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Background Community pharmacists must be well-equipped to advance pharmacogenomics services. Nevertheless, limited data is available regarding pharmacists' knowledge and attitudes toward pharmacogenomics testing. The present study aimed to evaluate community pharmacists' knowledge and attitudes toward pharmacogenomics testing in the UAE. Methods In this cross-sectional study, a validated, online, self-administered survey, was randomly distributed to community pharmacists across the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Results The participants demonstrated poor knowledge about pharmacogenomic testing (median score < 8). Having 10–29 (Adjusted odds ration [AOR]: 0.038; 95% CI: 0.01–0.146, p  = 0.001) and 30–49 (AOR: 0.097; 95% CI: 0.04–0.237, p  = 0.001) patients per day was associated with poorer knowledge. Also, receiving 10–29 (AOR: 0.046; 95% CI: 0.005–0.401, p  = 0.005), 30–49 (AOR: 0.025; 95% CI: 0.003–0.211, p  = 0.001), and > 50 (AOR: 0.049; 95% CI: 0.005–0.458, p  = 0.008) prescriptions decreased the odds of having good knowledge. Around half (43.9%) of the participants did not show a positive attitude toward pharmacogenomic testing (median score < 11). Having 30–49 patients per day (AOR: 5.351; 95% CI: 2.414–11.860, p  = 0.001) increased the odds of good knowledge while receiving 10–29 (AOR: 0.133; 95% CI: 0.056–0.315, p  = 0.001) and 30–49 (AOR: 0.111; 95% CI: 0.049–0.252, p  = 0.001) prescriptions a day were associated with decreased odds of positive attitude toward the pharmacogenomics testing. Conclusions The findings indicate a lack of knowledge and less-than-ideal attitudes among community pharmacists regarding pharmacogenomics testing. Enhanced efforts focused on educational initiatives and training activities related to pharmacogenomics testing is needed. Additionally, reducing workload can facilitate better knowledge acquisition and help mitigate unfavorable attitudes.

Background: Recently, a plethora of events have affected the statin arena such as muscle-induced myalgia, myopathy, myositis, rare rhabdomyolysis, and new-onset diabetes. The latest statin pitavastatin has emerged with descent stamina (optimum efficacy and improved safety). Objective: The objective of the current review is to explore the pros and cons of pitavastatin as a novel second-generation statin in terms of efficacy and safety that delineate its clinical utility. Methods: The review was conducted via EBSCO hosted Medline search (AL Ain University, UAE subscription) for relevant English written literature articles containing \"pitavastatin\" as the primary search term \"pitavastatin and safety;\" \"pitavastatin and efficacy\" and \"pitavastatin and safety and randomized clinical trials;\" and \"pitavastatin and efficacy and randomized clinical trials.\" Results: The number of articles containing the word \"pitavastatin\" as the primary search term used was (n = 901). The next retrieves MeSH term was \"pitavastatin and safety\" (n = 99) and then \"pitavastatin and efficacy\" (n = 132). Furthermore, narrowing down the search by adding study design terms revealed: \"pitavastatin and safety and randomized clinical trials,\" (n = 10) and \"pitavastatin and efficacy and randomized clinical trials\" (n = 13). Combining the two main searches (safety and efficacy) has yielded 23 items, of which 15 articles were satisfying the current mini-review criteria. The prominent efficacy of pitavastatin was depicted by the increase in high-dense lipoprotein cholesterol and a decrease in low-dense lipoprotein cholesterol as illustrated by the clinical trials in the results and discussions section. The safety was enlightened with a very low propensity to cause new-onset diabetes and a low tendency for statin-induced muscular adverse events. Conclusion: Pitavastatin might be suitable for patients with the acute coronary syndrome (ACS), metabolic syndrome, and patients with diabetes. We highly recommend rational individualization for the selection of statin, especially in patients with diabetes and/or with ACS.

