SUCCESSIVE SOLVENT EXTRACTION AND HPTLC OF STEM BARK OF ASOKA - SARACA ASOCA (ROXB.) DE WILDE

Asoka – Saraca asoca (Roxb.) de Wilde, is a medium sized evergreen tree growing in tropical regions. It has been used for various medicinal purposes from the time immemorial. Ample citations about its usage can be elicited from Veda’s, Puranas and Samhitas. Owing to extensive use, lack of cultivation and irrational collection practices it became an endangered drug. It’s one among the five endangered plants listed by NMPB. This scarcity of drug in the market eventually led to adulteration. It is one of the severely adulterated drug next to Bala – Sida species. Various pharmacognostical and phytochemical techniques are evolved from time to time to check the adulteration. Due to the sophisticated methodologies used by medicinal plant dealers, these methods fail to check adulteration. Pharmacognostical analysis of sample drug and its powder microscopy serves as an effective method to check adulteration. But it won’t serve fruitful when the drug gets adulterated with exhausted samples. In such cases, effective marker compounds of the drug need to be analysed. This can be achieved by analysing successive solvent extractives of test drug and by HPTLC analysis. Here an attempt has been done to analyse the successive solvent extraction and HPTLC of stem bark of Asoka – Saraca asoca (Roxb.) de Wilde. as an effective methodology to ensure the purity. The successive solvent extraction revealed 1.78%, 0.4%, 13.63% & 27.69% of extractives respectively in petroleum ether, cyclohexane, acetone and methyl alcohol. The qualitative analysis also showed significance difference in the steroids, alkaloids, phenols and flavonoids in each solvent. The results are promising and suggestive of considering these experiments as an effective method to ensure the quality and purity of drug sample

Effect of Ayurvedic Treatment Modalities on Recurrent Pregnancy Loss

Recurrent pregnancy Loss is defined as the sequence of 2 or more spontaneous abortions as documented by either sonography or on histopathology before 20 weeks. It is a relatively common event, occurring in 15%-25% of pregnancies, and increasing in prevalence with maternal age. The causes of recurrent abortion are complex & obscure. More than one factor may operate in a case. Identification and treatment of problems significantly increases the successful outcome in most cases. Recurrent pregnancy loss can be correlated with Puthraghni Yonivyapath and Garbhasravivandhya explained in Ayurvedic classics. Puthraghni is a clinical entity characterised by repeated pregnancy loss due to excessive intake of Rooksha Ahara and Vihara which results in repeated pregnancy losses. Ayurveda advises to do Shodhana Karma or purificatory therapies ending with Uttara Vasthi in recurrent losses. The study design was Prospective single arm interventional study conducted in the OPD and IPD of Govt. Ayurveda college hospital for Women and Children, Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram with the study population of females of age group 20-38, diagnosed with RPL. IP management was done for 1 month followed by internal administration of Phala Sarpis as Vicharana Snehapana 10ml twice daily morning and evening ½ hour before food and Vilwadi Gulika 1 tab twice daily after food was also given for 2 months. After 15 months after the follow up period, Statistical analysis was done and Percentage of live births was assessed. Even though percentage of live births is 42.3, the success rate can be considered as 46.15% as the 1 patient to be delivered has completed 34 weeks of gestation and successfully continuing the pregnancy

Work related musculoskeletal disorders among medical laboratory professionals: a narrative review

Work related musculoskeletal disorders are common health problem and increasing cause of disability. Laboratory professionals are unique group of healthcare professionals who play an essential part in diagnosis and therapy planning and often their work is associated with potential health hazards. Objective of current study was to review literature on prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among medical laboratory professionals. Electronic databases and bibliographies were searched and identified papers evaluated against inclusion criteria. The searching strategy uncovered 13 reports. Total 7 studies were included for the review. A high degree of heterogeneity among studies was observed. The overall prevalence’s ranges from 40-60%. With neck being more prevalent 18-78%. However additional high quality studies are required in this area

Bacterial diversity analysis of larvae and adult midgut microflora using culture-dependent and culture-independent methods in lab-reared and field-collected Anopheles stephensi-an Asian malarial vector

