No abstract

Doxorubicin (DOX) is the most effective chemotherapeutic drug developed against broad range of cancers such as solid tumours, transplantable leukemias and lymphomas. Conventional DOX-induced cardiotoxicity has limited its use. FDA approved drugs i.e. non-pegylated liposomal (Myocet) and pegylated liposomal (Doxil) formulations have no doubt shown comparatively reduced cardiotoxicity, but has raised new toxicity issues. The entrapment of DOX in biocompatible, biodegradable and safe nano delivery systems can prevent its degradation in circulation minimising its toxicity with increased half-life, enhanced pharmacokinetic profile leading to improved patient compliance. In addition, nano delivery systems can actively and passively target the tumour resulting increase in therapeutic index and decreased side effects of drug. Foreseeing the need of a comprehensive review on DOX nanoformulations, in this article we for the first time have given an updated insight on DOX nano delivery systems.

The C-CO was very usable in terms of its clarity and feasibility. The incidence of medication errors was significantly lower in the C-CO compared with the P-CO (10/3765 [0.26%] versus 134/5514 [2.4%]). There was also a reduction in dispensing time of chemotherapy protocols in the C-CO. The chemotherapy computerisation with clinical decision support system resulted in a significant decrease in the occurrence and severity of medication errors, improvements in chemotherapy dispensing and administration times, and reduction of chemotherapy cost.

T his study aimed to evaluate complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use among Malaysian diabetic patients. Subjects for this case-control study were randomly selected from the pool of patients who were attending diabetes clinics, at the Hospital Tuanku Jaa'far, Seremban, Malaysia. Perceived effect of CAM use, reasons for starting CAM, and sociodemographic factors were collected from patients (n=230). Blood glucose levels were also recorded. Almost half of the study population (49.6%, 114/230) were using CAM together with conventional treatment for diabetes. Thirteen different types of CAM were utilised by the 114 CAM users and herbal medicine (64.9%) was found to be the most commonly used CAM modality. The majority of patients reported quality and safety of CAM (63.2%) and an additional treatment for diabetes (53.5%) as two main reasons for using CAM. About 44% of patients reported that their condition had improved by using CAM (R2=0.512, p=0.004), which was evident by their lowered fasting blood glucose (p=0.045, 7.171 versus 8.767). About 18% perceived their health condition as poor compared to 56% who perceived it as good after commencing CAM use. Br J Diabetes Vasc Dis 2011;11:92-98.