Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons^™

Innovative Novel Immunotherapies For The Treatment Of Glioblastoma Multiforme, Salma Salem

Open Access Theses

Glioblastoma Multiforme GBM is a very aggressive type of malignant brain tumors that affects peoples’ lives. The diffusive, infiltrative, and metastatic behaviour of GBM is the major reason for the disease recurrence. The morphological and immunohistological characteristics of Central Nervous System (CNS) tumors including GBM are heterogeneous. GBM is either primary (de novo) or secondary to low-grade astrocytomas.

Current treatment options include surgery, radiotherapy, and temozolomide chemotherapy have not achieved any improvement in success rates over the past decades. The survival time reached by GBM patients was approximately 12 months only after being treated with radiotherapy alone without temozolomide. However, …

Design, Optimization, And Characterization Of Novel Polymer-Based Formulations For Controlled Release Of Drugs, Mario Alberto Cano Vega

Open Access Theses

Pharmaceutical products are a key aspect of treatment and prevention of disease. For example, dibenzazepine (DBZ) is a drug that has proved to be useful for the treatment of obesity while progesterone is a common drug for hormonal replacement therapy in women. However, administration of these drugs by conventional dosage forms offers little control over the drug distribution and concentration in the body and often result in unintended adverse consequences on other cells/tissues.

Recent advances in nanotechnology and polymer science have enabled the design and development of controlled release systems that would allow spatiotemporal delivery of drugs with improved efficacy. …

The Impact Of Care Coordination On Community Pharmacist-Delivered Medication Therapy Management, Stephanie A. Gernant

Open Access Theses

Background: Care coordination is imperative to successful patient outcomes. However, community pharmacists are commonly excluded from health information exchange during care coordination. One of the ways pharmacists deliver care, through medication therapy management (MTM), could be optimized if pharmacists engaged in care coordination through review of unedited patient medical records in preparation for a section of the MTM, the comprehensive medication review (CMR).^ Methods: This was a non-blinded randomized controlled trial undertaken within the Medication Safety Research network of Indiana, also known as RxSafeNet. RxSafeNet is a community pharmacy practice based research network. Pharmacists were randomized to deliver CMR’s to …

The Impact Of An Omega-3 Enriched Diet On Hyperactivity And Biochemistry In An Animal Model For Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Nadine M. Hammoud

Open Access Theses

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most diagnosed behavioral disorder in children. It affects around 5% of children worldwide and 11% of children in the United States, with rates increasing. Pharmaceutical treatments, such as amphetamines and methylphenidates, are not effective for everyone and are known to have unwanted side effects. While the etiology of the disorder is not yet fully understood, there are clear genetic and environmental components. Nutritional insufficiencies have recently become a popular environmental risk factor under investigation. Essential fatty acids (EFA), omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in particular, are needed for proper brain development and function. Our lab …

Pharmacist Collaborative Drug Therapy Management In U.S. Hospitals, Pragya Mishra

Open Access Theses

The objectives for this study were to 1) assess the current extent, scope and perceptions of CDTM in U.S. hospitals, 2) determine the associations between hospital characteristics, pharmacy director characteristics, and perceptions of CDTM, 3) investigate hospitals' short-term and long-term plans regarding CDTM, and 4) identify pharmacy directors' views about the major facilitators and barriers for CDTM in hospitals.

A self-administered written survey was mailed to a national random sample of hospitals stratified by state. Pharmacy directors indicated whether any pharmacists were engaged in CDTM, what CDTM activities were permitted, and in what treatment categories CDTM was permitted. Demographic data …

Prediction Of The Stress At The Inlet Of The Nip Region In A Roll Compactor, Timothy Patterson

Open Access Theses

The stress at the inlet nip region of a roll compactor (i.e., feeder outlet stress) is a necessary input parameter for existing powder roll compaction models; however the nip region inlet stress is poorly understood and difficult to directly measure. The inability to specify the nip region inlet stress on a roll compactor limits comparisons between powder roll compaction models and experimental results. Therefore, this thesis investigates the application of a solid plug model to a powder feed screw of a roll compactor in order to predict the stress at the inlet nip region.

The feeder outlet stress predictions of …

Risk Attitudes And Characteristics Of Student Pharmacists Across Cohorts, Kristin Rose Villa

Open Access Theses

In unstable environments, adaptation is a prerequisite for survival of organizations or groups. The Affordable Care Act has created a changing environment for health care providers. Unfortunately for Pharmacy, innovation within our profession has languished, leaving pharmacists in a precarious position. Many have noted the stagnation of the profession; in fact it has been a recurring theme in the commentary over the last five decades. The dialogue has focused on the externalities that represent barriers to the profession's evolution, including the direction change should take and the legal or organizational issues that inhibit change and innovation. Little attention has been …

Controlling Protein Release Using Biodegradable Microparticles, Benjamin Patrick Kline

Open Access Theses

Research in the field of protein therapeutics has exploded over the past decade and continues to grow in both academia and in industry. Protein drugs have advantages of being highly specific and highly active making them coveted targets for high profile disease states like cancer and multiple sclerosis. Unfortunately, their many advantages are complemented by their obstacles. Because proteins are highly active and highly specific, the window between efficacy and toxicity is very narrow and drug development can be long and arduous. In addition, protein activity is dependent on its specific folding conformation that is easily disrupted by a variety …