Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons^™

Expanding The Role Of Peer Tutors Through The Use Of Online Quizzes, Melinda E. Lull, Jennifer Mathews

Pharmacy Faculty/Staff Publications

Peer tutors are commonly used in higher education as a way to provide additional resources for student learning. Self‐testing, a type of formative assessment tool, provides students with a study tool that can help identify areas of weakness that require focus. Despite their usefulness, this type of additional learning resource can often be time consuming for faculty members, limiting its successful use across multiple courses. The use of peer tutors has been investigated and shown to provide advantages to both students utilizing tutoring services and tutors alike. Educating peer tutors to be involved in the academic process by preparing study …

The Biosynthesis Of Capuramycin-Type Antibiotics: Identification Of The A-102395 Biosynthetic Gene Cluster, Mechanism Of Self-Resistence, And Formation Of Uridine-5'-Carboxamide, Wenlong Cai, Anwesha Goswami, Zhaoyong Yang, Xiaodong Liu, Keith D. Green, Sandra Barnard-Britson, Satoshi Baba, Masanori Funabashi, Koichi Nonaka, Manjula Sunkara, Andrew J. Morris, Anatol P. Spork, Christian Ducho, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova, Jon S. Thorson, Steven Van Lanen

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

A-500359s, A-503083s, and A-102395 are capuramycin-type nucleoside antibiotics that were discovered using a screen to identify inhibitors of bacterial translocase I, an essential enzyme in peptidoglycan cell wall biosynthesis. Like the parent capuramycin, A-500359s and A-503083s consist of three structural components: a uridine-5'-carboxamide (CarU), a rare unsaturated hexuronic acid, and an aminocaprolactam, the last of which is substituted by an unusual arylamine-containing polyamide in A-102395. The biosynthetic gene clusters for A-500359s and A-503083s have been reported, and two genes encoding a putative non-heme Fe(II)-dependent α-ketoglutarate:UMP dioxygenase and an l-Thr:uridine-5'-aldehyde transaldolase were uncovered, suggesting that C-C bond formation during assembly of …

Haemophilus Influenzae Responds To Glucocorticoids Used In Asthma Therapy By Modulation Of Biofilm Formation And Antibiotic Resistance, Chris S. Earl, Tee Wooi Keong, Shi-Qi An, Sarah Murdoch, Yvonne Mccarthy, Junkal Garmendia, Joseph Ward, J Maxwell Dow, Liang Yang, George A. O'Toole, Robert P. Ryan

Dartmouth Scholarship

Glucocorticosteroids are used as a main treatment to reduce airway inflammation in people with asthma who suffer from neutrophilic airway inflammation, a condition frequently associ- ated with Haemophilus influenzae colonization. Here we show that glucocorticosteroids have a direct influence on the behavior of H. influenzae that may account for associated difficulties with therapy. Using a mouse model of infection, we show that cortico- steroid treatment promotes H. influenzae persistence. Transcrip- tomic analysis of bacteria either isolated from infected mouse airway or grown in laboratory medium identified a number of genes encoding regulatory factors whose expression responded to the presence of …

Analyzing Pain Medication Use And Adherence In Patients With Myotonic Dystrophy And Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophy, Bryan Fitzgerald, Amy L. Parkhill

Pharmacy Faculty/Staff Publications

Objectives: Myotonic dystrophy (DM) and facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) are two of the most common muscular dystrophies in adults. It has been reported that patients with these two disorders may suffer from pain and inadequate pain management. The purpose of this study is to analyze the current use of pain medications and develop a survey to assess pain medication use and adherence in this patient population.

Methods: Patients registered in the National Registry for DM and FSHD at the University of Rochester were surveyed on pain medication use and the most significant problem of their disease. After analysis of these surveys, …

Custom Fluorophores For Investigating The Cellular Uptake Mechanisms And Side-Effects Of Pharmaceuticals, Yu-Hsuan Chu

Dissertations and Theses

There is a significant current need to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the side-effects caused by widely-used pharmaceuticals. Examples include the acute nephrotoxicity and irreversible ototoxicity promoted by the cationic drugs gentamicin and cisplatin. Gentamicin is an aminoglycoside antibiotic used for the prevention and treatment of life-threatening gram-negative bacterial infections, such as tuberculosis and meningitis. Cisplatin is used to treat a broad spectrum of cancers including head and neck, ovarian, cervical, stomach, bladder, sarcoma, lymphoma, testicular cancer and others.

The objective of this study is to design and synthesize rhodamine derivatives that can be used for the construction of geometrically …

Analyzation Of Metabolic Reprogramming In Drug-Resistant Mcf-7 Cells, Derick Han, Ho Leung, Andrew Vo

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The Warburg effect states that cancer cells mainly receive their energy from anaerobic glycolysis. Thus, mitochondria play a different role in the metabolism of cancer cells as opposed to normal, healthy cells. In chemotherapy, there is always a chance of the cancer regressing. Making drug-resistant cancer cells to analyze their metabolism may change how cancer is treated. This study aimed to create drug-resistant MCF-7 cell lines with doxorubicin in order to determine the metabolic changes that have occurred in the process of becoming resistant to drug treatments.

