Impacts and effects of the use of medications by crew and passengers during air transport

During a flight, changes occur in the human body, whose possible reactions can influence the well-being and quality of health of medicine users, subject of scarce studies. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impacts and effects of medication use during air transport. Through a literature review and documentary research methodology, relevant facts about the precautions that should be taken regarding the use of medication in flights were considered. As a practical contribution, some important medications and their possible effects during flights are presented, as well as some warnings about medication interactions, and some advice for better quality air travel for the health of passengers and crew are given. As a theoretical contribution, this study gathers the scattered information presented in the literature about the problems that the use of medications during a flight can cause to the human body and possible recommendations. As social contribution, this study warns about the risks of self-medication, and establishes a basis for future discussions with society about the use of medication in flights.

Some Teratogenic Outcomes in Rats Exposed to Zinc Chloride Pre and Post Pregnancy

The aim of present study was to evaluate the possibility of teratogenicity in rats when exposed to zinc chloride (ZnCl2) pre and post pregnancy. To achieve this goal, a total of 40 mature Albino Wistar female rats were divided equally into four groups as follows: T1, dosed 0.7 mg/day ZnCl2 for two months before mating and till to the day 5th of pregnancy, the females of this group were mated with males dosed 0.7 mg/day ZnCl2 for two weeks before mating; T2, dosed 0.7 mg/day ZnCl2 for two months before mating and till to the day 16th of pregnancy and then were mated with control males (not exposed to any level of ZnCl2); T3, dosed 0.7mg/day ZnCl2 for two months before mating and till the end of pregnancy and were mated with control males; Control, dosed with water free from ZnCl2 along the period of experiment and were mated with control males. At the end of each pregnancy phase, results revealed that alpha fetoprotein serum levels were significantly (P<0.05) higher in all treatment groups compared to the control group, and the most prominent increase was observed in the T3 group. All treatment groups showed a significant (P<0.05) decrease in gestation, viability, and lactation indices when compared to the control group, with the T3 group showing the most significant decrease. Additionally, on days 1, 4, 7, 14, and 21 of lactation period, there was a significant (P<0.05) decrease in mean pup body weights in treated groups compared to the control group, with T3 group having the most prominent body weight decrease. The findings of this study revealed that ZnCl2 at a daily dose of 0.7 mg may cause teratogenic defects in rats at various stages of pregnancy, particularly at the third stage. As high-risk groups, pregnant women and children should use Zn supplementation carefully, whether as a food additive or for self-medication. Simultaneously, evaluating effect of low-dose Zn supplementation over a longer duration is required.

Ubiquitous Usage of Over the Counter Medications in Pregnancy: Perspectives of Maternal Apprehensiveness

The World Health Organization delineates self-medication as the utilization of medications by individuals in search of treating symptoms or self-diagnosed health state. During pregnancy, drug utilization is complicated because of incomplete data as clinical trials frequently don't enclose pregnant women, with reference to benefits and implicit undesirable outcomes on both the mother and the foetus. Bestowed limited data on the variety of over the counter medications applicable, physi­cians seek to counsel pregnant women about implicit pitfalls, and it is beneficial to give information on entire over the counter medications the patient is receiving at the preconception visit and entire distinctive ordinary visits. Antacid that containing sodium bicarbonate can cause fluid buildup in the tissues if used during pregnancy redundantly. Hypericum perforatum is ordinarily not recommended in preg­nancy because of a dearth of human data and it perhaps antecedent miscarriage and it also escalates the birth deformities of fetus. Early aspirinusage at the time of conception or in the 1st several weeks of pregnancy does not escalate the pitfall of spontaneous abortion.

Safe Medicine Administration Counseling for Pregnant and Breastfeeding Mothers

The use of drugs for pregnancy and breastfeeding needs to be self-medication and the importance of counselling to increase the mother's knowledge about the correct use of drugs so that pregnant and lactating women's level of health and knowledge increases. The counselling purpose was to determine the mother's level of knowledge and whether there was a difference in the knowledge level of the use of drugs during pregnancy and lactation. The method used is pre and post-media analysis (flipchart). Data analysis obtain by scoring questionnaires, univariate analysis, and statistical analysis. Mann-Whitney test results showed that in the post-test or after giving counselling using flipchart media, there was a change in respondents' knowledge from before being given a flipchart and after being given a flipchart. The hypothesis from this counselling is accepted, which means that giving flipcharts affects the level of knowledge. The calculations using the spearman test obtained p-value pretest 0.732 and p-value post-test 0.253 for pregnant women and obtained p-value pretest and post-test of 0.033 (p <0.05) for breastfeeding mothers, then there is a relationship between the education level pregnant and lactating mothers with knowledge. The Wilcoxon test data pretest and post-test knowledge of pregnant and lactating mothers had a p-value of 0.003 (p 0.05), the effect of counselling concluded with flipchart media on the knowledge of pregnant and lactating mothers about the use of drugs.

