PharmNotts Annual Newsletter 2021/2022 (Desktop Version)

PHARMNOTTS

2021/2022

NEWSLETTER LIVING IN THE UNCERTAINTIES

PUBLICHEALTH HEALTH PUBLIC CAMPAIGN2021 2021 CAMPAIGN Eventexperience experiencefrom from Event various perspective| p.10 | p.9 various perspectives

UNIVERSITY STUDENT LIFE

VOLUNTEERING VOLUNTEERING AT AT VACCINATION CENTRE VACCINATION CENTRE COVID-19 Vaccination Centre COVID-19 Vaccination Centre as a volunteer| p. 40 as a volunteer| p. 25

Photo by Dr. Choong Wee Kang

Know more about student 21 life during COVID-19 | p. 34

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION Editor-in-Chief's Foreword

6

President's Note

7

PharmNotts EXCOs

8-9

University Student Life

34-39

Volunteering at Vaccination Centre 40-43 Interview with Dr. Toh Li Shean

44-47

COVID-19 Supplement Myth Buster 48-55

FUN & GAMES

ARTICLES PHC - Yoga & Meditation

10-11

- Nutrition Talk

12-15

- Journaling Workshop

16-19

- Health Wake Up Call

20-23

Discover Careers in Health Sciences 24-27 Summer Internship Experience

28-33

Crossword

56

Word Search

57

Photo by Chan Zhi Yi

Photo by Dr. Choong Wee Kang

Editor-in-Chief's foreword

Dear readers, The much anticipated PharmNotts annual newsletter is here!

The theme of the annual newsletter is “Living in the Uncertainties”. As the end of the pandemic remains unclear, we are constantly living our lives filled with ambiguity, confusion, anxiety, and worry without a clear projection of what is in store for us in the near future. Just like mother nature, there is no one answer that we could always look to. This goes hand in hand with the uncertainties we live with. Therefore, the team has decided to feature elements of nature in our newsletter to complement the theme.

In this newsletter, we have included a few events that were held exclusively online due to the pandemic. Through the write-ups from several perspectives, allow yourself to fully indulge in them and look forward to participating in these amusing and lively events in person.

This newsletter is a product of hard work from many parties, from writing the articles up to designing and lastly, publishing it. I would like to sincerely thank everyone who were involved in the making of this newsletter from the bottom of my heart.

To you who are reading this, thank you for taking the time to do so. Thank you for giving us a purpose to continue publishing our annual newsletters.

Happy reading and I look forward to seeing you in person when this is all over.

“There’s always a rainbow after the rain.”

Warm regards,

Erica Chong Syin Ciea Editor-in-Chief PharmNotts Publications Officer 2021/2022

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President's Note President's Note

Dear readers, Welcome to the annual PharmNotts newsletter! Let me start off by giving a warm welcome to all the fresh and returning students and express my sincere thanks to all those who made this publication possible.

Over the past year, we have experienced unforeseen changes in our lives due to the COVID19 pandemic. Therefore, I would like to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts that were put in by the members to adapt to the restrictions faced during this pandemic throughout the last year.

PharmNotts aim to enrich our members’ experience in university, as well as raising public health awareness. Other than the Public Health Campaign, which is our annual project, we will be organising more social events this year to allow members to bond in spite of the restrictions from the pandemic. We would also like to reintroduce the Blood Donation Drive if the situation allows.

This newsletter will showcase PharmNott’s achievements over the past academic year and hopefully encourage you to participate in our future initiatives. Best wishes for a great year ahead and stay tuned!

Best regards,

Mabeth Tan President of PharmNotts, Term 2021/2022

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Pharmnotts EXCOs

President Mabeth Tan Oon Ling

Vice-President Chong Yong Hui

Treasurer Karishma Murugavelu

Secretary Eunice Leong Lai Yan

Event Manager Christine Lee PHARMNOTTS | 08

Pharmnotts EXCOs

Graphic & Design Officer Chee Xin Yuan

Publication Officer Erica Chong Syin Ciea

PHS Public Relation Officer Khoo Luo Qi

Multimedia Officer Toe Kit Yao

MPharm Public Relation Officer Sia Cheng Yang PHARMNOTTS | 09

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YOGA & MEDITATION W O R D S

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L I M

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oga and meditation have always been one of the gold standards of alleviating stress to many. The workshop was led by an experienced yoga instructor, Mr. Louis Lim. The purpose of the one hour workshop was to provide knowledge and equip participants with the best methods of yoga and meditation.

Y

Although this virtual experience of yoga and meditation workshop did not feel like the real physical class, it is still ideal to keep us all at the best mental state and at the same time, feel socially connected!

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The workshop was divided into 2 parts. In the first part of the workshop, Mr. Louis started by giving a short talk on what is yoga, the benefits of practicing yoga and how it can help people go from feeling “stressed” to “blessed”! He also briefly explained about the “Eight Limbs of Yoga” which includes Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.

