Gender differences in the distribution of cocaine and heroin in Central Harlem

OBJECTIVE: This article investigates the extent to which users of crack, powder cocaine and heroin in Central Harlem participate in various roles involved in distributing these drugs, examining gender differences among distribution roles. METHODS: Several strategies were combined to acquire a sample of 655 hard drug users and sellers who self-reported demographics, drug use and other factors in a face-to-face interview. Chi-square analyses were used to examine factors associated with having drug distribution roles. RESULTS: More than two-fifths (N = 269) of all respondents self-reported participation in at least one current distribution role. The most common roles were acting as a middleman, steering buyers, holding drugs or money, and transporting drugs. Distributors were more likely to have HIV, previous drug treatments, and less education, employment or housing, but had higher incomes than users. A higher proportion of women reported drug distribution roles, but among distributors, men were twice as likely women to be direct sellers and transporters of drugs, and to perform more distribution roles. CONCLUSIONS: Gender contrasts support previous research indicating male dominance of drug distribution roles. Previous studies may underestimate women's participation in distribution roles. Drug treatment programs are encouraged to augment existing relapse prevention activities with distribution prevention efforts.     

如何加快实习护士的临床角色适应

本文探讨了实习护士在进行临床角色转换时遇到的各种困难和相关的促进实习护士适应其临床角色的方法。实习护士在临床角色的适应过程中会受多方面因素的影响,带教老师要帮助实习护士尽快地适应其临床角色,以顺利地完成实习和实现教学目标。     

A step beyond — The relevance of depressed mood and mastery in the interplay between the number of social roles and alcohol use

Objectives

The present study examines whether depressed mood and external control mediate or moderate the relationship between the number of social roles and alcohol use.

Participants

The analysis was based on a national representative sample of 25- to 45-year-old male and female drinkers in Switzerland.

Method

The influence of depressed mood and external control on the relationship between the number of social roles (parenthood, partnership, employment) and alcohol use was examined in linear structural equation models (mediation) and in multiple regressions (moderation) stratified by gender. All analyses were adjusted for age and education level.

Results

Holding more roles was associated with lower alcohol use, lower external control and lower depressed mood. The study did not find evidence of depressed mood or external control mediating the social roles–alcohol relationship. A moderation effect was identified among women only, whereby a protective effect of having more roles could not be found among those who scored high on external control. In general, a stronger link was observed between roles and alcohol use, while depressed mood and external control acted independently on drinking. With the exception of women with high external control, the study found no link between a higher number of social roles and greater alcohol use.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that drinking behaviours are more strongly linked to external control and depressed mood than they are to the number of social roles. The study also demonstrates that in any effective alcohol prevention policy, societal actions that enable individuals to combine more social roles play a central role.     

Community pharmacy and the extended community pharmacist practice roles: The UAE experiences

Background: The pharmaceutical care and ‘extended’ roles are still not practiced optimally by community pharmacists. Several studies have discussed the practice of community pharmacy in the UAE and have shown that most community pharmacists only counsel patients. However, UAE, has taken initiatives to allow and prepare community pharmacists to practice ‘extended’ roles. Aim of the review: The aim was to review the current roles of community pharmacists in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Objective: The objective was to encourage community pharmacists toward extending their practice roles. Methods: In 2010, Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) surveyed community pharmacists, using an online questionnaire, on their preferences toward extending their counseling roles and their opinion of the greatest challenge facing the extension of their counseling roles. Results: Following this survey, several programs have been developed to prepare community pharmacists to undertake these extended counseling roles. In addition to that, HAAD redefined the scope of pharmacist roles to include some extended/enhanced roles. Abu Dhabi Health Services (SEHA) mission is to ensure reliable excellence in healthcare. It has put clear plans to achieve this; these include increasing focus on public health matters, developing and monitoring evidence-based clinical policies, training health professionals to comply with international standards to deliver world-class quality care, among others. Prior to making further plans to extend community pharmacists’ roles, and to ensure the success of these plans, it is imperative to establish the views of community pharmacists in Abu Dhabi on practicing extended roles and to gain understanding and information on what pharmacists see as preferred change strategies or facilitators to change. Conclusions: In an attempt to adapt to the changes occurring and to the growing needs of patients and to maximize the utilization of community pharmacists’ unique structured strategies are needed to be introduced to the community pharmacy profession.     

