Common wheat (Triticum aestivum), one of the world’s most consumed cereal grains, is known for its uses in baking and cooking in addition to its medicinal uses. As this plant’s medical benefits are enormous and scattered, this narrative review was aimed at describing the pharmacological activities, phytochemistry, and the nutritional values of Triticum aestivum. It is a good source of dietary fiber, resistant starch, phenolic acids, alkylresorcinols, lignans, and diverse antioxidant compounds such as carotenoids, tocopherols and tocotrienols. These constituents provide Triticum aestivum with a wide range of pharmacological properties, including anticancer, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, hypolipemic, antioxidant, laxative, and moisturizing effects. This review summarized the established benefits of wheat in human health, the mode of action, and different clinical, in vitro and in vivo studies for different varieties and cultivars. This review also gives an insight for future research into the better use of this plant as a functional food. More clinical trials, in vivo and in vitro studies are warranted to broaden the knowledge about the effect of Triticum aestivum on nutrition-related diseases prevention, and physical and mental well-being sustenance.

This article explored the potential applications, benefits, and risks of using ChatGPT in medical and health sciences research. The experimental study was performed with content analysis of the potential applications, benefits and risks of using ChatGPT in medical and health sciences research. This study shows many potential applications, benefits, and risks of using ChatGPT in medical and health sciences research. The average experts’ ChatGPT appropriateness and accuracy rates in the eight research themes were between 60% and 95%. This concludes that ChatGPT could help medical and health sciences researchers, especially new researchers, with caution in many aspects of research. The ChatGPT is still in the early phase of use by researchers worldwide, and its ability to help in research will be better soon. Attending training workshops about ChatGPT and AI is very important and highly recommended. The practice of ChatGPT in medical and health sciences research is important and recommended to explore the potential uses, benefits, risks and suggest recommendations for the best practice.

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious condition affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Adherence to medication regimens among patients with CKD is often suboptimal, leading to poor health outcomes. In recent years, mobile apps have gained popularity as a promising tool to improve medication adherence and self-management in various chronic diseases. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile apps to improve medication adherence among patients with CKD (including end-stage and renal replacement therapy). Methods: A systematic search was conducted using Scopus, Cochrane, PubMed, and EBSCOhost to include eligible articles that studied mobile apps to improve medication adherence among patients with CKD. The quality of the selected studies was evaluated using the Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale and the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. Results: Out of 231 relevant articles, only 9 studies were selected for this systematic review. Based on Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale, 7 were deemed to be of high quality, while others were of fair quality. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool indicated a low to moderate risk of bias across the included studies. Most of the included studies had a randomized controlled design. Of the 9 selected studies, 3 papers represented medication adherence by a coefficient of 10 variability of tacrolimus, 3 papers used adherence measurement scales to calculate the score for assessing medication adherence, 2 papers represented medication adherence by self-reporting, 2 papers represented medication adherence using electronic monitoring, and 1 represented medication adherence by pill count. The mobile apps were identified as Transplant Hero (Transplant Hero LLC), Perx (Perx Health), Smartphone Medication Adherence Saves Kidneys (developed by John McGillicuddy), Adhere4U (developed by Ahram Han), My Dialysis (developed by Benyamin Saadatifar), Kidney Love (developed by National Kidney foundation), and iCKD (developed by Dr Vivek Kumar). Of these apps, 3 focused on evaluating Transplant Hero, while the remaining investigated each of the other mentioned apps individually. The apps use various strategies to promote medication adherence, including reminders, gamification, patient education, and medication monitoring. A majority, 5 out of 9 mobile apps, had a statistically significant (P<.05) effect on medication adherence. There was strong evidence for a positive effect of interventions focusing on games and reminders combined with electronic medication tray monitoring and patient education. Conclusions: Mobile apps effectively improved medication adherence in patients with CKD, but low evidence and short intervention duration warrant caution. Future research should identify ideal features, provider costs, and user-friendly, secure apps.

