Spurious drugs: do we neglect during our clinical practice? a systematic review

Spurious drugs are those manufactured by concealing the identity of the true ones. It forms one of the largest growing markets in India. The aim of this review is to create an awareness of the prescribing doctors that substandard or fraudulent drugs are widely prevalent and it is in our doorstep during the regular practice. The duty of the prescriber is to identify these drugs, share the information’s to the fellow colleagues and avoid them from prescribing. It is the role of the physicians to intimate this information to the patients also who consumes these drugs due to lack of awareness as like food products which are consumed as an adulterant one. We the health care professionals carry the duty of identifying these spurious drugs being manufactured and marketed by unlicensed or licensed pharmaceutical companies which are hazardous to our patient’s health. All the data’s about this misbranded drugs are gathered from Journals and related websites from 2000-2016, thereby complied to reveal the present situation of spurious drugs. The Government of India has taken steps to implement Cosmetics Act 1940 and special courts are set up for speedy disposal of these related cases. Also the Government in its part announced the “Whistle Blower Scheme” to encourage the public to be vigilant and report the widespread infiltration of spurious drugs in the market and to receive the cash reward for this information

A prospective comparative study to assess the efficacy and safety of sertraline and methylcobalin with pregabalin and methylcobalin in patients suffering with depression due to diabetic neuropathic pain

Background: Diabetic neuropathic pain produces mood swings thereby creating emotional disturbances ranging from mild anxiety to severe depression when the disease progresses for 10 years or more. The existing treatment includes Tricyclic antidepressants, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, anticonvulsants, Dual Reuptake Inhibitor antidepressant, topical agents like capsaicin, lignocaine, gabapentin. Yet the psychological component has to be treated with the antidepressants. Even though SSRI’s like sertraline has shown some promising results as analgesic but could works better as an antidepressant. Hence, this work emphasizes some promising role of sertraline as an adjuvant to methylcobalin and other medications in the management of depression due to diabetic neuropathic pain.Methods: A total of 100 consecutive patients of both sex between the age group of 18-65 years with painful diabetic neuropathic pain with signs and symptoms depression were recruited and randomized into two groups. Statistical methods: Data were tabulated, and results were analyzed. Chi-square test was used to analyze demographic data of the study population. Depressive score was analyzed at baseline and 12th week by using Student’s t-test and Analysis of Co variance. A p value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: Group I patients showed an improvement of symptomatology where the number of patients shifted from mild to minimal depression. This is critically less in Group II.Conclusions: The combination of sertraline with methylcobalin showed a promising outcome with improvement of symptoms of painful diabetic neuropathic pain in Indian patients

Structurally modified celecoxib analogues for selective COX-2 inhibition: a classical hansch QSAR approach

Classical Hansch type quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) has been performed on a set of structurally modified celecoxib analogues for their inhibitory potency and selectivity towards cyclooxygenase isozymes using classical physicochemical and structural parameters. Statistically significant regression models were developed for cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitory potency as well as selectivity index. The results of our QSAR study suggest the importance of the molecular size, shape and electronic character of the aromatic ring substituents. Further our investigation provides important structural and physicochemical features for designing potent and selective COX-2 inhibitors within the congener series of compounds.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

N-[2-(3,4-Dimeth­oxy­phen­yl)eth­yl]-N-methyl­benzene­sulfonamide

In the title compound, C17H21NO4S, the phenyl and dimeth­oxy­phenyl rings are almost perpendicular to each other, making a dihedral angle of 82.57 (5)°. The structure is stabilized by inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions and the packing is further enhanced by C—H ⋯π inter­actions

Oxygen Vacancies Adjacent to Cu(2+) Ions in TiO(2) (Rutile) Crystals

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) are used to characterize Cu2+ ions substituting for Ti4+ ions in nominally undoped TiO2 crystals having the rutile structure. Illumination at 25 K with 442 nm laser light reduces the concentration of Cu2+ ions by more than a factor of 2. The laser light also reduces the EPR signals from Fe3+ and Cr3+ ions and introduces signals from Ti3+ ions. Warming in the dark to room temperature restores the crystal to its preilluminated state. Monitoring the recovery of the photoinduced changes in the Cu2+ ions and the other paramagnetic electron and hole traps as the temperature is raised from 25 K to room temperature provides evidence that the Cu2+ ions have an adjacent doubly ionized oxygen vacancy. These oxygen vacancies serve as charge compensators for the substitutional Cu2+ ions and lead to the formation of electrically neutral Cu2+-VO complexes during growth of the crystals. The Cu2+-VO complexes act as electron traps and convert to nonparamagnetic Cu+-VO complexes when the crystals are illuminated at low temperature. Complete sets of spin-Hamiltonian parameters describing the electron Zeeman, hyperfine, and nuclear electric quadrupole interactions for both the 63Cu and 65Cu nuclei are obtained from the EPR and ENDOR data. This study suggests that other divalent cation impurities in TiO2 such as Co2+ and Ni2+ may also have an adjacent oxygen vacancy for charge compensation

Ground State of the Singly Ionized Oxygen Vacancy in Rutile TiO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e

Results from electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) experiments are used to establish the model for the ground state of the singly ionized oxygen vacancy in the interior of bulk rutile TiO2 crystals. Hyperfine from 47Ti and 49Ti nuclei show that the unpaired electron in this S = 1/2 defect is localized on one titanium ion adjacent to the oxygen vacancy (i.e., the spin is not shared by two titanium ions). These defects are formed at low temperature (∼35 K) in as-grown oxidized crystals when sub-band-gap 442 nm laser light converts doubly ionized nonparamagnetic oxygen vacancies to the singly ionized paramagnetic charge state. The g matrix is obtained from EPR spectra and the 47Ti and 49Ti hyperfine and nuclear electric quadrupole matrices (A and Q) are obtained from ENDOR spectra. Principal values of the 47Ti and 49Ti hyperfine matrices are 64.54, 11.57, and 33.34 MHz. All the matrices have a principal axis along the [001] direction. In the basal plane, principal axes of the hyperfine and quadrupole matrices also coincide. The principal axes of the g matrix in the basal plane, however, deviate significantly from those of the A and Q matrices, thus indicating mixing of d orbitals due to the low symmetry at the Ti3+ ion site and participation of excited-state orbitals

Intranasal peptide-induced tolerance and linked suppression: consequences of complement deficiency.

A role for complement, particularly the classical pathway, in the regulation of immune responses is well documented. Deficiencies in C1q or C4 predispose to autoimmunity, while deficiency in C3 affects the suppression of contact sensitization and generation of oral tolerance. Complement components including C3 have been shown to be required for both B-cell and T-cell priming. The mechanisms whereby complement can mediate these diverse regulatory effects are poorly understood. Our previous work, using the mouse minor histocompatibility (HY) model of skin graft rejection, showed that both C1q and C3 were required for the induction of tolerance following intranasal peptide administration. By comparing tolerance induction in wild-type C57BL/6 and C1q-, C3-, C4- and C5-deficient C57BL/6 female mice, we show here that the classical pathway components including C3 are required for tolerance induction, whereas C5 plays no role. C3-deficient mice failed to generate a functional regulatory T (Treg) -dendritic cell (DC) tolerogenic loop required for tolerance induction. This was related to the inability of C3-deficient DC to up-regulate the arginine-consuming enzyme, inducible nitric oxide synthase (Nos-2), in the presence of antigen-specific Treg cells and peptide, leading to reduced Treg cell generation. Our findings demonstrate that the classical pathway and C3 play a critical role in the peptide-mediated induction of tolerance to HY by modulating DC function