Cu(II) Complexes of the Oximes of 2-Hydroxy-5-methyl-acetophenone, -propiophenone & -butyrophenone

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AN OUTLOOK ON THE MECHANISMS OF DRUG INTERACTIONS WITH OTHER DRUGS, FRUITS, HERBS AND THEIR PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Drugs taken by a person are affected by a number of ways. A number of interactions are known to affect the drugs, change its efficacy or result intoxicity. Habits of a common person could also cause such interactions. Most of the people have habits of smoking, consumption of alcohol and takingdietary supplements without the advice of their physicians. Some drug interactions such as those between drug-herbs and drug-citrus fruit wouldbring us shock; even small fruit could sometimes bring adverse drug reactions to occur in our body. Due to drug interactions, there would sometimesbe an increase or decrease in the efficacy of a drug. Being a pharmacist, it would be their ultimate role to check at a person's hygienic record, lookingand gathering information of the past recorded drugs, dietary supplements, hereditary diseases, etc. They would have to gather information aboutthe recently releasing drugs and know complete information on the reactions which occur on their administration. Knowledge to people about herbaland food-drug interactions is very less. They take them to be natural and do not care about its consequences. However, this interaction depends on theamount and the potency of pharmacologically active ingredient present in the compounds. These herbal drugs are known to contain a varying numberof phytochemicals which may cause a change to the transporters, enzymatic systems, causing failure of the therapeutic effect of the drug interactions.The elimination of some particular drugs is also affected due to these interactions. As a result of this interaction, a number of drugs which had takenbirth had quickly been removed from the US markets. Thus, the ways for a person to avoid these interactions can only be the above mentionedadvices given by the health practitioners, not to administer drugs by self-medication methods, taking a note of all the additional supplements takenby a patient to his physician, so that there is a clear picture about the interactions at their initial stage. (1) There are various drug interactions with anumber of factors. (2) Unless there is clear knowledge about the pathway of drug elimination, drug interaction stands to be very difficult to be avoided.Keywords: Drug-food interactions, Pharmacokinetic, Pharmacodynamic, Drug-drug interactions.Â

Marine Fisheries Policy Series-7; Conservation and sustainable use of sea cucumber resources in India suggestions and way forward

Sea cucumbers are prime seafood resources, harvested throughout the world for the preparation of a dried product ‘beche-de-mer’, besides other health products. However, in recent years, the wild population of sea cucumbers is on the decline due to the increasing market demand and the consequent over-harvest of resources. The global scenario of stock decline was witnessed in Indian waters too in the early 1980s, and as a regulatory measure, the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF & CC), Government of India implemented a size regulation on the export of ‘beche-de-mer’ in 1982. As this regulation was not very effective, the Government imposed a blanket ban in the year 2001, and listed all species of holothurians under the Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, thereby putting an end to the sea cucumber fishery and trade from the country. In India, the fishery of sea cucumbers was restricted mainly to the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, along the south-east coast and the moratorium imposed by the Government affected scores of coastal communities whose livelihood was dependent on the collection, processing and trade of sea cucumbers

Knowledge, attitude, perceptions and assessment of effectiveness of educational intervention on Pharmacovigilance among undergraduate medical students at Gulbarga Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalaburagi, India

Background: The Study was designed to assess the awareness of Pharmacovigilance and to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention.Methods: This was a questionnaire-based pre- and post-test educational interventional study. Students were given handouts containing information about pharmacovigilance one month before the educational intervention. A pre-validated 20-point questionnaire on (KAP) Knowledge, attitude, perception about Pharmacovigilance was distributed to second year medical students (n=115). An interactive educational intervention (Power point presentation) was designed. The chi-square test and unpaired paired t-test was used for statistical calculation.Results: The overall response rates were expressed as percentages, Mean±SD. The knowledge, attitude and perceptions of pharmacovigilance when compared before (pre-KAP) and after (post-KAP) the educational intervention, the correct response rates were found to be statistically significant (P<0.001). The feedback from the students was encouraging, handouts before the lecture classes helped them to easily grasp the pharmacovigilance concepts better during lectures.Conclusions: The study concluded that imparting the knowledge about pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting promotes drug safety and rational use of medicines in future

SYNTHESIS AND BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SOME NOVEL HETEROCYCLIC MANNICH BASES

Various novel heterocyclic mannich bases were prepared by using Mannich reaction. Acetanilide was treated with substituted benzaldehyde and morpholine / methyl amine to give corresponding titled compounds in good yields. The synthesized compounds were characterized by physical properties and spectral studies (IR, 1H-NMR) and tested for antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis by using cup plate method with reference to the standard Streptomycin. All the titled compounds show good antimicrobial activity

