1,720,972 research outputs found
THE ROLE OF VITAMIN D IN NEOPLASMS AND NEURODEGENERATION DISEASES - A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
No full textIn recent years, a significant increase in the incidence of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases has been observed. This is mainly because of the higher life expectancy and thus prolonged contact with risk factors, inadequate diet and lack of physical activity. Along with aging processes, the prevalence and incidence of many diseases rise dramatically. New drugs and solutions are constantly being sought that would help in particular preventing. One way could be the use of vitamin D or its analogues, which through their proven pleiotropic action, have become the focus of the interest of many scientists in the last decade. One might think that the problem of vitamin D deficiency should affect a small part of the population, due to health campaigns carried out and the availability of many OTC preparations with vitamin D in various forms. Research, however, confirms that the need for vitamin D supplementation is overlooked by healthcare professionals, and its deficiencies are widespread worldwide and affect all ages. It is very meaningful problem. It is important to check the concentration of this vitamin in the blood, which in the case of low levels can be correlated with potential health problems. The influence of vitamin D on physiological processes, confirmed by numerous studies and scientific publications, and thus also the prevention of numerous diseases, is an important argument indicating the need for patient education on how to take it regularly. For this reason, preventive actions carried out by professional medical staff, including pharmacists in community pharmacies, regarding awareness of the important role of vitamin D and its impact on our health are important. Patient counseling may have a significant effect on improving quality of life. This article discusses some mechanisms of antiproliferative, neuroprotective and immunomodulatory activity of active vitamin D derivatives on the example of selected cancers, Alzheimer's disease, and multiple sclerosis.W ostatnich latach obserwuje się znaczny wzrost zachorowań na nowotwory i choroby neurodegeneracyjne. Wciąż poszukuje się nowych leków i rozwiązań, które pomogłyby zwłaszcza w zapobieganiu tym chorobom. Jednym ze sposobów może być stosowanie witaminy D lub jej analogów, które poprzez swoje udowodnione wielokierunkowe działanie, stały się w ostatniej dekadzie przedmiotem zainteresowania wielu naukowców. Można by pomyśleć, że problem niedoboru witaminy D powinien dotyczyć niewielkiej części populacji, ze względu na przeprowadzane kampanie zdrowotne i dostępność wielu preparatów OTC z witaminą D w różnej postaci. Badania potwierdzają jednak, że potrzeba suplementacji witaminy D jest pomijana przez pracowników służby zdrowia, a jej niedobory są powszechne na całym świecie i dotykają wszystkich grup wiekowych. Duże znaczenie ma sprawdzanie stężenia tej witaminy we krwi, co w przypadku niskiego poziomu można skorelować z potencjalnymi problemami zdrowotnymi. Potwierdzony w licznych badaniach i publikacjach naukowych wpływ witaminy D na procesy fizjologiczne, a przez to także na zapobieganie licznym chorobom, jest istotnym argumentem wskazującym na potrzebę edukacji pacjentów na temat jej regularnego przyjmowania. Z tego powodu istotne są akcje profilaktyczne prowadzone przez fachowy personel medyczny, w tym także przez farmaceutów w aptekach ogólnodostępnych, dotyczące uświadamiania pacjentom ważnej roli witamy D i jej wpływu na nasze zdrowie. W niniejszym artykule omówiono niektóre mechanizmy działania antyproliferacyjnego, neuroprotekcyjnego i immunomodulującego aktywnych pochodnych witaminy D na przykładzie wybranych chorób nowotworowych, choroby Alzheimera oraz stwardnienia rozsianego
Physicians’ and patients’ valuation of pharmaceutical care implementation in Poznan (Poland) community pharmacies
No full textAbstractImplementation of pharmaceutical care (PC) in Poland is of great importance to patients, who, on the one hand, often follow complex pharmacological treatment regimens recommended by several physicians of different specialties, and, on the other, take up the decision on self-treatment due to availability of OTC medications. The aim of the present study was to assess the opinion of both patients and physicians about implementation of PC service in Polish community pharmacies.A cross sectional study was carried out from September 2009 to September 2010 by a pharmacist (author of the study) on the basis of an anonymous questionnaire, where demand of physicians (n=104) and patients (n=202) for implementation of PC in a community pharmacy was assessed. The study was planned to determine the relationship between implementation of PC, cost and time of this service and patients’ and physicians’ socio-economic