Amira Said

Al Ain University · College of Pharmacy

M2 polarized tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) have a multifunctional role in cancer initiation, progression, metastasis, and contribute to chemotherapeutic resistance. Therefore, identifying M2 polarized TAMs is a potential target for cancer therapeutic intervention. The underlying mechanism that target the TAMs M2 polarized macrophages remains...

Zika virus (ZIKV) pandemic and its implication in congenital malformations and severe neurological disorders had created serious threats to global health. ZIKV is a mosquito-borne flavivirus which spread rapidly and infect a large number of people in a shorter time-span. Due to the lack of effective therapeutics, this had become paramount urgency t...

Nanomedicine has emerged as an important approach for targeting RA medication. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a widespread autoimmune disorder marked by multiple inflamed joints. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have been demonstrated as efficacious nanocarriers due to their unique characteristics and the relative simplicity of their synthesis in varied siz...

Background: This review summarises the impact of virtual patient simulation (VPS) on pharmacy students’ knowledge, skills, and perceptions. Methods: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science databases were searched using relevant keywords. Full-text articles in English, published between 2010 and August 2021, were retrieved if they evaluate...

Background Asthma is a significant public health issue that poses a substantial health and economic burden. Despite the availability of effective asthma medications, its management remain suboptimal. Recent asthma guidelines have highlighted the importance of pharmacist unique position and its interventional strategies in positively impacting asthm...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a serious manifestation of acute lung injury (ALI), is a debilitating inflammatory lung disease that is caused by multiple risk factors. One of the primary causes that can lead to ALI/ARDS is cigarette smoke (CS) and its primary mode of action is via oxidative stress. Despite extensive research, no approp...

Introduction: COVID-19 is considered the greatest health disaster affecting humans during the 21st century, which urged the need to develop an effective vaccine to acquire enough immunity against the virus. The main challenge faced during the development of such vaccines was the insufficiency of time, which raised the question about the vaccine saf...

Objectives: Pandemic diseases and the confinement measures due to COVID-19 infection have introduced acute and persistent psychosocial stressors for different individuals with a greater influence on females manifested through changes in the menstrual cycle. The objective of this study was to assess Lebanese female of reproductive age about their me...

Objectives: The main aim of this review was to summarize current evidence on approved and emerging non-statin lipid-lowering therapies. Methods and materials: Recent literature on U.S. FDA approved non-statin lipid-lowering therapies and evolving lipid-lowering drugs currently under development was reviewed. Results and discussion: In the past...

AimsDiabetic peripheral neuropathy affects up to 60% of individuals and often leads to foot ulceration and eventual amputation. When oral therapy has failed to achieve pain relief, the first line local treatment is the 5% lidocaine-medicated plaster which provides local relief. Capsaicin 8% patch is considered a promising topical treatment for diab...

Health literacy is how well the patients are able to attain, deal with, and understand basic health information. This is particularly important when it comes to comprehending prescribed medication instructions. To improve the communication strategies for health-care professionals during patient counseling, our study aimed to assess the influence of...

Chronic pain, the most common complication of diabetes, is treated with medication often to no avail. Our study aimed to compare the use of mindfulness meditation and progressive relaxation to reduce chronic pain in older females with diabetes. Methods The 105 study participants were divided randomly into 3 groups: Group MM (mindfulness meditation)...

The objectives of this article were to review the mechanism and clinical significance of statins-macrolides interaction, determine which combination has the highest risk for the interaction, and identify key patients' risk factors for the interaction in relation to the development of muscle toxicity. A literature review was conducted in PubMed and...

Background: The drug delivery characteristics of each inhaler/spacer combination are unique. The spacer size as well as the presence of electrostatic charge greatly influence the inhaler dose emission and in vivo delivery. Using a previously developed urinary pharmacokinetic method, we have measured the relative lung and systemic bioavailability o...

Aim To evaluate the safety issues and adverse effects of using TCHP regimen (docetaxel, carboplatin, trastuzumab, and pertuzumab) versus TCP regimen (docetaxel, carboplatin, and trastuzumab) in older postmenopausal women with nonmetastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. HER2 overexpressed in 20–25% of breast cancer signals an aggressive form of breas...

