GC-MS ANALYSES OF LEAF AND ROOT EXTRACTS OF DIDYMOCARPUS TOMENTOSA

Objective: Didymocarpus tomentosa Wight., is a traditional medicinal plant used in the treatment of fever and skin allergy and the present study were conducted to identify the phytochemical constituents in leaf and root extracts using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS).Methods: The methanolic leaf and root extracts were analyzed using Shimadzu GCMS-QP 2010 gas chromatography-mass spectrometer. The mass spectrum of GC-MS was interpreted using the database of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).Results: The GC-MS analyses of leaf and root extracts revealed the presence of twenty six and twenty three phytochemical constituents respectively. 5-Hydrxoymethylfurfural (15.1%), cis, cis, cis-7,10,13-Hexadecatrienal (12.5%), Hexadecanoic acid (11.8%), Lupenone (29.1%), γ-Sitosterol (21.3%) and Lupeol (12.0%) were the major constituents. Conclusion: The leaf and root extracts of D. tomentosa possess various phytochemical constituents, which are of high therapeutic values.Â

Cloning and sequencing of α-2u globulin of rat preputial gland to assess its longevity in the context of developing an effective rodent trap

433-438α-2u globulin, a pheromone binding protein found majorly in the preputial gland, was reported to involve in chemo-communication of rats. The biosynthesis of this pheromone binding protein is under complex multihormonal control and its regulation takes place at transcription level. Assessing and increasing the longevity of this protein may retain the volatility of pheromone. So far nearly 20 isoforms of α-2u globulin in rat have been studied. The present study was aimed to extend the longevity of pheromone compound by cloning and sequencing of the mRNA which codes for α-2u globulin in the preputial gland of Rattus novergicus. Unexpectedly, this study resulted in a new isoform, which is similar in function with α-2u globulin protein with some different exons removed. Further analysis with this isoform may pave a way for rodent pest management

CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF SOLANUM ERIANTHUM D. DON

Objective: The study was aimed to evaluate cytotoxic activity of the methanolic extracts of Solanum erianthum on HeLa, HepG-2 and MCF-7 cell lines.Methods: The percentage viability of the cell lines were carried out using trypan blue dye exclusion method and the cytotoxicity of the extracts was evaluated by MTT assay. Result: Solanum erianthum leaf and fruit extract showed significant cytotoxic activity on the tested cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 111.67 to 385 µg mL-1. Fruit extract showed potent cytotoxic activity on MCF-7 (IC50 111.67 µgmL-1), followed by leaf extract (IC50 150.50 µgmL-1)on HeLa cell line using MTT assay. Cell viability assay showed that fruit extract was very active on MCF-7 and leaf extract was effective against HeLa. Conclusion: The experiment performed reveals that Solanum erianthum can be used in development of anticancer drug.Â

KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICE TOWARD PHARMACOVIGILANCE AND ADVERSE DRUG REACTION REPORTING AMONG NURSING STAFF AND STUDENTS

 Objective: The objective of this study is to assess awareness of Pharmacovigilance among the healthcare professionals and to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention for improving awareness of Pharmacovigilance among the nursing staff and nursing students from Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out using a validated questionnaire that included demographic details and 20 survey items to evaluate the participants' knowledge, attitude, and perception (KAP) on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and Pharmacovigilance. All participants received an interactive educational intervention in the form of a lecture. A pre- and post-KAP questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the impact of educational intervention among the participants. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences statistical software, version 16, was used to analyze the data.Results: A total of 103 healthcare professionals in the study responded to the pre- and post-KAP survey questionnaires. 66 nursing students and 37 nursing staff were involved in the study. The increased awareness among the study subjects about pharmacovigilance between pre- and post-intervention was statistically significant (p<0.001) which showed the effectiveness of educational intervention carried out.Conclusion: The results show that participants in the study were only moderately aware of ADR monitoring. However, they had expressed a positive attitude toward Pharmacovigilance and ADRs reporting. There is a need to create awareness among the nursing fraternity about ADR reporting for improving the spontaneous reporting

A Fuzzy Ga Based STATCOM for Power Quality Improvement

This paper deals with various power issues such as voltage sag, swell, harmonics, and surges using static synchronous compensator (STATCOM).The conventional controller suffers from uncertain parameters and non-linear qualities. However they are computationally inefficient extending to optimize the fuzzy controller (FC) parameters, since they exhaustively search the optimal values to optimize the objective functions. To overcome this drawback, a genetic algorithm (GA) based Fuzzy controller parameter optimization is presented in this paper. The GA algorithm is used to find the optimal fuzzy parameters for minimizing the objective functions. The feasibility of the proposed GA technique for distribution systems to improve the sag and total harmonic distortion (THD) as major power quality indices in sensitive loads at fault conditions has been simulated and tested. Therefore, the multi-objective optimization algorithm is considered in order to attain a better performance in solving the related problems

KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICE TOWARD PHARMACOVIGILANCE AND ADVERSE DRUG REACTION REPORTING AMONG NURSING STAFF AND STUDENTS

 Objective: The objective of this study is to assess awareness of Pharmacovigilance among the healthcare professionals and to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention for improving awareness of Pharmacovigilance among the nursing staff and nursing students from Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out using a validated questionnaire that included demographic details and 20 survey items to evaluate the participants' knowledge, attitude, and perception (KAP) on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and Pharmacovigilance. All participants received an interactive educational intervention in the form of a lecture. A pre- and post-KAP questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the impact of educational intervention among the participants. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences statistical software, version 16, was used to analyze the data.Results: A total of 103 healthcare professionals in the study responded to the pre- and post-KAP survey questionnaires. 66 nursing students and 37 nursing staff were involved in the study. The increased awareness among the study subjects about pharmacovigilance between pre- and post-intervention was statistically significant (p<0.001) which showed the effectiveness of educational intervention carried out.Conclusion: The results show that participants in the study were only moderately aware of ADR monitoring. However, they had expressed a positive attitude toward Pharmacovigilance and ADRs reporting. There is a need to create awareness among the nursing fraternity about ADR reporting for improving the spontaneous reporting