FooDrugs: a comprehensive food-drug interactions database with text documents and transcriptional data

Unlocking the Mysteries of Rare Disease Drug Development: A Beginner's Guide for Clinical Pharmacologists

Clinical pharmacologists face unique challenges when developing drugs for rare diseases. These conditions are characterized by small patient populations, diverse disease progression patterns, and a limited understanding of underlying pathophysiology. This tutorial serves as a comprehensive guide, offering practical insights and strategies to navigate its complexities. In this tutorial, we outline global regulatory incentives and resources available to support rare disease research, describe some considerations for designing a clinical development plan for rare diseases, and we highlight the role of biomarkers, real-world data, and modeling and simulations to navigate rare disease challenges. By leveraging these tools and understanding regulatory pathways, clinical pharmacologists can significantly contribute to advancing therapeutic options for rare diseases.

Does Medication Status Impact the Effectiveness of Nuts in Altering Blood Pressure and Lipids? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

CONTEXT

Nut consumption is attributed to improvements in risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), including high blood pressure (BP) and dyslipidemia. However, it is unclear whether these effects are altered with concurrent treatment with BP and lipid-lowering medication.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to investigate the effects of the consumption of whole tree nuts and peanuts (collectively termed nuts) on BP and lipids, and whether BP and lipid-lowering medication use alters these effects.

DATA SOURCES

The MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched through June 21, 2023, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effects of nut consumption on BP and/or lipids.

DATA EXTRACTION

Random effects meta-analyses (mean difference, 95% confidence interval [CI]) were conducted, with subgroup analyses based on reported participant use of BP or lipid-lowering medication, including medicated, unmedicated, unreported (ie, use not specified), and mixed (ie, included combined data from medicated and unmedicated participants). A total of 115 studies were included in the review, of which 109 were meta-analysed.

DATA ANALYSIS

Nut consumption significantly reduced triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B, with no effect on high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or blood pressure. Few studies were conducted in medicated participants only (n = 1 for lipid outcomes only), and for the studies including both medicated and unmedicated participants (ie, mixed), outcomes by medication use were not reported. Significant differences in TG and apolipoprotein B were observed between medication use groups, with nut consumption resulting in the largest reductions in unmedicated participants. Strong heterogeneity was observed with no evidence of publication bias.

CONCLUSIONS

Lipid-lowering, but not BP-lowering benefits of nut consumption were observed; however, few studies reported the effect based on participants' medication status. Future studies are required to determine if there are additional benefits of including nuts in the diet of medicated patients with cardiovascular disease.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION

PROSPERO registration code CRD42022296849.

Evaluating Pharmacists' Knowledge of Food-Drug Interactions in Croatia: Identifying Gaps and Opportunities

Food-drug interactions (FDIs) are pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic changes in drug effects caused by the presence of specific foods. To identify and prevent FDIs, pharmacists, alongside other healthcare professionals, should possess a certain level of knowledge. This study aimed to assess knowledge of FDIs among Croatian pharmacists. A total of 206 participants were included in this cross-sectional study. The median knowledge score among Croatian pharmacists was 69.44%, with an interquartile range of 19.44. Croatian pharmacists most commonly recognized FDIs involving theophylline, warfarin, and tetracycline, while the lowest rate of correct answers was observed with digoxin interactions. Future studies should evaluate pharmacists' clinical practice concerning FDIs. Additionally, more research is needed to develop educational programs on this topic, either at the university level or for continuing education.

Special Section on Digital Health for Precision in Prevention: Notable Papers that Leverage Informatics Approaches to Support Precision Prevention Efforts in Health Systems

OBJECTIVE

To identify notable research contributions relevant to digital health applications for precision prevention published in 2023.

METHODS

An extensive search was conducted to identify peer-reviewed articles published in 2023 that examined ways that informatics approaches and digital health applications could facilitate precision prevention. The selection process comprised three steps: 1) candidate best papers were first selected by the two section editors; 2) a diverse, international group of external informatics subject matter experts reviewed each candidate best paper; and 3) the final selection of four best papers was conducted by the editorial committee of the Yearbook. The section editors attempted to balance selection by authors' global region and areas with clinical medicine and public health.

RESULTS

Selected best papers represent studies that advanced knowledge surrounding the use of digital health applications to facilitate precision prevention. In general, papers identified in the search fell into one of the following categories: 1) applications in precision nutrition; 2) applications in precision medicine; and 3) applications in precision public health. The best papers spanned several disease targets, including Alzheimer's disease, HIV, and COVID-19. Several candidate papers sought to improve prediction of disease onset, whereas others focused on predicting response to interventions.

CONCLUSION

Although the selected papers are notable, significant work is needed to realize the full potential for precision prevention using digital health. Current data and applications only scratch the surface of the potential that information technologies can bring to support primary and secondary prevention in support of health and well-being for all populations globally.

DDID: a comprehensive resource for visualization and analysis of diet-drug interactions

Diet-drug interactions (DDIs) are pivotal in drug discovery and pharmacovigilance. DDIs can modify the systemic bioavailability/pharmacokinetics of drugs, posing a threat to public health and patient safety. Therefore, it is crucial to establish a platform to reveal the correlation between diets and drugs. Accordingly, we have established a publicly accessible online platform, known as Diet-Drug Interactions Database (DDID, https://bddg.hznu.edu.cn/ddid/), to systematically detail the correlation and corresponding mechanisms of DDIs. The platform comprises 1338 foods/herbs, encompassing flora and fauna, alongside 1516 widely used drugs and 23 950 interaction records. All interactions are meticulously scrutinized and segmented into five categories, thereby resulting in evaluations (positive, negative, no effect, harmful and possible). Besides, cross-linkages between foods/herbs, drugs and other databases are furnished. In conclusion, DDID is a useful resource for comprehending the correlation between foods, herbs and drugs and holds a promise to enhance drug utilization and research on drug combinations.

Enriching the FIDEO ontology with food-drug interactions from online knowledge sources

The increasing number of articles on adverse interactions that may occur when specific foods are consumed with certain drugs makes it difficult to keep up with the latest findings. Conflicting information is available in the scientific literature and specialized knowledge bases because interactions are described in an unstructured or semi-structured format. The FIDEO ontology aims to integrate and represent information about food-drug interactions in a structured way. This article reports on the new version of this ontology in which more than 1700 interactions are integrated from two online resources: DrugBank and Hedrine. These food-drug interactions have been represented in FIDEO in the form of precompiled concepts, each of which specifies both the food and the drug involved. Additionally, competency questions that can be answered are reviewed, and avenues for further enrichment are discussed.