Knowledge, attitude, and practices towards COVID-19 among general population in northern India

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. The disease is highly infectious, it causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS CoV-2). In India, there are more than 2.5 lac active COVID19 cases and case fatality rate of COVID-19 is 1.45% as per Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on 1 January 2021. To guarantee the final success, people’s adherence to preventive measures is necessary.Methods: Survey was conducted to investigate the knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 among general population in northern India. Data was collected telephonically, using a structured questionnaire from 100 participants. Total 30 questions were included in questionnaire.Results: Regarding mode of spread, 82% believed in respiratory droplets (coughing, sneezing), 76% in touching and shaking hand with infected person, 37% in use of objects used by infected person. Regarding symptoms of the disease, 88% participants voted for fever, 62% for dry cough, 55% for sore throat, and 82% for difficulty in breathing. Regarding attitude, 72% had confidence that India can win the battle against COVID-19. Evaluation of prevention practices showed that 38% still visited crowded places and 22% had not worn masks in public places. Only 48% maintained 6 feet distance with others.Conclusions: Knowledge and attitude in most of the areas were quite adequate but actual practices for preventing measures were lacking. So, more awareness programs and more such surveys regarding following the appropriate measures are need of the hour to prevent the spread of this highly communicable and deadly disease.

Practice of self-medication of mifepristone-misoprostol drug combination for medical abortion

Most medical abortion protocols require women to take mifepristone in the hospital setting. The rate of complete abortion up to 63 days’ gestation with mifepristone and misoprostol was reported to be 92-95% using the Food and Drug Administration-approved regimen.1,2 In a recent study, the completion rates of 96-97% was reported in early pregnancy, including pregnancies up to 63 days’ gestation.3 Women choosing medical abortion must consent to undergo vacuum aspiration or dilatation and curettage in cases of incomplete abortion.Medical methods for first trimester abortion have been demonstrated to be both safe and effective. Regimens that combine mifepristone with a prostaglandin analogue such as misoprostol are more efficacious than a prostaglandin alone. Mifepristone, (RU 486, a substitute 19- norethisterone derivative)by blocking the progesterone receptors causes estrogen dominance and results in intrauterine fetal death. Simultaneously, it sensitizes the uterus to the activity of the prostaglandin. Thus, a combination of these two drugs is significantly more efficacious for termination of early pregnancy when compared to mifepristone given alone. A regimen that includes mifepristone in a dosage of 200 mg administered orally, followed by misoprostol in a dosage of 800 µg vaginally administered 48 hrs after mifepristone, and is highly effective for medical abortion up to 63 days gestation. This regimen is reported to be the best in most of the studies and moreover mifepristone serum levels do not increase proportionally with increasing oral doses.4In a study conducted by Schaff et al., it was observed that the success rate was seen in 96-97% of women who were prescribed a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol by authorized personnel at the hospital.3 Women are commonly advised to return for one or more follow-up visits, after 10-14 days because in cases of incomplete abortion she can be managed either expectantly, with an additional dose of misoprostol, or with an aspiration procedure. Women may be given the option of home administration of misoprostol after the initial clinic visit.5However, the use of mifepristone – misoprostol combination for medical abortion used as self-medication, is rising due to changing socio-cultural practices and increased awareness among women for the termination of early pregnancy up to 63 days. It is observed that many women indulge in the practice of self-medication for termination of pregnancy. They take medicines either from local pharmacists, nurses, on advice of relatives, friends, husband, neighbors, newspaper articles, radio, television, magazines or any other such unauthorized sources for termination of pregnancy which mostly leads to incomplete abortion or many complications. It is observed that only few number of women have complete abortion with self-medication from an unauthorized source and moreover they suffer from pain and heavy bleeding when compared to normal menstrual flow. It is noticed that now-a-days, these drugs are used irrationally and nonjudiciously. Women are thus advised to take proper regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol under the guidance of an authorized practitioner and if they still fail to abort, then they have to undergo surgical evacuation that is, vaccum aspiration for termination of pregnancy

Repurposing Niclosamide for Targeting Pancreatic Cancer by Inhibiting Hh/Gli Non-Canonical Axis of Gsk3β

