Antidiabetic Potential of Herbal Plants

Diabetes mellitus (DM), both insulin-dependent DM (IDDM) and non-insulin dependent DM (NIDDM) is a common and serious metabolic disorder throughout the world. Traditional plant treatments have been used throughout the world for the therapy of diabetes mellitus. Among many medications and polyherbal plants, several herbs have been known to cure and control diabetes; additionally they have no side effects. Diabetes mellitus is a dreadful disease found in all parts of the world and is becoming a serious threat to mankind health. Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by high blood sugar (glucose) levels thatresult from defects in insulin secretion, or action, or both.  Thus, plants are a potential source of anti-diabetic drugs which can be proved by the ethnobotanical information reports about 800 plants that may possess anti-diabetic potential. Although, synthetic oral hypoglycemic agents/insulin is the mainstream treatment of diabetes and effective in controlling hyperglycaemia, they have prominent side effects and fail to significantly alter the course of diabetic complications. This forms the main reason for an increasing number of people finding alternating therapies that may have less severe or no side effects. This article presents a review on some reported antidiabetic medicinal plants (with their botanical name, common name, constituent and mechanism of action for antidiabetic action) and plant based marketed polyherbal  herbal formulations Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Medicinal plants,glucose , polyherbal plant

Advancement in Novel Drug Delivery System: Niosomes

Niosomes represent a promising drug delivery module. Noisome same as to liposome and Noisome represent alternative vesicular drug delivery systems with respect to liposomes, due to the noisome ability to encapsulate the different type of drugs within their multi environmental structure. Niosomes are thoughts to be a better system for drug delivery as compared to liposomes due to various factors like cost, stability etc. They are many types of drug deliveries that can be possible using niosomes like targeting, ophthalmic, topical, parenteral, etc. In recent research, comprehensive research carried over noisome as a drug carrier. Various drugs are enlisted and tried in noisome surfactant vesicles. Niosomes proved to better drug carrier system and has the potential to reduce the side effects of drugs and increased therapeutic effectiveness in various diseases. Noisome used more than fifty drugs are tried in niosomal formulations by the intravenous route, per oral administration, trans-dermal route of administration, and inhalation preparation, ocular nasal route of administration. Treatment of infectious diseases and immunization has undergone a revolutionary work in recent years. The large numbers of disease-specific biological have been developed, and also emphasis has been made to effectively deliver these biological. Niosomes shows an emerging class of novel vesicular systems. Niosomes are self-assembled vesicles composed primarily of synthetic surfactant and cholesterol. Comprehensive research carried over noisome as a drug carrier. Various drugs are enlisted and tried in noisome surfactant vesicles. This article presents an overview of the techniques of preparation of noisome, types of noisome, characterization and their applications. Keywords-Niosomes; Method of preparation; Evaluation study; Application of Niosome

Novel Stimuli-Responsive Pectin-PVP-Functionalized Clay Based Smart Hydrogels for Drug Delivery and Controlled Release Application

Stimuli-responsive drug delivery systems are urgently required for injectable site-specific delivery and release of drugs in a controlled manner. For this purpose, we developed novel pH-sensitive, biodegradable, and antimicrobial hydrogels from bio-macromolecule pectin, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), 3-aminopropyl (diethoxy)methyl silane (3-APDEMS), and sepiolite clay via blending and solution casting technique. The purified sepiolite (40 um) was functionalized with 3-APDEMS crosslinker (ex-situ modification) followed by hydrogels fabrication. FTIR and SEM confirmed crosslinked structural integrity and rod-like morphology of hydrogels respectively. The swelling properties of hydrogels could be controlled by varying the concentration of modified clay in pectin/PVP blends. Moreover, the decrease in pH increased the swelling of hydrogels indicating the pH-responsiveness of hydrogels. All hydrogels were degraded after 21 days in phosphate buffer saline pH 7.4 (human blood pH). In-vitro cytotoxicity against 3T3 mouse fibroblast cell line analysis confirmed cytocompatibility of all hydrogels. Ceftriaxone sodium (CTX-S) was selected as a model drug. The release profile of the hydrogel showed 91.82% release in PBS for 2 h in a consistent and controlled manner. The chemical structure of the drug remained intact during and after release confirmed through UV-Visible spectroscopy. Overall, these hydrogels could be used as potential scaffolds for future biomedical applications

