Tree-Borne Edible Oilseeds as Sources of Essential Omega Fatty Acids for Human Health

Certain positional isomers of polyunsaturated omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are the essential fatty acids that the human body needs for metabolic functioning but cannot produce themselves and therefore must be acquired from the diet. The beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids are related to brain development, coronary heart disease (CHD), cancer, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, mental health, and neurodegenerative disorders. The essential omega-3 fatty acid is α-linolenic acid (ALA; 18:3ω3), found in green leafy vegetables and in the seeds of flax, rape, chia, and walnuts. The essential omega-6 fatty acid, linoleic acid (LA; 18:2ω6), is plentiful in nature and being found in the seeds of many edible plants. There are at least hundred species of plants occurring in wild or cultivated from forest areas that may be a source of vegetable oil. These vegetable oils are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are highly beneficial for human health

A questionnaire based cross sectional study of the knowledge, attitude and practice of pharmacovigilance among the health care professionals in a tertiary care teaching hospital in upper Assam, India

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADR) are one of the major reason of morbidity, mortality and increase in health-care costs. The pharmacovigilance programme of India (PvPI) encourages the active participation of all health care professionals (HCP) in reporting suspected ADR to ensure enhanced patient safety. But present statistics shows under reporting of suspected ADR. So, this study was undertaken with the objectives of assessing knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of pharmacovigilance among the HCP and to evaluate various reasons of under reporting of suspected ADR.Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of HCP including faculties, resident doctors and postgraduate trainee (PGT), internship doctors and nurses on pharmacovigilance; conducted at department of Pharmacology, Jorhat Medical College and Hospital(JMCH). The pretested and peer reviewed questionnaire was distributed among 150 HCP and the responses were collected after one day. Data were analyzed using MS-excel software and was expressed in percentage.Results: Out of 150 questionnaires, 118 responses were received (32 faculties, 27 PGT, 38 internship doctors and 21 nurses). Good knowledge (78.4%) and fair attitude was found among the HCP but there was lack of practice of pharmacovigilance due to reasons mainly non availability of suspected ADR reporting form (27.1%), didn’t think reporting was necessary (34%), fear of consequences (16.1%) and lack of awareness (16.1%) among others.Conclusions: Good attitude was observed among HCP. With proper measures like sensitization and educational intervention ADR, reporting may be improved in the future

A drug utilization study of topical corticosteroids in the department of dermatology in a tertiary care teaching hospital in upper Assam

Background: Topical corticosteroids form an important group of drugs in dermatology and are among the most commonly prescribed medications. However, despite their efficacy, they are associated with various adverse effects and as majority of the skin conditions are chronic, there is a need to ensure that there is rationality in drug use. Thus, this study was conducted with an aim to analyze the drug utilization pattern of topical corticosteroids.Methods: The study was a hospital-based, prospective and observational study and conducted for a period of 12 months. The method of data collection was done based on one-on-one consultation with patients. Data collected were recorded prospectively in a specially designed proforma. Results were then entered and analyzed using Microsoft excel.Results: In the study, it was observed that 48% of the patients were males while 52% were females. Most patients belonged to the age group of 21-30 years (30%). Scabies (30%) was the most common dermatological condition. With regard to the prescribing frequency of different topical corticosteroids, mometasone furoate (31.4%) was the preferred choice in most patients. H1 antihistaminic drugs like levocetirizine (81.6%) were the most prescribed along with topical corticosteroids, followed by emollients (36.4%) and permethrin (29.2%). The average number of drugs per prescription was 3.6 and all drugs were prescribed by their generic names.Conclusions: Periodic monitoring of the drug utilization pattern in the form of prescription auditing is an effective tool to constitute guidelines for improving the utilization pattern

