Awareness About Prescribed Drugs Among Patients Attending Out-Patient Departments.

Awareness about prescribed drugs among patients attending Out-patient departments.

Int J Appl Basic Med Res. 2013 Jan; 3(1): 48-51
Singh J, Singh N, Kumar R, Bhandari V, Kaur N, Dureja S

Communication skills play an important role in establishing doctor-patient relationship is widely recognized throughout the world. The information passed on to the patients affects the treatment outcomes.The present study was undertaken to evaluate the level of awareness among OPD patients about prescribed drugs.A total of two hundred sixty four patients having a valid prescription from a doctor practicing in allopathic system, visiting 4 different chemist shops in a North Indian city were enrolled in the study. All the enrolled patients were given a preformed questionnaire to be answered on the spot.It was found that though a considerable number of patients were aware about the therapeutic effects of the drugs and the manner of administration of the medicines; they lacked information regarding the side effects, warnings and the information their doctor may require at the next consultation.The study highlighted the fact that doctors need to spend more time with the patients to make them active participants in the drug therapy. HubMed – drug

Ticagrelor: The first approved reversible oral antiplatelet agent.

Int J Appl Basic Med Res. 2013 Jan; 3(1): 19-21
Goel D

Platelet aggregation plays an important role in the pathophysiology of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Aspirin is the most widely used antiplatelet agent and acts by inhibiting thromboxane A2-induced platelet activation. But it does not prevent platelets activation and aggregation by other signaling pathways like adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa. Ticagrelor is the first oral reversible ADP (P2Y12) receptor antagonist. As compared to clopidogrel, ticagrelor has rapid onset as well as offset of action because of its reversible binding to P2Y12 receptor. It has potential to change the standard drug therapy of patient of ACS as shown in Platelet inhibition and patient outcomes (PLATO) trial, but long-term studies are required to further evaluate its efficacy and safety in these patients. HubMed – drug

A review of drug isomerism and its significance.

Int J Appl Basic Med Res. 2013 Jan; 3(1): 16-8
Chhabra N, Aseri ML, Padmanabhan D

Isomerism finds its importance in the field of clinical pharmacology and pharmacotherapeutics, as isomers differ in their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodyanmic properties. Drug isomerism has opened a new era of drug development. Currently, knowledge of isomerism has helped us in introducing safer and more effective drug alternatives of the newer as well as existing drugs. Many existing drugs have gone chiral switch i.e., switching from racemic mixture to one of its isomers. Cetrizine to levocetrizine is one of such examples, where effective and safer drug has been made available. In this article, we have attempted to review the basic concepts of stereochemistry and chirality and their significance in pharmacotherapeutics. Various pharmacological aspects such as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variations resulting out of chirality has been discussed in detail in this article. HubMed – drug

Recent advances in antibacterial drugs.

Int J Appl Basic Med Res. 2013 Jan; 3(1): 3-10
Rai J, Randhawa GK, Kaur M

The incidence of antimicrobial resistance is on continued rise with a threat to return to the “pre-antibiotic” era. This has led to emergence of such bacterial infections which are essentially untreatable by the current armamentarium of available treatment options. Various efforts have been made to develop the newer antimicrobials with novel modes of action which can act against these multi-drug resistant strains. This review aims to focus on these newly available and investigational antibacterials approved after year 2000, their mechanism of actions/resistance, and spectrum of activity and their phases of clinical trials. Newer unexploited targets and strategies for the next generation of antimicrobial drugs for combating the drug resistance and emerging pathogens in the 21(st) century have also been reviewed in the present article. HubMed – drug

Bedaquiline: First FDA-approved tuberculosis drug in 40 years.

Int J Appl Basic Med Res. 2013 Jan; 3(1): 1-2
Mahajan R

HubMed – drug