As a clinician and Physiologist, Dr. Nihal has earned her MBBCh, MSc and PhD from the Faculty of Medicine with Excellent degree and Honor's Awards. Her Master's degree was in Medical Clinical Physiology with concentration in clinical Pharmacology and clinical Biochemistry. Dr. Nihal's PhD study was about the recently discovered hormone; Ghrelin and its relation to appetite, Diabetes, Obesity and the various types of macro-nutrients' metabolism. She earned her PhD in Medical Clinical Physiology and the thesis was accepted with Excellent grade. She passed all the written, oral, clinical and practical examinations for the Doctor's degree with excellent grade as well. Dr. Nihal practiced medicine as Internist in Egypt and in Dubai, UAE. She has also taught Medical Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine. Currently, she is teaching Anatomy and physiology in College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and in the Biomedical Engineering department at Ajman University. Dr. Nihal has several impactful publications in high quality journals and prestigious conferences. She is the Head of the Events Committee at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She is a member of many committees at the university and college levels as well.
Psychological stress adversely affects the physiological functions of the body to a significant point leading to various psychosomatic diseases. These diseases have physical symptoms originating from mental or emotional causes, most common of which are stress, anxiety, and depression. The oral mucosa is highly sensitive and reactive to stress. Common oral problems related to stress are MPDS, aphthous ulcers, oral lichen planus, xerostomia, burning mouth syndrome, and bruxism. In the present study, we aimed to study the stress-related oral manifestations and relate it to the type of stress and other psychosomatic disorders in patients attending Ajman University dental clinics. Results showed 46% of the participants in the study had combined two or more stress- related oral manifestations mainly attrition, bruxism, xerostomia, recurrent aphthous ulcer and chronic periodontal diseases, followed by 10.7% diagnosed with generalized attrition and 10% reported with the localized type. The least oral manifestation associated with erosion and MPDS (0.7%). Concluding that, stress and other psychogenic factors play an essential role as contributory factors in the development and progression of oral lesions.
Objectives: Thyroid Cancer is one of the rarest cancers but its prevalence has been increasing worldwide for the last couple of decades. Methods: The data collection tool was designed to assess knowledge, awareness, perception, and attitude towards preventive practices of thyroid cancer in Pakistani university students. The data were collected over a duration of six months and a total number of 3722 students participated. Results: The knowledge of risk factors of thyroid cancer was an important parameter of this study. The students who knew all the early signs of thyroid cancer were 28.7%. In this study, the independent variables such as age, gender, demographic location, and financial status were found to be highly significant with knowledge, attitude towards warning signs of cancer, and the perception of students about developing thyroid cancer. Conclusions: The participants were found to have poor knowledge about early signs of thyroid cancer. The study participants perception, behavior, and attitude towards preventive practices of thyroid cancer were found inadequate and appropriate measures on a National level should be taken to enhance the knowledge about preventive practices of thyroid cancer. Increasing knowledge and awareness shall help decrease the overall morbidity and mortality linked with thyroid carcinomas and thyroid diseases.
ABSTRACT Introduction: High patient compliance, noninvasiveness, and self-administration are the leading features of vaccine delivery through the oral route. The implementation of swift mass vaccination campaigns in pandemic outbreaks fascinates the use of oral vaccination. This approach can elicit both mucosal and systemic immune responses to protect against infection at the surface of the mucosa. Area covered: As pathogen entry and spread mainly occurs through the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) mucosal surfaces, oral vaccination may protect and limit disease spread. Oral vaccines target various potential mucosal inductive sites in the GIT, such as the oral cavity, gastric area, and small intestine. Orally delivered vaccines having subunit and nucleic acid pass through various GIT-associated risks, such as the biodegradation of biologics and their reduced absorption. This article presents a summarized review of the existing technologies and prospects for oral vaccination. Expert opinion: The intestinal mucosa focuses on current approaches, while future strategies target new mucosal sites, i.e. oral cavity and stomach. Recent developments in biologic delivery through the oral route and their potential use in future oral vaccination are mainly considered.
The advent of nanotechnologies such as nanocarriers and nanotherapeutics has changed the treatment strategy and developed a more efficacious novel drug delivery system. Various drug delivery systems are focused on drug-targeting of brain cells. However, the manifestation of the brain barrier is the main hurdle for the effective delivery of chemotherapeutics, ultimately causing treatment failure of various drugs. To solve this problem, various nanocarrier-based drug delivery system has been developed for brain targeting. This review outlines nanocarrier-based composites for different brain diseases and highlights nanocarriers for drug targeting towards brain cells. It also summarizes the latest developments in nanocarrier-based delivery systems containing liposomal systems, dendrimers, polymeric micelles, polymeric nanocarriers, quantum dots (QDs), and gold nanoparticles. Besides, the optimal properties of nanocarriers and therapeutic implications for brain targeting have been extensively studied. Finally, the potential applications and research opportunities for nanocarriers in brain targeting are discussed. Keywords: brain targeting, nanocarriers, blood–brain barrier, nanotherapeutics, in-vivo
Ellagic acid is a phenolic compound which is the potent inhibitor of carcinogenesis. However, the exact mode of action is still not known. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the action mechanism of ellagic acid based on network pharmacology, protein-protein interaction database and evaluation of biological processes through Cytoscape plugin ClueGO. The protein targets of ellagic acid were retrieved through TCMSP and STITCH database. The interaction between the retrieved targets of ellagic acid was investigated by STITCH, GO enrichment and pathway enrichment analysis. The study revealed that there are total of 20 protein targets as a result of target search. In addition, 42 GO terms were also retrieved, which were found to be related with biological process. 10 GO terms related to several molecular processes and 2 GO terms achieved by analyzing gene function were annotated based on Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genomic pathways. Most of the terms were found to be associated with anticancer and antioxidant pathways such as NME1-NME2, and CA2 are involved in treating cancer metastasis and suppressing carcinogenesis respectively. Ellagic acid has potential of treating cancer, pigmentation, oxidative stress and viral infection with an underlying mechanism of cancer suppression. This study can be used for better understanding of mode of action of ellagic acid. Still further research studies such as docking and MD stimulation are required to elaborate the pharmacological and toxicological effects of ellagic acid.