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most prevalent cancers and the leading cause of cancer related deaths among women worldwide with a steadily increasing global annual incidence. This study aims is to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of females in the UAE toward BC and Breast Self-Examination practice in the seven Emirates. This was a face-to-face questionnaire-based study using CAM (Breast Cancer Awareness Measure) conducted over 3 months (from March to June 2019) on a random sample of females across the UAE. Of the 400 females who filled the questionnaire, 112 (28%) did the CBE at least once, and 184 (46%) practice BSE. Only 33% of participants were aware of the incidence of the BC in the UAE and those females were more likely to practice BSE (P < 0.05). In contrast, the majority showed a high awareness level in identifying cancer as a curable (91.5%) and non-transmittable (87%) disease that can be diagnosed at its earlier stages (93%). Only 11% of the participants identified weight reduction as a way to prevent BC. Knowledge of breast cancer sign/symptoms were good, as 41–87% of respondents were able to identify at least a single sign/symptom. The lack of awareness of BC among females in the UAE is of concern as it leads to low practices of screening and early detection, which ultimately will result in increased morbidity, mortality, and treatment costs. Further initiatives should be taken to increase practice, knowledge and awareness on early detection and screening for BC in the UAE community.

Background Medical students encounter various stressors during their studies. The study aimed to assess stress levels, sources, and associated determinants among Sudanese medical students. Method An online questionnaire-based study was conducted among 617 undergraduate medical students of 6 different universities in Sudan. A 19-item questionnaire was utilized to assess stress sources, in addition to demographics, stress manifestations, and coping strategies. Results The overall prevalence of stress was 31.7% ( p  < 0.05). The main sources of stress were time pressure, heavy workload, fear of failure, and examination frequency. One-third of students indicated that they experienced at least one source of psychosocial- and teaching-related stress. Female medical students were more significantly stressed due to academics than males. Also, fourth- and fifth-year students were academically more stressed in comparison to the first-year students. Poisson regression analysis model showed that first-year students were less stressed than the final-year students in relation to academics (odds = 0.888, P  = 0.003). Male medical students, across all study years, were far less stressed than females (odds = 0.901, P  = 0.000153). Expectedly, ‘studying medicine by choice’ was associated with decreased odds for psychosocial stressors (odds = 0.885, P  = 0.00781), and improved model-fit (chi-squared = 6.8952, P  = 0.008643). Also, the year of study was a predictor of teaching-related stress development. Conclusions Female medical students were more stressed due to academics than males. On the other hand, final-year students were more academically stressed than first-year students. Female medical students were likely having stress related to academic stress development, while being first-year medical student was a predictor of not developing academic stress. Studying medicine by choice’ was associated with ability to cope against stress.

Background: Despite significant advancements in healthcare, the burden of stroke continues to rise in the developed world, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Association between COVID-19 infection and stroke is well established. Factors identified for the delay in presentation and management include a lack of awareness regarding stroke. We aimed to assess the general public knowledge and attitudes on stroke and stroke risk factors in the United Arab Emirates during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2021 and January 2022 among adults≥ 18 years old. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire on sociodemographic characteristics and stroke knowledge and attitudes. Knowledge and attitude scores were calculated based on the number of correct responses. Linear regression analysis was performed to determine the factors related to knowledge and attitude towards stroke. Results: Of the 500 respondents, 69.4% were females, 53.4% were aged between 18 and 25, and nearly half were students (48.4%). The mean knowledge score was 13.66 (range 2-24). Hypertension (69%), smoking (63.2%), stress (56.4%) obesity/overweight (54.4%), and heart disease (53.6%) were identified as risk factors. Overall, the knowledge of signs/symptoms was suboptimal. The mean attitude score was 4.41 (range, 1-6); 70.2% would call an ambulance if someone were having a stroke. A monthly income of 11,000-50,000 AED and being a student were associated with positive knowledge. Being a non-health worker and lacking access to electronic media sources were associated with worse attitudes. Conclusion: Overall, we identified poor knowledge and suboptimal attitudes toward stroke. These findings reflect the need for effective public health approaches to improve stroke awareness, knowledge, and attitudes for effective prevention in the community. Presently, this is of utmost necessity, given the increased occurrence of stroke and its severity among COVID-19 patients.

Background: It would be rational to describe the pattern of the clinical characteristics of the survivors and the nonsurvivors during the critical intensive-infection era of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The explicit objective of the current scoping review was to delineate the predictive risk factors associated with case fatality rate (CFR). Methods: Six retrospective studies of subjects infected with COVID-19 published between December 1, 2020, and March 30, 2020, describing nonsurvivors in Wuhan/Hubei, China, were identified. Results: There were 1769 subjects with a mean age of 52 years, and 65.9% were male. The highest comorbidity reported was cardiovascular diseases at 22.2% (393/1769). The overall number of cases admitted to the intensive care unit was 228 (12.9%). The reported overall CFR was 7.7% (136/1769), with the highest at 28.2% (54/191), and the lowest at 1.4% (15/1099). The mean duration of onset until death for nonsurvivors was 15.3 days. Conclusion: We have found that older age, male gender, the longer duration from onset till death (days), development of acute respiratory distress syndrome/shock, preexisting diabetes, and preexisting cardiovascular diseases were the major risk factors associated with high CFR.

