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Background: Medication use during pregnancy is a critical concern due to potential risks to both the mother and fetus. To the extent of our knowledge, there has been no prior research to assess medication use and identify the specific factors of pregnant women within the Yemeni community. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of Yemeni pregnant women regarding medication use and assess the factors associated with the knowledge during pregnancy. Methods: A cross-sectional multi-center study was conducted through face-to-face interviews using a validated structured questionnaire. The study was conducted on pregnant women receiving antenatal care at tertiary care hospitals in four governorates in Yemen. Univariable and multivariate logistic regressions were employed to examine the relationship between participant variables and their knowledge. A P-value of less than.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of the 1003 pregnant women, 35.4% (n = 355) were aged 21–25 years, 33.9% (n = 340) had primary education, 73.6% (n = 738) lived in urban areas, 12.2% (n = 122) were smokers, 38.3% (n = 384) reported chewing khat, and the majority (90.2%, n = 905) were unemployed. Also, 65.5% (n = 657) of the participants reported taking folic acid in their current pregnancy. A total of 2,623 medications were utilized during pregnancy, with 17.8% during the first trimester (n = 468). Around 39.3% (n = 1,037) of medications used fell under the blood and blood-forming organs category. Education level (AOR: 4.00, P <.001), insurance status (AOR: 1.71, P =.026), information about medication risks to the fetus (AOR: 1.96, P =.023), the use of folic acid either in a previous pregnancy (AOR: 1.65, P <.008) or in the current pregnancy (AOR: 4.26, P <.001), and checking the medication leaflet (AOR: 5.67, P <.001) were predictors of higher knowledge. Conclusion: The findings underscore the pressing need for educational interventions aimed at pregnant women. By bridging knowledge gaps and promoting informed decision-making, such initiatives can contribute to a safer and healthier pregnancy journey, reducing the inclination towards self-medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The emergence of Chat-Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) by OpenAI has revolutionized AI technology, demonstrating significant potential in healthcare and pharmaceutical education, yet its real-world applicability in clinical training warrants further investigation.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between April and May 2023 to assess PharmD students' perceptions, concerns, and experiences regarding the integration of ChatGPT into clinical pharmacy education. The study utilized a convenient sampling method through online platforms and involved a questionnaire with sections on demographics, perceived benefits, concerns, and experience with ChatGPT. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS, including descriptive and inferential analyses.Results: The findings of the study involving 211 PharmD students revealed that the majority of participants were male (77.3%), and had prior experience with artificial intelligence (68.2%). Over two-thirds were aware of ChatGPT. Most students (n= 139, 65.9%) perceived potential benefits in using ChatGPT for various clinical tasks, with concerns including over-reliance, accuracy, and ethical considerations. Adoption of ChatGPT in clinical training varied, with some students not using it at all, while others utilized it for tasks like evaluating drug-drug interactions and developing care plans. Previous users tended to have higher perceived benefits and lower concerns, but the differences were not statistically significant.Conclusion: Utilizing ChatGPT in clinical training offers opportunities, but students' lack of trust in it for clinical decisions highlights the need for collaborative human-ChatGPT decision-making. It should complement healthcare professionals' expertise and be used strategically to compensate for human limitations. Further research is essential to optimize ChatGPT's effective integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk evaluation of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases can guide the decision-making on various preventive measures, such as initiating or deferring statin therapy. Pharmacists can play an active part in the risk evaluation and primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. Thus, our study aimed to assess the pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, perceived barriers, and practices regarding risk assessment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 500 pharmacists using a structured validated questionnaire between November 2020 and February 2021. The Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used to analyze the data. A total of 456 pharmacists completed the questionnaire out of 500 distributed (91.2% response rate). Over 60% of participants responded with never or rarely for two out of five cardiovascular diseases (CVD) prevention practices. The lowest pharmacist-patient counseling practices were for side effects of statin medication (14.5%) and reviewing the patient's medications to avoid potential statin-drug interactions (31.8%). Participants had a high positive attitude (median = 34 out of 40). The three major barriers for risk assessment were the lack of support (74.8%), the lack of resources (70.6%), and inadequate training (48.7%). Interestingly, having ≤75 customers a day, community pharmacies, PharmD degree, age ≥30 years, and experience ≥6 years were significantly associated (p <.05) with higher CVD prevention activities and counseling practices. Pharmacists have a high positive attitude toward CVD risk assessment. However, they had insufficient knowledge and only provided limited activities and counseling services for CVD prevention and statin therapy. Participants perceived several barriers to CVD risk assessment services in pharmacies. Therefore, it is necessary to remove these impediments for pharmacists to be more involved in CVD risk assessment and prevention. Also, continuing medical education and adequate training for pharmacists are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a response to a letter regarding a study titled "Perceptions and Knowledge of Public Towards Emerging Human Monkeypox in Yemen: A Cross-Sectional Study." The authors express their appreciation for the comments and acknowledge the limitations of their study, including the sampling methodology, concentration on adult participants in Sana'a, and potential desirability bias. They clarify that the points raised in the letter largely align with the strengths and limitations already acknowledged in their published work. The authors remain open to further clarifications or concerns. [Extracted from the article]

Oxaliplatin is a platinum-based anticancer drug that has been shown to be genotoxic to the normal cells. Vitamin E is a potent antioxidant that may protect and enhance the repair of the damaged DNA. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the genotoxic effect of oxaliplatin on DNA by measuring the frequency of chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in cultured human lymphocytes. We also attempted to explore the potential protective effect of vitamin E on chromosomal damage induced by oxaliplatin. Results showed that oxaliplatin significantly increased the frequency of CAs (p < 0.001) and SCEs (p < 0.001) as compared to control. This chromosomal damage, caused by oxaliplatin, was significantly decreased by pretreatment of cells with vitamin E. Moreover, the results showed that oxaliplatin caused a significant reduction in the cell kinetic parameters, the mitotic index (MI) and the proliferative index (PI). However, vitamin E did not affect this reduction in the MI and PI. Therefore, we conclude that oxaliplatin is genotoxic, and vitamin E can prevent the chromosomal damage induced by oxaliplatin but it has no effect on oxaliplatin-induced cytotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]