Evolving trends in the dereplication of natural product extracts: new methodology for rapid, small-scale investigation of natural product extracts

The use of an HPLC bioactivity profiling/microtiter plate technique in conjunction with capillary probe NMR instrumentation and access to appropriate databases effectively short-circuits conventional dereplication procedures, necessarily based on multimilligram extracts, to a single, more rapid submilligram operation. This approach to dereplication is illustrated using fungal or bacterial extracts that contain known compounds. In each case the dereplication steps were carried out on microgram quantities of extract and demonstrate the discriminating power of (1)H NMR spectroscopy as a definitive dereplication tool.     

Effect of Bimetallic-Activated Carbon Impregnation on Adsorption–Desorption Performance for Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) Capture

This study reports on the impregnation of bi-metallic adsorbents based on commercial coconut activated carbon (CAC), surface-modified with metal acetate (ZnAc₂), metal oxide (ZnO and TiO₂), and the basic compound potassium hydroxide (KOH). The morphology of the adsorbents was then characterized with SEM-EDX, the microporosity was determined using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, the thermal stability was investigated via thermogravity analysis (TGA), and functional group analysis was undertaken with Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. These modified adsorbents were subjected to a real adsorption test for H₂S capture using a 1 L adsorber with 5000 ppm H₂S balanced for N₂, with temperature and pressure maintained at an ambient condition. Adsorption–desorption was carried out in three cycles with the blower temperature varied from 50 °C to 150 °C as the desorption condition. Characterization results revealed that the impregnated solution homogeneously covered the adsorbent surface, effecting the morphology and properties. Based on this study, it was found that ZnAc₂/TiO₂/CAC_DCM showed a significant increase in adsorption capacity with the different temperatures applied for the desorption in the second cycle: 1.67 mg H₂S/g at 50 °C, 1.84 mg H₂S/g at 100 °C, and 1.96 mg H₂S/g at 150 °C. ZnAc₂/ZnO/CAC_DCM seemed to produce the lowest percentage of degradation in the three cycles for all the temperatures used in the adsorption–desorption process. Therefore, ZnAc₂/ZnO/CAC_DCM has the potential to be used and commercialized for biogas purification for H₂S removal.     

Prevalence and treatment patterns of ranibizumab and photodynamic therapy in a tertiary care setting in Malaysia

AIM: To describe the prevalence and changes in treatment patterns of ranibizumab and photodynamic therapy (PDT) among retinal disease patients who attended the Ophthalmology Clinic in the tertiary care Hospital Selayang from 2010 to 2014. METHODS: Study subjects were recruited retrospectively using the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) database software in Hospital Selayang. Demographic data, medical history, diagnostic procedure, treatments and diagnosis of patients were recorded. RESULTS: The five-year analysis included 821 patients with a mean age of 65.9±11.73y. Overall, there were a higher number of males (63.1%) and a higher number of Chinese (47.4%) patients. Among the 821 patients, 62.9% received ranibizumab injection followed by 19.2% PDT therapy and 17.9% had ranibizumab combined with PDT therapy. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) were the most common retinal eye diseases reported, recording prevalence of 25.0% and 45.6%, respectively. The trend in ranibizumab treatment was reported to increase while PDT showed a decrease in trend from year 2010 to 2014. In terms of treatment, following multiple logistic regression, AMD was associated with the subjects being more likely to have received ranibizumab monotherapy (P<0.001) while PCV was associated with more likely to have received PDT (P<0.001) and PDT combined with ranibizumab therapy (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: The tertiary care setting in Malaysia is consistent with management of patients from other countries whereby ranibizumab is the most common treatment given to patients with AMD, while PCV patients most commonly receive PDT and ranibizumab combined with PDT therapy.     

Efficacy of Rivaroxaban Use in Solid Tumour Malignancy: Experience from a Tertiary Care Cancer Centre

Objective: Cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (CAT) is a common disease or complication which is associated with reduced survival and incurring a substantial health-care cost. Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) remained the gold standard treatment option available. Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) have recently become more popular in the guidelines, they are still few and inconsistent across the current literature. The aim of this study was to evaluate rivaroxaban in treatment of CAT. Methods: In this prospective real-world study, we recruited and followed up patients diagnosed with CAT treated with rivaroxaban or standard of care as a control for 12 months or until death. Baseline characteristics were collected at the study entry. The primary outcomes were recurrent DVT or PE and death within 12 months after treatment initiation. Safety outcomes were composite outcomes of major and minor bleeding.    Results: A total of 80 patients confirm CAT with radiological imaging were recruited; 39 patients were evaluated in the control arm and 41 patients in the rivaroxaban arm. The 12 months cumulative CAT recurrence rate was 46.2% in control and 39% in rivaroxaban (p=0.519). The 12-month death was not a statistically significant difference between both arms (20.5% vs. 31.7%, p=0.255). The cumulative rate of composite safety outcomes was similar in both groups (17.9% vs. 12.2%, p=0.471). Conclusion: The result of this small but important real-world evidence proofs that rivaroxaban is an effective and safe alternative to the standard of care for CAT in Malaysia’s cancer population.     

Students perception of an industry based approach problem based learning (PBL) and their performance in drug delivery courses

Objective

To investigate students perception of an industry based approach problem based learning (PBL) and their performance in drug delivery courses in pharmaceutics.