Following the informative talk, he then proceeded to demonstrate Asana, Pranayama and Dhyana which are three out of the eight limbs of yoga as mentioned before.

Asana refers to yoga postures, Pranayama refers to breath control and Dhyana refers to meditation.

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NUTRITION TALK W O R D S

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ver wondered how much salt is in your food? Or perhaps you’re (more or less) aware, but can’t make head or tail of strategies to reduce your salt intake? Maybe… you’re completely in the dark about the harms of salt overload! As part of our efforts to educate university students and the wider public alike about the primary culprit of an awfully prevalent yet silent disease, PharmNotts held a nutrition talk about the importance of monitoring and regulating sodium intake as well as practical ways to cut down on salt without compromising exciting flavours.

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At the start of the session, the audience was shown an ASMR mukbang video that was sure to have tickled their tastebuds and made their stomach growl had they not already had lunch.

As the oppa in the video slurped on the sauce-drenched instant noodles and chomped down on the crisp, Cheetoscoated Korean rice cakes, one could only imagine the mouth-watering torment going on behind the laptop screens of the attendees.

Following that, the floor was passed to our speaker for the day – Dr Goh Ee Von, a public health nutritionist who also works as a part-time lecturer within the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham Malaysia. For the next 20odd minutes, Dr Goh shared with us her findings from a paper investigating the reasoning behind the act of watching mukbang videos and subsequently dove straight into the love of salt bae’s life; she provided plentiful insights into the role of sodium in our body and the potential implications of overconsumption.

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Besides that, she also uncovered the main reasons behind our inclination towards salty foods, and most importantly, she shed light on multiple tactics to curb our salt intake.

Once the session was passed back to our master of ceremonies, a short Q&A session commenced. Dr Goh adeptly addressed questions from the floor, one of which highlighted the issue of health illiteracy in Malaysia. Dr Goh also briefly touched on the harms of another common offender contained in our devilish diets and extended a fact about how sugar influences “what us 20somethings care most about” beauty and all that accompanies it.

The event then transitioned into a Kahoot game, which was really more of a test on whether the participants were paying attention during Dr Goh’s sharing. Suffice to assume that some of the (ridiculously) wrong options brought a smile to their faces who wouldn’t laugh at “Salt can also go by the name bath salt” or “A diet for healthy blood pressure is called the FISH diet”? It was safe to say that Dr Goh was delighted to see that most participants did get most of the questions right.

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After the group photo session that followed immediately, the emcee delivered a closing speech and presented links to purchase exclusive PHC merch and to donate to the National Stroke Association of Malaysia (NASAM). With that, the session ended with warm words of thanks to Dr Goh for the eye-opening talk and the same calming music that welcomed all participants into the room.

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JOURNALING WORKSHOP FROM A MODERATOR'S POINT OF VIEW

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W O R D S

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am Youn SeoJung and I was the moderator for the Public Health Campaign Journaling Workshop held in April 2021.

As the moderator, my major role was to play the background music before the event began, and also to share the slides which were prepared by our speakers and the emcee. Through this, I got a chance to look at how the event was carried out.

There were five speakers from different courses – each speaker shared their thoughts and views on journaling.

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Our journaling workshop was divided into a few sessions. It started off with the audiences presenting their thoughts regarding journaling on Jamboard, a digital interactive whiteboard. We were happy to have received many different responses.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when thinking about journaling? Do you think it is a difficult and tedious process? In fact, no, you can start right away whenever you want to.

The speakers then proceeded to explain what journaling is and various ways to start journaling. The purpose of this is to spread awareness to the audience that journaling does not necessarily have to be done in great detail; just briefly would do. In my opinion, journaling is indeed beneficial to everyone as it helps to improve our own mental health through penning down our emotions and feelings.

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The speakers also shared their insights and explained various types of journaling. This made me view journaling from a different perspective – there are in fact different ways to express my emotions, not just through words. Some approachable ways include using mobile applications or making use of the simple things we have with us in everyday life, such as papers and pens.

Not forgetting our speakers also highly encouraged us to make journaling a habit. They emphasized that it is very important to not view journaling as being stressful, but rather as a special personal time to focus on your thoughts and emotions. Journaling doesn’t take a few hours; a short 10-minute session is sufficient in helping you to calm your mind.

I am happy to see all our speakers being very friendly and our participants being interactive as well. Towards the end of the workshop, we exchanged feedback among one another in order to help us improve on our presentation for the best outcome. I am grateful to have received much support and feedback from our participants; likewise all our participants were very happy with the compliments that were given to them.

