M Enigbokan | PubMed Health

PubMed1994

Combating pharmacist shortage through labor certification.

Several solutions, ranging from increased technician duties to salary raises, automation, and increasing job satisfaction, have been presented in the literature as methods of assuaging the pharmacist shortage. Although a significant portion of pharmacy graduates from American pharmacy colleges are foreign nationals, no marketing strategies have been elucidated in the retention and recruitment of foreign nationals through labor certification. Labor certifications are generally approved by the Secretary of Labor if the following factors have been verified: 1) there are not sufficient United States workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available for employment; and 2) the employment of the foreign national will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers similarly employed. When properly understood, the labor certification process is a test of the job market where foreigners, by virtue of their skills and qualifications, attain certification which subsequently leads to permanent residency (green card). The objective of this report is to elucidate the tedious yet effective method of retaining American-educated foreign nationals through labor certification.

Documentation↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Renal transepithelial transport of nucleosides.

Previous work from this and other laboratories has suggested that the mammalian kidney has unique mechanisms for handling purine nucleosides. For example, in humans and in mice, adenosine undergoes net renal reabsorption whereas deoxyadenosine is secreted [Kuttesch and Nelson: Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol. 8, 221 (1982)]. The relationships between these renal transport systems and classical renal organic cation and anion, carbohydrate, and cell membrane nucleoside transport carriers are not established. To investigate possible relationships between such carriers, we have tested effects of selected classical transport inhibitors on the renal clearances of adenosine, deoxyadenosine, 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-dFUR), and 5-fluorouracil in mice. The secretion of deoxyadenosine and 5'-dFUR, but not the reabsorption of adenosine or 5-fluorouracil, was prevented by the classical nucleoside transport inhibitors, dipyridamole and nitrobenzylthioinosine. Cimetidine, an inhibitor of the organic cation secretory system, also inhibited the secretion of 5'-dFUR, although it did not inhibit deoxyadenosine secretion in earlier studies [Nelson et al.: Biochem. Pharmacol. 32, 2323 (1983)]. The specific inhibitor of glucose renal reabsorption, phloridzin, failed to inhibit the reabsorption of adenosine or the secretion of deoxyadenosine. Failure of the nucleoside transport inhibitors and phloridzin to prevent adenosine reabsorption suggests that adenosine reabsorption may occur via a unique process. On the other hand, inhibition of the net secretion of deoxyadenosine and 5'-dFUR by dipyridamole and nitrobenzylthioinosine implies a role for the carrier that is sensitive to these compounds in the renal secretion (active transport) of these nucleosides.

Animals↗