Drug safety assures the effectiveness, safety, and security of drugs, vaccines, and other biologicals to protect public health. Medication-related errors coupled with unjudicial medication practices often cause a catastrophic impact on the healthcare system globally. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of physicians toward pharmacovigilance and barriers to adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting at tertiary care hospitals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, Pakistan. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among registered doctors working in seven tertiary care hospitals from seven administrative divisions of KP province of Pakistan from July 2019 to March 2020. During the study period, 358 physicians who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate completed and returned the validated structured questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for data analysis. The majority of physicians had poor knowledge (81.3%) regarding pharmacovigilance along with poor reporting practices (94.9%), although (96.5%) had a positive attitude toward ADR reporting. A significant barrier identified was the unavailability of reporting forms (95.9%), whereas mandatory ADR reporting (96.2%) was the major factor to encourage ADR reporting. Physicians aged ≥ 41 and experience ≥ 11 years had significantly more knowledge than other categories (P < 0.001). Significant association (P < 0.001) of physicians' knowledge and practice were found where 77.2% of the participants having poor knowledge reported poor practices. Physicians' understanding of pharmacovigilance was suboptimal, although they have a positive attitude toward ADR reporting. Thus, there is a need for continuous education and training programs to support pharmacovigilance activities that could improve physicians' understanding.
The objective of the present study was to assess the awareness level of individuals on the use of sunscreen products, and pharmacists’ perception of sunscreen safety. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Participants involved included 224 female undergraduates of Ajman University (aged 18-25 years old), 234 patients visiting numerous pharmacies, and 58 pharmacists from the private sector in Dubai. Questionnaires were designed and distributed to all participants. Data entry and analysis were performed using SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Sciences) version 20. Among female undergraduate students, 94.7% used sun protection, 81.1% understood what is meant by SPF (Sun Protection Factor) Value, and 70.2% used the optimal SPF (15-20). Additionally, 95.2% reported that sunscreens do not have any side effects. Out of the 234 patients who participated in the study, 86.8% used sun protection, 56.8% understood what is meant by SPF, and 43.2% used the optimal SPF. Furthermore, 93.2% stated that sunscreens do not have any side effects. Female patients were found to use sunscreens with higher SPF values (above 50) as compared to male patients (P 0.024). Patients above the age of 40 also used sunscreens with high SPF (P 0.001). As for pharmacists, they all agreed that sunscreens have a marked safety profile, with no side effects, and that the optimal SPF for use is 15-20. Most pharmacists (80%) reported that consumers are in fact aware and knowledgeable about the proper use and application of sunscreens. Optimal use of routine sunscreen is of paramount importance to prevent skin damage as well as cancer.
The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of telogen effluvium (TE) and to evaluate the efficacy of vitamin D in the treatment of this problem in women belonging to various cities of south Punjab, Pakistan. In the present study, 40 adult women suffering from the problem of TE were included. Each woman was treated with oral vitamin D3 (200,000 IU) therapy fortnightly and a total of 6 doses were given to each patient. After 15 d of the last dose, the condition of patients was assessed clinically. The mean age of female patients was 32.2±1.5 y, 42.5% of the patients between 21-30 y of age were found to be more frequently affected with TE compared to 35% females of 31-40 y of age. Results showed significant improvement in hair growth in young (r=0.457 p
The purpose was to identify the potential effects for clopidogrel-vonoprazan fumarate interaction. ChemDIS-Mixture was applied for the theoretical assessment of potential outcomes for coexposure of two drugs, vonoprazan fumarate and clopidogrel. This study was executed at low confidence score (0.15). The level of significance for the adjusted p-value is set at 0.05 along with Benjamini-Hochberg multiple test correction. Resultantly, the overlapped disease ontology (DO) terms of stomach disease (DOID: 76), gastritis (DOID: 4029), and peptic ulcer disease (DOID: 750) were identified for vonoprazan fumarate and clopidogrel. The incidence of stomach disease and gastritis were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the clopidogrel alone. According to these findings, clopidogrel-vonoprazan fumarate interaction may lead to gastric complications.
Ciprofloxacin (CPX), is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic used to treat a number of gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial infections. Ciprofloxacin can cause severe side effects, ranging from tendon problems, nerve damage, to serious mood or behavior changes. The purpose of this study was to investigate how ciprofloxacin affects gastric cell lines in rats with a distinctive emphasis on physiological, histopathological, and bacteriological changes. Male albino rats (n =21) were distributed into three groups; control, CPX, and CPX-withdrawal groups. The treated rats were given CPX tablets (12.5 mg/kg) dissolved in carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) 0.5 % orally once daily via gavage for sixty consecutive days. Control rats received only the vehicle. The withdrawal group was treated for 60 days and the drug was withdrawn for another sixty days. After completion of the experiment, all rats were sacrificed and gastric tissues were treated for light, immunohistochemical, and scanning electron microscopic examination. Image J software was used to measure immune-labeled gastric epithelial cells. Blood samples were also collected for H. Pylori immunoglobulins IgM, IgA, and IgG. Results showed that treated rats acquired significantly strongly positive tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) and significant reduction of serum level of H. pylori IgM, IgA, and IgG in all the study groups. It could be concluded that prolonged oral CPX administration to albino rats changes the gastric mucosal architecture and bacteriology.