REVIEW ON FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF SOLID LIPID NANOPARTICLES FOR VAGINAL APPLICATION

Vaginal drug administration can improve prophylaxis and treatment of many conditions affecting the female reproductive tract, which includes fungal and bacterial infections, sexually transmitted diseases and cancer also. This is the best route for the administration of proteins, peptides, and also other therapeutic drugs like macro-molecules. For the administration of drugs like contraceptives, steroids, metronidazole, anti-retroviral, vaginal drug delivery is the most preferable route. However, achieving sufficient drug concentration in the vagina can be challenging because of its low permeability. The benefits of the vaginal drug delivery system are it increases the bioavailability, least systemic side effects; easiness of use and self-medication is possible. However vaginal drug delivery system is considered as a less effective route because of the unfortunate absorption of drugs across the vaginal epithelium. The traditional commercial preparations, such as creams, foams, gels, irrigations and tablets, are known to reside in the vaginal cavity for a relatively short period of time owing to the self-cleaning action of the vaginal tract and often require multiple daily doses to ensure the desired therapeutic effect. With the rapidly developing field of nanotechnology, the use of specifically designed carrier systems such as Nanoparticle-based drug delivery has been proven an excellent choice for vaginal application to overcome the challenges associated with the low permeability.

The Use of Complementary Medicine During Childbearing Years: A Multi-Country Study of Women From the Middle East استفاده ازطبمکمل دردورانباروری:یکمطالعهچند کشوری درزنان خاور میانهاستخدام الطب التكميلي خلال سنوات الإنجاب: دراسة متعددة البلدان لنساء من الشرق الأوسط

The prevalence of self-prescribed complementary medicine (CM) use is an area of concern across the Middle East. We conducted a descriptive qualitative study to describe women’s use of CM during their childbearing years in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The study conducted using face to face audio-recorded interviews with 70 participants. Our findings showed that women used several herbal plants to ease pain and discomfort during menstruation and/or during pregnancy and in postpartum care. Acupuncture, meditation, and massage were less likely to be used by women. The impact of CM was often described in relation to perceived usefulness and safety of herbs. Cultural beliefs and roles of women contributed to the use of herbs among women. Given the high use of herbal medicine, there is a need for discussion about the potential of adverse effects of some plants or their metabolites following self-medication during the childbearing years.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of over-the-counter drug among undergraduate medical students-a cross sectional study

Background: Self-medication of the over-the-counter (OTC) drug is practice all over the world. Although appropriate self-medication practice can address minor illness and is time and cost-effective, it can promote irrational use of medicine; prolong the illness, drug dependency and abuse. Medical students are the future medical practitioners and play the crucial role in counseling the patients. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of self- medication among undergraduate students. Methods: An institution based descriptive, cross sectional study was conducted after ethical approval was taken from the Institutional ethical committee of Gandaki medical college teaching hospital and research center (GMCTHRC) and data was collected from May to July 2018. Descriptive and correlation analysis were done with the data. The results were expressed in percentages. Results: Among 115 respondents, 60.9 % (70) were female and 39.1% (45) were male students. Majority of respondents (94.8%) believed that instruction on the label of the drugs should be followed and 78.3% respondents agreed that OTC drugs could interact with other prescribed drugs. However, only 53.9% respondents knew that OTC drugs were Group Ga drugs in Nepal. Despite good knowledge and attitude only 37.4% students had good practice in the rational use of the OTC drugs. Moreover, Antipyretic and analgesic drugs were the most commonly used drugs. However, only 36.84% respondents (p<0.05) knew about the correct dose and duration to take the drugs. Conclusions: We concluded that first year medical and dental should be motivated to use their knowledge into practice.