Functional dyspepsia (FD), a common gastrointestinal condition, poses significant burdens on both individuals and society. In this article, we conducted PubMed searches using specific keywords to review clinical trials focusing on conventional and herbal treatments for dyspepsia as well as the adverse effects of non-herbal treatments. Dyspepsia can be managed using proton pump inhibitors, H2 blockers, and antacids. Additionally, we explore Tegaserod, a partial agonist of the 5-HT4 receptor, in the context of prokinetic medications. We summarise the research supporting the effectiveness of non-herbal dyspepsia treatment, considering factors beyond acid reduction, such as the placebo effect and the variability of dyspepsia symptoms, as discussed in the section on proton pump inhibitor (PPI) medication. Unlike most pharmacotherapies targeting a single mechanism, herbal medications often contain multiple active ingredients that can address several signalling pathways simultaneously. Notable herbs like fennel, cumin, aloe vera, ginger, and licorice have documented uses in the literature. Whether derived from a single plant or a combination, herbal treatments hold promises for addressing multiple conditions simultaneously. Therefore, evaluating herbal therapy at all stages of development should adhere to the same scientific rigour applied to chemically specific therapies.

Background: End-stage renal disease is the last stage of chronic kidney disease and can affect the quality of life (QOL) of dialysis patients. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of life and examine its determinants.Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving patients on dialysis in a tertiary hospital was conducted from July 2020 to September 2020. Demographic data were collected using a predesigned questionnaire. QOL was measured using the 36-item KDQOL questionnaire, and statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 25.Results: Of the 108 patients, 59 were men and 49 were women, and the mean age was 48.15 ± 15.4 years. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the mean score of all components of health-related quality of life in different types of dialysis. The demographic data, which included age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, education level, occupation, and monthly income, did not significantly affect the QOL of dialysis patients. Patients with a dialysis duration of more than 5 years had a better QOL compared to other groups. Laboratory parameters such as low albumin and low hemoglobin showed a significant correlation with the health-related quality of life of dialysis patients.Conclusion: The quality of life among patients on dialysis was impaired, especially in terms of burden of the kidney disease. Hypoalbuminemia and anemia were the two factors that influenced QOL.

Background: Patients requiring hemodialysis (HD) often have several chronic comorbidities, which necessitate the use of several medications and hence put them at high risk of polypharmacy. Medication-related problems (MRPs) among HD patients are a serious issue as they can increase morbidity and nonadherence with medications. To overcome this issue, a unique pharmacy practice model including medication review (MR) and motivational interviewing (MI) is needed to improve medication adherence, by reducing MRPs and optimizing therapeutic outcomes. The present study aims to assess the effectiveness of MR and MI in improving medication adherence, quality of life (QOL) and clinical outcomes among end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients who are on dialysis.Method and design: This pre-post study will be conducted prospectively among patients with ESRD who have been on dialysis at the Hemodialysis Unit, Hospital Kuala Lumpur and the Hemodialysis Affiliated Centers of the University Malaya Medical Centre, from August 2020 till August 2021. Medication adherence will be assessed using the General Medication Adherence Scale (GMAS), whilst patients’ HRQOL will be assessed using the Kidney Disease Quality of Life Short Form 36 (KDQOL-36). Clinical parameters such as blood glucose level, calcium, phosphate, hemoglobin and serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels will be obtained from medical records. A total of 70 patients will be recruited.Discussion: We hypothesize that the implementation of pharmacy-based MR and MI may expect an increase in medication adherence scores and increase in HRQOL scores from baseline as well as achieving the clinical lab parameters within the desired range. This would indicate a need for a pharmacist to be involved in the multidisciplinary team to achieve a positive impact on medication adherence among hemodialysis patients.Trial registration: Ethical approval has been obtained from the National Medical Research and Ethics Committee NMRR:20-1135-54435and Medical Research Ethics Committee, University Malaya Medical Centre MREC ID NO:202127-9811.