information.Responding patients (85.64%) and physicians (76.92%) unanimously confirmed the need for implementation of PC. Most people convinced of the service implementation were 88.89% of physicians under the age of 35 and all the respondents were over 65years of age (p=0.027), just as 93.33% with service lesser than 5years and 73.68% of respondents working a maximum of 20years (p=0.023). Mainly according to 90.00% of physicians with specialty in internal medicine and 92.59% of physicians of the group “Others” (p=0.012), PC should be implemented in pharmacies. Women more frequently than men reckoned that appointments with a pharmacist should last up to 15min (p=0.012). According to 77.78% of the youngest physicians and 83.33% of the oldest ones, appointments should last from 5 to 15min (p=0.049), and a similar opinion was shared by 80.77% of physicians without specialty and 77.78% of physicians of the group “Others” (p=0.0009). According to patients, the mean cost of the visit should be USD 7. Physicians most often assessed the mean cost of the appointment at USD 14.This study provides new data about implementation of PC in Poland. The increased patients’ and physicians’ willingness to benefit from this service provides pharmacists with opportunities to develop PC in community pharmacies
OPINIONS OF PHARMACISTS ON COMMUNITY PHARMACY-BASED HEALTH SCREENINGS FOR COMMON CHRONIC DISEASES
No full textRising number of chronic diseases worldwide requires improvement of patients’ care system, especially in disease prevention and health promotion. Therefore it is justified to broaden the range of services in community pharmacies in Poland. The aim of this study was to evaluate pharmacists’ opinion about health screenings for chronic diseases in community pharmacies. Research was based on original, anonymous questionnaire administered between July 2016 and March 2017 to pharmacists (n=175; 77.7% women and 22.3% men) practicing in a community pharmacy in Wielkopolska (n=106; 77.4% women and 22.6% men) and Zachodniopomorskie Region (n=69; 78.3% women and 21.7% men). The effect of age and gender on pharmacists’ opinions was evaluated. Among pharmacists who responded, 93.7% agreed that patients don’t have health check-ups when they don’t experience bothersome symptoms of a disease. Almost three fourth of respondents considered implementation of health screening services in pharmacy as valuable as it can have positive influence on development of pharmaceutical care. Younger pharmacists (p=0.019) who collaborate with physicians (p=0.009) were most certain about it. 80,0% of pharmacist, in particular younger one, would offer their patients the screening services (p=0.006). 79,4% pharmacists confirmed that this new service should be reimbursed by National Health Fund. Development of new health screening services in community pharmacies may help to prevent or lower the risk of complications associated with common chronic diseases
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
INFLUENCE OF COMMUNITY PHARMACY SPECIALIZATION ON PROFESSIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL COUNSELLING SCHEME IN PHARMACIES IN POZNAN AND WARSAW (POLAND)-PILOT STUDY
No full textEducation of community pharmacy workers is a very important part of everyday practice, especially in professional counselling (PC) which brings many health benefits for the patients. The aim of the study was to investigate if the community pharmacy specialization has an influence on the scope and quality of counsels given by pharmacy workers during PC scheme implementation in community pharmacies. The research was carried out between May and November 2017. After PC scheme implementation in community pharmacies, an anonymous questionnaire was administered to 245 pharmacy workers in Poznan and Warsaw (241 women, 4 men): 146 pharmacists (143 women, 3 men) and 99 pharmacy technicians (98 women, 1 man). In the conducted study, 14.7% of pharmacists had community pharmacy specialization (according to Polish law). Pharmacists with a community pharmacy specialization referred patients more often to physicians (p<0.0001), as well as after earlier physician consultation (p<0.0001). Furthermore, they often noticed the interaction between drugs in patients’ self-treatment and in the treatment ordered by a physician (p≤0.001). The indication of medication contraindications after a physician consultation was also significantly higher within pharmacists with specialization (p<0.0001). It can be noted that pharmacists with community pharmacy specialization were asked more often for self-treatment consultation and after physician visits (p<0.0001). Development of PC in Polish community pharmacy, especially among pharmacy owners well-educated in community pharmacy specialization, may help to increase safety of pharmacotherapy
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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