The Earth burns with passion, the air thick with courage. Darest thou tread forth upon this New Path?
Behind the illusions, beyond the magic of the enchanted land, wilst thou find New friendships?

Greetings, Pharmily! The most anticipated event of the year, the Pharmacy Senior-Junior Interaction Camp ’08, is around the corner. The name of the camp this year is Nouveau, which means new in French. Through this camp, we hope that new friendships and bonds can be forged not only among the juniors, but also the seniors and both seniors and juniors. The camp will take place from the 30th of June to the 4th of July at Changi Aloha Resort.

We have a whole bunch of thrilling programmes lined up for all of you and also the freshmen! Our theme for the FOC this year is Medieval. We will be incorporating many aspects of the Medieval flavours into the camp. The highlight of our games would the 2-days long battle of Clash of the Empires, the game that will allow not only the juniors to play, but also the seniors. I can guarantee you that this will be the most anticipated game ever!

And also not forgetting the long awaited Secret Pal Interaction, which will help break down the barriers between the freshman & seniors of different genders. In addition, you can expect a lot more of fun and exciting games that can help in bonding the juniors and also the seniors, such the exciting and exhilarating beach games; you will find yourself to be wet from head to toe!

We would really appreciate it if the seniors who are free can come down for the camp and help out. Seniors who are interested may sign up as gamemasters or helpers. Your help will be greatly appreciated. We would guarantee you a camp full of 100% fun, excitement and the spirit of Pharmily and you will not regret your choice of coming for the FOC.

The planning of this camp will not be possible if not for the efforts put in by all the members of the Freshman Orientation Programme (FOP), 47th NUS Pharmaceutical Society Executive Committee, the Department of Pharmacy, Prof Chan and our camp advisor, Dr Chui and also the support of all the students of NUS Pharmacy.
Representing the NUS Pharmacy Freshman Orientation Programme (FOP) Committee,

With Regards,

Kevin Ben Laurence,

Project Director of FOP 2008

< ![endif]–><!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>

< -->

Generic Name:Omeprazole

Brand Name:Losec, Prilosec

Pharmacology: Omeprazole is a drug used to treat acid-related illnesses of the gastrointestin

al tract by inhibiting the secretion of acid (H+) by the parietal cells of the stomach wall. The parietal cells contain an enzyme called hydrogen potassium ATPase (H+/K+ ATPase). H+/K+ ATPase breaks down the energy-providing m

olecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP), releasing enough energy for it to pump H+ into the lumen of the stomach where the concentration of H+ is many times greater than that within the cell. H+/K+ ATPase is therefore regarded as a proton pump.

Omeprazole exists as a racemate product, which means that that equal amounts of its L and D stereoisomers are present. In the acidic environment of the stomach, both stereoisomers are converted to their non-chiral form which interacts with a cysteine (-S-H) group of H+/K+ ATPase, causing it to be denatured and losing the ability to actively pump H+ into the lumen of the stomach. Omeprazole is therefore known as a proton pump

Hello Pharmers. The latest issue of Elixir is finally out! This is the maiden publication of the current NUSPS Media Resource Team (MRT).

Check out our feature article on Procrastination and our exclusive interview with a Principal Clinical Pharmacist.

Updates from RAG n FLAG and FOC committees, Overview of Pharmacy Events and Class pages are also included!

Without further ado, we urge you to start taking a look through this issue that the MRT has brought together! ENJOY! Click this link to download the Elixir right now - http://www.2shared.com/file/3118502/c14d5487/Elixir_April_08.html 
 

Nitroglycerin/Glyceryl trinitrate [commonly known as GTN] is a drug used to treat angina pectoris.

Angina pectoris is perhaps better known as the chest pain brought about due to the lack of blood and oxygen to the heart muscle. [ischemia]

Its principal action is vasodilation [widening of blood vessels], thus, decreasing the cardiac preload.

Nitroglycerin is converted to nitric oxide which are natural vasodilators found in the body. The reduced work on the heart causes a corresponding reduction in the pain experienced.

Nitroglycerin is a prescription-only drug [POM] and can only be obtained with the doctor’s prescription.

World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, on 24th March 2007, recognizes the global fight against tuberculosis. According to WHO, TB killed an estimated 1.6 million worldwide in 2005. While TB remains a major health problem around the world, Singapore has continued to see a drop in the number of TB cases. In 2006, 1,256 new cases of TB were reported among Singapore residents in 2006, giving an incidence rate of 35 per 100,000.

To combat the problem of TB, the Ministry of Health embarked on the Singapore Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (STEP) in 1997. The key component of the STEP is early diagnosis and proper treatment of patients with TB. This will cure and prevent further transmission of the disease and emergence of drug-resistant TB.

TB is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.