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mosquitoes are intermediate hosts for numerous disease causing organisms. Vector control is one of the most investigated strategy for the suppression of mosquito-borne diseases. <it>Anopheles stephensi </it>is one of the vectors of malaria parasite <it>Plasmodium vivax</it>. The parasite undergoes major developmental and maturation steps within the mosquito midgut and little is known about <it>Anopheles</it>-associated midgut microbiota. Identification and characterization of the mosquito midgut flora is likely to contribute towards better understanding of mosquito biology including longevity, reproduction and mosquito-pathogen interactions that are important to evolve strategies for vector control mechanisms.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Lab-reared and field-collected <it>A. stephensi </it>male, female and larvae were screened by "culture-dependent and culture-independent" methods. Five 16S rRNA gene library were constructed form lab and field-caught <it>A. stephensi </it>mosquitoes and a total of 115 culturable isolates from both samples were analyzed further. Altogether, 68 genera were identified from midgut of adult and larval <it>A. stephensi</it>, 53 from field-caught and 15 from lab-reared mosquitoes. A total of 171 and 44 distinct phylotypes having 85 to 99% similarity with the closest database matches were detected among field and lab-reared <it>A. stephensi </it>midgut, respectively. These OTUs had a Shannon diversity index value of 1.74–2.14 for lab-reared and in the range of 2.75–3.49 for field-caught <it>A. stephensi </it>mosquitoes. The high species evenness values of 0.93 to 0.99 in field-collected adult and larvae midgut flora indicated the vastness of microbial diversity retrieved by these approaches. The dominant bacteria in field-caught adult male <it>A. stephensi </it>were uncultured <it>Paenibacillaceae </it>while in female and in larvae it was <it>Serratia marcescens</it>, on the other hand in lab-reared mosquitoes, <it>Serratia marcescens </it>and <it>Cryseobacterium meninqosepticum </it>bacteria were found to be abundant.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>More than fifty percent of the phylotypes were related to uncultured class of bacteria. Interestingly, several of the bacteria identified are related to the known symbionts in other insects. Few of the isolates identified in our study are found to be novel species within the gammaproteobacteria which could not be phylogenetically placed within known classes. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to study the midgut microbiota of <it>A. stephensi </it>from lab-reared and field-collected adult and larvae using "culture-dependent and independent methods".</p

A study to evaluate pattern and purpose of smartphone usage and its dependence among medical students of government medical college in northern India

Background: Smartphone usage has become increasingly popular in recent decade. Though it’s of great utility in many aspects, excessive usage among youth has shown increased restlessness, careless lifestyles and greater susceptibility to stress. Aim &amp; Objective: To assess the pattern and purpose of smartphone usage and its dependence among medical students. Methods &amp; Material: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among 363 MBBS students of 1st, IInd and IIIrd professional year between October 2018 to December 2018 at a government medical college. A 20-item self-administrated questionnaire, focusing on purpose and pattern of use of smart phone and its dependence was filled by all the students. Data was collected, entered and analysed using SPSS Software. Result: Among 363 students, 53% participants were males and rest were females. 80% students were using smartphone for more than 2 years, while 60% were having daily usage of more than 3 hours. Significant association between severity of smartphone dependence and variables like MBBS professional year, daily phone call made and received, daily SMS received, daily WhatsApp message sent and received were observed. Dependence was mild in 8.8% of the students; Moderate in 72.2% while 19% were suffering from severe smartphone dependence. Conclusion: Smart phone dependence is an established and emerging psychological issue which needs attention and intervention. It is of serious concern that all medical students were suffering from smartphone dependence with varying grades of severity. Increased awareness regarding the harmful effects of smartphone addiction is the need of hour

Comparison of three different techniques of endotracheal tube cuff inflation: just seal, stethoscope guided and pressure volume loop: a prospective randomized study

Background: Cuffed endotracheal tubes not only ensure a proper seal during positive pressure ventilation, but at the same time also prevent aspiration of gastric secretions. The aim of this prospective, randomized study was to compare three methods of ETT cuff inflation-- palpation of the leak in suprasternal notch (Just seal), a stethoscope guided method of tracheal tube cuff inflation and PVL guided cuff inflation.Methods: After approval by institutional ethical committee, 192 patients of either sex in age group of 18-50 years belonging to ASA physical status I or II were enrolled. Each patient was randomly allocated into one of three groups: one group received standard 'just seal' method of tracheal cuff inflation (JS), the second group, the stethoscope-guided method (SG) and in third group cuff was inflated using Pressure Volume Loop (PVL). Volume of air introduced into the cuff and pressure within the cuff was recorded.Results: A total of 192 patients were recruited to the study. The median (IQR [range]) tracheal cuff pressure was 12 (10-22 [6-28]) cm H2O, 16 (12-24[6-38]) and 14 (10-22[8-32]) cmH2O in JS, SG and PVL group respectively. Cuff pressures within the recommended range of 20-30 cm H2O fell in 25% of the patients in both JS and SG group and 31% patients in PVL group. The mean volumes of air introduced in the cuff and the resultant mean cuff pressure in all groups was found to be statistically insignificant (p= 0.4, 0.18 respectively). Tidal volume discrepancy was more and 75% of cuff pressures were less than the recommended range in JS than the other two groups.Conclusions: Real time PVL displayed on most modern anaesthesia machine is a good alternative to check for proper ETT cuff inflation, avoid high cuff pressure and monitor air leak

