was also achieved with ultraviolet detection at 243 nm based on peak area. All necessary validation tests for both methods were done for their comparison. The results obtained by these two different quantification methods were compared by Tukey’s-test. Results: Both assays provided good linearity, accuracy, precision, specificity and limits of detection and quantitation for determination of rubraxanthone in The Stem Bark extract of G. cowa. Conclusion: Both methods revealed reasonable validation parameters concerning linearity, accuracy, precision, specificity and limits of detection and quantitation. A statistical comparison of the quantitative analysis of rubraxanthone in extract did not show any statistically significant difference between two analysis methods. As both methods were found to be equal, they therefore can be used for the analysis of rubraxanthone in the Stem Bark extract of G. cowa.

The Forces Opposed to Abu Al-Abbas the Slaughter and the Mechanism of Dealing with Them

The Abbasid Call has declared its victory and the end of the Umayyad state and the beginning of the era of a new state, the Abbasid state. Abu Abbas, the first of the Abbasid caliphs, bore the burden of leadership over Ibrahim the imam, as well as the obstacles to its establishment and the various reactions that were issued in word and deed.However, leaders in history differ in their response to attitudes from one leader to another, the presence of the opposition forces in the Abbasid state showed the caliphs mechanism of dealing with the various positions and the extent of their knack and intelligence in dealing with them, and show the hidden aspects of the personality of each of the caliphs.Perhaps Abu Abbas the slaughter was the most prominent caliphs who suffered from the large number of opposition forces where he faced a large number of forces that threatened to remain in power, but his will and political intelligence managed to address them.Many scholars have studied the Umayyads or the ovaries or the revolutions of the Shiites in the Abbasid period, as many have studied the leaders of such as Abu Musallam Al-Kharasani and Abu Salamah, but Abu Abbas the slaughter did not have a large presence in these studies, and this research specialized about the methods and ways that Abu Abbas the slaughter used to deal with those different forces.

Studying the Linear and Nonlinear Optical Properties by Using Z-Scan Technique for CdS Thin Films Prepared by CBD Technique

CdS films prepared by using CBD technique, linear optical properties tests measured by UV-3000 Nano from OPTIMA, nonlinear properties contained the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient by using single light beam source green semiconductor developed laser (SZ- 303 LASER) with material Nd:YVO4+KTP or Aluminum Alloy, and Wavelength Range is (532 nm), Beam Dimension 6 Meter distance Output Laser spot 18 mm ± 2.0 mm.

Programming Skills and the Relation in Fostering Students’ Higher Order Thinking

Programming skills (PS) refer to coding and debugging that are required for those who write a program in any programming language. Coding can be described as the implementation aspect of programming, whereas debugging can broadly be defined as fixing any incorrect code that is found after running the programming test. Higher-order thinking skills (HOTs) refer to the top three levels of Bloom’s taxonomy which are Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. This study aims to determine the relationship between PS and HOTs among secondary students. Many studies indicate that students who attend programming courses for first time have low levels of performance in PS. Coding and debugging skills reflect higher-order thinking levels. Therefore, an objective of this study was to investigate the effect of coding and debugging skills on their HOTs. The benefits of having PS among learners are that they are able to achieve HOTs. Indeed, these relationships may be explained by programmers need to apply all these HOTs throughout the three phases of the programming process. Students who have low levels of PS are able to achieve the analysis level, while students who have moderate levels of PS able to achieve the synthesis level, and finally, students with high levels of PS are able to achieve the evaluation level.

Palestinian Refugee Youth: Reproduction of Collective Memory of the Nakba

The objective of this study was to examine collective memory reproduction of the Nakba (the Catastrophe) among Palestinian refugee youth. The collective memory reproduction of the Nakba was evaluated using an index containing 27 items developed by the researchers, which was administered to three-hundred-and-seventy-four participants in refugee camps in the West Bank. The findings revealed that Palestinian refugee youth preserved a strong collective memory of the Nakba. The statistics revealed that gender, parents' educational level, exposure to violence perpetrated by the Israelis, and grade point average (GPA), were significant predictors of collective memory reproduction of the Nakba. Traumatic experiences are not being erased, as older refugees may die, but the youth will never forget. As these refugees continue to be deprived of the right to return to the territory where their ancestors had lived until they were violently expelled from the area, the collective memory reproduction of the Nakba grows stronger. The implications of the findings for practice are discussed in the study report.