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In conclusion, journaling can help to improve our mental health, as it allows us to arrange and pen down our thoughts at any time and this takes only a few minutes. Moreover, with the current COVID-19 situation whereby us students might feel lonely and helpless at times, now is the best time to start journaling as you would be happy to find how journaling calms your mind and soothes your soul. Remember, it is never too late to start!

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HEALTH WAKE UP CALL W O R D S

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here is no denying that hypertension is a prevalent disease, especially when placed in the context of Malaysia. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic unleashed its fangs on the worldwide population, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension have taken a back seat in the healthcare setting, where they receive little to no emphasis. In such unprecedented times, PharmNotts has tasked itself with shedding light on the ever-so-prominent issue by introducing the theme of hypertension for its Public Health Campaign 2021. In line with this year’s theme, Mr. Jonathan Ee – a retail pharmacist currently based in KL – was invited to deliver a talk on this very topic.

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After a long week of classes and whatever else on their schedules, our attendees settled down in front of their devices after a (hopefully) fulfilling evening meal and joined us in welcoming Mr. Jonathan. Once our master of ceremonies briefed the floor about house rules, the session started without further ado. Our honourable speaker began his talk with a general overview of the disease, including a brief look into the regulation of blood pressure, the definition and diagnosis of hypertension as well as a series of alarming statistics. He stressed on the array of prevention methods, zeroing in on various lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, and alcohol consumption. Following that, everyone was released for a short break so that they could stand up and stretch or run for a toilet break.

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Accompanied by the gentle sax tunes playing in the background, five minutes passed by in the blink of an eye. Without hesitation, Mr. Jonathan dove right into the clinical side of things, where it especially captured the interest of pharmacy students since he incorporated the subject of different antihypertensive drug classes and their corresponding side effects. Besides, he also listed the many ways we can support loved ones with the disease, not forgetting the symptoms to look out for in case of an episode of stroke or heart attack.

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Greater-in-depth slides prepared by Mr. Jonathan beforehand were additionally shared when a question was raised regarding the cascade of side effects that some anti-hypertensive drugs carry. Subsequently, the participants were enlightened on the economic burden that hypertension poses to the country through some statistics on the portion of Malaysia’s budget allocated towards such a disease and its potential out-turns. The sharing was then concluded by again calling attention to the grave problem amongst our community, the need to spread awareness, and the ways by which we can achieve this.

When 10 p.m. rolled around, the master of ceremonies drew a close to the session following a group photo. The webinar was concluded with a shoutout to Blackmores as the sponsor, and the presentation of our PHC × Pentonies merchandise and the donation platform to support the National Stroke Association of Malaysia (NASAM) thereafter. At last, everyone involved received their warm wishes of thanks before it was called a night.

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secneicS htlaeH ni sreeraC gnirevocsiD

HEALTH SCIENCES W O R D S

B Y

H U A

C H A I

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“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor” – Elon Musk

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his is especially relevant during the current Covid-19 pandemic, where movements and face-to-face interactions are restricted. It is undeniably an enormous obstacle as PharmNotts is unable to hold any physical event on campus. However, with a will to conduct an event that would be beneficial to all students from the School of Pharmacy, a virtual career talk was organised. Our ‘Discovering Careers in Health Sciences’ event was a great success. PharmNotts was honoured to have the opportunity to take the lead in organising this annual Discovering Careers series. We had the opportunity to collaborate with BMed (Biomedical Sciences) Society, who helped to connect all the Biomedical Sciences students, and also Careers Advisory Service (CAS), who provided professional guidance and assistance at all stages – from planning, organising to implementation. With great effort from all parties, we had successfully achieved a much greater participation rate from our initial target.

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Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible to visible. Our Discovering Careers in Health Sciences event aimed to explore and gather information for internships and future careers for students. We also hoped it could help to develop better understanding of the requirements and expectations of employers in the health sciences industry in students, and that information gained from this talk would prepare our students for the transition from university to a new working environment. To accomplish these goals we had in mind, a few invitations were sent out to experts in the related fields as guest speakers.

Professor Ting Kang Nee, the head of School of Pharmacy, was invited to give a welcoming speech to all participants at the beginning of the event. Not only did it serve as an introduction to our fellow Nottingham students, but also as a token of respect to the guest speakers, and a warm welcome to the Nottingham alumni.

Mr Asher Goh Chen Hau, our very own Nottingham alumnus with a BSc (Hons) Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences degree, was the first speaker to share his experiences in several different companies which a lot of students had their eyes on. He ended his speech with a piece of wise advice to all students: “be an empty cup – willing to learn everything; be formless – willing to adapt to anything”.

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Next, Ms Vanessa Koh, who is the youngest yet knowledgeable alumnus among the speakers, gave a speech on her experience of being a medical specialist at DKSH Healthcare. Throughout her speech, she could easily build bridges with the participants with her unique charisma. Her professional sharing undoubtedly helped the students understand more about the transition from university to the working environment.

