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Objective: Irrational and overzealous use of antibiotics in addition to multidrug resistance has increased at an alarming limits around the world. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and practices toward antibiotic use among students at Yarmouk University Material and Method: A cross-sectional descriptive survey using a structured electronic version of valid questionnaire was distributed among participants. Google form was prepared based on available questionnaire in literature, revised by a group of academic pharmacist to validate the questionnaire. Test-retest was performed for a small group and cronbach alpha was calculated. The form was distributed randomly among under- and postgraduate students at Yarmouk University via their mails. Results: A total of 1154 individuals who completed questionnaires were analyzed. The knowledge of antibiotic use and resistance was quite good; 72.7% reported correct responses with a mean score of 16 out of 22. High rates of antibiotic use were found with 92% of respondents used antibiotics in the past three months. Inappropriate practice toward antibiotic was common; 48% used it for incorrect indication (e.g., common cold, fever, and pain), 60% used for improper duration and 20% don’t take the correct doses. Conclusions: Interventions on enhancing awareness and understanding of rational antimicrobial use are highly recommended by promoting expert-driven behavioural change, effective communication, education and training. Furthermore, law restriction on antibiotic dispensing should be introduced.

Purpose: To assess the methods and practices for strengthening immunity and limiting virus spread among the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.Method: A questionnaire was designed and distributed to the public in Jordan. Socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle practices, and intakes of herbs, vitamins, diet, and medications during the COVID-19 pandemic were assessed.Results: A total of 1048 participants completed the survey, 75 % of which were females and 60 % were in the age group of 18 - 34 years. The majority (75 %) agreed that staying at home along with social distancing would be their best protective measure, combined with hygienic practices and disinfection (71 %). Ginger and mint (49 and 45 %), vitamins D and C (52 and 34 %;) were predominantly used. Of the participants, 77 and 66 %, respectively increased their consumption of citrus fruits and foods rich in vitamin C, when they experienced influenza-like symptoms, while 13 and 18 % of the participants used antibiotics and paracetamol, respectively. Moreover, 61 and 63 % of participants were aware of the guidelines on the use of antibiotics and NSAIDs for the treatment of viral infections.Conclusion: The public practices reflect the positive beliefs about lifestyle practices, and the use of herbs, vitamins, dietary supplements, and medication intake. There is a need to promote healthy practices and increase awareness of rational drug use.

Background: This study aimed to describe the situation of psychoactive substance use in Jordan during the period of 2014–2018, recorded by Anti-narcotic Department (AND).Methods: A retrospective de...

Phenolic and antioxidant compounds have received considerable attention due to their beneficial effects on human health. The aim of this study is to determine the content of total phenols and antioxidants in fifty-two coffee samples of different origins, purchased from the Jordanian local market, and investigate the effect of the degree of roasting on the levels of these compounds. The coffee samples were extracted using the hot water extraction method, while Folin–Ciocalteu (FC) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay methods were used to analyze these compounds. The results showed that the highest content of total phenol (16.55 mg/g equivalent to GAE) was found in the medium roasted coffee, and the highest content of antioxidants (1.07 mg/g equivalent to TEAC) content was found in the green coffee. Only light and medium roasted coffee showed a significant correlation (p < 0.05, R2 > 0.95) between the average of total phenolic and antioxidant content. A negative correlation between the antioxidant content and the degree of roasting (p < 0.05, R2 > 0.95) were shown, while it did not correlate with phenolic contents. Previously, a positive correlation between antioxidant and chlorogenic acids content was observed, with no correlation between the origin of coffee samples nor heavy metal content, which was previously determined for the same coffee samples. These findings suggest that the antioxidant content for coffee extracts is largely determined by its chlorogenic acid content, rather than the coffee origin or total phenolic and heavy metals content.

