Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is a private university focused on medical and health-related science programs and located in Boston, Massachusetts. The university provides traditional and accelerated programs of study focused on professional education in pharmacy and the health sciences. Since 2000, MCPHS has expanded to include two additional campuses, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire..
Patients on long-term anticoagulation face increased bleeding risk when antiplatelets are co-prescribed, especially upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. Guidelines recommend limiting antiplatelet use to highly select patients on background anticoagulants and promoting GI prophylaxis with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for those requiring dual antithrombotic therapy. To assess the impact of an anticoagulation management service (AMS)-led intervention on reducing excess antiplatelet use and increasing PPI prescribing in patients who require continued antiplatelet therapy. This study of retrospective chart review included adults (≥ 18 years) on long-term direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) therapy from October 2023 to September 2024. The intervention group included AMS-enrolled patients who received structured annual anticoagulation review. The control group consisted of DOAC patients receiving usual care outside AMS. The AMS annual review aims to optimize antithrombotic therapy by deprescribing unnecessary antiplatelets and initiating PPIs when clinically indicated. Of 8,462 eligible patients, 3,125 were in the AMS group and 5,337 in the non-AMS group. Antiplatelet use was significantly lower in AMS patients at baseline (9 Patients on long-term anticoagulation are at increased risk of bleeding when antiplatelets are co-prescribed, highlighting the need for careful medication review via a centralized anticoagulation service (AMS). An AMS-led annual review effectively reduced excessive antiplatelet use in patients on direct oral anticoagulants. AMS interventions increased proton pump inhibitor prescribing for gastric bleeding prophylaxis among patients requiring dual antithrombotic therapy. Further studies are needed to evaluate the clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness of AMS-led interventions in preventing bleeding while preserving cardiovascular protection.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is now embedded across the research lifecycle, from question formulation through dissemination. These systems create new opportunities for efficiency and access to knowledge. They also introduce significant risks for research integrity, reproducibility, and scholarly agency. Although existing work on AI literacy provides useful foundations, most frameworks focus on students, citizens, or general digital skills and offer limited guidance for researchers as knowledge producers. Drawing on the concept of cultural intermediaries and an established framework of functional, critical, and rhetorical literacy, this paper conceptualizes AI as a cultural intermediary in research. It argues that AI systems mediate scholarly norms, priorities, and forms of expression not through intentional curation but through structural mechanisms such as pattern reproduction, training data composition, and interface design. This extension reframes the cultural intermediary concept from an actor-centered to a function-centered one, and shifts attention from whether AI intends to shape research to whether it produces intermediary effects. Building on this framing and informed by sustained practitioner engagement with researchers across institutional contexts, we propose a capability map that defines AI literacy for researchers across functional, critical, and rhetorical dimensions and maps these capabilities across stages of the research lifecycle. An accompanying assessment rubric specifies observable behavioral indicators at three performance levels. These contributions position AI literacy as a form of scholarly practice rather than a set of technical skills, providing structured guidance for supporting responsible, transparent, and human-centered research in AI-mediated environments.
Conventional gelatin capsules deliver a rapid drug release in the stomach, which is suboptimal for therapies requiring controlled and delayed release, emphasizing the need for customizable drug delivery systems for precision medicine. This study's objective was to optimize 3D-printed capsule shells formulated with pH-responsive polymer blends-hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate (HPMC-AS), PEG-4000, and PVA-to achieve controlled and sustained drug release, comparing profiles against a commercial enteric capsule. Capsule shells were produced via fused filament fabrication (FFF) at two ratios (80:15:5 and 70:20:10), filled with acetaminophen (250 mg), and tested using a two-stage dissolution method (simulated gastric fluid (SGF) for 2 h followed by simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) for 4-5 h). Results showed negligible drug release in SGF (≤5%) for both printed and commercial capsules. However, in SIF, the commercial capsule released its payload rapidly (>80% within 15 min), while the 3D-printed capsules achieved a prolonged, gradual release. The higher HPMC-AS content significantly extended the release duration. All capsules met the pharmacopeial weight uniformity criteria. In conclusion, the 3D-printed shells provided a controllable, sustained drug release profile, underscoring 3D printing's potential to create tunable, patient-specific dosage forms.