After that, Mr Rakesh Kumar Omre, an industry expert with more than 10 years in quality assurance, shared his in-depth thoughts on his industry experiences. Mr Rakesh emphasised on the importance of soft skills in a working environment – good communication skills, initiative, punctuality, emotional intelligence and great time management were the key skillsets in which a company looks for.

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Last but not least, Mr Tye Kean Hong, another Nottingham alumnus who graduated with BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences degree, shared his role as a product specialist at Medtronic. He had briefly talked about the ventilators that were used to provide respiratory solutions to patients in ICU. Most importantly, he reassured that biomedical sciences graduates could have the opportunity to have a hands-on experience in hospitals and clinics as well.

A panel discussion and a Q&A session were carried out to clear any doubts that the participants had after all the wonderful presentations from the guest speakers. The event ended with a photo session. Things end, but memories last forever. We were glad that this event went smoothly and provided the necessary guidance to the participants regarding some qualities employers look for, as well as the insightful sharing from the speakers’ own experiences.

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SUMMER PLACEMENT

COMMUNITY PHARMACY W O R D S

I haven’t had much hope to hear from the community pharmacies I’ve sent out emails to since the covid-19 pandemic swept across the whole of Malaysia and completely threw everyone off-guard. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to know that I’ve managed to snag a chance to partake in a community pharmacy placement. I wanted more exposure in the field of pharmacy to be more prepared for the role of working as a pharmacist, so this opportunity couldn’t have been more perfect for me.

B Y

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W H E M A Y

I was recruited by a large chain pharmacy that had over 40 branches spread throughout Malaysia and I spent a month working at the branch near my home as a trainee. The pharmacy was considerably big and they had a huge variety of items stocked up. There were shelves for every category — shelves at the self-care section were lined with a variety of shampoos, creams and lotions, and even an array of toothpaste that were specially formulated to suit different needs. The pharmacy also offered a collection of health supplements of various brands for children, adults and the elderly.

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Herbal ingredients and organic snacks were available in a different section, where an assortment of milk powders was displayed for sale. Multiple shelves were dedicated especially for Over-The-Counter (OTC) medicines that included common analgesics such as Panadol, non-medicated eye drops and antacids in both tablet and liquid forms.

Over-The-Counter

We would start the day off by sanitising the pharmacy and setting up the cash registers, of which two were located at the pharmacy counter at the back of the shop. To comply with the SOP set by the government following the outbreak of covid-19, I would routinely check and record the body temperatures of every staff member to ensure the crew’s safety as well as customers’. The staff members were friendly and attentive — they made sure that I was wellinformed of the essential jobs around the pharmacy and walked me through them, providing guidance whenever I got caught up in a difficult situation. The pharmacists demonstrated how to keep a check on Pharmacy (P) and Prescription-only medications (POM) medicines which were arranged on the display shelves underneath and behind the counter respectively as to determine if new stocks are required to be ordered from the headquarters.

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The dispensing of medicines that contain ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are specially monitored and recordings must be done with every purchase. I was assigned to keep the records up to date and ensure that the number of leftover medicines tallies with the recorded quantity.

The pharmacy was more often busy than not as customers would enter the moment the shutters rolled up right away in the morning! Some customers enjoy taking a casual stroll around the pharmacy, while some prefer to be in and out under five minutes. It is important to be courteous when speaking to customers while maintaining a professional yet welcoming tone. In the beginning, I struggled to interact with customers. I often stumbled over my words, unable to calm my nerves with the fear of making mistakes. After all, I was only a first-year student and my knowledge in the field of pharmacy was still limited, hence I had problems identifying most of the medicines requested by the customers. The pharmacists were practically my lifesavers — they would swoop right in and direct me to the appropriate shelves to pick up the medication, but I thought it would be best if I was able to handle the situation on my own.

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The pharmacists urged me to familiarise myself with the way the medicines were lined up in the pharmacy (along with the overall structure of the pharmacy so I could assist the customers with locating products). P medicines (more commonly known as Group C Poisons in Malaysia) and POM medicines (Group B Poisons), as well as OTC medicines, were organised according to their indications. It was interesting to see how there were plenty of medicines available for the same indication — which was why I found it difficult to match the type of medication to their brand names, particularly Group B Poisons, often to which customers would refer to. I would come across a couple of common ones every day, such as Glucophage, an oral diabetes medicine containing the active ingredient metformin, and I eventually managed to remember their names off the top of my head after a few days working in the pharmacy. With this knowledge, I was able to quickly locate certain medicines and it helped me tremendously when serving customers.

Despite that, I made sure not to be hasty in the process and would always double-check the name and strength of the medicines before dispensing them, under the supervision of the pharmacists. Prior to the dispensary, the pharmacists would first review the prescriptions brought in by the patients to ensure that the medicines are used for the correct indications and are of the appropriate dose and strength.

