Purpose: To evaluate the current prescription pattern and appropriateness of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) in two of the largest tertiary hospitals in Jordan, and also to determine their utilization rate among the admitted patients. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted over 10 months (February-November 2013)

Targeting the genetic material without destruction is a priority to develop safe anticancer drugs. Histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8), which is proved to be involved in carcinogenesis, is an enzyme associated with the chromatin for post-translational deacetylation of acetylated lysine. In this study, HDAC8 cocrystallized with the intermediate state tetrapeptide Trapoxin A (TA) inhibitor and the holoenzyme are utilized to find their conformational ensembles. Furthermore, the co-crystallized intermediate gem-diolate TA was used to find optimum interactions with the active site residues by conventional molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and QM/MM umbrella sampling. Finally, the intermediate state of the acetyl-L-lysine substrate was explored by QM/MM steered MD and compared to the binding of the intermediate state of the inhibitor. This research showed that HDAC8 is flexible and exists in conformational ensembles in its holoenzyme state. Binding of the intermediate state TA stabilizes its conformation. The optimum binding to the active site of HDAC8 for structures of gem-diolate TA (intermediate state) and acetyl-L-lysine (intermediate state) was determined according to the corresponding energy profiles. The use of these models will aid in the design of potentially reversible, potent, and selective inhibitors of HDAC8 for cancer treatment.

Introduction Seasonal influenza is considered as one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. This needs solutions to decrease burdens on the healthcare systems especially during the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Population knowledge, perception and attitude towards influenza vaccine during COVID-19 pandemic could have a positive impact to decrease mortality, morbidity and burdens on the healthcare system. This study focuses on investigating knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of Jordanian adults towards influenza vaccine during COVID-19 pandemic Methods This cross-sectional study recruited 1112 randomly selected Jordanian adults. A four-section questionnaire was designed and included questions about the demographic and clinical characteristics, perception about influenza, attitudes towards the role of influenza vaccine during COVID-19 pandemic and the factors that affect respondents’ practice towards influenza vaccine. Results 73.1% population were not vaccinated, and most of them were not willing to be vaccinated during COVID-19 pandemic. 55% of the population thought that influenza vaccine decreases the burdens on Jordanian healthcare system. Major refusal factor to be vaccinated was not considering influenza a threat (41.3%). People mostly got their information about influenza vaccine form the social media (64.3%) and there was neglected role of the pharmacist and physician. Conclusions The reinforcement of the role of pharmacists, physician and media to educate people about importance of influenza vaccine during COVID-19 is needed. Furthermore, campaigns should be conducted to increase the population awareness towards influenza vaccine uptake and its importance.

Background The fact that pharmacists are in the front line of patients’ care gives a great responsibility to focus on education and training of pharmacy students to build a ‘patient-centered’ clinicians. Unfortunately, pharmacy education in the developing countries, have been lagging behind actual practice delivered by pharmacists. This highlighted the need to evaluate the perceptions of undergraduate pharmacy students regarding their current pharmacy training practices and experiences. Methods This is a cross-sectional study that was conducted in Jordan during the period from August 2018 to October 2018. During the study period, a questionnaire was distributed to pharmacy students to collect information regarding 1) pharmaceutical care services provided by them during their experiential training, 2) their perceptions towards training sites, 3) their perceptions of the outcomes of their training experience, 4) information about their training site and 5) their demographics characteristics. Results A total of 202 pharmacy students responded to the questionnaire. The majority of them reported having the opportunity to dispense refill or new prescriptions (73.8%, n = 149), and conduct patient interviews (69.8%, n = 141, but they were not provided good opportunities to create electronic patient profiles using the information obtained (53.0%, n = 107), perform required dose calculations based on patient information (37.6%, n = 76), and interact with other healthcare professionals (34.6%, n = 70). In addition, students showed positive attitudes toward training sites, positive feedback about the outcomes of their training experience (median scores range between 4 and 5 for all statements (IQR = 1 for all)). Conclusion Students showed positive feedback about the outcomes of their training experience, but they felt that the selected training sites do not have adequate resources to meet their training competencies. Memorandums of understanding development is needed to specify the purpose of training and define the responsibility for both parties of the training process.

Purpose: To characterize vancomycin pharmacokinetic properties in a Jordanian population and identify patients' characteristics that influence vancomycin disposition. Method: A non-linear mixed-effects modeling was applied to evaluate vancomycin population pharmacokinetic parameters in Jordanian patients using NONMEM software. Vancomycin concentrations were obtained retrospectively from patients' medical records. Demographic, clinical, medication-related, and medical history data were collected and examined as potential predictors of vancomycin disposition. Results: A total of 164 plasma vancomycin measurements from 110 patients, including neonates, older children and adults were collected. Vancomycin pharmacokinetics was described using a onecompartment model. Based on NONMEM objective function value, the selection of other models (e.g., two or three compartments) did not improve the performance of the pharmacokinetic model. Identified predictors of vancomycin clearance include: weight, serum creatinine, chronic renal failure, acute kidney injury and gender. Vancomycin volume of distribution was associated with weight and n-acetylcystine administration. Conclusion: The present analysis is a preliminary step toward developing a vancomycin dosing algorithm in Jordanian population.