Credentialing of pharmacy technicians in the USA

Objective This review will compare the USA and UK regarding pharmacy technicians' roles, it will summarize the current roles and responsibilities of pharmacy technicians in the USA, public perception of pharmacy technicians, pharmacy organizations' perspectives on pharmacy technician credentialing, academic programmes for pharmacy technicians, accreditation of pharmacy technician programmes, pharmacy technician certification exams and differing perspectives on the push for standardized technician training. It will conclude with observations regarding the importance of standardized pharmacy technician training. Methods Articles were identified via searches of PubMed and IPA from inception to November 2010 related to credentialing of pharmacy technicians. Search terms included pharmacy technician, pharmacy technician certification, pharmacy registration, technician education and technician requirements. Articles describing the roles and responsibilities of a technician, public perception of technicians, demographics, certification processes and the future of technician roles were included. An Internet search was also performed to identify articles in the lay press related to this topic. Key findings Providing a pharmacy technician with proper training and education is necessary for operating a successful pharmacy. In the USA, mandating a national standardized training programme is the source of the debate. Current rules and regulations regarding the training and education needed for a pharmacy technician vary from state to state in the USA. Attitudes of technicians towards standardized training may be difficult to change. Conclusion This paper provides a review of pharmacy technicians' roles and responsibilities across different pharmacy settings. Although the literature provides some insight, more studies are needed to assess the value and impact of the knowledge and skills possessed by certified pharmacy technicians with standardized training compared with technicians with site‐specific or limited training.     

酸敏感离子通道抑制剂的研究进展

酸敏感离子通道(ASICs)是一类由胞外H 激活的阳离子通道。已发现的6个ASICs亚基在触觉、痛觉、酸味觉以及学习记忆中有重要的生理作用,同时,它们参与某些病理反应,可以被神经肽、温度、金属离子以及缺血诱导产生的一些活性物质所调控。基于其病理作用,ASICs抑制剂的研发成为药物化学研究的热点之一。本文综述了近年来对ASICs的结构、生理和病理作用及几类ASICs抑制剂的最新研究进展,并进行了展望。     

Proteinase-activated receptors in the lower urinary tract

Proteinase-activated receptors (PARs) are G-protein-coupled receptors that convert specific extracellular proteolytic activity into intracellular signals, and have been suggested to play diverse roles in the body. In this review, evidence for the roles of PARs in bladder contractility and inflammation are presented. The role of PARs in prostate cancer is also reviewed. The existing literature in this area can be difficult to interpret due to the many nonspecific actions of the pharmacological tools employed. Although there are reports that PAR activators can cause contraction of bladder smooth muscle, further pharmacological and molecular studies are required to define roles for these receptors in bladder contractility. While structural studies suggest that roles for PARs in bladder inflammation are likely, few functional investigations have been performed. The significance of the expression of PARs on sensory nerves innervating the bladder and changes in receptor expression in inflammatory disease models are fascinating areas for future research. Finally, it seems probable that PARs, particularly PAR₁, may play important roles in the growth and metastasis of prostate cancers.     

miRNAs in the biology of cancers and viral infections

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding small RNAs that play important roles in a variety of biological pathways including cellular proliferation and apoptosis. Recent studies have linked the expression of selected miRNAs to carcinogenesis and viral pathogenesis. Here, we will discuss examples of roles served by cellular miRNAs and virus-encoded miRNAs in the development of cancers and viral diseases.     

Imaging the roles of the amygdala in drug addiction

The neurobiological processes that underlie initial use of drugs of abuse and the transition to drug abuse, addiction, and dependence are poorly understood. Intrinsic and drug-related alterations in complex brain functions such as motivation, learning, memory, reward, attention, and arousal seemingly underlie the process of drug abuse and addiction. This discussion focuses on the use of functional brain imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging to define the roles of the amygdala in the sequence of behavioral processes that span initial drug use to addiction and its consequences. The functional images of the human amygdala demonstrate or implicate this limbic structure in the processes of reward learning and memory, conditioned reward and emotion dysregulation related to drug use, and the transition to addiction. While these roles of the amygdala reflect its involvement in the actions of large-scale neural systems comprising cortical and subcortical structures, its important roles as a neural substrate mediating or modulating behaviors related to initial drug use to addiction, and its personal and social consequences, are increasingly defined by functional brain imaging studies.     