In healthy people, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis often causes no symptoms, since the person’s immune system acts to “fend off” the bacteria. The symptoms of active TB of the lung are coughing, sometimes with sputum or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Tuberculosis is treatable with a six-month course of antibiotics.

To read more about the disease and global efforts to combat its prevalence, you may visit: http://www.stoptb.org/

To all pharmacy students,

We will be having our 3rd Rag performance this year and we will be having a bigger float with a bigger performance than previous years. Due to the hard work of our group of committed members, we have managed to amass sufficient funds to build a bigger and better float. Furthermore, we managed to get a brand new set of tools to build the float. There is no doubt we can put up a grand performance this year and to show all nus students that PHARMACY ROX!

We are looking for cool pharmers to help us in the following areas:

1) Dance- If you can move your body to the rhythm, we will want you to be our DANCER!

2) Float- Ever wanted to build something? this is your chance!

3) Costumes- Enjoy Project Runway? this is an opportunity for you to be like Santino Rice!

To all the future pharmacy students who are coming in this year! YOU CAN JOIN RAG TOO!!

Simply email me @ pharmrag2008@gmail.com!

With best regards,

Terence Ng Rong De

Vice Rag Director 2008

We have all heard about it. Professors keep telling us about the Pharmacy Industry and how lucrative this sector is. But just what does this ‘Industry’ entail? Want to find out more?

Go for the Industrials Fieldtrips organised by the NUSPS Social and Education Committee!

Sunward Pharmaceutical– 19th or 26th March 2008 (Wed) 2:00pm-4:00pm 

Pfizer – 26th March 2008 (Wed) 3:00pm-4:30pm 

ICM Pharma – 26th March or 2nd April 2008 (Wed) 10am-12pm 

Interested? Register by emailing our S&E Director, Jean @ social_education@nusps.org. Please include your full name, matriculation no, IC/FIN no, Hp no and the companies which you wish to visit. 

Regards,

S n E Committee

NUSPS

On the 15^th and 16^th of March, NUS had its Open House where it opened its doors to potential undergraduates. It was very heartening to see so many prospective students visiting the Pharmacy booth during the event. For the benefit of those who could not make it to the Open House, we have decided to post some information here that may useful to potential pharmacy students.

Pharmacy is a professional and highly structured course. Due to its stringent structure, in view of students’ interest, a good pass in H2 Biology and Chemistry is a requirement. The program offered in NUS is a 4 year course that leads to honours in the fourth year for students who do well. The course covers a diverse range of topics from anatomy, physiology and medicinal chemistry to patient counseling and pharmacy practice. The broad based nature of this course gives students a wide range of career prospects. For more details about our program, click on the link below to visit our department’s website.

 http://www.pharmacy.nus.edu.sg/students/prog_ugnewintake.htm

So why choose pharmacy over other courses? Pharmacy is a course of scientific professionalism that allows ample interaction with the community yet offers diverse prospects in patient care, research and the industry. On top of that, being the only pharmacy school in Singapore, NUS pharmacy is of premium education standards. If you have a passion for healthcare, an interest in drugs and a heart that cares; pharmacy may be the course for you.

If you have any questions, please post them in our tag board or in our forum. For those who wish to find out more, the Faculty of Science is having a Science Open Day on the 24^th of May. Please visit our booth on that day to clarify any other doubts. We wish you all the best for your university admission.

Regards,

47^th Executive Committee

NUS Pharmaceutical Society

Fluoxetine is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, or a chemical messenger in the brain believed to govern moods.  Usually, it is quickly reabsorbed after its release from a neuron in the brain.  However, reuptake inhibitors such as Fluoxetine, delay the process thereby boosting levels of serotonin available in the brain to more appropriately regulate moods.

.

As a PMC Year 1 Student, there have been many occasions when professors have questioned me [and my classmates] on why Pharmacy is a profession. Often, most of us avert our gaze from the professors, unsure about the answer. We don’t want to be called upon to give an answer – why?

Perhaps the seeming reluctance to answer that question is that we have problems defining what professionalism is. Personally, this uncertainty surely translates into a need for self-examination. In 4 years time, we will be graduating as pharmacists, but as professionals?

Instead to alluding to what common perception of ‘professionalism’ is, we should endeavour to define it for ourselves. AACP Council of Deans and APhA Academy of Students of Pharmacy suggest that ‘professionalism’ is the active demonstration of the following traits[1]:

1. Prolonged specialized training in a body of abstract knowledge

2. A service orientation

3. An ideology based on the original faith professed by members

4. An ethic that is binding on the practitioners

5. A body of knowledge unique to the members

6. A set of skills that forms the technique of the profession

7. A guild of those entitled to practice the profession

8. Authority granted by society in the form of licensure/ certification

9. A recognized setting where the profession is practiced

10. A theory of societal benefits derived from the ideology