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Objective: To evaluate pharmacists' behavioral intention to use personal digital assistants (PDAs) in their profession, by means of the Extended Technology Acceptance Model (ETAM)., Design: Prospective cross-sectional study., Setting: Hospital and community pharmacies in Houston, TX, in 2004., Participants: Convenience sample of 295 practicing pharmacists., Intervention: A prevalidated survey containing 30 items, evaluated on a 5-point Likert scale (1, strongly disagree, to 5, strongly agree), which measured the ETAM variables., Main Outcome Measures: Predictors of intention to use PDA for pharmacists owning the device., Results: Among the surveyed population, 49% of pharmacists owned PDAs. Overall, the ETAM constructs showed fairly good reliability. Stepwise regression analysis showed that the ETAM explained 69% of the variance in intention to use PDAs for pharmacists owning the device. Result demonstrability (beta = 0.53), subjective norm (beta = 0.25), and voluntariness (beta = -0.10) were significant (P < 0.05) predictors of pharmacists' intention to use PDAs., Conclusion: ETAM proved useful in predicting pharmacists' behavior in using PDAs. With improvements in technology, PDAs be an effective tool for pharmacists in providing better patient care.

RNA folds into diverse structures that form unique targets for small molecules and thus provide significant potential for controlling biological processes involving RNA with small-molecule ligands. We are investigating molecular recognition of tetraloop RNA by small molecules. RNA tetraloops are four-nucleotide stem loops with unusual stability that are involved in biological processes involving RNA by forming binding sites for proteins and other RNAs. We have sequentially used the docking programs DOCK and AutoDock to screen 1990 small molecules in the NCI diversity set to identify molecules selective for RNA tetraloops over double-stranded RNA. The compounds predicted to bind to tetraloop RNA were evaluated for binding RNA tetraloops using 1H NMR spectroscopy and fluorescence techniques. An aminoacridine derivative (AD2) was identified that binds to a GAAA tetraloop in a 2:1 ratio with dissociation constants of 1.0 and 4.0 microM. AD2 binds with approximately 20-fold and 9-fold higher affinity to tetraloop RNA than to double- and single-stranded RNAs, respectively.

A study was undertaken to determine consumer knowledge and perceptions of formularies. A prevalidated survey containing 11 scored items was administered to 714 consumers waiting to receive prescription medications at 72 community pharmacies in Houston. Overall, these consumers were satisfied with their prescription insurance plans, but their attitudes toward formularies were negative, and the negative perceptions were significantly correlated with satisfaction scores. However, only 25% of the surveyed population had a copy of the formulary, so that a large majority had no knowledge of their formulary or the types of drugs it covered. Efforts to educate patients may reduce the difficulty faced by pharmacists in explaining formulary issues to consumers.