Use of HbA1c to diagnose type 2 diabetes Mellitus. Gestational diabetes and adverse pregnancy outcome is under investigation. Type 2 diabetes in children will be investigated in schools. A platform will be developed to follow up risk factors like obesity, lack of exercise, unhealty food and genetics. The program will highlight the risk factors for each students to be used by parents, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and School administration to overcome these risk factors and to treat those who developed diabetes.
Our Team
Maher Khdour
Ph.D.
Ahmad Amro
Ph.D.
Hussein Hallak
Ph.D.
Rania Ghanem
Ph.D.
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Browsing Clinical Pharmacy and Practice by Subject "Palestine"
Objective of the study To determine the extent and nature of unlicensed/off-label prescribing patterns in
hospitalised children in Palestine. Setting Four paediatric wards in two public health system hospitals in Palestine
[Caritas children’s hospital (Medical and neonatal intensive care units) and Rafidia general hospital (Medical and
surgical units)]. Method A prospective survey of drugs administered to infants and children \18 years old was
carried out over a five-week period in the four paediatric wards. Main outcome measure Drug-licensing status of all
prescriptions was determined according to the Palestinian Registered Product List and the Physician’s Desk Reference.
Results Overall, 917 drug prescriptions were administered to 387children. Of all drug prescriptions, 528 (57.5%) were licensed for use in children; 65 (7.1%) were unlicensed; and 324 (35.3%) were used off-label. Of all children, 49.6% received off-label prescriptions, 10.1% received unlicensed medications and 8.2% received both. Seventy-two percent of off-label drugs and 66% of unlicensed drugs were prescribed for children \2 years. Multivariate analysis showed that patients who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit and infants aged 0–1 years were most likely to receive a greater number of off-label or unlicensed medications (OR 1.80; 95% CI 1.03–3.59 and OR 1.99; 95% CI 0.88–3.73, respectively). Conclusion The present findings confirmed the elevated prevalence of unlicensed and off-label paediatric drugs use in Palestine and strongly support the need to perform well designed clinical studies in children.
(International Medical Society, 2016-06-03) Khdour, Maher R.; Kurdi, Manar; Hallak, Hussein O.; Jarab, Anan S.; Dweib, Mohammad; Al-Shahed, Qusai N.
Background:
There is an increasing trend towards consumption of
complementary and alternative herbal products in many parts of the
world.
Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowled
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ge and attitudes among pharmacists in West Bank, Palestine towards
the use of herbs.
Methods:
Self-administered questionnaire was designed as the study
instrument and distributed among 350 qualified pharmacists working
in government and private pharmacies in West Bank, Palestine.
Results:
The response rate was 82.9% (290/350). The mean age of
the pharmacists was 32.9 (SD=6.5) years. The majority of the phar
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macist 238 (82.1%) worked in the community pharmacies and their
experience in practice ranged from 1 to 26 years. Product package
instructions and product representative were the most consulted by
the pharmacists (128; 44.2% and 73; 25.2% respectively). General
health tonic preparations were the most widely dispensed drugs (142;
48.9%), followed by cough preparations (55; 19.0%) and slimming
agents (64; 22.1%). The Majority of pharmacists (195; 67.2%) belie
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ved herbal remedies were effective; however, about fifty percent of
the pharmacists had concern about their safety. The knowledge of
respondents about the indications of herbal medicine was good, but
their awareness of interactions, contraindications and adverse effects
was inadequate. The majority of Pharmacists (255; 87.9%) believed
that herbal product should undergo increased regulation and (215;
74.9%) believed that information available about herbal and natural
product isn't adequate.
(Deanship of Scientific Research at An Najah National University, 2016-10-09) Khdour, Maher; Yaghmour, Nima; Hallak, Hussein; Dweib, Mohammad; Al-Shahed, Qusai; Jarab, Anan
Active national pharmacovigilance programmes are needed to monitor adverse drug reaction (ADR)
data in local populations. The objective of this study was to describe the knowledge, experiences, attitudes
and perceived barriers to reporting of suspected ADRs by community and hospital pharmacists in
West Bank, Palestine. Between December 2014 and March 2015 we conducted a survey about the
knowledge and attitude of pharmacists (n = 270) using a face-to-face questionnaire. The questionnaire
consisted of questions about the sociodemographic characteristics of the pharmacists, their knowledge of
pharmacovigilance and their attitudes towards ADR reporting. Main outcomes measured: The majority of
the pharmacists (62.6%) worked in the community pharmacies and more females responded to the questionnaire
than males (59% vs 41%). only 11.9% could conceptually or actually define
‘pharmacovigilance’ correctly while one quarter of the respondent pharmacist (24.9%) could define ADR
correctly. The hospital clinical pharmacists defined ‘pharmacovigilance’ correctly with higher significance
(P<0.001) when compared with community pharmacists. Only 12.2% had ever reported an ADR.
The majority of these reports (85%) done by the hospital pharmacists (p<0.0001). The main reasons that
discourage the pharmacists from reporting ADRs were ‘‘no enough information available from the patient
(76.7%)’’, and ‘‘they did not know how to report (66.7%)’’. The majority of the respondents (92.0%) felt
that reporting ADR was their duty and (82%) participants were interested in participating in the National
Pharmacovigilance Programme in Palestine. The results show that Palestinian pharmacists have poor
knowledge about pharmacovigilance. There is an urgent need for educational programs to train them
about pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting scheme.