Once the pharmacists are satisfied with the choice of medicines, they will proceed to put down their signatures along with the date of the dispensary, as well as a reference number before keeping the prescriptions in a binder file in chronological order to allow future referrals.

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Every Wednesday and Saturday, a new shipment of poisons would arrive at the pharmacy. The medicines were packed neatly into large plastic crates upon delivery, with the same type of medicines bundled together. I was tasked to review the new stocks and ensure that the types and quantities of medicines received were as stated on the order invoice. It was a long and tedious process because there were just so many items to review and I would often feel burned out afterwards.

The pharmacists also explained that the expiry dates of each and every packaging of the medicines must be checked as they would influence the system of which the medicines are arranged. The medicines with quicker expiry dates would be brought to the front, where they are most likely to be sold sooner to reduce the chances of medicines spoiling due to excessively long storage time.

I’ve always known that running a pharmacy requires more than just textbook knowledge, but I did not truly grasp just how important experience comes into action. Experience plays a vital role as it involves applying ethical and professional judgement on everyday decision-making in the pharmacy. There were a couple of times where sales representatives of pharmaceutical companies came in to promote their products and requested us to advertise them in the pharmacy. The pharmacist-in-charge would analyse the data produced from clinical studies by the companies, along with the promotional leaflets whilst probing the sales representatives for further details. A decision is then made based on several factors, such as the quality and effectiveness of said product compared to the ones that are currently being sold in the pharmacy — it would not be ethical to sell customers fruitless products for profit, and it would be unprofessional for a pharmacist to neglect care for people who are in need of their services.

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Of course, there were several other instances where we had to practice ethical and professional judgement in the pharmacy, but this one stuck with me the most, and it gave me a better understanding towards the significance of Pharmacists’ Duty of Care that we learnt in class.

The placement experience left me with more than what I could’ve hoped to gain in such a short amount of time. Although it may sound redundant and exhausting, I highly recommend pharmacy students to take some time out during the summer break for placements and internships. The experience would most definitely broaden your knowledge of pharmacy jobs and give you plenty of opportunities for hands-on learning.

Being a pharmacist demands more than just book knowledge and theories, and it’s never too early to strive beyond that!

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University student life Words and pictures by Esther Choo

Transition from living at home to living alone; Life in uni during this trying time. What is it like?

– My experience.

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“What if I need to live away from home to attend university?”, I asked my dad, exuberantly. “Then we will have no choice but to throw you into the water”, was my dad’s reply. I have always wanted to taste the freedom of living out my own life, doing things the way I wanted without my parents scrutinizing every petty movement I make. I never once got the ticket from my parents to make my own decisions, let alone live by myself. Earlier in the middle of my final A-Levels examinations, having granted the privilege to utilize the internet search engine, I was blessed to have the University of Nottingham website popped up onto my search results. I clicked on the link and it was indeed love at first sight.

Counting my lucky stars, I have the utmost gratitude for my dad who was able to pay for the tuition fees and that I was able to pass the interview to pursue Master of Pharmacy here.

Come September 2020, semester one finally kicked in. It was the time which I have been longing for because it would be - well peculiar but true to say, I survived my entire life, right up to college, without a mobile phone - my first time I ever handled a mobile phone, a laptop, so on and so forth. More significantly, however, living away from home meant that I have to train myself to make decisions for myself. For the very first time in my life:

All. By. My. Self.

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“Awesome!”, I thought. We were in the middle of the pandemic and I thought how sheer blissfulness it would be that I could finally step out of my house and have the biggest breath of my life after so many months, or years. Jubilant, I confirmed my accommodation booking, packed up whatever I needed, and headed straight to Semenyih. Nonetheless, this pandemic would present me with multiple challenges, one of which is the fact that I will have no choice but to begin university online, which was quite a disappointment for me since I preferred physical over the virtual learning experience. I wasn’t able to meet up with my coursemates physically and found it difficult to participate in class discussions openly at the beginning as a result of me having to complete the entire term at the comfort of my room here in the university. I was camera shy and I got MS Teams fatigue very easily.

J block accomodation where I spend most of my time in front of my laptop attending online classes.

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It has been 9 months since I started university and I am happy to say that I am currently excelling and coping, slowly but surely in terms of organizing my schedules, making decisions for myself and learning to juggle between online learning and online fellowships. Asking questions and making friends via virtual platforms did not seem overwhelming anymore as a result of supportive and encouraging coursemates and lecturers having my back every time I struggled to progress. During my stay here in university I am, without a doubt, satisfied with the environment. I am absolutely blessed to be greeted by the caring hall warden, the friendly security team, and the generous yet humble food stall operators almost every day, and with the privilege of technology, loneliness seems manageable. Nonetheless, I must admit that the vicinity and experience would be much greater if everything is done physically, thus I am still waiting for that victorious day when the pandemic will be completely wiped out so that we could finally enjoy the traditional university lifestyle.