Occurrence and transmission potential of asymptomatic and presymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections : update of a living systematic review and meta-analysis

Funding: This study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation http://www.snf.ch/en (NL: 320030_176233); the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en (NL: 101003688); the Swiss government excellence scholarship https://www.sbfi.admin.ch/sbfi/en/home/education/scholarships-and-grants/swiss-government-excellence-scholarships.html (DBG: 2019.0774) and the Swiss School of Public Health Global P3HS stipend https://ssphplus.ch/en/ (DBG).Background : Debate about the level of asymptomatic Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection continues. The amount of evidence is increasing and study designs have changed over time. We updated a living systematic review to address 3 questions: (1) Among people who become infected with SARS-CoV-2, what proportion does not experience symptoms at all during their infection? (2) What is the infectiousness of asymptomatic and presymptomatic, compared with symptomatic, SARS-CoV-2 infection? (3) What proportion of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a population is accounted for by people who are asymptomatic or presymptomatic? Methods and findings : The protocol was first published on 1 April 2020 and last updated on 18 June 2021. We searched PubMed, Embase, bioRxiv, and medRxiv, aggregated in a database of SARS-CoV-2 literature, most recently on 6 July 2021. Studies of people with PCR-diagnosed SARS-CoV-2, which documented symptom status at the beginning and end of follow-up, or mathematical modelling studies were included. Studies restricted to people already diagnosed, of single individuals or families, or without sufficient follow-up were excluded. One reviewer extracted data and a second verified the extraction, with disagreement resolved by discussion or a third reviewer. Risk of bias in empirical studies was assessed with a bespoke checklist and modelling studies with a published checklist. All data syntheses were done using random effects models. Review question (1): We included 130 studies. Heterogeneity was high so we did not estimate a mean proportion of asymptomatic infections overall (interquartile range (IQR) 14% to 50%, prediction interval 2% to 90%), or in 84 studies based on screening of defined populations (IQR 20% to 65%, prediction interval 4% to 94%). In 46 studies based on contact or outbreak investigations, the summary proportion asymptomatic was 19% (95% confidence interval (CI) 15% to 25%, prediction interval 2% to 70%). (2) The secondary attack rate in contacts of people with asymptomatic infection compared with symptomatic infection was 0.32 (95% CI 0.16 to 0.64, prediction interval 0.11 to 0.95, 8 studies). (3) In 13 modelling studies fit to data, the proportion of all SARS-CoV-2 transmission from presymptomatic individuals was higher than from asymptomatic individuals. Limitations of the evidence include high heterogeneity and high risks of selection and information bias in studies that were not designed to measure persistently asymptomatic infection, and limited information about variants of concern or in people who have been vaccinated. Conclusions : Based on studies published up to July 2021, most SARS-CoV-2 infections were not persistently asymptomatic, and asymptomatic infections were less infectious than symptomatic infections. Summary estimates from meta-analysis may be misleading when variability between studies is extreme and prediction intervals should be presented. Future studies should determine the asymptomatic proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections caused by variants of concern and in people with immunity following vaccination or previous infection. Without prospective longitudinal studies with methods that minimise selection and measurement biases, further updates with the study types included in this living systematic review are unlikely to be able to provide a reliable summary estimate of the proportion of asymptomatic infections caused by SARS-CoV-2. Review protocol : Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/9ewys/)Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Outbreaks of publications about emerging infectious diseases: the case of SARS-CoV-2 and Zika virus.