The human body is a superorganism that harbors trillions of microbes, most of which inhabit the gut. To colonize our bodies, these microbes have evolved strategies to regulate the immune system and maintain intestinal immune homeostasis by secreting chemical mediators. There is much interest in deciphering these chemicals and furthering their development as novel therapeutics. In this work, we present a combined experimental and computational approach to identifying functional immunomodulatory molecules from the gut microbiome. Based on this approach, we report the discovery of lactomodulin, a unique peptide from Lactobacillus rhamnosus that exhibits dual anti-inflammatory and antibiotic activities and minimal cytotoxicity in human cell lines. Lactomodulin reduces several secreted proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-8, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α. As an antibiotic, lactomodulin is effective against a range of human pathogens, and is most potent against antibiotic-resistant strains such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE). The multifunctional activity of lactomodulin affirms that the microbiome encodes evolved functional molecules with promising therapeutic potential.

Patient satisfaction is a critical metric for enhancing service quality, meeting regulatory standards, and validating patient-reported outcomes in healthcare. Community pharmacies play a vital role in healthcare delivery, yet there is limited research on patient satisfaction with these services in the UAE. This study aims to identify key factors influencing patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical care services provided by community pharmacies in the UAE. A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted from December 1st, 2023, to April 30th, 2024. A systematic intercept sampling method was used to ensure a representative sample of 505 patients from various regions of the UAE. Data were collected through structured questionnaires covering demographic details, pharmacy visit experiences, and satisfaction levels. Statistical analyses, including chi-square tests, t-tests, and binary logistic regression, were performed using SPSS 27. The study found that most participants most frequently used chain pharmacies (62.38%) and were highly satisfied with factors like lighting (91.29%) and pharmacist attentiveness (83.96%). Key drivers of satisfaction included convenient locations, accessible designs, and communication-related factors.. However, challenges such as the lack of private counseling areas (59.01%), limited access to medical files (77.62%), and inadequate prescription areas for private conversations (53.29%) were highlighted. Satisfaction was significantly lower in the Northern Emirates compared to Abu Dhabi, while differences involving Al Ain did not reach statistical significance. Providing sufficient time for medication advice (OR: 16.21, p < 0.001) and ease of waiting times (OR: 4.29, p = 0.016) improved satisfaction. The findings underscore the importance of both environmental and interpersonal factors in shaping patient satisfaction with community pharmacies. Enhancing pharmacy accessibility, communication, and the quality of pharmacist-patient interactions can significantly improve patient experiences. Future research should further explore overall satisfaction and investigate targeted improvements in pharmacy practices across different regions and settings.

Summary The physiological role of autophagic flux within the vascular endothelial layer remains poorly understood. Here, we show that in primary endothelial cells, oxidized and native LDL stimulates autophagosome formation. Moreover, by both confocal and electron microscopy, excess native or modified LDL appears to be engulfed within autophagic structures. Transient knockdown of the essential autophagy gene ATG7 resulted in higher levels of intracellular 125I-LDL and oxidized LDL (OxLDL) accumulation, suggesting that in endothelial cells, autophagy may represent an important mechanism to regulate excess, exogenous lipids. The physiological importance of these observations was assessed using mice containing a conditional deletion of ATG7 within the endothelium. Following acute intravenous infusion of fluorescently labeled OxLDL, mice lacking endothelial expression of ATG7 demonstrated prolonged retention of OxLDL within the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroidal endothelium of the eye. In a chronic model of lipid excess, we analyzed atherosclerotic burden in ApoE-/-mice with or without endothelial autophagic flux. The absence of endothelial autophagy markedly increased atherosclerotic burden. Thus, in both an acute and chronic in vivo model, endothelial autophagy appears critically important in limiting lipid accumulation within the vessel wall. As such, strategies that stimulate autophagy, or prevent the age-dependent decline in autophagic flux, might be particularly beneficial in treating atherosclerotic vascular disease.