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Selfie with my foodie parents (chinese stall's uncle and aunty).

Thank you to security abangs who are onguard 24/7. I apologize for their cheeky behavior (OK and me being not careful), I bet they won't do this again since the pandemic is getting worse right now... Those who are reading this article, remember, wear your mask properly and social distancing at all times!!!!

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Friends, apart from academics, I urge you to participate in clubs and societies. This is of utmost importance especially during this pandemic where most of us are bound to work remotely. Joining side activities are a great way to make friends, fill up our time usefully, and explore our capabilities and interests. Finally, reading Pharmacy and Science online can be an overwhelming experience, and at times we may feel demotivated. Whenever you feel like giving up, question yourself why you chose to pursue Pharmacy in the first place. I urge you to keep your heads up, to not get sidetracked on your goals, and continue pushing to the brim. Even though you may not see it now, success will finally come looming out at the end of this long tunnel because it will. Seek help from friends, lecturers, and the student support team if things get too difficult for you. This is Esther signing off and I wish you all the best in your studies and future endeavors!

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VOLUNTEERING AT THE VACCINATION CENTRE

W O R D S

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P I C T U R E S

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omeone once said, “If not me, then who? If not now, then when?” – and there is virtually nothing else that resonates more with us at this moment.

Though there was initially much hesitation for us to step up and pursue this humbling volunteering experience due to the possible risk of exposure (especially in the midst of the peaking COVID-19 cases in our country), we thought to ourselves that if everyone else had the same perception as us, who would then volunteer and contribute their part? Moreover, since this opportunity is undoubtedly one that is rare to come by, why not take it up and gain some memorable experience while we’re at it? As full-time students on summer break, this was probably all we could do to try and curb the spread of this deadly disease in our country.

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With this in mind, we immediately signed up to be volunteers under BP Healthcare Group right after our finals ended. BP Healthcare is allocated one of three stations at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur, which is the go-to location for various local and international conventions such as the renowned MATTA fair held annually pre-COVID. Now, amidst the pandemic, WTCKL serves as a vaccination centre in town, administering well over 8,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine per day.

As non-medical volunteers, our job scope was pretty much limited to the very basic bits – ushering and helping out at each area of the entire vaccination process such as registration, doctor consultation, the vaccination itself, and observation plus counselling post-vaccination. Well, mainly the behind-the-scenes, if you would like.

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In case you were wondering about hilarious questions we received throughout our volunteering experience (we know you weren’t, but we’ll tell you anyway), one that immediately comes to our minds would be the vaccinees asking if they were allowed to shower or drink water post-vaccination, to which we reassured them that it was perfectly fine to do so. I mean, it is vital to keep yourself clean and hydrated at all times! That being said, it was rather pleasing to be able to speak to different vaccinees and see the satisfied smile put on their faces after their queries were resolved.

Not only that, but as student pharmacists, we were fortunate enough that the pharmacists-in-charge agreed to let us shadow them for day-to-day activities such as vaccine collection, distribution, stock counting, and more! On these days, we would climb out of bed an hour earlier than usual to catch the pharmacist as they gathered the ice boxes and relevant storage containers to transport the day’s stock from Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) to the vaccination centre. At HKL, the pharmacist-in-charge would first record the temperature of the ice boxes (the vaccines must be kept between 2-8°C) before passing us the vials for the day.

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Once we returned to the vaccination centre, the pharmacist would update the receipt of the stock on the government’s vaccine management system (VMS) and the vials would then be distributed to all vaccinators to be used – and its dispensing recorded on the VMS as well. All these had to be done before the first appointment at 9am. The centre’s doors were then officially opened for the public and our day began!

All in all, it had been a rather fulfilling experience from dealing with health-illiterate patients to enjoying sponsored meals to gossiping about haunted washrooms! Oh, and not forgetting shivering in the cold room of the hospital and glorying in the luxury of a police escort and its wailing siren on the way back to WTCKL from HKL. There is simply no denying that this was a summer well spent, especially with the free daily scoop from Inside Scoop for us volunteers!

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W EI V R E T NI

WITH DR. TOH LI SHEAN B Y

M E L I S S A

S O O

MS: Let’s start easy, please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you ended up in UoN.

DT: I am from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My scientific career began when I was a general practice-based pharmacist. During my role there I noticed that there were numerous patients having fragility fractures and had no prior treatment or awareness of osteoporosis. From then on, I decided to combine my skills as a pharmacist to improve the identification of patients at high risk for osteoporosis. This led to completing my PhD in medication management and expanding the advanced services of the pharmacist’s role in osteoporosis at UoN. Subsequently, I obtained a position as a lecturer in Australia and continued my work in developing the pharmacist’s role in osteoporosis. I then obtained my current job in the UoN, UK continuing my work with medication management and optimizing the pharmacist’s skillset in the healthcare system.

