Search Results (3)

Background and Objective. Accessibility to medications among the elderly is a source of concern in Lithuania and beyond. However, there are no studies carried out on this topic in Lithuania. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the causes of refraining from buying prescribed medications among the elderly in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Material and Methods. The data were collected in a cross-sectional ABUEL study in 2009. A total of 624 filled-in questionnaires (response rate, 48.9%) from the elderly aged 60–84 years living in Kaunas (Lithuania) were received. For evaluation of the impact of explanatory variables on the analyzed event (binary dependent variable), an Enter model of logistic regression was used.
Results. The study showed that 32.7% of the respondents refrained from buying prescribed medications. The most common reasons (respondents could select several options) for this decision were financial problems (48.0%), disappearance of problems (40.7%), and fear of side effects (22.5%). Refraining from buying prescribed medications was positively associated with age (OR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.99). Higher education was associated with a reduced risk of refraining from buying prescribed medications due to financial problems (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.78) and an increased risk of refraining from buying medications due to the disappearance of health problems (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.15 to 2.68). An opposite association with worries about daily expenses was observed.
Conclusions. Study has revealed that one-third of the elderly refrained from buying prescribed medica Full article

Objective. To evaluate the antimicrobial activity of soft and purified propolis extracts. Study object and methods. Antimicrobial activity of soft and purified propolis extracts was determined with reference cultures of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 33499, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Proteus mirabilis ATCC 12459, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Bacillus cereus ATCC 8035, and fungus Candida albicans ATCC 60193. Microbiological tests were performed under aseptic conditions. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) – the highest dilution of preparation (the lowest concentration of preparation) that suppresses growth of reference microorganisms – was determined.
Results. Concentration of phenolic compounds in soft propolis extract that possesses antimicrobial activity against gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis) and gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus mirabilis) is 0.587±0.054 mg and 0.587±0.054–0.394±0.022 mg (P>0.05) and in purified propolis extract – 0.427±0.044 mg and 0.256±0.02 mg (P>0.05). Klebsiella pneumoniae is most resistant to soft propolis extract when the concentration of phenolic compounds is 1.119± 0.152 mg and to purified propolis extract when the concentration of phenolic compounds is 1.013±0.189 mg (P>0.05). Spore-forming Bacillus subtilis bacteria are more sensitive to soft and purified propolis extracts when the concentration of phenolic compounds is 0.134±0.002 mg and 0.075±0.025 mg, respectively, and Bacillus cereus – when the concentration is 0.394±0.022 mg and 0.256±0.02 mg (P>0.05). Sensitivity of fungus Candida albicans to soft and purified propolis extracts is the same as Bacillus subtilis. Encapsulated bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae is most resistant to antimicrobial action of soft and purified propolis extracts as compared with gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis bacteria (P<0.05), gram-negative Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus mirabilis (P<0.05), sporeforming Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus bacteria (P<0.05), and fungus Candida albicans (P<0.05). There is no statistically significant difference between antimicrobial effect of soft propolis extract and purified propolis extract on gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, spore-forming bacteria, encapsulated bacteria, and Candida fungus.
Conclusions. Soft and purified propolis extracts possess antimicrobial activity. They could be recommended as natural preservatives in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products. Full article

Phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids have an important biological activity and are therapeutic agents of crude drugs. Development of validated analysis techniques of these phytotherapeutic agents (fingerprinting and assay procedures) is an important practice for efficacy, safety, and quality control of herbal drug preparations. The aim of the present work was to study analytical capabilities of the evaluation of selected phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids: caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, ferulic acid, gallic acid, protocatechuic (3,4-dihydroxybenzoic) acid, rosmarinic acid, vanillic acid, and vanillin. Optimization and validation procedures of rapid and simple method of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography were carried out. The mobile phase of the optimized chromatographic method consisted of methanol and 0.5% acetic acid solvent in water. For the application of method, two kinds of raw materials were chosen: propolis and the Herba Origani. Coumaric acid is the dominating phenolic acid of propolis (2785 mg/g). Results of analysis of Herba Origani demonstrated high quantities (6376 mg/g) of rosmarinic and protocatechuic (1485 mg/g) acids in the samples. Full article