BACKGROUND: Outbreaks of infectious diseases generate outbreaks of scientific evidence. In 2016 epidemics of Zika virus emerged, and in 2020, a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused a pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We compared patterns of scientific publications for the two infections to analyse the evolution of the evidence. METHODS: We annotated publications on Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2 that we collected using living evidence databases according to study design. We used descriptive statistics to categorise and compare study designs over time. RESULTS: We found 2286 publications about Zika virus in 2016 and 21,990 about SARS-CoV-2 up to 24 May 2020, of which we analysed a random sample of 5294 (24%). For both infections, there were more epidemiological than laboratory science studies. Amongst epidemiological studies for both infections, case reports, case series and cross-sectional studies emerged first, cohort and case-control studies were published later. Trials were the last to emerge. The number of preprints was much higher for SARS-CoV-2 than for Zika virus. CONCLUSIONS: Similarities in the overall pattern of publications might be generalizable, whereas differences are compatible with differences in the characteristics of a disease. Understanding how evidence accumulates during disease outbreaks helps us understand which types of public health questions we can answer and when

THE Modified Okra Gum with Silica: A Novel Superdisintegrant for Fast Disintegrating Tablet

The present work on the fast disintegrating tablet of Atenolol was done to formulate a dosage form which can release the active ingredient at the faster rate. The fast disintegrating tablet was made by wet granulation method, the natural gum was used (Modified Okra Gum (Abelmoschus esculentus)). The gum in a modified form is a combination with the silica which increases the disintegration rate of the gum. The swelling index of Modified gum was found as 205. The pH of the gum was found as 6.1, in the gum no microbial growth was found during the study. In the contact with the water, due to high porosity, the tablet mass get swell hence it helps in the faster drug release. The water absorption ratio was found best in F4 formulation that was 84%. The eight formulations were studied for the drug content or the drug release, the drug release of the formulations F1 to F8 was found in the range of 90to 98%. Since the present was done using the natural disintegrating agent, so it was also subjected to study for the efficiency. In the present study the disintegration time of Modified Okra Gum containing tablet was compared with the synthetic disintegrating agent (Sodium Starch Glycolate). Disintegration time of Modified Okra Gum was found best in F4 formulation as 2min 10 sec. whereas tablet containing sodium Starch Glycolate was found as 2 min 34sec. Keywords: Okra gum, Silica, Super-disintegrant, Modified gum

THE Formulation and Characterization of Transdermal Patch of Candesartan Celexitil

The aim of the present study is to formulate and characterized the transdermal patch of Candesartan celexitil. The objective is study was to increase the bioavailability of drug. In the present study, transdermal patch of Candesartan celexitil were prepared  by solvent casting technique employing HPMC cps 50 polymer and glycerin as plasticizer using mercury as substrate. Total thirteen formulation (F1-F13) were prepared having drug and polymer ratio (1:2, 1:4, 1:6, 1:8, and 1:10). From the selected batch F2 containing drug polymer ratio (1:4), four formulations each were prepared and evaluated containg drug urea (1-4%) and oleic acid (1-4%) as permeation enhancer. The prepared transdermal patches were evaluated on the basis of different parameters like weigh, thickness, folding endurance, percent moisture absorption, percent moisture loss, drug content uniformity, in vitro skin permeation study. The fabricated final transdermal patches were further subjected to in vitro permeation study. In order to confirm the exact mechanism of drug release from all the patches, the data were computed and graphed according to Korsmeyer equation. Diffusion exponent of release process controlled by Super case Ⅱ transport Non- Fickian diffusion, n values of Korsmeyer- Peppas model shows a combination of diffusion and dissolution mechanism indicating the drug release from the formulation was controlled by more than one process. It was concluded that the prepared formulation F13 (4% w/v of oleic acid) showed highest cumulative percent drug release and increase the bioavailability of the drug. Keywords: Novel drug delivery system, Transdermal drug delivery, Transdermal drug delivery system, Differential scanning calorimetry