Search

Macular diseases are becoming more prevalent among the elderly population, with several equally effective treatment options available, including biosimilar drugs which could offer significant cost savings.

Background: In Italy, prescriptions of new drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus increased gradually. New regulatory regulations have facilitated the prescription of these drugs, with the aim of bring patients closer to therapies with difficult access. This European policy has been adopted in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, a gradual undesirable increase in health care spending related to the consumption of these medicines has been noted. In Italy in 2022, the introduction of Note 100 allowed more prescribing to general practitioners (GPs) in the field of type 2 diabetes.

A primary problem in waveform distortion assessment in power systems is to examine ways to reduce the effects of spectral leakage. In the framework of DFT approaches, line frequency synchronization techniques or algorithms to compensate for desynchronization are necessary; alternative approaches such as those based on the Prony and ESPRIT methods are not sensitive to desynchronization, but they often require significant computational burden. In this paper, the signal processing aspects of the problem are considered; different proposals by the same authors regarding DFT-, Prony-, and ESPRIT-based advanced methods are reviewed and compared in terms of their accuracy and computational efforts. The results of several numerical experiments are reported and analysed; some of them are in accordance with IEC Standards, while others use more open scenarios.

BackgroundDespite the Common Training Framework project, routes to becoming an hospital pharmacist in Europe remain extremely patchy. Enrolment in a post-graduate Hospital Pharmacy School (SHP) is the way to become a hospital pharmacist in our country. Despite a harmonising effort that occurred in 2015, students still describe a heterogeneous real-life situation of SHPs between different universities, which results in learning difficulties and lack of scholarship.PurposeThe main purpose of our study is to evaluate, through the first national survey, the possible differences in the educational pathway of Italian SHP students.Material and methodsThis is an observational cross-sectional students-oriented study. We investigated, through a questionnaire, five main topics: structure of residency training, study plan adherence, relationship between students and tutors, economic compensation and research activity.ResultsSixty-eight per cent (172/278) of national SHP students voluntarily participated in the survey. Eighty-seven per cent of residents regularly attended the rotation among assigned hospitals, but lessons’ schedule frequently didn’t fit with residency (66%). Students felt confident about drugs distribution, drugs’ appropriateness and pharmacoeconomics, whereas they described poor competency in ethics committee, vigilance on community pharmacy, HTA and clinical trials. Despite this, the educational programme required a full-time residency, but only 24% of students received a scholarship funded by the university. An analysis of the remaining 76% described an uneven situation: 28% were employed by hospitals, 20% by community pharmacies, 6% worked out of the pharmaceutical field and 22% did not receiv any salary. Students receiving an academic scholarship attributed a statistically significant higher score to their education pathway compared to the other (p<0.001) and they published significantly more. Finally, we investigated the relationship between residents and tutors. In most cases this was satisfying except for students employed in community pharmacies. The perceived quality of tutoring was related to the degree of working independence of the resident (p=0.008).ConclusionNational SHPs still present a patchwork organisation and as long as an academic scholarship is not granted to all SHP students, the competing interests of employer institutions and academia may lead to important differences in training. Thus, we hope that our results encourage more investment in SHPs, in view of the growing responsibility of our profession.No conflict of interest

BackgroundThe oncolytic virus (OV) Talimogene Laherparepvec (T-VEC) is a microorganism genetically modified (MOGM), since it is genetically engineered to no longer be capable of causing infection or of spreading in normal cells. Even if it was considered to have a minimal exposure risk, is there the need to take control measures?PurposeTo implement the shared procedures, already created for appropriate management of OV, for T-VEC management, in CT for squamous-cell head-neck carcinoma (SCHN), between the pharmacy clinical studies ward and head-neck ward in our Oncology Institute, and to evaluate the risk of possible contamination at every step of operation conducted following the procedures.Material and methodsThe Internal Hospital Procedure of IMP Management, study protocol, national and European law for MOGM-type-2 (conteniment -level-2) management and revision of literature were examined. Each category of personnel involved, with their specific roles established, was documented and every step of the operation conducted.ResultsThe activity levels (AL) (four) began from the Pharmacy-Clinical Studies Unit that documented every step of the product:Receipt and control.Storage (under 80°C) and use of individual protection devices (IPD).Guidelines for preparation, operation control, instruction operation and decontamination (sodium hypochlorite).Transport in specific box.The AL (one) of intersection between pharmacists and clinical research nurses of the head-neck carcinoma ward was product preparation. The operation was conducted separately from others in a specific vertical-flow biologic-safety-cabinet, always in double and documented (date, time, signature). The AL (one) for nurses was product administration. The operation was in a specific one-patient-room separated and before eventual concomitant therapy (pembrolizumab). The AL (one) for the Hygiene Unit was in the management of residual vials, medical devices and IPD. These actions permitted the separation of instruments used in previous steps and avoiding using the same autoclave available in the hospital for sterilisation. No exposure of personnel and patients or contamination of other IV products, including chemotherapy, was detected with this procedure.ConclusionHandling OV such as hazardous drugs in a coordinated method minimised the risk of exposure and therefore the risk of contamination. Furthermore, being aware in the future of the symptoms associated with infection due to virus will help in monitoring for possible exposure.No conflict of interest