Background Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a leading cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The antihyperglycemic treatment options for patients with Type 2 DM are limited because of safety and tolerability concerns. Aims To retrospectively assess the effect of using Alogliptin; a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP-4i) along with conventional gliclazi...

Substituting spacer by another in noninvasive ventilation (NIV) involves many variables, e.g. total emitted dose (TED), mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD), type of spacer, total lung deposition and total systemic absorption, which must be adjusted to ensure patient optimum therapy. Data mining based on artificial neural networks and genetic al...

Aerodynamic characteristics of aerosol delivery during invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) are mostly determined by inserting cascade impactor in the circuit. Impactor might have some effect on airflow within IMV. Hence, the aim of the present study was to develop and evaluate new in-vitro aerodynamic characterization methodology without affectin...

Background Patient receiving invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) may benefit from medical aerosol, but guidance on dosing with different aerosol devices is limited to in-vitro studies. The study was designed to compare aerosol delivery with five different types of aerosol generators during IMV. Method In randomized design, 60 (30 female) mechan...

Background: Underreporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) has placed a heavy financial burden on health care resources worldwide. Realizing the importance of proper ADR reporting is paramount for implementing better patient care. Objective: This study was designed to assess knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of ADR reporting among United Ara...

Background The impact of Excision repair cross-complementation group 1 (ERCC1) and group 2 (ERCC2) expression levels on the efficacy of oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is still controversial. The present study was conducted to determine the predictive value of these molecular biomarkers in stage III and IV colorectal cancer (CRC) patients receiving...

Substituting nebulisers by another in non-invasive ventilation circuit (NIV) involves many process variables which must be adjusted to ensure patient optimum therapy. However, there is a doubt when nebulisers use the same technology. Data mining technology based on artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms were used here to model in-vitro i...

Background: Corticosteroids (CS) have long been known as the most powerful of all known anti-inflammatory agents. Since their introduction in 1949, they have shown pivotal role in the treatment of various serious disorders such as autoimmune diseases, allergic processes, organ transplantation, rheumatologic, dermatological, pulmonary, hematological...

p> Objective: The aim of this study was is to investigate the proposed beneficial cardiovascular effects of a novel class of antidiabetic drugs named; dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors. In this study, we compared the effect of using add-on therapy of vildagliptin (dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor; DPP-4i) and gliclazide (sulphonylurea; SU) to that...

Hypertension and proteinuria are well-known predictors of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression. Therapeutic interventions have different magnitude of albuminuria and hypertension. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of combined vs. single renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) blockade in chronic kidney disease. For...

Introduction Many devices (e.g., nebulizers and spacers) are used to deliver aerosol in a non-invasive ventilation circuit (NIV) without any special recommendation. The aim of the present work was to compare the doses delivered from seven different aerosol delivery systems when placed in the NIV using automatic continuous positive airway pressure (...

Many devices are used to deliver aerosol in NIV. 3 spacers and 3 vibrating mesh nebulisers were compared to Sidestream jet nebulizer (SIDE). Device was placed proximal to a breathing simulator in a standard NIV circuit with 500 ml tidal volume, 15 breaths/min, 20 : 5 cm H2O inspiratory (I) : expiratory (E) pressures and 1 : 3 I : E ratio. 2 ml of s...

Diarrheal disease is a leading cause of illness and death in children worldwide. Diarrhea is caused by a blend of bacterial, viral and parasitic pathogens. Enteric protozoal infections such as giardiasis, amebiasis and cryptosporidiosis are among the most common and most prevalent forms of gastrointestinal parasitic infections worldwide. Both nitaz...

The incidence of upper gastrointestinal (GI) complications of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs remains the most common side effect. The objective of this study was to compare the incidence of upper gastrointestinal complications of Ibuprofen as non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) to Celecoxib and Meloxicam as selective n...

Urinary pharmacokinetic methods have been identified to determine the relative lung and systemic bioavailability after an inhalation. We have extended this methodology to inhaled beclometasone dipropionate (BDP). Ethics Committee approval was obtained and all subjects gave consent. Twelve healthy volunteers received randomized doses, separated by >...