World History of Pharmacy

A three-way crossover study with seven healthy male volunteers was conducted to determine the relative bioavailability of phenobarbital after single dose administration of 100 mg of phenobarbital as oral solution in Myvacet 9-08, and as a suspension, compared with a 100 mg phenobarbital tablet. At 4-week intervals each subject received the solution in Myvacet 9-08, the suspension and the tablet in randomized order. Blood samples were collected for 48 h after each dose for analysis of phenobarbital. From the individual serum concentration-versus-time curves Cmax and Tmax were determined and AUC0-48 was calculated. All three oral dosage forms of phenobarbital are bioequivalent. No significant differences in Tmax were observed. The oral solution in Myvacet 9-08, and the suspension of phenobarbital proved to be bioequivalent to a tablet.

The article examines one kind of medical services, i.e. pharmaceutical services, in 16th century Vilnius. It uses various sources, among which Lithuanian Metrica entries predominate. It establishes that two main groups of pharmacists operated in the city from 1522 to 1602: pharmacists who were Vilnius residents and the pharmacists of the king and magnates who moved to the city. In all, no less than 31 pharmacists offered their services to 16th century city residents. At one time city residents could expect the services of from 2 (at the beginning of the century) to 4 -5 (in the second half of the 16th century) pharmacists who were Vilnius residents. It presents thumbnail biographies of representatives of this profession. These biographies describe both groups of pharmacists working in the city through the social aspect. According to their social origin almost all the pharmacists who were Vilnius city residents were urbanites. Foreigners, i.e. Poles and Germans, occupied dominant positions among them. According to the amassed wealth, 16th century Vilnius pharmacists were among the city's richer residents. Knowledge of professional pharmacist activities is fairly poor. It is known that they prepared medicines in accordance with doctors' prescriptions and that they were assisted in this work by apprentices - journeyman pharmacists. This makes their activities similar to a guild organisation. Vilnius pharmacists lived and founded their pharmacies in the city's centre, mostly on Pilies - Didžioji Street. The article revises statements about the oldest pharmacy in Vilnius. Statements established in historiography about the royal pharmacy that relocated from Poland to Vilnius in 1506 are not reliable. But between 1506-1509 Sigismund the Old did actually buy a lot in order to erect a pharmacy in Vilnius. This is the first definite fact connected with the oldest pharmacy. In addition, between 1510 and 1521 another pharmacy founded by Vilnius Palatine Mikalojus Radvila operated in the city.

Abstract

The Goa Stone or Cordial Stone, an artificial bezoar created by the Jesuit Gaspar Antonio in the mid-seventeenth century, was composed of precious animal ingredients, such as scrapings of bezoar stones and unicorn horns, and vegetable and mineral ingredients, bringing together respected, long-standing traditions, imported from the Oriental and Arabic Medicine. Ancient myths built upon these substances and possible evidence of empirical effectiveness sealed their path to glory. Although the composition of the Goa Stone was kept in secrecy, it was reputed, or even more, as bezoars. Its splendour lasted for about 150 years until the end of the eighteenth century when chemistry emerged and significant advances in medicine put forward new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches which enabled more accurate scientific theories that replaced myths.

Keywords

Goa Stone; bezoars; unicorn horns; medicinal use of gems; Company of Jesus; History of Pharmacy

Résumé

La Pierre de Goa ou Pierre Cordiale est un bezoar artificiel, créé au milieu du XVIIe siècle par le Jésuite Gaspar Antonio, et qui était composé d’ingrédients précieux animaux comme des fragments de pierres de bezoar ou de cornes de licornes, etd’ ingrédients végétaux et minéraux. La Pierre de Goa incarnait une tradition très ancienne, importée de la médecine orientale et arabe. Des mythes anciens, relatifs à ces substances et leur efficacité empirique potentielle avaient assuré leur gloire. Bien que la composition de la Pierre de Goa ait été gardée secrète, elle était réputée, ou même plus, comme des bézoards. Sa splendeur a duré approximativement 150 ans, jusqu’à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, alors que la chimie s’épanouissait et que la Médecine progressait à grands pas vers des approches nouvelles en matière de diagnostic et de traitement, en remplaçant les mythes par des théories scientifiques.