Clinical Applications Of A Combination Chemotherapy Using 8-Chloro Camp And 8-Chloro Adenosine, Erik Munoz, Andrea Saich, Andrew Cox, Yu-An Peter Chang

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Dr. Cho-Chung from the NIH first thought to use halogenated cAMP derivatives as competitive inhibitors of cAMP to slow down cancer cell mitosis. While the iodine and bromine substituted versions showed very little therapeutic actions, 8-Chloro cAMP has been shown to have strong anti-cancer effects. This has been shown in the phase II clinical trials this drug has undergone. However, these trials have had issues with solubility and toxicity. The drug is similar to vitamin C and is excreted quickly. Scientists tried to overcome this by using a peristaltic pump to give patients a continuous dosage, but this proved too …

Programming Macrophage Inflammation Resolution: The Role Of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Boris Krasnov, Mathew Lombardozzi, Maria Caraballo, Ramil Sapinoro

Pharmacy Faculty/Staff Publications

It was previously thought that resolution of inflammation was a passive process, but recent emerging research has identified that resolution is an active process and that dual acting lipid mediators derived from essential omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have both anti-inflammatory (reducing neutrophil access to the inflamed tissue) and pro-resolving (removal of apoptotic cells by macrophages in the inflamed site) actions. The objective of our study was to determine the role of omega-3 PUFAs in programming phenotypic changes in treated macrophages. The polarization of macrophages during inflammatory responses to functionally distinct phenotypes may play a role in both inflammation and …

Critical Analysis Of The Confounding Of Clinical Trials, Eleanor L. Jordan

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

To provide a comprehensive overview of issues confounding clinical trials, Chapter 2 will discuss the parties involved in the research and development of medications and detail the individual responsibilities of each. However, the ambition of these individual entities often produces a conflict of interest especially when profits are involved [9]. Organizations and individuals such as insurance corporations, pharmaceutical companies (sponsors), pharmacy benefit managers, investigators (doctors/medical professionals) and most importantly patients, are all involved in carrying out clinical research and have definitive responsibilities they are required to follow for unbiased results. However, many rules are overlooked and biases go unrecorded causing …

Vaccine Education And Compliance Statistics In The Greater Indianapolis Area, Matthew Brennan Budi

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Background: Recently, rates of certain vaccine-preventable diseases have increased and outbreaks have occurred. For example, in 2014, the incidence of measles in the United States reached a record high since 2000, with 644 total cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Increases such as this may likely be due to widespread public fears that vaccines can cause serious adverse events.Therefore, due to their accessibility, pharmacists can play a crucial role in lessenning these public fears through proper education.

Study objective: The primary objective of this study was to dispel …

The Impact Of Peptide Nucleic Acid Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (Pna Fish®) Rapid Diagnostic Testing On The Initiation Of Appropriate Antifungal Therapy In Patients With Candida Species Bloodstream Infections, Jenna Lee Ksiazkiewicz

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Background: Traditional methods for detecting positive blood cultures include the use of broth bottles with sensitive indicators for growth. These techniques can take 24-48 hours to signal a positive test. Another 24 hours are often required to determine the species of the organism. The use of rapid diagnostic testing for Candida species bloodstream infections provides accurate species identification in less than two hours.

Objective: Evaluate the time to appropriate antifungal therapy in patients in which rapid diagnostic testing was utilized.

Methods: This study was a retrospective, observational cohort of patients who had positive blood cultures for Candida species and had …

The Nonmedical Use Of Prescription Stimulants Among Students With High Academic Standing, Megan L. Dwyer

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

College students report one of the highest rates of the nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (NPS). Research has shown that use is more common among students who have high levels of perceived stress, such as honors students. The purpose of this study was to determine whether honors students reported higher rates of NPS than their non-honors peers with high academic standing. It was hypothesized that honors students would report higher rates of use. The instrument used in this study was an email survey that was administered electronically through the online Qualtrics Survey system. The survey request was sent to 3,530 …

Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles Inhibit Lipopolysaccharide Inducedmap Kinase/Nf-Kb Mediated Severe Sepsis, Mani Maheshwari, Nandini Manne Phd, Shinichi Asano, Eric Blough, Kevin M. Rice, Niraj Nepa,, Erin Fankhanel

Pharmaceutical Science and Research

The life threatening disease of sepsis is associated with high mortality. Septic patient survivability with currently available treatments has failed to improve. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced sepsis mortality and associated hepatic dysfunction can be prevented by cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2NPs) treatment in male Sprague Dawley rats. Here we provide the information about the methods processing of raw data related to our study published in Biomaterials (Selvaraj et al., Biomaterials, 2015, In press) and Data in Brief (Selvaraj et al., Data in Brief, 2015, In Press). The data present here provides confirmation …

The Effects Of Rhein And Thymoquinone On Obesity And Diabetes In Diet-Induced Obese Mice., Emily Martell

