Biomedical subjects

A Simonić

Publications and source records attributed to A Simonić.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Education in clinical pharmacology at the Rijeka School of Medicine, Croatia.

OBJECTIVE: Irrational drug prescribing is a global problem that exists both in developed and developing countries. Education is the key to improved effectiveness and safety in drug therapy. Development of clinical pharmacology (CP) as an independent discipline at the Rijeka School of Medicine has been slow and unsatisfactory. It was taken only as a part of some postgraduate courses. In the 1995/1996 academic year clinical pharmacology was offered for the first time to sixth year medical students as a non-mandatory subject. The purpose of this study was to emphasize the importance of education in clinical pharmacology at the Rijeka School of Medicine. METHODS: This survey was an uncontrolled study based on responses to questionnaires and a test consisting of written patient problems given to sixth year medical students and to general practitioners who were following a course in clinical pharmacology. RESULTS: The results of the questionnaire showed that both undergraduate and postgraduate students consider that they are not being adequately trained to prescribe drugs rationally and that they believe that clinical pharmacology should become a mandatory subject in the undergraduate medical curriculum. The results of the written patient problem test support this. Both groups of students demonstrated greater skills in solving the diagnostic part than the therapeutic part of the test. A great improvement in the students' ability to solve the therapeutic part was observed after they had completed the CP course. CONCLUSION: The results of this survey underline the necessity of education in clinical pharmacology.

Croatia↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Influence of various cholinergic and anticholinergic drugs on rectal temperature in rats.

The influence of various cholinergic drugs on rectal temperature of rats under controlled laboratory conditions was examined. Animals were anaesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of thiopental. Three hours later acetylcholine, methacholine, arecoline, nicotine, neostigmine, atropine, methylatropine, mecamylamine or hemicholinium were injected intrahypothalamically (i.h.), intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) or intraperitoneally (i.p.). Rectal temperature was measured at 15 min-intervals for 1 hr after the substances were injected. Our results indicate that the cholinergic mechanisms play an important role in thermoregulatory processes in rats. Cholinergic activation decreases rectal temperature, due to an increased activity of central, and not of peripheral cholinergic neurotransmission. The hypothermic effect of cholinomimetics is mediated through an activation of muscarinic cholinergic receptors.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The importance of histaminergic H1 and H2 receptors for the contractile effect of histamine on human umbilical veins].

Influence of histamine and histaminergic H1 blockers (antazoline, promethazine) and H2 blockers (cimetidine, ranitidine) on isometric contraction of helically cut strips of human umbilical vein was examined. Histamine produced dose-related contraction of the vein strip, while histaminergic H1 and H2 blockers did not changed the tonus of the vein. The contractile activity of histamine was not influenced by cimetidine or ranitidine, while antazoline and promethazine antagonized mentioned activity of histamine completely. We suppose that histamine exerts contractile effect of human umbilical vein by acting on H1 receptors while H2 receptors are not involved in the mentioned activity of histamine.

Histamine↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of nicardipine, felodipine and nifedipine on passive avoidance behavior of intact and hypoxia-exposed rats.

The effects of various doses (0.03, 0.1, 0.3 or 1 mg/kg) of the calcium channel blockers nicardipine, felodipine and nifedipine on the learning ability in intact rats and on hypoxia-induced retention deficits were examined. All animals were trained in a passive avoidance procedure. The drugs tested had been injected 30 minutes before the learning trial started. Some animals were exposed to a hypoxic condition immediately after the learning trial response had been acquired. A passive avoidance retention test was performed 24 hours later. It was found that hypoxia strongly impaired the retention of the passive avoidance response. Nicardipine, felodipine and nifedipine did not influence the passive avoidance behavior in the intact animals, but significantly improved the retention deficits in the animals exposed to hypoxia. The effects of the substances tested were dose-dependent. These findings support the hypothesis that perturbations in calcium homeostasis can contribute to the memory deficits associated with hypoxic conditions.

Animals↗