Mots-clés

Pierre de Goa; bézoars; cornes de licorne; usage medical de pierres précieuses; Compagnie de Jésus; histoire pharmaceutique

The paper reconstructs the history of the 19th-20th-century
Engel pharmacy in Iaşi starting from a lot of items preserved in the
History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca. The lot includes
numerous drug jars, measuring cups, apothecary working tools,
financial documents, prescriptions, correspondence, and various
other documents, some of which were recently identified during the
renovation of the pharmacy museum in Cluj. The analysis allows one
to see the transformation of pharmaceutical practice in Moldavia and
Romania between the end of the 19th century and the Second World
War and to reconstruct the history of a successful family business.

ABSTRACT:

Since the earliest times in history, many works have been brought to the body on poisons, poisonings and antidotes which have attracted to mankind. Theriac is one of the most popular antidotes. According to Galen, Andromachus changed the recipe of mithridaticum and developed another compound antidote called galene. In time the name galene was changed to theriac. The theriac remedy used to use as an antidote against all kinds of venoms. It was believed that theriac both protected and cured from the venom of all poisonous animals such as snakes, spiders, scorpions, rats or mad dogs. The theriac was not only an antidote in an original sense but it was used in a very extensive way. The theriac was carried over Turc-Islamic populations and used extensively. Also it was pronounced as tiryâq or diryaq among them. Different theriac recipes encounter in Turc-Islamic medicine. In this study, only grand theriac formulations are put emphasis on. These theriac compositions are called grand theriac (tiryâq al-fârûq), because they have ingredients much more than the others. In this work, it tried to compare the different compositions of grand theriac, which were used by Avicenna and two Ottoman medical manuscripts called Yâdigâr and Mucerreb-nâme.

ÖZ:

Zehirler ve zehirlenmeler tarihin en eski zamanlarından beri insanlığın dikkatini çekmiş, zehirler ve panzehirler üzerine pek çok eser vücuda getirilmiştir. Theriac ise bu panzehirler içinde en ünlülerinden biridir. Galen, mithridaticum yapımında kullanılan maddelere İmparator Neron'un özel hekimi olan Andromachus (M.S. I. yy.)'un bazı maddeleri çıkarıp ve bazı maddeler ekleyerek galene adını verdiği başka bir karışım imâl ettiğini belirtmiştir. Galene ifadesi yerine sonraları theriac ifadesinin kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. Theriac pekçok hayvanın zehrine karşı kullanılmıştır. Hatta yılan, örümcek, akrep, sıçan ve kuduz köpek ısırıkları için hem koruyucu hem de tedavi edici olduğuna inanılıyordu. Theriac sadece panzehir olarak değil bir çok hastalığa karşı da yaygın bir şekilde kullanılıyordu. Andromachus tarafından geliştirilen bu theriac (tiryâk) bileşiminin İslâm kültürüne de geçtiğini görüyoruz. Theriac, Türk-İslam tıbbında da tiryak olarak telaffuz edilip panzehir anlamı yüklenerek kullanılagelmiştir. Zaman içerisinde farklı tiryâk formülasyonlarının oluşturulduğu ve farklı amaçlarla kullanıldığı görülmektedir. Bu formüllerden biri de Batı'da grand tiryâk olarak da isimlendirilen tiryâk-ı fârûkdur. Bu araştırmada İbn Sînâ ve iki farklı Osmanlı hekimi olan İbn Şerîf ve Şerefeddîn Sabuncuoğlu'nun verdiği tiryâk-ı fârûk formülleri karşılaştırılmıştır.

This lead item in the shape of a pierced coin was discovered by M. Gavlas by accident on March 18th 2020, near his land, in a hole in a field track (ill. 1). The site of the find lies in the cadastral district of Strážov near Žilina in the site of Pod Remenárkou (ill. 2, 3). Without doubt, it is a loss without any special circumstances. The item is a secondarily modified top of a bottle, a so-called theriac, which was a popular cure-all imported from Venice. Based on available historical sources, we can date it quite accurately to the 17th century. This miraculous medicine was produced in the chemist’s “At the golden ostrich”. We can find a parallel item in Šariš castle (ill. 7). Another two specimens of theriacs come from the territory of Slovakia, but with the motif of the Madonna with child, from Rakša, Turčianske Teplice district (ill. 8) and from Lovča (ill. 9).