Preparation and Properties of BaBiBO4-SiO2 Glasses

Glasses in the new system (100-x) BaBiBO4–xSiO2 where x = 10–50 (mol%) were prepared by the melt-quench technique. The density of the glasses increases with an increase in BaBiBO4 content because of its higher molecular mass. Tg, Td,and Ts decrease while coefficient of thermal expansion increases with the increase in BaBiBO4 content. Vis-NIR spectra reveal that with increasing melting temperature transmission of the glasses decreases due to auto thermal reduction of Bi31 to Bi0 as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction analyses. Fourier transform infrared reflection spectroscopic spectra of the glasses indicate the formation of BiO6, BO3, and BO4 structural units. Ferroelectric BaBiBO4 crystalline phase is obtained from these glasses by controlled heat treatment at 5801C. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals its 45–66nm crystallite size range. Whereas, the field-emission scanning electron microscopy images show the formation of polycrystalline spherical grains of 89–194nm along with single-crystalline microrods of average diameter of 0.5–1.5 mm. Dielectric constant of the glasses increases with increase in BaBiBO4 content, which is attributed to the combined effects of high polarization and ionic refraction of both Bi31 and Ba21 ions. It is shown here that BaBiBO4–SiO2 is a promising glass system for the synthesis of glass–ceramics of novel BaBiBO4 nonlinear optical crystal

Changes in quality and bioactivity of native food during storage

Australian native foods have long been consumed by the Indigenous people of Australia. There is growing interest in the application of these foods in the functional food and complementary health care industries. Recent studies have provided information on the health properties of native foods but systematic study of changes in flavour and health components during processing and storage has not been done. It is well known that processing technologies such as packaging, drying and freezing can significantly alter the levels of health and flavour compounds. However, losses in compounds responsible for quality and bioactivity can be minimised by improving production practices. This report outlines research developed to provide the native food industry with reliable information on the retention of bioactive compounds during processing and storage to enable the development of product standards which in turn will provide the industry with scientific evidence to expand and explore new market opportunities globally

Changes in quality and bioactivity of native food during storage

Australian native foods have long been consumed by the Indigenous people of Australia. There is growing interest in the application of these foods in the functional food and complementary health care industries. Recent studies have provided information on the health properties of native foods but systematic study of changes in flavour and health components during processing and storage has not been done. It is well known that processing technologies such as packaging, drying and freezing can significantly alter the levels of health and flavour compounds. However, losses in compounds responsible for quality and bioactivity can be minimised by improving production practices. This report outlines research developed to provide the native food industry with reliable information on the retention of bioactive compounds during processing and storage to enable the development of product standards which in turn will provide the industry with scientific evidence to expand and explore new market opportunities globally

Profiling ellagic acid content: The importance of form and ascorbic acid levels

As the importance of plant-based antioxidants to human health becomes clearer there is a rapidly expanding search for rich sources of these compounds. Much attention is currently focussed on the antioxidant potential of ellagic acid (EA). Making assessment difficult is that EA occurs in different forms: free EA, EA glycosides and polymeric ellagitannins. The overall structure of these forms has a pronounced effect on their antioxidant efficiency and is responsible for widely differing reactivity, solubility and hence bioavailability properties. Often associated with EA is vitamin C which also contributes to the plant foods total antioxidant activity. Previous studies have suggested that ascorbic acid may have protective effects on the polyphenol content of plants. With a view to gaining evidence that the bioactive forms of vitamin C influence EA content, several fruits with a range of EA and vitamin C contents were examined. To facilitate a more detailed assessment of the selected fruits antioxidant potential the relative proportions of EA forms were also determined. In strawberries and boysenberries EA content was predominantly in the polymeric form (21% and 12% free EA plus EA glycoside vs total EA levels for strawberry and boysenberry respectively), while in Kakadu plum it was mainly in the free form (70% of total EA). An increasing percentage of dehydroascorbic acid (9 to 14% of total vitamin C) indicating enhanced transformation of ascorbic acid to its oxidative degradation product together with stable free EA levels (≈ 950 mg/100 g DW) over the 4 month frozen storage period for the Kakadu plum samples are consistent with a possible protective effect of EA by ascorbic acid

Changes in urethral resistance in the presence of detrusor activity

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