Introduction of Routine Zinc Therapy for Children with Diarrhoea: Evaluation of Safety

On 8 May 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recommended routine administration of zinc in the management of children, aged less than five years, with acute diarrhoea. In making the recommendation, WHO and UNICEF also suggested careful monitoring for adverse events associated with routine administration of zinc, particularly unusual or excess vomiting. The study assessed, in a phase IV trial, i.e. post-marketing surveillance of zinc, the occurrence of adverse events during the first hour after the administration of the first dose of zinc in children with acute or persistent diarrhoea. The study was conducted at the Dhaka Hospital of ICDDR,B and at an outpatient clinic operated by a local health NGO—Progoti Samaj Kallyan Protisthan (PSKP), Dhaka, Bangladesh. Eligible children, aged 3-59 months, were treated with 20 mg of zinc sulphate provided in a dispersible tablet formulation. The children were observed for 60 minutes following the initial treatment with zinc for adverse events, with particular attention given to vomiting or regurgitation. During the one-year observation period, 42,440 children (male 57% and female 43%) received zinc, and 20,246 (47.8%) of them were observed. Regurgitation and/or vomiting occurred in 4,392 (21.8%) of the children; 90.8% of these children had vomiting only once, 8.7% twice, and 0.5% more than twice. No children revisited the hospital for recurrent vomiting following their discharge. A significant proportion of infants and children may experience vomiting or regurgitation, usually once, following the administration of the first dose of zinc. This is a transient phenomenon that did not impact on continuation of treatment with zinc

Translation and validation of quality of life scale, the brief version

OBJECTIVES: To translate The World Health Organization quality of life scale, WHO-QOL BREF, in Urdu and validate it. DESIGN: A descriptive study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore, from July 2002 to October 2002. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The English version of WHO-QOL BREF was translated in Urdu and later back translated. The process was checked and evaluated at each step by a translation committee comprising of group of bilingual experts. The whole process was carried out in four stages. The translated version was further evaluated statistically in three ways to check linguistic equivalence, concept equivalence and scale equivalence. RESULTS: A significant level of equivalence was seen at all parameters. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that the Urdu version of WHO-QOL BREF is a reliable and valid version to be used in our population to measure the quality of life in Pakistan

An engineered microfluidic blood-brain barrier model to evaluate the anti-metastatic activity of ?-boswellic acid

Background: The development of anti-cancer drugs with the ability to inhibit brain metastasis through the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is substantially limited due to the lack of reliable in vitro models. Main Methods: In this study, the Geltrex-based Transwell and microfluidic BBB models were applied to screen the effect of ?-boswellic acid (?-BA) on the metastasis of MDA-MB-231 cells through the BBB in static and dynamic conditions, respectively. Major Results: The toxicity assay revealed that ?-BA deteriorates MDA-MB-231 cells, while ?-BA had no detectable toxic effects on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and astrocytes. Trans-endothelial electrical resistance evaluation showed sustainable barrier integrity upon treatment with ?-BA. Vimentin expression in HUVECs, evaluated using western blot, confirmed superior barrier integrity in the presence of ?-BA. The obtained results were confirmed using an invasion study with a cell tracker and a scanning electron microscope. ?-BA significantly inhibited metastasis by 85%, while cisplatin (Cis), a positive control, inhibited cancer cell migration by 12% under static conditions. Upon applying a dynamic BBB model, it was revealed that ?-BA-mediated metastasis inhibition was significantly higher than that mediated by Cis. Conclusions and Implications: In summary, the current study proved the anti-metastatic potential of ?-BA in both static and dynamic BBB models.Scopu

Secondary metabolites from acridocarpus orientalis inhibits 4T1 cells and promotes mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) proliferation

Abstract: Among medicinal plants, Acridocarpus orientalis (AO) possesses a remarkable anti-cancer potential, possibly because of its anti-oxidant property. In this study, the leaf and stem extracts from AO were assessed to find the bioactive compound with selective anti-cancer properties. The MTT viability and live and dead assays revealed that around 80% and 98% of 4T1 cells survival were declined after 48�h incubation with leaf and stem extracts, respectively. The leaf extract increased stem cell proliferation by 20% whereas the stem extract inhibited around 22% of stem cells proliferation after 48�h treatment. The live and dead assay of MSCs confirmed that 40% of the MSCs died when treated with AO stem extract. On the other hand, there were no dead cells after two days of treatment with the leaf extract. Followed by the induction of cell cycle arrest in G0/G1-phase, the real-time PCR demonstrated apoptosis properties in 4T1 cells through overexpression of Bax and down-regulation of BCL2 genes. Interestingly, within the pure compounds isolated from AO leaf extract, Morin was responsible for the inhibition of 4T1 cells proliferation as well as MSCs expansion, predicting to play an essential role in the treatment of cancer. The promising�in vitro�anti-cancer and stem cell-inductive properties of morin isolated from AO extract may provide a great potential to produce selective herbal derived drugs. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]Scopu