Senior Honors Projects

Natural product extracts and chemicals isolated from natural products (e.g. plants, berries, seeds) have been commonly used in various types of traditional medicines. In addition, some drugs on the market today have been derived from natural product sources. The purpose of our study was to evaluate two natural products, Rhein and Thymoquinone, for as potential anti-diabetic and anti–obesity agents. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the number of people in the US diagnosed with diabetes has increase from 11.9 million people in the year 2000 to 20.8 million people in the year 2011. Rhein is a natural compound …

Anti-Neoplastic Effects Of Extracts From Gnaphalium Gracile On Colon, Pancreatic, And Prostate Cancer Cells, Joshua R. Canter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Over 4,000 flavonoids have been identified, and among these, many of them are known to possess cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antitumor effects. However, most of these properties have yet to be fully understood. In this study, extracts from Gnaphalium gracile, thought to possess a mixture of flavonoids, have been tested for cytotoxic activity on pancreatic (MiaPaca, Panc28), colon (HCT-116, Caco-2), and prostate (PC3, LNCaP), cancer cell lines. Polar extracts from the leaves of G. gracile have the most cytotoxic effect on these cancer cell lines, particularly the prostate cancer cell lines PC3 and LNCaP. Evidence suggests the extracts have …

Evaluation Of A Pharmacist-Led Medication Assessment Used To Identify Prevalence Of And Associations With Polypharmacy And Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use Among Ambulatory Senior Adults With Cancer., Ginah Nightingale, Emily Hajjar, Kristine Swartz, Jocelyn Andrel-Sendecki, Andrew Chapman

College of Pharmacy Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: The use of multiple and/or inappropriate medications in seniors is a significant public health problem, and cancer treatment escalates its prevalence and complexity. Existing studies are limited by patient self-report and medical record extraction compared with a pharmacist-led comprehensive medication assessment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively examined medication use in ambulatory senior adults with cancer to determine the prevalence of polypharmacy (PP) and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use and associated factors. PP was defined as concurrent use of five or more and less than 10 medications, and excessive polypharmacy (EPP) was defined as 10 or more medications. PIMs were …

Alternating Magnetic Field-Induced Hyperthermia Increases Iron Oxide Nanoparticle Cell Association/Uptake And Flux In Blood-Brain Barrier Models, Mo Dan, Younsoo Bae, Thomas A. Pittman, Robert A. Yokel

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

PURPOSE: Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are being investigated for brain cancer therapy because alternating magnetic field (AMF) activates them to produce hyperthermia. For central nervous system applications, brain entry of diagnostic and therapeutic agents is usually essential. We hypothesized that AMF-induced hyperthermia significantly increases IONP blood-brain barrier (BBB) association/uptake and flux.

METHODS: Cross-linked nanoassemblies loaded with IONPs (CNA-IONPs) and conventional citrate-coated IONPs (citrate-IONPs) were synthesized and characterized in house. CNA-IONP and citrate-IONP BBB cell association/uptake and flux were studied using two BBB Transwell^® models (bEnd.3 and MDCKII cells) after conventional and AMF-induced hyperthermia exposure.

RESULTS: …

An Information Privacy Examination Of The Practices Of Pharmaceutical Companies Regarding Use Of Information Collected Through Their Websites, Shonda Dellena Brown

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Consumers have begun to take a more proactive approach to their healthcare by accessing pharmaceutical companies Websites to obtain health and drug information, support groups, rebates, coupons, as well as free drug trials. In exchange for these benefits, companies require consumers to voluntarily disclose information. However, research has shown that consumers continue to be concerned about how their information is managed, used, and distributed by companies, especially if accessed via the Web. To date, there has been limited empirical research to examine the actual online practices of companies when it comes to privacy, especially those of pharmaceutical companies. Using Delphi …

Periodontal Disease: Molecular Visualization Through Computer Modeling And 3d Printing, Catherine Chatowsky

Senior Honors Projects

Periodontal disease is a common infection that damages gingival tissue and creates jawbone destruction that can lead to the loosening or loss of teeth. Hundreds of diverse bacterial species reside in the harsh environment of the oral cavity. The creation of plaque and biofilms serve to allow the bacteria to avoid immune-mediated destruction. This project analyzed periodontal disease pathogens using molecular printing 3D visualization. Two bacterial species (T. denticola and P. gingivalis) were chosen from the public resource: Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics: Protein Data Bank. T. denticola was a bacteria found to have a binding protein (FhbB) …

Phenytoin-Induced Purple Glove Syndrome: A Case Report And Review Of The Literature, John Okogbaa, Ifeanyi Onor, Oluwatoyin Arije, Martha Harris, Rebecca Lillis

Faculty and Staff Publications

OBJECTIVE:To present a case report and literature review of phenytoin-induced purple glove syndrome (PGS).CASE SUMMARY:A 54-year-old African American male presented to our hospital's emergency department (ED) following a seizure episode, cardiac arrest, and loss of consciousness. On arrival to the ED, the patient's total phenytoin level was subtherapeutic at 4.1 mcg/mL and his corrected total phenytoin level was subtherapeutic at 5.1 mcg/mL. In the ED, the patient received a loading dose of intravenous (IV) phenytoin 1,000 mg once via the left cephalic vein, at a rate of 50 mg/min, and was admitted to the medicine service. A day following IV …