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, edit and translate an unpublished fragment of Byzantine medical writing. Parisinus suppl. gr. 607 preserves a short and seemingly acephalous anthology of pharmaceutical remedies. A consideration of recipe collections as a distinctive but hard-to-define species of Byzantine Fachliteratur seeks to integrate this text into recent scholarship concerning a broad category of informal therapeutic writings, which testify to Byzantine drug lore, clinical practice and medicinal book culture. Investigation of the codicological structure clarifies that a secondary hand copied the fragment onto a blank folio in the mid-tenth century, contemporary with the compilation of this manuscript in a high socio-cultural and intellectual milieu in Constantinople. Examination of compositional contexts, embracing philological, textual, literary-historical and medical dimensions, suggests a ‘private’ remedy collection indicative of the use of texts in ‘household medicine’. This fragment draws particular attention as one of the earliest surviving specimens, while the codex has escaped the notice of previous inventories of Greek manuscripts with medical content.

The aim of this study was to explore patients' perspectives and experiences of pharmacist supplementary prescribing (SP) in Scotland. A survey in primary and secondary care in Scotland. Pharmacist supplementary prescribers (n = 10) were purposively selected across Scotland. All pharmacists distributed questionnaires to 20 consecutive patients as they attended appointments during October to December 2006. Reminders were mailed to all 20 patients by each pharmacist 2 weeks after initial distribution. The questionnaire contained items on: attitudes towards pharmacist SP derived from earlier qualitative research; consultation satisfaction derived from a validated scale developed initially for general practitioners, with the term 'doctor' being replaced by 'pharmacist prescriber'; and demographics. Closed and Likert scales were used as response options. One pharmacist withdrew. The patient response rate was 57.2% (103/180). The median age was 67 years (interquartile r...

В представленной работе проведен анализ литературного наследия античных и средневековых авторов: Гален, Диоскорид, Цельс, Авиценна, Амирдовлат Амасиаци. В статье представлено описание применения медицинской глины в античности и средневековье. Результаты содержат описание медицинских глин, их свойств и географическую справку о происхождения глин.

Ключевые слова: глина, медицина, Гален, Диоскорид, Цельс, Авиценна, Амирдовлат Амасиаци, лечение, Античность, Средневековье.

This paper analyses the literary heritage of ancient and medieval authors: Galen, Dioscorides, Celsus, Avicenna, Amirdovlat Amasiatsi. The article presents a description of the use of medical clay in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The results include a review of medical clays, their properties, and a geographical reference to the origin of the clays.

Keywords: clay, medicine, Galen, Dioscorides, Celsus, Avicenna, Amirdovlat Amasiatsi, treatment, Antiquity, Middle Ages.

The mineraloid amber is discussed here as part of palaeontological pharmacology. A popular galenical, its use expanded dramatically with the post-Paracelsian rise of iatrochemistry; Salts, Oils, Tinctures, and Powers of Amber were produced by means of sublimation, distillation and rectification. With a few exceptions, other fossils were limited in their application as galenical simples by classical, medieval and folklore traditions and a pre-Paracelsian view of the Doctrine of Signatures. The various fossil groups which have been employed therapeutically are briefly reviewed.

Medication review of patients on long-term treatment in general practice in the UK has been reported to be inadequate. Proposals followed suggesting that pharmacists could use their expertise to lead such a medication review in conjunction with the general practitioner. This paper describes the concept of clinical medication review by a pharmacist based in general practice. We describe the development of a method for a structured and systematic process for undertaking such a review in clinics conducted by a pharmacist. The method was developed for a nationally funded study in the UK. We provide a definition of clinical medication review and suggests a structure for the process through data gathering, evaluation and implementation.

