Objective. To document the type and extent of active-learning techniques used in US colleges and schools of pharmacy as well as factors associated with use of these techniques. Methods. A survey instrument was developed to assess whether and to what extent active learning was used by faculty members of US colleges and schools of pharmacy. This survey instrument was distributed via the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) mailing list. Results. Ninety-five percent (114) of all US colleges and schools of pharmacy were represented with at least 1 survey among the 1179 responses received. Eighty-seven percent of respondents used activelearning techniques in their classroom activities. The heavier the teaching workload the more activelearning strategies were used. Other factors correlated with higher use of active-learning strategies included younger faculty member age (inverse relationship), lower faculty member rank (inverse relationship), and departments that focused on practice, clinical and social, behavioral, and/or administrative sciences. Conclusions. Active learning has been embraced by pharmacy educators and is used to some extent by the majority of US colleges and schools of pharmacy. Future research should focus on how activelearning methods can be used most effectively within pharmacy education, how it can gain even broader acceptance throughout the academy, and how the effect of active learning on programmatic outcomes can be better documented.

In many cases, an unknown to an investigator is actually known in the chemical literature. We refer to these types of compounds as "known unknowns." Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry is a particularly good source of these substances as it contains over 54 million entries. Accurate mass measurements can be used to query the CAS Registry by either molecular formulae or average molecular weights. Searching the database by the web-based version of SciFinder is the preferred approach when molecular formulae are available. However, if a definitive molecular formula cannot be ascertained, searching the database with STN Express by average molecular weights is a viable alternative. The results from either approach are refined by employing the number of associated references or minimal sample history as orthogonal filters. These approaches were shown to be successful in identifying "known unknowns" noted in LC-MS and even GC-MS analyses in our laboratory. In addition, they were demonstrated in the identification of a variety of compounds of interest to others.

Reversed-phase chromatography is the most common means of separation for small drug molecules. However, polar drugs may suffer from poor retention and peak shape in reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) provides a viable alternative to RP-HPLC and is an excellent way to separate polar compounds. This paper describes a HILIC/ESI-MS/MS assay for the determination of acyclovir from rat plasma, amniotic fluid, placental tissue, and fetal tissue. The isocratic separation utilizes an underivatized silica column with an acetonitrile/formate buffer mobile phase (80:20). The method is validated over a range of 50 ng/mL to 50 micro g/mL with % error and % relative standard deviation of <15% over 3 days. All samples are prepared by acetonitrile protein precipitation, which yields high recovery (>84% for acyclovir). This assay can be applied to the pharmacokinetic study of the placental transfer of acyclovir.

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Objective. To integrate process-oriented guided-inquiry learning (POGIL) team-based activities into a 1-semester medicinal chemistry course for doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) students and determine the outcomes. Conclusions. The inclusion of the POGIL style team-based learning exercises improved grade outcomes for the students, encouraged active engagement with the material during class time, provided immediate feedback to the instructor regarding student-knowledge deficiencies, and created a classroom environment that was well received by students.

Phospholipids (PLs) are a component of cellmembranes, biological fluids and tissues. These compounds are problematic for the bioanalytical chemist, especially when PLs are not the analytes of interest. PL interference with bioanalysis highly impacts reverse-phase chromatographic methods coupled with mass spectrometric detection. Phospholipids are strongly retained on hydrophobic columns, and can cause significant ionization suppression in the mass spectrometer, as they outcompete analyte molecules for ionization. Strategies for improving analyte detection in the presence of PLs are reviewed, including in-analysis modifications and sample preparation strategies. Removal of interfering PLs prior to analysis seems to be most effective atmoderating thematrix effects fromthese endogenous cellular components, and has the potential to simplify chromatography and improve column lifetime. Products targeted at PL removal for sample pre-treatment, as well as products that combine multiplemodes of sample preparation (i.e. Hybrid SPE), show significant promise inmediating the effect on PL interference in bioanalysis.

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The pharmacokinetics and placental transfer of acyclovir and zidovudine monotherapies and acyclovirzidovudine combination therapy were compared in the pregnant rat. Timed-pregnancy Sprague-Dawley rats were used for the study. Doses of 60 mg of each drug/kg of body weight in monotherapy and in combination therapy were given by intravenous bolus, and samples of maternal plasma, amniotic fluid, fetal tissue, and placental tissue were collected over a period of 8 h postdose. Concentrations of each drug in the various matrices were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. All data were analyzed by using WinNonlin. A one-compartment model with first-order elimination was used to fit the AZT plasma data from the combination therapy rats, but the plasma data from the other groups were fit to a two-compartment model. Tissue data were analyzed by noncompartmental analysis to generate area-under-the-concentration-time-curve values. Implementation of the combination therapy altered the pharmacokinetics of each drug compared to its monotherapy pharmacokinetics. The combination of these two drugs may potentiate fetal and amniotic fluid exposures to each drug., an acyclic analog of the natural nucleoside 2Ј-deoxyguanosine ( Fig. 1), is active against the members of the herpes group of DNA viruses (14, 42). For over 2 decades, ACV has been considered the first choice of treatment for herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and -2), but it has also been shown to effectively treat varicella-zoster virus and provide protection from cytomegalovirus in immunosuppressed patients receiving transplants (12, 32). The success of ACV in treating HSV has prompted the synthesis of several structural analogs, but none has shown to be as tolerable as and have shown to have such a high therapeutic index as ACV (13,35,40). Zidovudine (3Ј-azido-3Ј-deoxythymidine [AZT]) (Fig. 1) is the premier reverse transcriptase inhibitor released for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). A therapy involving the combination of ACV and AZT is not uncommon to help suppress symptoms in patients who are both HIV positive and HSV-2 positive. These drugs, both in monotherapy and in combination, have been used to prevent vertical (mother-to-child) transmission of HSV-2 and HIV.The Acyclovir in Pregnancy Registry has compiled a large amount of case study information regarding the relative safety and efficacy of ACV use in HSV-2-positive pregnant women (1). Although a great deal is known about the pharmacokinetic properties of ACV, little work has been done to characterize the placental transfer of ACV in vivo, because pregnant women are routinely excluded from clinical trials. Pharmacokinetic parameters may be altered during pregnancy due to the increase in body fat content, cardiac output, and total body water seen in pregnant women (15,41,48). There may also be changes in plasma albumin concentration and protein binding affinities (25,39). The perfused human placenta model has been used on occasion in attempts to characterize the placenta...