ABSTRACT
The existence of confusing drug names is one of the most common causes of medication errors. There are many types of medication errors: wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong route of administration, wrong patient etc. Misreading medication names that look similar is a common mistake. These look-alike medication names may also sound alike and can lead to errors associated with verbal prescriptions. Similar sounding drugs may produce confusion and may lead to unintended interchange of drugs causing harm to patients or even patient death. The main aim of the study was to evaluate medication errors related to look alikesound alike drug names and to find out the strategies to prevent these medication errors.
ABSTRACT
Magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) is the agent most commonly used for treatment of eclampsia and prevention of eclampsia in patients with severe pre-eclampsia. Another commonly practiced offlabel use of this drug is in preventing preterm labor in pregnant women where the duration of the treatment might be more than one week. It is usually given either by intramuscular or intravenous route. After administration, about 40% of plasma magnesium is bound with protein. The unbound magnesium ion diffuses into the extravascular extracellular space and then diffuses into bone. It also crosses the placenta and fetal membranes and then diffuses into the fetus and amniotic fluid. Magnesium is almost exclusively excreted in the urine; 90% of the dose is excreted during the first 24 hours after an intravenous infusion of MgSO4. The clinical effect and toxicity of MgSO4 can be linked to its concentration in plasma. A concentration of 1.8–3.0 mmol/L has been suggested for treatment of eclampsia. The actual magnesium dose and concentration needed for prophylaxis have never been estimated. Maternal toxicity is rare when MgSO4 is carefully administered and monitored. Deep tendon reflexes, respiratory rate, urine output and serum concentrations are the most common variables for monitoring the toxic effect. Currently the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising health care professionals against using MgSO4 injection for more than 5–7 days to stop preterm labor in pregnant women (off-label use). Administration of MgSO4 injection to pregnant women for more than 5–7 days may lead to low calcium levels and bone problems in the fetus, including osteopenia and fractures. The harmful effect in the fetus with the shortest duration is not established. In light of this new safety information, the drug label for MgSO4 injection, USP 50% has also been changed, including changing the pregnancy category to D from A and denoting the effect as “New teratogenic effects”. Similarly, the manufacturers of other MgSO4 injection products have made similar changes to their drug labels. In this review, the currently available knowledge of the pharmacokinetics of MgSO4 and its clinical usage for women with pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, its off-label use and safety concern regarding the warning announced by the FDA will be outlined.
ABSTRACT
Every profession has its particular social responsibilities. Thus, professionalism is the foundation of medicine’s indenture with humanity. The schooling and refinement of professionalism has long been part of medical education. Recently professionalism is recognized as a fundamental qualification in both developed and developing countries. The objective of this study was to scrutinize and compare the professionalism of medical students of Malaysia and Bangladesh. This was Cross-sectional study conducted on 1208 Year-I to Year-V MBBS students of session 2011-2012 and 2012-2013, from Malaysia and Bangladesh. Data was collected using a validated instrument. Only 42% respondents were male and the rest 58% were female. Total mean professionalism scores for male was 177.57 and female was 175.82. Again total score of professionalism of Malaysia and Bangladesh were 175.50 and 177.14 respectively. Significant differences observed between gender (p=0.026) and country (p=0.044) in total scores of elements of professionalism. The present study found there has almost equal level of understanding on principal humanistic concerns of professionalism. Between gender and country there are significant differences. Professionalism should be incorporate in undergraduate and postgraduate medical course curriculum. Henceforth, communities will have rational prescriber for the common marginalized people.