Survey of the first year of students under the six-year pharmacy curriculum in Tokyo university of pharmacy and life science

The six-year curriculum has been introduced into all pharmacy schools in Japan since April 2006. Those schools are currently preparing for an additional two years of pharmacy education and are in the process of reading the necessary educational infrastructure. However, students' expectations of the new curriculum and understanding of the professional roles of a pharmacist have yet to be investigated. Therefore we surveyed the first group of students on their expectations of the new curriculum and on their understandings of the newly emerging roles of pharmacists in general. Our questionnaire consisted of six questions, and we further had the students conduct self-evaluations using the admission interview items of a pharmacy school from the USA. Of the 440 first-year students, 89.1% responded. Based on the results of the survey, we found that the majority of students did not believe that pharmacists will have a respected role in multidisciplinary teams or in public. Approximately half of the students also said that they had no confidence in taking leadership roles or thinking logically when compared with the average person. We therefore believe that schools and pharmacy educators need to teach students pharmaceutical care and the various roles pharmacists can play in the future. Schools and pharmacy educators should also support students by providing training and introducing new methods of learning to develop their professional attitude and leadership skills.     

The Roles of Diacylglycerol Kinases in the Central Nervous System: Review of Genetic Studies in Mice

Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) is an enzyme that converts diacylglycerol to phosphatidic acid. To date, 10 isoforms of DGKs (α, β, γ, δ, ε, ζ, η, θ, ι, and κ) have been identified in mammals, and these DGKs show characteristic expression patterns and roles. The expression levels of DGKs are comparatively higher in the central nervous system than in other organs and may play several important roles in regulating higher brain functions. Currently, many studies have been performed to reveal the roles of DGKs by knocking down or overexpression of DGKs in vitro. Additionally, knockout or overexpression mice of several DGKs have been generated, and phenotypes of these mice have been studied. In this review, we discuss the roles of DGKs in the central nervous system based on recent findings in genetic models.     

The Impact of Adult Roles on Drinking Among Women in the United States

This paper examines the impact of three adult roles—spouse, parent, and worker—on psychological distress and drinking among a national sample of 10,193 women in the United States, using the 1992 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). We found that the spouse and worker roles are negatively associated with the level of psychological distress, and the parent role is positively correlated with it. Controlling for level of psychological distress, those workers generally are more likely to be drinkers, but, among drinkers, they do not consume alcoholic beverages more than non-workers. The family roles do not affect a woman's likelihood of being a drinker. However, among the drinkers, being a spouse or a parent is negatively related with level of alcohol consumption. Separating three aspects of drinking behavior—whether a woman drinks at all and, if she drinks, her levels of alcohol consumption and problem drinking—our findings suggest that drinking is not a unidimensional construct. A woman's roles influence various dimensions of her drinking differently.     

神经节苷脂GM1神经保护机制的研究进展

GM 1是含一个唾液酸的神经节苷脂 ,在脑中含量丰富 ,参与神经系统的发育过程 ,具有广泛的神经保护作用。本文综述了近 3年来GM 1参与突触的发生过程 ,激活酪氨酸激酶受体———Trk受体 ,调节细胞内Ca2 + 的平衡 ,降低Aβ在脑内的沉积及其毒性作用 ,减少活性氧的产生 ,促进Na+ ,K+ ATPase活性等神经保护机制方面的最新报道。     

Cost-effectiveness analysis and efficient use of the pharmaceutical budget: the key role of clinical pharmacologists

The purpose of this paper is to provide information about cost-effectiveness analysis and the roles of clinical pharmacologists generally in providing efficient health care. The paper highlights the potential consequences of ‘off-label prescribing’ and ‘indication creep’ behaviour given slower growth (or potential cuts) in the NHS budget. This paper highlights the key roles of clinical pharmacologists in delivering an efficient health care system when resources are allocated using cost-effectiveness analyses. It describes what cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is and how incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) are used to identify efficient options. After outlining the theoretical framework within which using CEA can promote the efficient allocation of the health care budget, it considers the place of disinvestment within achieving efficient resource allocation. Clinical pharmacologists are argued to be critical to providing improved population health under CEA-based resource allocation processes because of their roles in implementation and disinvestment. Given that the challenges facing the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) are likely to increase, this paper sets out the stark choices facing clinical pharmacologists.     