Osama Alshari,1 Yazan O Al Zu’bi,2 Ahmed H Al Sharie,2 Farouk H Wafai,2 Abdelwahab J Aleshawi,2 Farah H Atawneh,3 Hasan A Obeidat,2 Majd N Daoud,2 Mohammad Z Khrais,4 Dima Albals,5 Faize Tubaishat6 1Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science & Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 2Faculty of Medicine, Jordan University of Science & Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 3Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan; 4Department of Internal Medicine, King Hussein Cancer Foundation and Center, Amman, Jordan; 5Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan; 6Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Al Bashir Hospital, Amman, JordanCorrespondence: Osama AlshariDivision of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Science & Technology, P. O. Box: 3030, Irbid, 22110, JordanEmail osamasalshari@gmail.comObjective: Chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia is a common and serious oncological emergency which carries a substantial mortality and morbidity. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the usage of absolute monocyte count (AMC) at presentation as a prognostic factor for patients with chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia who were subsequently treated with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF).Study Design: The electronic medical records of our center were used retrospectively to identify patients diagnosed with unprecedented chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia treated with G-CSF between January 2010 to December 2020 and diagnosed with solid and hematological malignancies. Patient’s demographics, disease characteristics and laboratory investigations were extracted. Disease progression measures were statistically compared between the study groups in the short-term period of follow-up (six days) including absolute neutrophil count (ANC), ANC difference compared to the baseline readings, hospitalization period, and mortality.Results: A total of 80 patients were identified and categorized into two groups namely monocytopenia (n = 34) and non-monocytopenia (n = 46) with an AMC cutoff point of 0.1× 109 cells/L. The monocytopenia group exhibited a worse prognosis with lower ANC values and slower improvement illustrated by the low ANC difference values at all follow up points (P-value ≤ 0.05) apart from day 5. A statistically significant lower hospitalization period was also observed in the non-monocytopenia group (P-value = 0.006). Linear regression analysis evaluated the association between AMC values at admission and ANC values at admission along with subsequent days of follow up which were found to be statistically significant (P-value ≤ 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curves suggest a satisfactory predictability of ANC changes by AMC values at admission, days1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.Conclusion: Monocytopenia holds a worse prognosis in chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia patients treated with G-CSF. In addition, AMC values at presentation represents a potential risk factor that can predict short-term changes regarding ANC measures.Keywords: febrile neutropenia, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, G-CSF, chemotherapy, absolute monocyte count, monocytopenia, absolute neutrophil count

Objective: Taxane-induced nail changes are considered as an important cosmetic manifestation with an incidence that reaches up to 44% of patients treated with taxane-included therapeutic regimens. In this article, we represent a clinical observational study to evaluate the effect of cosmetic nail lacquer on taxane-induced nail changes in female patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Methods: Prospectively, we identified those women who were diagnosed with breast cancer, scheduled to have AC-Taxol protocol. Any female with previous dermatological or systemic disorders that affect nails was excluded from the study. Patients were categorized into 2 groups based on the utilization of nail lacquer. The first group includes women who started to use the nail lacquer after development of nail changes. The second group comprises those women who did not use the nail lacquer at any occasion. Results: A total of 59 female patients were included in the study; 46 (78%) of them developed nail changes and the main change was nail discoloration. The first group which has used nail lacquer (17, 28.8%) showed an improvement among 15 (78.9%) patients, whereas 2 (7.4%) of them continued to have worsening symptoms. On the contrary, most of the second group (25, 92.9%) did not show any improvement in nail changes. A statistical significance between the tested groups was observed ( P = .000). There is no statistical association between the progression of nail changes and the age of patients. Conclusions: Taxane-induced nail changes are considered as an important clinical, cosmetic, and psychological complication, especially for female patients with cancer. This article suggests that nail lacquer may have an effect in the improvement of nail changes, especially nail discoloration. Further investigations are recommended to prove the efficacy of nail lacquer.

