This study aimed to investigate the effects of prenatal and lactational methcathinone exposure on the development and the learning and memory abilities of rat offspring using a Sprague-Dawley rat model. Pregnant and lactating rats were administered a consecutive daily dose of methcathinone (0.37 mg/kg) or an equivalent volume of saline by injection on gestational days 7-20 and postnatal days 2-15, respectively. The physical development and neurobehavioral test results of rat pups were recorded throughout the lactation period. Morris water maze (MWM) and novel object recognition (NOR) tests were performed from postnatal day 35 to day 42 to assess the learning and memory abilities of rat offspring in adolescence. The occurrence of hair growth and developments in neurological reflexes, such as improvements in limb grasp, righting reflex, and gait, were delayed in pups after perinatal methcathinone exposure compared with that in the control. Results from MWM and NOR tests indicate that perinatal methcathinone exposure induced deficits in spatial memory, learning ability, and novel object exploration in the adolescent offspring compared with that in the control. The impairment of spatial learning and memory was greater in the prenatal exposure group, while the impairment of novel object exploration was greater in the lactational exposure group. These data show that the prenatal and lactational methcathinone exposure induced the delay of physical and neurological reflex development and impaired learning and memory in rat offspring.PURPOSE This study aimed to estimate the health preference scores of the Chinese population with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) using the EQ-5D-5L Hong Kong (HK) population tariff according to different sociodemographic characteristics in HK. METHODS Data were obtained from a cross-sectional, territory-wide study of patient experience on specialist outpatient services in a public setting in HK. The EQ-5D-5L HK was used to collect the patients’ health status. A total of 2326 respondents were reported to suffer from DM, and their information was elicited and used for the analysis in this study. A robust ANOVA method was used to compare the differences in EQ-5D-5L index scores among subgroups. Binary logistic regressions were used to predict the probability of respondents reporting full health, and ordinal least square (OLS) model was used to assess the relationship between DM and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). RESULTS The mean EQ-5D-5L index score for DM patients was 0.84. A total of 229 EQ-5D health states were reported. Altogether, 47.5% of the respondents reported having some problems with pain/discomfort, followed by mobility (26.4%), usual activities (26.0%), and anxiety/depression (23.5%). Logistic regression and OLS models indicated that male and fully employed respondents were less likely to report having problems with any of the five dimensions and index score of EQ-5D than female and non-fully employed respondents. The findings of OLS model also showed that DM patients that experience comorbidity with three and more chronic conditions were more likely to show a lower index score than respondents who reported living with DM alone. CONCLUSION The EQ-5D index scores varied among DM patient characteristics and were more highly impaired with multimorbidity status. Interventions targeting at-risk subgroups, such as modifying single-diseased guidelines, might be helpful to improve their HRQoL.PURPOSE There is a lack of population-based data describing patient reported outcomes (PROs) in melanoma survivors which could guide the development of interventions and resources. This study assessed overall quality of life (QoL), self-reported symptoms and unmet information needs in melanoma survivors 1, 3 or 5 years post-diagnosis. METHODS A cross-sectional postal survey was conducted in Victoria, Australia, with eligible melanoma survivors identified from a population-based cancer registry. Patient-reported outcome measures included the EuroQoL 5-Dimension 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L), and self-reported symptoms, difficulties and information needs. Associations between demographic, disease and care-related factors and QoL were also assessed. RESULTS A total of 476 melanoma survivors participated in the study (response rate 46.5%). Anxiety and depressive symptoms were more prevalent in survivors compared to the general population (30.7% vs 21.6%; p  2 mm thickness were associated with lower QoL. CONCLUSION A large proportion of melanoma survivors reported ongoing quality of life deficits, fear of cancer recurrence, as well as unmet information needs up to 5 years after diagnosis. Patients may benefit from tailored informational resources and interventions that address the psychological aspects of living with and beyond melanoma.Recently, medical research has been shifting its focus to nanomedicine and nanotherapeutics in the pursuit of drug development research. Quantum dots (QDs) are a critical class of nanomaterials due to their unique properties, which include optical, electronic, and engineered biocompatibility in physiological environments. These properties have made QDs an attractive biomedical resource such that they have found application as both in vitro labeling and in vivo theranostic (therapy-diagnostic) agents. Considerable research has been conducted exploring the suitability of QDs in theranostic applications, but the cytotoxicity of QDs remains an obstacle. Several types of QDs have been investigated over the past decades, which may be suitable for use in biomedical applications if the barrier of cytotoxicity can be resolved. This review attempts to report and analyze the cytotoxicity of the major QDs along with relevant related aspects.Background Pharmaceutical promotion efforts should