We aimed to evaluate the categorisation and clinical relevance of DRPs identified by community pharmacists, and further, to assess the quality of interventions with the patients and the physicians as documented by the pharmacists. 23 Norwegian community pharmacies. Patients with type 2 diabetes were recruited by 24 community pharmacists who performed structured medication reviews based on the patients' drug profiles and patient interviews. The DRPs identified were subsequently categorised. An evaluation group (EG) retrospectively evaluated the reviews. Clinical/practical relevance of each DRP and quality of community pharmacists' intervention with patients and physician were scored. Average agreement between the EG and the community pharmacists was calculated. Internal agreement in the EG was calculated using a modified version of Fleiss' Kappa coefficient. A total of 73 patients were included (mean age 62 years, 52% female, on average prescribed 8.7 drugs). The pharmacists identified 88 DRPs in 43 of the patients. The most common DRPs were adverse drug reactions (22%) and wrong drug or dose used by patient (14%). Anti-diabetic drugs and lipid modifying drugs were associated with the most DRPs. The EG agreed with detection and categorisation of DRPs in more than 80% of the cases. The clinical/practical relevance of the detected DRPs was scored by the EG to be high or medium in 87% of the cases. The quality of the follow-up with patients and physicians was scored to be good or satisfactory in 93 and 98% of the cases, respectively. Pre-defined categories of DRPs supported by structured forms were reliable and valid tools for identifying DRPs. The evaluation demonstrated that community pharmacists were able to identify DRPs of high to medium clinical/practical relevance, and to perform follow-ups of the DRPs with the patients and the physicians with a good or satisfactory quality.

Snakestones were exotic, manufactured pharmaceutical items used to treat snakebite. Drawing on a spectrum of accounts, and building on my previous work, this article explores the role of snakestones in early modern European society. Forming part of the gift-giving culture , snakestones were also subject to empirical trials by natural philosophers who sought to challenge established medical philosophy and advance the study of snakes and venom. Th eir high cost and limited medical use in comparison with remedies such as theriac and bezoar, resulted in snakestones having minimal eff ect on the British medical market, in contrast to other exotic imported pharmaceuticals.

All countries in the EC have set up guiding principles for the registration of these drugs, but the conceptual approach appears not to be identical in each member state. Of course, this makes the future harmonization of the European legislation for marketing authorization much more difficult.

Total parenteral nutrition is commonly used in neonates' intensive care units for nutritional support of preterm neonates. Adequacy and safety of parenteral nutrition support are amongst the major concerns of neonates' therapy. Parenteral nutrition prescription in Greek hospitals is not based on standardized protocols, thus resulting in wide diversity of formulations. In this study, the results of utilization of standardized computerized parenteral nutrition protocols and regimens for neonates are compared to the results of protocols and regimens prescribed by individual neonatologists on neonates' outcome (weight changes, adequacy of parenteral nutrition, days of hospitalization, clinical outcome). The study took place at "Mitera" Maternity Hospital of Greece. Two groups of 30 preterm infants (28-36 weeks) with respiratory failure were recruited for the study. They were admitted in a Greek maternity hospital and they all received total parenteral nutrition support in neonates' intensive care unit. Standardized, computer based protocols were applied for the prescription of parenteral nutrition formulations in the first group, while on the other, regimens prescribed by neonatologists were used. Macro- and micronutrients provided by the different total parenteral nutrition protocols were recorded. Body weight was measured, blood count and biochemical profile were performed at the beginning and at the end of parenteral nutrition support. The number of days of total parenteral nutrition support as well as the total number of days of hospitalization was recorded. Standardized protocols provided more energy (P-value: 0.05), protein (P-value: 0.023) and micronutrients than the non-standardised. Neonates that receive standardized total parenteral nutrition gained weight (+44 +/- 114 g) and had better blood count and biochemical values during total parenteral nutrition support compared to the other group, that lost weight during total parenteral nutrition support (-53 +/- 156 g). These differences were also statistically significant (P value < 0.05). Regarding the total days of hospitalization, no differences were found between the two groups. The use of standardized protocols in preterm neonates resulted in more adequate provision of nutrients, weight gain and better blood count profile compared with protocols prescribed by individual physicians.

