Objective: To examine how best to provide information on over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in the future, the Japan Self-Medication Industry (JSMI) conducted an online survey on public attitudes toward changes in the system for controlling the sales of OTC drugs specified by the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act effective since June 2009.
Methods: A secure web-based questionnaire system was developed and linked to the JSMI website.  The survey was conducted between July 17 and August 31, 2009.
Results: Of the 4,257 people who responded to the questionnaire, 56.8% indicated they understood the provisions of the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.  More than half of the responders had positive opinions of the revision.  They welcomed the improvement in convenience resulting from the availability of drugs at convenience stores, but “Druggists,” who are responsible for sales of the drugs, were not sufficiently represented among responders.  It was inferred that the general public feels that they should be able to purchase OTC drugs for self-medication after receiving sufficient information about the drugs from qualified sources.

OBJECTIVETo investigate in vitro cytotoxicity and oxidative stress response induced by multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs).

METHODSCultured macrophages (murine RAW264.7 cells) and alveolar epithelium cells type II (human A549 lung cells) were exposed to the blank control, DNA salt control, and the MWCNTs suspensions at 2.5, 10, 25, and 100 μg/mL for 24 h. Each treatment was evaluated by cell viability, cytotoxicity and oxidative stress.

RESULTSOverall, both cell lines had similar patterns in response to the cytotoxicity and oxidative stress of MWCNTs. DNA salt treatment showed no change compared to the blank control. In both cell lines, significant changes at the doses of 25 and 100 μg/mL treatments were found in cell viabilities, cytotoxicity, and oxidative stress indexes. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was also found to be significantly higher at the dose of 10 μg/mL treatment, whereas no change was seen in most of the indexes. The ROS generation in both cell lines went up in minutes, reached the climax within an hour and faded down after several hours.

CONCLUSIONExposure to MWCNTs resulted in a dose-dependent cytotoxicity in cultured RAW264.7 cells and A549 cells, that was closely correlated to the increased oxidative stress.

Animals ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Line ; Cell Survival ; drug effects ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Humans ; Lung ; drug effects ; enzymology ; metabolism ; pathology ; Macrophages, Alveolar ; drug effects ; enzymology ; metabolism ; pathology ; Mice ; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning ; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission ; Microscopy, Fluorescence ; Nanotubes, Carbon ; chemistry ; toxicity ; Oxidative Stress ; drug effects ; Reactive Oxygen Species ; metabolism ; Surface Properties