No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

One of the most challenging tasks faced by the pharmaceutical researchers is the ophthalmic drug delivery. Their aim is to obtain and maintain a therapeutic level at the site of action for prolonged period of time. Therefore, to sustain drug levels at the target site for a sufficient time, novel drug delivery techniques should be developed. Ophthalmic drug delivery has proved significant advancement for future point of view. This article evaluates a variety of novel systems for ophthalmic drug delivery.

Abstract:Objectives: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global health problem with about 2 billion infected persons. Pakistan is one of the endemic areas for viral hepatitis B. Prevention is merely a safe approach rather than curing against high incidence of viral hepatitis. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the knowledge and awareness of HBV infection, its prevention and transmission, perception of HBV vaccine and vaccination status among young females of Karachi, Pakistan. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted from Oct till Dec 2014 by adopting a pre-validated questionnaire distributed to female individuals in Karachi, Pakistan. Descriptive statistics were used to demonstrate students' demographic information and their response to the questionnaire items. Kruskal Wallis H test was executed to evaluate the association of age and educational status of the respondents with their response. A p-value <0.05 was considered as significant. Results: Out of 550 survey questionnaires, only 434 were returned back in useable form. Hence the response rate was 78.9%. More than 90% had knowledge of HBV infection and 85.94% knew that HBV infection can be prevented by vaccination. However, only 17% had received HBV vaccination during childhood. 67.05% and 54.60% knew that HBV can be transmitted from mother to infant and an infected mother may transmit hepatitis B to her newborn baby through breast milk respectively. Only 24% had been tested for HBV in adulthood. General excuses for not having their HBV status tested, were lack of motivation (36.76%) and lack of time to check (21.54%). Conclusion: It indicates that majority of respondents showed some awareness of HBV and its related consequences. Yet, there are some misapprehensions regarding the attitudes that imitate a fallacy perception of the disease. It identifies a more standardized approach coupled with the well-structured health education programs pointing out such misconceptions.

A systematic observational study is performed in general population of age group 18-60 years to collect enough data on the irrational dispensing pattern and self medication of benzodiazepines. There were two separate specially designed Performa's, one for the OPD pharmacy or dispensary in different communities of Karachi and one for the general population of variable demographic status duly filled by 190 out of 200 OPD pharmacies approached, (n = 190 with response rate 95 %) and 478 out of 508 people approached (n = 478 with response rate 94.09 %) In this study 478 individual participated. Mean age of population was 43.62 ± 17 years. 44.6 % were male (n = 213) and 55.4 % were female (n = 265) the common Benzodiazepines reported to be used by study population are Alprazolam 54 %, Bromazepam 40 %, Clorazepate, Lorazepam and Azolam 2 % each. The three primary reasons reported lead to the use of benzodiazepines by general population are depression 64 %, sleep disturbance 19 % and pain 17 %. There were 68 people (29 %) confessed that they are using it without any prescription from GP. By the Performa filled by OPD community pharmacies findings are benzodiazepines are the 6 th largest selling drug class. Alprazolam and Bromezepam both are the top most selling benzodiazepines members 88.52 % followed by Lorazepam 6.39 %, Clorazepate 0.09 % and others 5.0 %. Among 190 pharmacies visited, around 79 pharmacies (41.57 %) reported to dispense benzodiazepines without prescription. Significant variable with respect to rate of use of benzodiazepines in the community were educational status, socio-economical background, occupation, marital status etc with p < 0.000 when Pearson chi-square test were applied.

No abstract