Specifically, working in osteoporosis, health literacy, and Astropharmacy (space travel medicine).

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Dr. Toh Li Shean (DT)

Melissa Soo (MS)

MS: Why did you choose to be an academic? What do you enjoy about your job?

DT: As a frontline pharmacist, I noticed that there were a lot of gaps within the health system to make improvements. However, when you are a pharmacist and patient-facing your priority is the patients’ immediate need. I wanted to improve the healthcare system and found that research could be a sustainable way for me to impact more patients systemically.

I enjoy my job because it allows me to pursue my passion which is to improve medication management. There are two ways I get to pursue this, teaching students and research. Teaching the future generation of pharmacists and encouraging them to pursue their own passion in this field is exciting. I can’t wait to see what you all achieve 10 years down the road! Keep in touch ok?

As for research, I enjoy pushing the boundaries of pharmacy practice and that’s why I got involved with space travel.

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MS: Was there anything about teaching in UoN that was different from how you were taught in your MPharm programme? Was it a challenge for you to adapt?

DT: I think the UoN course has a lot of practical opportunities which I didn’t have last time.

Switching from becoming the academic teaching MPharm and being an MPharm student was really interesting. I never realised how much work and thought was put into making the whole coursework. A new one-hour lecture can take up to a week to complete. So please appreciate our hard work and try not to fall asleep ok?

MS: How do you think lecturers can help students in their careers after graduation?

DT: We are always happy to chat with you individually about your interest and the abundance of career choices the MPharm can offer.

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MS: Do you have any advice for students coming to UoN to do MPharm? (+What to expect when coming to UoN in terms of teaching and learning) DT: It’s a lot of hard work but it’s worth it!

I think when you come you should make use of the available expertise and the internationality of the university outside the curriculum. For example, we have experienced pharmacists from all sorts of fields (i.e. hospital, pain expert, nanoscience expert) from all over the world. If you find a particular thing you are interested in, email us and we can always chat about it more.

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9 1- DI V O C

SUPPLEMENT MYTH BUSTERS W O R D S

B Y

C H A N G

Y I

Q I

Could supplements prevent people from COVID-19?

Dietary supplements used in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are now widely published on news and social media platforms. It is people’s nature to panic when there is a threat to their health, and they tend to find the most effective precaution methods to shelter themselves. The most common prevention measures to minimize the risk of spreading and being infected by COVID-19 include washing hands frequently with soap and alcohol hand sanitizer, wearing a face mask all the time wherever outside the house, and maintaining social distance. Meanwhile, there is an increasing trend in the use of dietary supplements among the public. The news and social media platforms are publishing supplements that potentially can boost immunity and help to prevent people from the infection of COVID-19. Hence, some of the common supplements on the list such as vitamin C, vitamin D, and Zinc will be discussed.

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Vitamin C (aka ascorbic acid) Many people believe that vitamin C is useful in the prevention of common flu, cold, and even COVID-19. Theoretically, vitamin C could prevent viral infection by scavenging the oxygen free radicals, enhance chemotaxis, neutrophil phagocytic activity, and lymphocytes proliferation [1,2]. Although vitamin C plays a role in supporting the immune system, the current evidence regarding the effectiveness of routine use of vitamin C in treating influenza and colds is limited. Researchers from China have started a clinical trial on the effectiveness of high dose intravenous (IV) vitamin C in treating hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 infection [3]. It was claimed that the high dose (10g-20g) of IV vitamin C has successfully treated more than 50 patients with severe COVID19 infection but the results are unavailable at this point as the findings are not published yet. However, the use of IV vitamin C and oral vitamin C supplements showed a great difference in blood plasma level (Figure 1).

Figure 1. This figure showed the different plasma levels of IV Vitamin C and oral Vitamin C supplement. As the oral vitamin C supplement is required to enter the bloodstream via the SVCT1 transporter in the gut.

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Nutritional experts from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University commented that although high dose IV may alleviate the COVID-19 infection, the regular vitamin C supplements are less likely to prevent the COVID-19 infection as the plasma level is insufficient to produce the effect as IV did [4]. If people are taking excessive vitamin C supplements, they will not achieve a high blood plasma level of vitamin C as IV due to the intestinal absorption capacity of vitamin C but they may experience adverse effects of excess vitamin C such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

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Vitamin D A paper, which was published on 6th May 2020 about the role of vitamin D in the prevention of COVID-19 infection, claimed that there is a relationship between the level of vitamin D and the number of COVID-19 cases [5]. It found a significant relationship where a lower mean level of vitamin D in the population of some countries would have a higher COVID-19 case [5]. However, a rapid review on the use of vitamin D in treatment and prevention of COVID-19, was done by the Oxford COVID-19 Evidence Service Team from the University of Oxford, had found there is no clinical evidence nor studies on the use of vitamin D supplement in preventing and treating COVID-19 infection[6].

