Impact of pharmacists' intervention on identification and management of drug-drug interactions in an intensive care setting

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>The primary and secondary objectives of this study were to identify and assess the risks associated with the occurrence of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) and to determine the value of pharmacists' interventions in the management of clinically significant DDIs, respectively.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A prospective, case-control study was carried out on patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), and involved a review of patients' medication chart daily by the pharmacist and the clinical parameters. All identified DDIs were carefully analysed in order to provide recommendations on the management of clinically significant DDIs.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The majority of DDIs were categorised as Type-C severity level (n = 305, 75.9%). 'Substitution' was recommended in 34 cases of clinically significant DDIs, 'dosage adjustment' in 17 (4.2%) and 'stop or avoid' in 13 (3.2%). The number of drugs prescribed (p = 0.001, rS = 0.539) and length of ICU stay (p = 0.001, rS = 0.364) were significantly associated and positively correlated with the occurrence of DDIs. Patients with DDIs had a longer length of ICU stay than those without DDIs (9.5 days vs. 2.4 days, p = 0.001). No significant difference was found between patients aged below 50 years and those above 50 years (odds ratio 0.488, 95% confidence interval 0.166-1.434) in terms of the risk of DDIs.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A large number of DDIs were identified in this study, but only a small number were clinically significant. Pharmacists' participation in daily ward rounds could play an important role in the detection and management of clinically significant DDIs.</p>

Electrochemical therapy combined with pingyangmycin injection in the management of high-return flow venous malformation / 中华口腔医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical effect of electrochemical therapy (ECT) combined with pingyangmycin (PYM) injection for the treatment of high-return flow venous malformation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 68 cases of the high-return flow venous malformation were retrospectively analyzed, in which 32 cases received simplely ECT,and 36 cases received ECT combined with PYM injection. The patients were followed up from 6 to 30 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The effectiveness of ECT was 78% (25/32), and of ECT combined with PYM injection was 97% (35/36). The effectiveness of ECT combined with PYM injection was higher than that of ECT (P < 0.05). No serious adverse effects were encountered.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>ECT combined with PYM injection is an effective method for the treatment of high-return flow venous malformation.</p>

Expression and correlation of mast cell, Clusterin/apoJ and transforming growth factor-beta in the different stages of human dermal hemangioma / 华西口腔医学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression and correlation of mast cell, Clusterin/apoJ and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) in the different stages of human dermal hemangioma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Immunohistochemical stain technique (SABC) and toluidine blue (TB) stain technique were respectively used to detect the expression level of Clusterin/apoJ and TGF-beta and the number of mast cells in the different stages of human dermal hemangioma.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was remarkable statistical difference between the advanced stage of proliferative hemangioma and the other stages of proliferative hemangioma in the number of mast cell(P<0.01). There was also remarkable statistical difference between the early stage of involutional hemangioma and the other stages of involutional hemangioma in the number of mast cell (P<0.01). The expression of Clusterin/apoJ and TGF-beta in the advanced stage of proliferative hemangioma was significantly higher than the other stages in proliferative hemangioma (P<0.01). The expression of Clusterin/apoJ and TGF-beta in the early stage of involutional hemangioma was significantly higher than the other stages in involutional hemangioma (P<0.01). There was a significantly positive correlation between Clusterin/apoJ and TGF-beta in the different stages of human dermal hemangioma (P<0.01). The expression level of Clusterin/apoJ and TGF-beta was positively correlated with the number of mast cell in the different stages of human dermal hemangioma (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Mast cell may play a promotive role of apoptosis during the spontaneous regulate the expression of Clusterin/apoJ and promote the spontaneous involution of human dermal hemangioma.</p>