Knowledge and attitudes of driver license applicants and instructors about driving of patients with epilepsy in Burkina Faso

Background:Epilepsy is the most common neurological disease in the world.The objective of the study was to determine the knowledge,attitude and practice of driver's license applicants and instructors in driving schools on epilepsy in Burkina Faso.Method:This cross-sectional study was carried out from January 7th to March 7th 2020 in 21 driving schools approved by the National Driver License Authority in the city of Ouagadougou.Fifteen driver applicants and one instructor were selected in each driving school,resulting in a total of 315 driver applicants and 21 instructors in the study.Results:The mean age of participants was 29.91±7.63 years.One of the driver applicants included in the study was once experienced a seizure attack.All respondents had heard of epilepsy.The main source of epilepsy information was from family(42.5%).Two hundred and twenty-six respondents(673%)had witnessed an epileptic seizure.A majority of participants(55.9%)believed that persons with epilepsy be not permitted to drive a motor vehicle.About 44.0% of participants thought that people with epilepsy should be permitted to drive under certain conditions.One hundred and four(30.9%)participants suggested that people with epilepsy be permitted to drive a light vehicle.One hundred and forty-one(42.0%)suggest to withdraw the driving license for lifetime if a driver had an epileptic seizure attack;while twenty-three(6.8%)participants recommended suspension of driver license for 12 months.Conclusion:Efforts should be made to improve awareness and education among license applicants and instructors on the driving by people with epilepsy.

Recent advances in the translation of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics science for drug discovery and development

Drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics(DMPK) is an important branch of pharmaceutical sciences.The nature of ADME(absorption,distribution,metabolism,excretion) and PK(pharmacokinetics) inquiries during drug discovery and development has evolved in recent years from being largely descriptive to seeking a more quantitative and mechanistic understanding of the fate of drug candidates in biological systems.Tremendous progress has been made in the past decade,not only in the characterization of physiochemical properties of drugs that influence their ADME,target organ exposure,and toxicity,but also in the identification of design principles that can minimize drug-drug interaction(DDI) potentials and reduce the attritions.The importance of membrane transporters in drug disposition,efficacy,and safety,as well as the interplay with metabolic processes,has been increasingly recognized.Dramatic increases in investments on new modalities beyond traditional small and large molecule drugs,such as peptides,oligonucleotides,and antibody-drug conjugates,necessitated further innovations in bioanalytical and experimental tools for the characterization of their ADME properties.In this review,we highlight some of the most notable advances in the last decade,and provide future perspectives on potential major breakthroughs and innovations in the translation of DMPK science in various stages of drug discovery and development.