The Pharmacy One™ Poising Call Center (P1PCC), located in Amman, Jordan, was created to address deficiencies identified by the pharmacy service, including in the management of poisoning cases. The aims of this study were to analyze the patterns of poisoning cases reported to the P1PCC and to describe the role of the P1PCC pharmacist in ensuring preparedness and managing the response to poisoning cases. In addition, the information from these interventions was used to survey human poisoning in Jordan. This is a retrospective descriptive study of acute poisoning incidents in the Jordanian population, as recorded by the P1PCC during the period 2014‐2018. Inquiries received by the P1PCC were recorded on a predesigned form. The year, patient demographics, toxic agent involved, and circumstances of the poisoning event were all fully documented utilizing Oracle and Excel spreadsheets. A total of 1992 poisoning incidents were reported to the P1PCC, predominately (68.59%) via 911 phone calls. Reports were predominantly from males (1.67:1). Children were the second most common age group after adolescents (22.62% and 42.49%, respectively). The most frequent causative nonpharmaceutical agents were household products (17%) in preschool children and animal bites (20%) in adolescents. Most of the poisoning incidents (74.63%) occurred at home. Unintentional poisoning (54.12%), with mild medical outcomes (61.45%), accounted for most of the poisoning incidents caused by exposure to household products. These data may represent the most recent picture of poisoning incidents in Jordan. Emergency medical services were provided by experienced pharmacy practitioners at the P1PCC, to respond to emergency needs in the community in a professional manner. Therefore, the need for unnecessary hospitalization and the cost of ambulance dispatch were minimized, which are highly valuable outcomes.

The screening part of an earlier defined chiral separation strategy in capillary electrochromatography (CEC) was used for the separation of ten cathinone- and amphetamine derivatives. They were analyzed using 4 polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases (CSPs), containing cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (ODRH), amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (ADH), amylose tris(5-chloro-2-methylphenylcarbamate) (LA2), and cellulose tris(4-chloro-3-methylphenylcarbamate) (LC4) as chiral selectors. After applying the screening to each compound, ADH and LC4 showed the highest success rate. In a second part of the study, a comparison between CEC and other analytical techniques used for chiral separations i.e., supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), polar organic solvent chromatography (POSC), reversed-phase (RPLC) and normal-phase liquid chromatography (NPLC), was made. For this purpose, earlier defined screening approaches for each technique were applied to separate the 10 test substances. This allowed an overall comparison of the success rates of the screening steps of the 5 techniques for these compounds. The results showed that CEC had a similar enantioselectivity rate as NPLC and RPLC, producing the highest number of separations (9 out of 10 racemates). SFC resolved 7 compounds, while POSC gave only 2 separations. On the other hand, the baseline separation success rates for NPLC and RPLC was better than for CEC. For a second comparison, the same chiral stationary phases as in the CEC screening were also tested with all techniques at their specific screening conditions, which allowed a direct comparison of the performance of CEC versus the same CSPs in the other techniques. This comparison revealed that RPLC was able to separate all tested compounds, and also produced the highest number of baseline separations on the CSP that were used in the CEC screening step. CEC and NPLC showed the same success rate: nine out of ten substances were separated. When CEC and NPLC are combined, separation of the ten compounds can be achieved. SFC and POSC resolved eight and three compounds, respectively. POSC was the least attractive option as it expressed only limited enantioselectivity toward these compounds.

A generic chiral separation strategy for the analysis of acidic compounds in CEC is proposed in completion of an earlier defined strategy for nonacidic compounds. The screening step of this strategy uses a 45 mM ammonium formate (pH 2.9)/ACN (35/65, v/v) mobile phase, a temperature of 25°C, and an applied voltage of 15 kV. To update the screening step, eight chiral stationary phases, which all possessed chlorinated and nonchlorinated polysaccharide-based chiral selectors, were evaluated using the earlier defined screening conditions. A combination of the two types of polysaccharide-based chiral phases proved to have the highest cumulative success rate. In the updated screening step, amylose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (ADH), cellulose tris(4-methylbenzoate) (OJH), cellulose tris(3,5-dichlorophenylcarbamate) (SP5), and cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (ODRH) were included as selectors and their preferred screening sequence was determined as ADH > OJH > SP5 > ODRH. New optimization steps were also defined for SP5 by investigating the influences of different parameters on the separation outcome using an experimental design approach. After application of the updated strategy, 15 of 17 acidic pharmaceuticals were separated under screening conditions, of which 9 were baseline resolved. When the optimization steps were applied, another three compounds were baseline separated, while the total number of separations was increased by one, which brings the total number of separations to 16 of 17 with 12 baseline separated compounds. This reflects the successful performance of the updated strategy on acidic compounds.