BACKGROUND Drug utilization review (DUR) programs are being conducted in Canadian hospitals with the aim of improving the appropriateness of prescriptions. However, there is little evidence of their effectiveness. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of both a retrospective and a concurrent DUR programs on the quality of in-hospital prescribing. METHODS We conducted an interru...

OBJECTIVE To systematically review all primary care intervention studies designed to implement medication reconciliation for effects on medication discrepancies, clinical outcomes, and patient knowledge of their medications. DATA SOURCES We searched MEDLINE (1988-March 2008); Healthstar (1966-March 2008); CINAHL (1982-March 2008); EMBASE (1980-March 2008); Cochrane Database of Systematic Revi...

AIM To describe the off-label and unlicensed utilization patterns of drugs in a Brazilian pediatric hospital. METHODS The research consisted of a descriptive, prospective and cross-sectional study. RESULTS A total of 1,158 medicines were prescribed for 320 patients, accounting for 65 different drugs. Regarding the classification of drug utilization, the majority of the drugs were prescribed...

The Nordic countries have a long tradition of registry-based epidemiological research. Many population-based health registries were established in the 1960s, with use of unique personal identifiers facilitating linkage between registries. In recent years, each country has established a national database to track prescription drugs dispensed to individuals in ambulatory care. The objectives were...

Received for publication: Mar. 23, 2005. Revised: Jul. 25, 2006. rEZUMat Department of Pharmacology, *Department of Surgery, Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal

The menace of cervical cancer has reached an alarming rate. There are more than 450.000cases of cervical cancer yearly, with mortality rate of about 50%. This deadly cancer is causedby human papillomavirus (HPV), mainly subtypes 16 and 18. The pharmaceutical industryhas produced drug for combating the virus, known as SAHA (suberoylanilide hydroxamicacid). It inhibits class II HDAC Homo sapiens ...