ABSTRACT
Background: Kidney damage can occur due to exposure to nephrotoxic drugs, chemicals, Toxins and infections agents, ultimately leading to real failure, management of which is a Great challenge, So efforts have been focused on traditional and herbal medicines for the Treatment of real failure, Ashwagandha (withania somnifera) may have free radical Scavenging activity and can be used for the precention and treatment of kidney damage. Objective: To observe the histological ecidence of nephroprotective effect of Ashwagandha root against induced nephrotoxicity in rats . Materials and Methods: this study was done in the department of Physiology, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka A total number of 31 male Wistar albino rats were acclimatized for 14 days, then, these were divided into two groups, control group consisted of 18rats (Group A) and Ashwagandha pretreated and gentamicin-treated group consisted of 13 rats (Group B). Control group was again subdivided into baseline control and gentamicin-control groups (A1 and A2)-each And all the animals received basal diet for 22 consecutive days. In addition to this, animals of Group A2 teceived gentamicin subcutaneously (100 mg /kg body weight/day) from 15Th to 22 day and animals of Group B received Ashwagandha root extract (500mg / kg body weight/day )From 15TH to 22ND day All the animals were sacrificed on 23RD day. Then kidney samples were collected and histology was by using standard laboratory procedure. Results: Histological examination of kidney revealed abnormal histological findings in 100% of gentamicin-treated rats. But 92.31% of rats in Asruture and 7.69% showed mild histological changes. Conclusion: Ashwagandha root may have some nephroprotective effect against gentamichin induced nephorotoxicity
ABSTRACT
Background: Dyslipidemia is one of the important causes of cardiovascular disease related mortality and morbidity. Recently it has become a significant issue in public health problem of developing countries. The purpose of the study was to find a suitable solution for reducing blood lipid in dyslipidemic patients by conducting a research on the effect of cinnamon in hypercholesterolemic rats. Objective: To study the lipid lowering effect of Cinnamomum cassia on experimentally induced hypercholesterolemic rats. Materials and Methods: This study was done on 30 male Long Evans rats weighing about 200--210 gram. For convenience, the study was divided into two experiments --- Experiment I and Experiment II. In experiment I, 12 animals were divided into two groups. One was Group A (n = 6, control group) fed on laboratory diet and the other was Group B (n = 6) fed on laboratory diet and cinnamon for 35 days. In experiment II, the remaining 18 rats were fed fatty mixture diet containing 1% cholesterol and 0.25% cholic acid. The hypercholesterolemic rats were then divided into 3 groups, Group C, D, and E (n=6 in each group). Group D and Group E were additionally fed on cinnamon powder and tablet atorvastatin for 35 days respectively. Serum TC, TG, LDL-C and HDL-C were measured after 35 days. Results: Fatty mixture diet increased TG, TC and LDL-C significantly. Cinnamon treated fatty mixture diet group showed that Cinnamomum cassia decreased plasma TC, TG and LDL-C. Atorvastatin therapy decreased TC, TG and LDL-C levels significantly compared with the lowering effect of cinnamon. Conclusion: The results of this experimental study indicate that Cinnamomum cassia can act as a hypocholesterolemic agent and thereby can improve cardiovascular functions.
ABSTRACT
Background: The distribution pattern of ABO and Rh-D blood group in our country including the tribal people is not fully established as elaborated and large scale studies have not been carried out on it. Therefore this study was designed to observe the distribution pattern of ABO and Rh-D blood groups among the Garo tribes of Mymensingh and general people of Dhaka city. Objectives: To determine and to compare the distribution pattern of ABO and Rh-D blood groups among the Garo tribal people of Mymensingh and general people of Dhaka city and to compare this distribution between this two groups. Materials and Methods: This observational study was conducted in the Department of Physiology, Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka from July 2008 to June 2009. After proper ethical consideration total 900 Garo people of Mymensingh and 784 general people of Dhaka city were included in this study. The Garo localities and the general people of Dhaka city were selected by systematic random sampling. ABO and Rh-D blood groups were determined by the antigen antibody agglutination test of slide method. Chi square statistical analyses were done to compare the results of ABO blood group systems between the Garo people and general people of Dhaka city. Results: This study revealed that there are significant variations in the distribution of ABO and Rh-D blood groups between the Garo tribal people of Mymensingh and the general people of Dhaka city. In this study it was observed that blood group ‘A’ was apparently predominant in Garo population, while blood group ‘B’ was predominant in general population (p<0.001), blood group ‘AB’ and ‘O’ were almost similar in both groups. Rh typing of the participants reveals that majorities of both groups were Rh positive. Rh negative persons are rare in both populations, but it is extremely rare in the Garo population (0.9%). Conclusion: From the findings of the present study it can be concluded that distribution of ABO and Rh-D blood groups varies between the Garo tribal people and the general people of Dhaka city.