Myrrh a traditional medicine or a multipurpose pharmaceutical excipient

A drug dosage form contains excipients as well as active pharmaceutical ingredients. Formerly, excipients were considered inert components that were used by a formulator to provide the suitable volume, weight and consistency of a dosage form. Today, however, excipients are expected to perform multifunctional roles such as enhancing physical, chemical and microbial stabilities of the dosage form, improving the color or odor of the formulation, and influencing the release and bioavailability of the active ingredient. Among various excipients, natural ones seem to be more beneficial to use, since they are economical, safe, biodegradable, and biocompatible. In this article, myrrh oleo-gum-resin is introduced as a potential natural multipurpose excipient that can perform many useful roles in pharmaceutical dosage forms. Scopus and Google scholar electronic databases were searched to find different properties of myrrh as an excipient. Moreover, ten famous traditional Iranian medicine books were studied to find semisolid formulations named Sabgh, which contained myrrh. One of these formulations was prepared, and its physical and microbiological stabilities were assessed. The role of myrrh as an excipient in this formulation is discussed here. Antibacterial and preservative effects shown in the formulation were related to the essential oil of myrrh. The gum portion was found to be a potential surfactant. In addition, myrrh is a natural muco-adhesive and film forming material. These properties were observed for myrrh in the Sabgh formulation in this study as well. So we can conclude that myrrh could be a potential multipurpose excipient in pharmaceutical industries, which needs further research

Assessment of the rate and etiology of pharmacological errors by nurses of two major teaching hospitals in Shiraz

Medication errors have serious consequences for patients, their families and care givers. Reduction of these faults by care givers such as nurses can increase the safety of patients. The goal of study was to assess the rate and etiology of medication error in pediatric and medical wards. This cross-sectional-analytic study is done on 101 registered nurses who had the duty of drug administration in medical pediatric and adults' wards. Data was collected by a questionnaire including demographic information, self report faults, etiology of medication error and researcher observations. The results showed that nurses' faults in pediatric wards were 51/6% and in adults wards were 47/4%. The most common faults in adults wards were later or sooner drug administration [48/6%], and administration of drugs without prescription and administering wrong drugs were the most common medication errors in pediatric wards [each one 49/2%]. According to researchers' observations, the medication error rate of 57/9% was rated low in adults wards and the rate of 69/4% in pediatric wards was rated moderate. The most frequent medication errors in both adults and pediatric wards were that nurses didn't explain the reason and type of drug they were going to administer to patients. Independent T-test showed a significant change in faults observations in pediatric wards [p=0.000] and in adults wards [p=0.000]. Several studies have shown medication errors all over the world, especially in pediatric wards. However, by designing a suitable report system and use a multi disciplinary approach, we can be reduced the occurrence of medication errors and its negative consequences

Olfactory stimulation by vanillin prevents apnea in premature newborn infants

Apnea is one of the most common problems in premature newborns. The present study aimed to determine the effect of olfactory stimulation by vanillin on prevention of apnea in premature newborns. In this randomized controlled trial, 36 premature newborns with the postnatal age of 2 days and weight under 2500 grams referred to the hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, were selected through simple random sampling and allocated into control and experimental groups. The experimental group received olfactory stimulation by saturated vanillin solution, while the control group received no interventions. The newborns of both groups were continuously monitored for presence/absence of apnea and number of episodes of apnea as well as arterial blood oxygen saturation and heart rate for 5 days. The data were analyzed by independent Student t-test and repeat measure ANCOVA. The presence of apnea revealed to be significantly different between the two groups in the first, second, and fourth day of the study [P<0.05]. The number of episodes of apnea during five days was also significantly different between the study groups [t=8.32, P<0.05]. Using olfactory stimulation by vanillin caused a 3.1-fold decrease in apnea and the effect size was 0.72. Moreover, the two groups were significantly different regarding the arterial blood oxygen and heart rate during the study period [P<0.05]. This study indicated the beneficial effect of saturated vanillin solution on apnea; therefore, it may be used for prevention and treatment of apnea in premature infants. Further studies are needed to improve evidence-based practice in this regard

effects of some permeability enhancers on the percutaneous absorption of lidocaine

local anesthesia of the intact skin is difficult because of the barrier properties of skin to epicutaneous penetration of local anesthetic drugs. Using local anesthetics with combination of penetration enhancers could overcome this problem. The main objective of this study was to assess the effects of some permeability enhancers on the percutaneous permeation of lidocaine. The effect of polysorbate 80, polysorbate 20, dimethylsulfoxide [DMSO], tert-butyl cyclohexanol [TBCH], and a-terpinol in different concentrations and various ratios of lidocaine to enhancers was evaluated. The results showed that polysorbate 80 and polysorbate 20 has no detectable penetration enhancing effects in guinea pig skin mounted to diffusion cells. The same results were obtained to water/oil] ratio and the type of oil phase [liguid paraffin vs. castor oil]. Addition of DMSO to the previous formulations had a comiderable enhancing effect According to the data, the extent of lidocaine permeation was proportional to me concentration of DMSO in fAese formulations. The best results belonged to the addition of terpenes but interestingly there wasn't any linear relationship between the concentrations of alpha terpinol/ or TBCH and the duration of antinociceptive effects of lidocaine. Based on the results of this study the ratio of 1: 4 from a- terpinol or TBCH to lidocaine results in a better antinociceptive effect and a- terpinol was the best one among of these compounds. This effect was proven with in vivo tail-immersion test to assess the antinociceptive effect of formulations which have shown more penetration

Preparation and characterization of poly-[methyl ethyl cyanoacrylate] particles contaning 5-aminosalicylic acid

Poly-[alkylcyanoacrylate] ester particles have been used for the preparation of different formulations ranging from ophthalmic delivery systems to cancer chemotherapy carriers in clinic. The aim of this study was to prepare and characterize poly-[methyl ethyl cyanoacrylate] [PMECA] particles containing 5-aminosalicylic acid [5-ASA]. PMECA particles were prepared using the inverse emulsification polymerization technique. The effects of various formulation parameters such as dispersed phase volume, polymer to drug weight ratio, and surfactant concentration on loading efficiency and size of the prepared particles were investigated. The amount of drug was determined by UV spectrophotometery at 331 nm. Morphological characteristics of particles and particle size analysis were studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy [SEM] and Laser Light Scattering techniques, respectively. The results showed that there was no linear relationship between the dispersed phase volume [DPV] and loading efficiency of 5-ASA in the range of 20-50%. Increasing polymer/drug weight ratio in the range of 1-15, enhanced the loading efficiency from 11.4 to 78.2% in a linear mode [r=0.987]. Increasing the surfactant concentration in the range of 1-3% did not increase the loading efficiency of the prepared particles, and increasing the concentration to 5% even decreased the loading efficiency of particles. Laser light scattering and SEM evaluations showed that in all prepared formulations, particles were in a mixture of micro and nanospheres and micro and nanocapsules and 50 percent of particles had mean sizes in the range of 6.4-10.1 micrometer. Although our results showed significant differences in the mean particle size between some of the prepared formulations, this variation was not practically important. It was concluded that by using proper conditions, it is possible to use PMECA as a polymeric matrix for loading of 5-ASA and the other hydrophilic drugs