The benzodiazepine class of compounds as a potential for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic in over 70 countries in the tropics and neotropics. Several Leishmania species are the causative agent of this form of the disease and are transmitted to humans and animals by a bite of a phlebotomies sandfly. Antileishmanial drugs including antimonials, Amphotericin B, pentamidine, paromomycin, allupurinol and miltefosine have been the treatment of choice over recent years. However, toxicity, difficulty of administration and emergence of resistance have limited the number of chemotherapeutic options available hence underlying the urgency for the identification of new classes of compounds with antileishmanial activity. The benzodiazepine class of compounds whose core structure entails the fusion of a benzene and diazepine ring have been used over the past 50 years as psychoactive drugs in the treatment of anxiety, insomnia and as an anticonvulsants. The aim of this study was to explore the antileishmanial effects of this class of compounds on stationary phase promastigotes of old and new world Leishmania species (L. aethiopica, L. major, L. tropica and L. mexicana) using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol+2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium(MTS) assay for assessing parasite viability. An array of compounds with modifications brought about at the benzene and diazepine structures were tested over a range of concentrations over a 24-hour period for all species mentioned above. The three most active compounds (RRP223, RRP262 and RRP 199) displayed a different range of activity with inhibition of parasite growth at micromolar range in all 4 species. These findings implicate selective activity and demonstrate Leishmanicidal potential in the benzodiazepine class of compounds

P Deepa Shenoy and Venugopal KR,“PTMIB: Profiling Top Most Influential Blogger using Content Based Data Mining Approach,”

Users of Online Social Network (OSN) communicate with each other, exchange information and spread rapidly influencing others in the network for taking various decisions. Blog sites allow their users to create and publish thoughts on various topics of their interest in the form of blogs/blog documents, catching the attention and letting readers to perform various activities on them. Based on the content of the blog documents posted by the user, they become popular. In this work, a novel method to profile Top Most Influential Blogger (TMIB) is proposed based on content analysis. Content of blog documents of bloggers under consideration in the blog network are compared and analyzed. Term Frequency and Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) of blog documents under consideration are obtained and their Cosine Similarity score is computed. Synonyms are substituted against those unmatched keywords if the Cosine Similarity score so computed is below the threshold and an improved Cosine Similarity score of those documents under consideration is obtained. Computing the Influence Score after Synonym substitution (ISaS) of those bloggers under conflict, the top most influential blogger is profiled. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed Profiling Top Most Influential Blogger using Synonym Substitution (PTMIBSS) algorithm is adequately accurate in determining the top most influential blogger at any instant of time considered

IR, Raman and SERS spectra of 2-(methoxycarbonylmethylsulfanyl)-3,5-dinitrobenzene carboxylic acid

2-(Methoxycarbonylmethylsulfanyl)-3,5-dinitrobenzenecarboxylic acid was prepared by nucleophilic substitution. FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra of 2-(methoxycarbonylmethylsulfanyl)-3,5-dinitrobenzenecarboxylic acid were recorded and analyzed. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectrum was recorded on a silver colloid. The vibrational wavenumbers were computed by density functional theoretical (DFT) computations at the B3LYP/6-31G* level and they were found to be in good agreement with the experimental values. Significant metal-molecule interaction has been substantiated by the appearance of intense Ag-O mode in the SERS spectrum and this is indicative of the nearness of nitro and carbonyl group to the silver surface. SERS studies suggest a tilted orientation of the molecule at the metal surface

Determinants of agriculture biodiversity in Western Terai landscape complex of Nepal

The study explored agriculture biodiversity around protected areas and identified factors affecting diversity of agriculture biodiversity in farming households. The study analyzed the data collected from household survey of about 907 farmers from Western-Terai Landscape Complex of Nepal. Intra-species and inter-species richness and evenness in agriculture landscape were estimated and compared across a spectrum of land-uses. The study identified different social, economic, technological and ecological factors affecting the richness of intra-species and inter-species diversity of agriculture biodiversity using generalized linear regression models. Technology index, information index, food security, animal holding, ethnicity, irrigation facility and land-use were found as major variables affecting agriculture. The results also indicated that buffer zones had higher diversity than other land-uses, indicating positive effects of protected-land on surrounding agriculture biodiversity. Results supported need of coordinated efforts to mainstream agriculture biodiversity conservation with landscape conservation plans and socio-economic developments of the region