Pharmacist awareness and views towards counterfeit medicine in Lebanon.

BACKGROUND: Pharmacists, as healthcare professionals, have patients' well-being and safety as their primary concern. However, the safety and efficacy of treatments may be compromised by the availability of counterfeit medicine (CFM) which could have serious consequences for public health. OBJECTIVES: To assess pharmacist awareness and views towards CFM in Lebanon. METHODS: The study used convenience sampling and selected pharmacists based on their willingness to participate and used a questionnaire as a tool to determine their experiences and views towards CFM. The questionnaires were completed in different regions in Lebanon. KEY FINDINGS: A total of 223 pharmacists participated in the study, and all were able to define CFM, however were inconsistent in their definitions. The majority reported identifying CFM by the medicine's effect (67.7%), followed by cost (66.8%). Almost 43% reported knowing of pharmacists who dispensed CFM. Additionally, participants reported that they believed that pharmacists who dealt with CFM were unprofessional (89.2%) and unethical (86.5%), and that they did it for the 'easy money' (87.9%) and large profit (86.5%). CONCLUSION: The study highlighted the need for additional CFM awareness campaigns with an emphasis on the role that pharmacists have in protecting patients from using CFM. In addition, there is a need for an official CFM definition that distinguishes between the different types of counterfeiting. Furthermore, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health and regulatory authorities should control and secure the supply chain of medicine in the country and enforce the law.

Knowledge and beliefs of young people about medicines in the UK.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate knowledge and beliefs regarding medicines among young people in the South-East of England. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among young people aged 12-17 years in three state secondary schools which participated in the Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences Outreach Program (POP) - scientific workshops in south-east England. KEY FINDINGS: One hundred questionnaires were successfully completed giving a response rate of 75%. The median knowledge score was 62.3% (±19.8). Increase in knowledge of medicines was positively associated with increase in age and with a positive belief about medicines. One of the questions answered that scored less than 50% was concerning the use of antibiotics. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of medicines appeared to be adequate among young people and was higher with a positive belief about medicines. However, there was variability in how well different questions were answered suggesting inclusion in the school curriculum would be beneficial in order to reduce the misinformation that was apparent, particularly regarding the potential non-adherence to antibiotics.

The potential role of the sodium iodide symporter gene polymorphism in the development of differentiated thyroid cancer.

The sodium iodide symporter (NIS) (solute carrier family 5; SLC5A), mediates the active transport of iodine anion (I(-)) into thyroid follicular cells to facilitate thyroid hormone biosynthesis. Considering its fundamental role in thyroid function, our objective in this study is to explore its potential involvement in the pathogenesis of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Following a preliminary sequencing of the gene in a representative sample of the general population, five variants, (1) rs45602038, (2) rs4808708, (3) rs4808709, (4) rs7250346 and (5) rs12327843, were selected for a larger population-based association study consisting of 507 cases and 597 controls, of which only the rs45602038_TT [Odds ratio (95% confidence interval)=1.90 (1.26-2.88); p=0.002] was associated with disease following adjustment for other confounders using the multivariate analysis. Furthermore, a 5-mer haplotype CGAGT constructed from the five studied SNPs conferred a significant risk (χ(2)=10.98; p=0.0009) for DTC. This association trickled down through shorter derivatives, with the 4-mer haplotype CGAG (χ(2)=13.25; p=0.0003) displaying the most significant association and the 3-mer GAG (χ(2)=11.80; p=0.0006) being equally strongly linked to the disease. Comparison of the flanking derivatives of the primary 5-mer haplotype also indicated that the 3-mer CGA (χ(2)=4.04; p=0.045) constructed from SNP block 1-3 was a lot weaker than that of the AGT (χ(2)=6.73; p=0.0095) constructed from the blocks 3-5 from the other end of the gene. Put together, these data implicate the three nucleotide changes at the rs4808708, rs4808709 and rs7250346 loci (blocks 2-4) as the core for this relationship.

Healthy children's identification and risk perception of medicines in England.

BACKGROUND: Children's understanding of medicines has an impact on their behavior toward those medicines, and yet there has been a paucity of studies exploring this area. OBJECTIVES: To assess children's ability to identify and to explore their risk perceptions of medicines. METHODS: One hundred eighty-two children aged 4 to 11 years at 2 primary schools in England completed a worksheet containing photos of foods and pharmaceutical products. Children were asked to identify what the picture showed and classify it as "good for them," "bad for them," or "sometimes good/sometimes bad for them." Responses were marked as correct if they identified an item without the need for exact identification. Where an item was correctly identified, risk perception was analyzed. RESULTS: Children correctly identified 5 of the 7 pictures as a form of medicine (mean=5.10, standard deviation=1.51), and identification was positively correlated with age (ρ=0.59, P<.001). A greater percentage of children correctly identified bicolored capsules (86.3% correct, 95% confidence interval [CI]=81.3-91.3) as medicines than either white (71.4% correct, 95% CI=64.9-78) or pink tablets (33.5% correct, 95% CI=26.7-40.4). There was a significant shift with age in the perceptions of the children as they changed from reporting that medicines were good for them to reporting that they were sometimes good and sometimes bad for them. This held for all medicines (χ(2) tests, P<.05) except for the cream and the inhaler. CONCLUSIONS: As children get older, they become better at identifying medicines, and they become more likely to see their potential risks.