The objective of the study was  to investigate the alpha glucosidase
and  Dipeptidyl peptidase IV  (DPP-IV) inhibitory activity of aqueous
extract of Desmodium gangeticum (D. gangeticum). α-d- Glucosidase
from  Saccharomyces cerevisiae  was used as  in vitro  model to assess
α-d-Glucosidase inhibitory activity of aqueous extract of  D.
gangeticum. In-vitro inhibitory effect of aqueous extract of  D.
gangeticum  on DPP-IV enzyme was assessed by measuring the
absorbance of reaction mixture at 405  nm using a microtiter plate
reader.  Results of the study demonstrated that aqueous extract of  D.
gangeticum  exhibited good alpha glucosidase and DPP-IV inhibitory
activity with an IC
50
value of 950μg/ml and 255.5μg/ml respectively.
The results of the study provide scientific support for the use of  D.
gangeticum  in the traditional system of medicine for the treatment of
Type-II diabetes. This study should help to explain the
pharmacological mechanism of action and also help in the
development of medicinal preparation for the treatment of Type-II
diabetes.

Objective Diabetes mellitus is a serious health problem associated with an increased mortality and morbidity. The association of improved glycemic control with sustained decrease in the rate of complications has been shown in randomized clinical trials. Pharmaceutical care is a relatively new concept in Turkey; yet, there are no recorded routine pharmaceutical care programs. Therefore, we aimed to assess the impact of a short pharmaceutical care program conducted in the community pharmacy setting, on the indices of diabetes care of type 2 diabetic patients, particularly those regarding glycemic control and high blood pressure management. Setting The study was carried out at eight community pharmacies in Pendik district of Istanbul. Method All patients who visited any of the eight pharmacies through the pre-determined 1-week period were questioned for the presence of type 2 diabetes. Patients who reported to be type 2 diabetic (n = 67) were informed about the study and invited to involve. During this prospective longitudinal study, pharmaceutical care was provided to the patients by the same clinical pharmacist. The 3 month pharmaceutical care period consisted of six pharmacy visits. Main outcome measure: The main outcome measures were the improvement in glycemic control and blood pressure control; while, weight control, self-monitoring of blood glucose, compliance and being under physician-control were also assessed. Results The study was conducted on 43 patients who accepted to involve. Fasting blood glucose was lowered by a mean of 23% over 3-months from an initial value of 167.2 mg/dl. Number of patients reaching the desired blood glucose goals increased from 16.3% to 39.5%. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures also significantly fell over 3 months (mean reductions were 10.9 mmHg for the systolic and 9.3 mmHg for the diastolic blood pressure). Number of patients reaching the desired blood pressure goal increased from 30.2% to 51.2%. Conclusion Our short-course pharmaceutical care program yielded measurable improvements in clinical indicators of diabetes and comorbidity management. The results suggest that the pharmacist is a beneficial key component of integrated care for patients with type 2 diabetes. We think that the positive results observed in this first reported pharmaceutical care program on diabetes in Turkey can be motivating and encouraging for all community pharmacists.

This study had been initiated to investigate the modulatory role of
Ashwagandha root extract against gamma radiation-induced
nephrotoxicity and cardiotoxicity in male albino rats. Administration
of Ashwagandha (100 mg/kg) for 7 days prior to whole body gamma-irradiation exposure (6Gy) minimized the  hazardous effects of
radiation by decreasing the levels of serum urea, creatinine and
creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)
activities. Also, ashwagandha induced significant decreases in the
levels of nitric oxide (NO) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and
significant increase in the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in
heart and kidney tissues compared to irradiated group. On the other
hand, administration of ashwagandha prior to whole body gamma-irradiation induced non significant change  in the levels of reduced
glutathione (GSH). Based on our data, it is proposed that
Ashwagandha extract might involve in the protection of renal and
cardiac damage induced by gamma irradiation owing to its
antioxidant capacity.

To evaluate diagnoses and the prescription of antidepressants drugs for depression, based on data from 1993 to 1998 related to consultations for depression in general practice in the Netherlands. An exploratory analysis of data provided by IMS Health. Consecutive annual representative samples of 640 GPs regularly registered data on morbidity and (drug) treatment for specific medical problems in special booklets for a period of one week. The data refer to consultations for depression. The diagnoses were initially based on ICD-9 criteria and later ICD-10 criteria for depression. Number of diagnoses of depression and number of prescriptions for antidepressants. The number of first consultations for depression rose gradually, from 909 in 1993 (95% CI: 774 to 1043), to 1,482 (CI: 1292 to 1672) in 1998: an increase of 63%. For an individual GP, this represents an increase from 18 to 30 in first consultations for depression. The number of prescriptions for antidepressants also increased, m...