Sea cucumber conservation in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar, India "An evaluation of the current conservation measures on sea cucumber stocks in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar of India"

Sea cucumber fishery and trade were one of the top non-finfish income streams for the coastal people of Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar in the South East coast of India. As there was no regulation to control the fishery, there was a concern on decline in sea cucumber populations. In order to conserve the over-exploited stocks, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change, Government of India banned the fishery and trade of sea cucumbers by including them under Wild Life Protection Act 1972 since 2001. The enforcement of a blanket ban of sea cucumber fishing over the last 14 years might have helped in reviving their populations; at the same time, the ban would possibly had a social and economic impact on scores of people, who were dependent on the sea cucumber fishery. To understand the situation, the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem (BOBLME) project approved a short term project to Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (India). The project was intended to understand the sea cucumber stocks and implications of the ban on the livelihood of fishers in Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar. The purpose of the project was also to suggest management options for conservation and sustainable use of sea cucumber resources

Status of sea cucumber resources and impact of fishing ban on the livelihood of fishers in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay

The sea cucumbers constitute an important part of non-fish income source for thousands of fishers along Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay of south east coast of India. The fishery which is more than thousand years old was introduced by the Chinese stationed at Ramanathapuram, for preparing a dried sea cucumber product Beche-de-mer. The sea cucumber fishery in Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay was artisanal in nature and consisted of fishermen who were good divers, the processors who acted as middlemen and the exporters. The sea cucumbers were chiefly collected by skin diving to a depth of 1.5 to 6.0 m in the shallow seas using nonmechanised country crafts. They were also caught as by-catch in trawlers locally known as Thallu madi (an indigenous modified trawler operating on wind power in shallow waters), besides the Chanku madi and Attai madi which were operated in deeper coastal waters

The early development of the star fish Pentacerster regulus from Tuticorin

More then 20 species of star fishes are known from Gulf Of Mannar

LIFESTYLE FACTORS AND OBESITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS IN RURAL SOUTH INDIA

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of obesity among adolescents of thestudy area and to study the association of physical activity, dietary habitswith obesity.Methods: This was a school based cross sectional study conducted among 2963 adolescents in Udupi. They were interviewed using pre-testedquestionnaire, followed by body mass index measurement and classification using World Health Organization criteria. Statistical analysis was doneusing Mann–Whitney U-test, Kruskal–Wallis test, and Chi-square tests.Results: The prevalence of overweight was 2.4% and obesity 1.4% and they were higher among the adolescents belonging to higher socio-economicstatus, among those using motorized transport. Furthermore, 93.2% of the subjects consumed readymade food items apart from homemade ones,28.8% of them had the habit of eating in between the regular meals, and 59.6% of the subjects had the habit of consuming carbonated beveragesregularly.Conclusions: Current levels of obesity and lifestyle factors among the adolescents in the study area can significantly predispose them to the risk ofnon-communicable diseases, which needs to be considered while making policies for non-communicable diseases.Keywords: Adolescents, Obesity, Overweight, Lifestyle, Diet, World Health Organization

Antimicrobial efficacy of n-[3- chloro-(substituted aryl)-4-oxoazetidin- 1-yl] pyridine-4- carboxamides against resistant bacterial strains obtained from clinical isolates

Abstract Background: The treatment of infectious diseases is still an important and challenging problem due to emerging infectious diseases and increasing number of multi-drug resistant microbial pathogens which cause a variety of illnesses ranging from hospital-acquired pneumonia, bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections from catheters, abdominal infections and even meningitis. Methods: The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy and β-lactamase inhibitory activity of the synthesized 2-azetidinones against resistant bacterial strains obtained from clinical isolates. Results: The tested 2-azetidinones exhibited antimicrobial efficacy comparable to the standard drugs Ampicillin and Griseofelvin. Among the tested compounds, N-[3-chloro-2-(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-4-oxoazetidin-1-yl]pyridine-4-carboxamide(5o) exhibited the highest activity with MIC of 6.25 µg/mL (Gram +ve and Gram –ve bacteria),1.56 µg/mL (A. niger) and 3.12 µg/mL(A. terrus and P. chrysogenum) respectively. Also all the screened compounds (5d, 5f, 5h,5j,5o) exhibited more pronounced activity (MIC: 125 µg/mL) against resistant K. pneumonia obtained from clinical isolates compared to standard antibiotic Amoxycillin. The compounds when tested as admixtures with the standard antibiotic amoxicillin (1:2) exhibited similar antibacterial spectra in comparison to the most widely employed clinical combination Augmentin. The 2-azetidinonescan prove to be a cheaper alternative with similar potential β-lactamase inhibitory activity thereby proving their utility and benefit towards the development of anti-infectives for the treatment of infections caused by drug resistant microorganisms