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BackgroundPrevious studies have highlighted instances where pharmacists lacked knowledge regarding women’s health issues related to epilepsy.ObjectivesTo assess UAE community pharmacists’ knowledge, toward women’s issues in epilepsy.Methodsa cross-sectional research method was employed. A team of seven pharmacy students in their final year visited a randomly selected sample of community pharmacies in the UAE and face-to-face interviews were conducted with the pharmacists using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire includes two parts; Eight questions designed to elicit data about the demographics of the study participants and 12 questions eliciting insights into the participants’ knowledge of women’s issues in epilepsy.ResultsA total of 412 community pharmacist were recruited in the study. The overall level of knowledge about women’s issues in epilepsy was good and the average knowledge score was 81% with a 95% confidence interval (CI) [79.1, 82.7%]. The results of multivariate analysis showed higher knowledge scores in chain pharmacies (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.12–1.67), Chief pharmacists (OR 1.44; 95% CI 1.01–2.06), Pharmacists in charge (OR 3.46; 95% CI 2.7–4.45), pharmacists with 1–5 Years of experience (OR 2.87; 95% CI 1.71–4.82), pharmacists with 6–10 Years (OR 2.63; 95% CI 1.58–4.38), pharmacists with >10 years (OR 3.13; 95% CI 2.03–4.83), graduation form regional universities (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.12–1.67), graduation form international universities (OR 1.73; 95% CI 1.36–2.20) and receiving a training on epilepsy (OR 1.36; 95% CI 1.12–1.67).ConclusionWhile the findings reveal an overall promising level of knowledge among community pharmacists regarding the issues faced by women with epilepsy, pinpointing which clinical and demographic factors have the most significant impact on this knowledge would permit the implementation of tailored educational interventions. Workshops and modules targeting the issues faced by women with epilepsy would further raise the knowledge and competence among community pharmacists in this area, ensuring better pharmaceutical care for this population.

BackgroundMonkeypox (mpox), a zoonotic viral infection, poses a global threat that is being acknowledged at the national and international levels. This systematic review aims to identify and characterize interventional clinical trials for mpox.MethodAll interventional clinical trials registered at ClinicalTrials.gov for mpox were searched up to January 6, 2023. We described the characteristics of interventional clinical trials, and drug interventions (including drugs and vaccines).ResultsAs of January 6, 2023, there were 10 clinical trials in the ClinicalTrials.gov registry that met our criteria. Most of the interventional clinical trials were focused on the treatment (N = 4, 40%) and prevention (N = 4, 40%) of mpox. From the 10 trials, 50% used random treatment allocation, and six (60%) chose the parallel assignment intervention model. All 10 studies were blinded, and six were open-label blinded. The largest proportion of the clinical trials (N = 4, 40%) were registered in Europe, followed by America (N = 3, 30%) and Africa and others (N = 3, 30%). The JYNNEOS vaccine (40%), followed by Tecovirimat (30%) were the most frequently studied drugs used against mpox.ConclusionA limited number of clinical trials have been registered on ClinicalTrials.gov since the first case of mpox was reported. Therefore, there is an urgent need to conduct large-scale randomized clinical trials to assess the safety and efficacy of the drugs and vaccines being used against the mpox virus.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread to over 150 countries worldwide. Since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Saudi Arabia, cases have continued to escalate exponentially. The COVID-19 outbreak has had a negative effect on mental health and well-being. The study aimed to investigate the effects of the strict national regulations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of Saudi residents. Saudi residents aged 18 years or older were invited to complete an online questionnaire after one month of a nationwide 24-h curfew between May 6, 2020 and May 13, 2020. We measured psychological distress using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21). We ran binary logistic regression analyses to detect variables that significantly predicted DASS-21 scores.Results: A sample of 2252 participants was recruited from the general population of Saudi Arabia. The DASS-21 score means and standard deviations for depression and anxiety for the whole sample (10.73 ± 10.29 and 6.98 ± 8.30, respectively) were in the range of mild depression and anxiety. In contrast, the mean DASS-21 stress score was within the normal range (11.97 ± 10.80). The mean stress score for healthcare workers was within the normal range (13.70 ± 10.68) but was significantly higher than the mean score for the public (11.56 ± 10.89; P = 0.0006). Several variables (e.g., age, gender, and history of contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases) were significantly associated with higher DASS-21 scores.Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a psychological burden. Therefore, there is an urgent need to implement emergency public health interventions that ameliorate the risk perception of COVID-19 through the dissemination of adequate and targeted health information that could be a successful measure to mitigate the psychological impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.