Although there is some evidence that taking vitamin D supplement in vitamin D deficiency patients may prevent respiratory infection, no current clinical trials have shown the effectiveness of it, especially the COVID-19 virus is a novel virus with a different sequence of the genome. According to current recommended guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), vitamin D supplementation is not recommended for people to prevent and treat COVID-19, except for clinical trials [7].

In short, vitamin D is not proven to be effective against COVID-19.

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Zinc Zinc supplements are also said to help in the prevention of COVID-19 infection. Zinc does play a role in immune systems and it acts as an antioxidant to prevent free radical-induced injury during inflammatory processes and promote the growth of immune cells such as neutrophils, Natural Killers cells, T and B cells [8].

However, there is a lack of clinical evidence and studies evaluating zinc supplements for COVID-19 infection at this moment in time.

A meta-analysis report has shown that the use of zinc supplement could reduce the duration of the symptoms of common cold, but the effectiveness of zinc in COVID-19 infection is still unknown now as zinc supplements are currently undergoing trials for the treatment of COVID-19 [9,10]. As there is a lack of clinical evidence, there will be no conclusion to use zinc supplements as the treatment and prevention for COVID19 infection.

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Conclusion In conclusion, vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc, which are the supplements commonly posted on news and social media, are not proved to be effective against the COVID19 infection. Thus, it is better to follow the national guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to minimise the risk of spreading the virus and reduce the Gauging Contagious Infections. Before taking any supplements, kindly consult professionals such as a doctor, pharmacists or nutritionist who could give the best advice to prevent yourself from experiencing the adverse effects. Lastly, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), vitamins and minerals supplements are not the cure for COVID-19 infection and there is no guidance on the use of supplements as a treatment for COVID-19 [11].

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Reference 1. Adams K, Baker W, Sobieraj D. Myth Busters: Dietary Supplements and COVID-19. Annals of Pharmacotherapy.

2020;54(8):820-826.

2. Colunga Biancatelli R, Berrill M, Marik P. The antiviral properties of vitamin C. Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy. 2019;18(2):99-101.

3. Cheng R. Hospital treatment of serious and critical COVID19 infection with high-dose Vitamin C [Internet]. Dr. Richard Cheng, Cheng Integrative Health Center. 2021 [cited 21 June 2021].

Available from: http://www.drwlc.com/blog/2020/03/18/hospital-treatmentof-serious-and-critical-covid-19-infection-with-high-dosevitamin-c/ 4. Michels A, Drake V, Uesugi S. Is IV vitamin C effective against COVID-19? [Internet]. Oregon State University.

2021 [cited 21 June 2021].

Available from: https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/COVID19/IV-VitaminC-virus 5. Ilie P, Stefanescu S, Smith L. The role of vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 infection and mortality. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research.

2020;32(7):1195-1198.

6. Lee J, Hecke O, Roberts N. Vitamin D: A rapid review of the evidence for treatment or prevention in COVID-19 - The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine [Internet]. The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. 2021 [cited 21 June 2021].

Available from: https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/vitamin-d-arapid-review-of-the-evidence-for-treatment-or-preventionin-covid-19/

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Reference 7. Recommendations | COVID-19 rapid guideline: vitamin D | Guidance | NICE [Internet]. Nice.org.uk. 2021 [cited 21 June 2021].

Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng187/chapter/Recommendatio ns 8. Prasad A. Zinc in Human Health: Effect of Zinc on Immune Cells. Molecular Medicine. 2008;14(5-6):353-357.

9. Science M, Johnstone J, Roth D, Guyatt G, Loeb M. Zinc for the treatment of the common cold: a systematic review and metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2012;184(10):E551-E561.

10. Search of: COVID-19 | "Zinc" - List Results ClinicalTrials.gov [Internet]. Clinicaltrials.gov. 2021 [cited 21 June 2021].

Available from: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID19&intr=%22Zinc%22 11. COVID-19 Mythbusters – World Health Organization [Internet]. Who.int. 2021 [cited 21 June 2021]. Available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters#supplements

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PHARMACY fun & games

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PHARMNOTTS

CREDITS ANNUAL NEWSLETTER Designed by: Chee Xin Yuan Erica Chong Syin Ciea Articles arranged and edited by: Erica Chong Syin Ciea Contents by: Teoh Whemay Lim Khai Sing Tong Hui Qi Youn SeoJung Scott David Hastie Hua Chai Xian Esther Choo Pui Yee Melissa Soo Wong Wei Kit Amy Lai Pei Chun Chang Yi Qi Erica Chong Syin Ciea Photographs by: Chan Zhi Yi Dr. Choong Wee Kang