facilitate excellent quality patient care. However, there has been substantial debate about ethical principles related to pharmaceutical promotions. Objectives This study aimed to evaluate (i) attitudes toward pharmaceutical promotion among physicians in the private sector in Jordan, (ii) the impact of pharmaceutical promotion in influencing physicians’ prescribing practices, and (iii) the prospect of academic detailing on this issue in Jordan. Setting The private health care sector in Jordan. Methods In this cross-sectional study, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of physicians from the private health sector in Jordan during the period from December 2018 to March 2019. Descriptive statistics were conducted to describe physicians’ attitudes toward pharmaceutical promotions, factors affecting prescribing practices, and perceptions toward academic detailing. Logistic regression models were performed to investigate predictors of accepical promotions among physicians was associated with higher likelihood of being skeptic about pharmaceutical promotional activities. Physicians’ years of experience, payers’ factors, environmental factors and participation in drug committees were significantly associated with high impact of marketing activities on physicians’ prescribing practices (ORs of 1.2, 1.2, 1.49 and 0.43, respectively). The majority of participants in the current study reported positive attitudes toward applying academic detailing services in the future. Conclusions Education seems to play a crucial role in physicians’ attitudes toward pharmaceutical promotion. Academic detailing is a promising strategy to counteract unethical marketing practice.Objective To investigate the association between the medication exposure, measured by the polypharmacy/excessive polypharmacy and the anticholinergic and/or sedative drug exposure, on frailty status among French older community-dwelling patients. Setting day-care unit in France (Lyon), with retrospective data from July, 2017 to March, 2018. Method This monocentric cross-sectional study included community-dwelling patients aged 65 years and over and admitted at the day-care unit for a geriatric evaluation. Frailty was assessed according to the frailty phenotype, described by Fried et al. Polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy were defined as the concomitant use of 5-9 and 10 or more drugs, respectively. The cumulative anticholinergic and sedative exposure was measured using the drug burden index (DBI). The DBI score was presented in 4 differentiated scores a null score (DBI = 0), a combined score (anticholinergic and sedative score), an anticholinergic score, and a sedative score. The association between mediypharmacy and cumulative anticholinergic and sedative exposure are associated with frailty. Further research should address the potential benefit of collaborative medication review for preventing medication-associated frailty.Background Bullous pemphigoid has been associated to dipeptidase-4 inhibitors. Objectives Addressing the potential Bullous pemphigoid-dipeptidase-4 inhibitors association based on pharmacovigilance data currently available in Spain in order to obtain a composite disproportionality estimator from all the data generated by the case-non case studies conducted to this date. Setting The Spanish Pharmacovigilance System for Human Use Drugs database. Method Case-non case study based on the Spanish Pharmacovigilance System for Human Use Drugs notifications submitted between 2007 and 2018 (n = 169,280), using the Medical Dictionary for Regulatory Activities term (Preferred Term) 'pemphigoid’ for sitagliptin, vildagliptin, saxagliptin, linagliptin, and alogliptin (n = 1952). As negative control, we used acetaminophen, while furosemide was the positive control. A pooled reported odds ratio analysis in the French, Japanese, and Spanish national pharmacovigilance databases was performed. On The Spanish Pharmacovigilance Sh the pharmacological class as a whole and each of the dipeptidase-4 inhibitors agents under investigation. Metformin’s role in the incidence of bullous pemphigoid appeared casual rather than causal. No differences between Caucasian and Asian populations were noted.Background The effect of obesity on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of unfractionated heparin is not clearly understood, therefore to reduce the risk of bleeding, maximal dose (capped) nomograms are often used. This can lead to inadequate anticoagulation and increased mortality and morbidity. In Queensland, Australia, statewide nomograms recommend total-body-weight-based dosing, with capped initial bolus and maintenance doses. Objective To determine if current practices for unfractionated heparin dosing leads to inadequate anticoagulation in obese patients. Setting Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland, Australia. Method A retrospective audit of unfractionated heparin dosing in 200 patients divided into cohorts of;  150 kg, Main outcomes measured Mean maintenance doses in U/h and U/kg/h required to achieve two consecutive therapeutic activated partial thromboplastin times’ and the corresponding time to achieve this endpoint. Results The mean ± standard deviation maintenance doses required to achieve two consecutive therapeutic activated partial thromboplastin times’ in U/h were 1229 ± 316, 1673 ± 523, 2031 ± 596 and 2146 ± 846, and in U/kg/h were 16 ± 4.1, 15.1 ± 4.8, 14.9 ± 4.2 and 11.6 ± 4.2 for the weight cohorts respectively. The median time (inter-quartile range) to therapeutic activated partial thromboplastin times’ for obese patients was 39 (21.5-56) h. Conclusions Our results suggest inadequate dosing in obese patients. We recommend the use of larger absolute doses (U/h) of nfractionated heparin but reduced uncapped total body weight-based doses-(U/kg/h) as patient weight increases.