微生物硫酸软骨素裂解酶的研究进展

目的综述硫酸软骨素裂解酶的种类、分离纯化方法及药理学作用的研究进展。方法在检索国内外相关文献的基础上 ,对硫酸软骨素裂解酶的种类、分离纯化方法及药理学作用进行整理和归纳。结果硫酸软骨素裂解酶具有 4种类型 ;硫酸软骨素裂解酶可作为工具酶及药用酶用于基础理论及药学领域的研究中。结论作为工具酶和药用酶 ,硫酸软骨素裂解酶在科研及医药领域拥有广阔的发展前景。     

Role of OATP transporters in the disposition of drugs

During recent years, it has become increasingly recognized that drug transporters play important roles in drug absorption and disposition. Organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATPs) are membrane transporters critically involved in the cellular uptake of drugs in tissues important for pharmacokinetics, such as the intestine, liver and kidneys. Recent advances in the pharmacogenomics of OATP1B1 have revealed that OATP transporters can play important roles in explaining interindividual variability in drug pharmacokinetics, and thus contribute to interindividual as well as interethnic variability in drug response. This article will provide an up-to-date review of human OATPs and their substrates, and a current compilation of their DNA sequence variations.     

Tissue Distribution and Redistribution of Trace Elements in Shrimp Species with the Emphasis on the Roles of Metallothionein

This review is focused on distribution and redistribution of trace elements in various tissues of different shrimp species, especially genus Penaeus. The possible roles of metallothionein in this regard are emphasized. Factors affecting heavy metals uptake and distribution have also been reviewed separately. Moreover, patterns of metals bioaccumulation and their order of occurrence have been evaluated. Another part of this paper deals with comparison of the related data from different aquatic environments as well as existing guidelines and limits for human consumption. Generally, the number of conducted studies in some related context, especially in the case of possible roles of metallothionein during storage of organisms is very limited.     

The pharmacology of nitric oxide in the peripheral nervous system of blood vessels

Unanticipated, novel hypothesis on nitric oxide (NO) radical, an inorganic, labile, gaseous molecule, as a neurotransmitter first appeared in late 1989 and into the early 1990s, and solid evidences supporting this idea have been accumulated during the last decade of the 20th century. The discovery of nitrergic innervation of vascular smooth muscle has led to a new understanding of the neurogenic control of vascular function. Physiological roles of the nitrergic nerve in vascular smooth muscle include the dominant vasodilator control of cerebral and ocular arteries, the reciprocal regulation with the adrenergic vasoconstrictor nerve in other arteries and veins, and in the initiation and maintenance of penile erection in association with smooth muscle relaxation of the corpus cavernosum. The discovery of autonomic efferent nerves in which NO plays key roles as a neurotransmitter in blood vessels, the physiological roles of this nerve in the control of smooth muscle tone of the artery, vein, and corpus cavernosum, and pharmacological and pathological implications of neurogenic NO have been reviewed. This nerve is a postganglionic parasympathetic nerve. Mechanical responses to stimulation of the nerve, mainly mediated by NO, clearly differ from those to cholinergic nerve stimulation. The naming "nitrergic or nitroxidergic" is therefore proposed to avoid confusion of the term "cholinergic nerve", from which acetylcholine is released as a major neurotransmitter. By establishing functional roles of nitrergic, cholinergic, adrenergic, and other autonomic efferent nerves in the regulation of vascular tone and the interactions of these nerves in vivo, especially in humans, progress in the understanding of cardiovascular dysfunctions and the development of pharmacotherapeutic strategies would be expected in the future.     

Pharmacy under the spotlight: New Zealand pharmacists' perceptions of current and future roles and the need for accreditation

Objectives The aim was to determine New Zealand pharmacists' views on the range of services outlined in the Ten Year Vision for Pharmacists document and the need for accreditation to provide these services. Methods A national postal survey of practising pharmacists registered with the Pharmacy Council of New Zealand (n= 1892) was carried out, with two follow‐ups. Key findings The response rate was 51.8% (n= 980 usable surveys). Findings indicated that the majority of pharmacists believe they should continue to undertake traditional clinical and technical roles (median 98.5%, range 92.7–99.3%). Less than one‐third of respondents felt these activities required pharmacists to be accredited. A lower proportion, but still the majority, of respondents thought that pharmacy should undertake selected enhanced or collaborative roles (median 74.85%, range 64–92.5%). However, there was a greater emphasis on accreditation for these roles, with more than two‐thirds of respondents suggesting a need for accreditation. Conclusions There is a high level of support for the retention of current clinical and technical roles. A lack of need for additional accreditation suggests that pharmacists believe their training is adequate. There is a positive, but more tempered view regarding enhanced or collaborative services. There is recognition of a greater need for accreditation for enhanced and collaborative services. This suggests a cautious optimism about new services and a perceived need for pharmacists to learn more about these programmes.