Niclosamide (Nic), an FDA-approved anthelmintic drug, is reported to have anti-cancer efficacy and is being assessed in clinical trials for various solid tumors. Based on its ability to target multiple signaling pathways, in the present study, we evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of Nic on pancreatic cancer (PC) in vitro. We observed an anti-cancerous effect of this drug as shown by the G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest, inhibition of PC cell viability, colony formation, and migration. Our results revealed the involvement of mitochondrial stress and mTORC1-dependent autophagy as the predominant players of Nic-induced PC cell death. Significant reduction of Nic-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cell death in the presence of a selective autophagy inhibitor spautin-1 demonstrated autophagy as a major contributor to Nic-mediated cell death. Mechanistically, Nic inhibited the interaction between BCL2 and Beclin-1 that supported the crosstalk of autophagy and apoptosis. Further, Nic treatment resulted in Gsk3β inactivation by phosphorylating its Ser-9 residue leading to upregulation of Sufu and Gli3, thereby negatively impacting hedgehog signaling and cell survival. Nic induced autophagic cell death, and p-Gsk3b mediated Sufu/Gli3 cascade was further confirmed by Gsk3β activator, LY-294002, by rescuing inactivation of Hh signaling upon Nic treatment. These results suggested the involvement of a non-canonical mechanism of Hh signaling, where p-Gsk3β acts as a negative regulator of Hh/Gli1 cascade and a positive regulator of autophagy-mediated cell death. Overall, this study established the therapeutic efficacy of Nic for PC by targeting p-Gsk3β mediated non-canonical Hh signaling and promoting mTORC1-dependent autophagy and cell death

Ubiquitous Aberration in Cholesterol Metabolism Across Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is characterized by metabolic deregulations that often manifest as deviations in metabolite levels and aberrations in their corresponding metabolic genes across the clinical specimens and preclinical PC models. Cholesterol is one of the critical metabolites supporting PC, synthesized or acquired by PC cells. Nevertheless, the significance of the de novo cholesterol synthesis pathway has been controversial in PC, indicating the need to reassess this pathway in PC. We utilized preclinical models and clinical specimens of PC patients and cell lines and utilized mass spectrometry-based sterol analysis. Further, we also performed in silico analysis to corroborate the significance of de novo cholesterol synthesis pathway in PC. Our results demonstrated alteration in free sterol levels, including free cholesterol, across in vitro, in vivo, and clinical specimens of PC. Especially, our sterol analyses established consistent alterations in free cholesterol across the different PC models. Overall, this study demonstrates the significance and consistency in deviation of cholesterol synthesis pathway in PC while showing the aberrations in sterol metabolite intermediates and the related genes using preclinical models, in silico platforms, and the clinical specimens

Correction: Kaushal et al. Repurposing Niclosamide for Targeting Pancreatic Cancer by Inhibiting Hh/Gli Non-Canonical Axis of Gsk3β. Cancers 2021, 13, 3105

The authors would like to make a correction to their published paper [...

A comparative study of efficacy and safety of eberconazole versus terbinafine in patients of tinea versicolor

Background: Tinea versicolor (TV) is characterised by the appearance of maculosquamous lesions sometimes associated with mild erythema and pruritus in characteristic areas of the body. Eberconazole and terbinafine though drugs of different classes provide both mycological and clinical cure. Aim: This study aims to compare the efficacy and safety of eberconazole versus terbinafine in patients of TV. Materials and Methods: An open-label, randomised, comparative clinical trial was conducted on 60 patients. The patients were randomly divided into two study groups. Group A: Eberconazole 1% cream once daily and Group B: Terbinafine 1% cream once daily for 2 weeks. Efficacy assessment was done by observing signs and symptoms, i.e., Physician assessment 4-point scale, microscopic KOH examination, Wood's lamp examination, global clinical response assessment, and patient's assessment on visual analog scale at the end of 2 weeks and subsequently patients were reassessed at the end of 4 and 8 weeks to check any relapse. Safety assessment was also done. Results: There was a significant improvement in all the parameters in both groups over a period of 2 weeks. Both the treatment groups, i.e., eberconazole and terbinafine were found to be safe and efficacious at the end of 2 weeks, and no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding complete cure, i.e., mycological and clinical cure (80% vs. 63.33%), respectively. However, early response (at the end of week 1) was observed with eberconazole. No relapse was seen with eberconazole, but one patient had relapse at 8 weeks with terbinafine. Both drugs had similar safety profile. Conclusion: Although both the drugs cured the disease, eberconazole showed better response as clinical cure and mycological cure were observed earlier and no patient relapsed in the follow-up

Comparison of the Efficacy & Safety of Minocycline versus Hydroxychloroquine as an Add-On Therapy to Methotrexate in Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis

given. Efficacy and safety assessmentwas done by evaluation of various parameters of rheumatoid arthritis at 2, 6 & 12 wks. Repeated measures ANOVA test was applied for intragroup analysis and independent 't' test was applied for intergroup analysis of various parameters. Results: In minocycline treated group, there was statistically significant improvement in most of the parameters at 12 weeks as compared to hydroxychloroquine (hcq) group except the three parameters i.e grip strength in right hand, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (esr) &health assessment questionnaire (HAQ). These three parameters although also show improvement but the difference was not statistically significant. Regarding the side effects, incidence of side effects was more with hcq group than minocycline group. Conclusion: Minocycline was found to be more efficacious and safer than hydroxychloroquine, as an add on therapy to methotrexate for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

COMPARISION OF MYO-INOSITOL VERSUS METFORMIN ON ANTHROPOMETRIC PARAMETERS IN POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME IN WOMEN

Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate and compare the effect of insulin sensitizers i.e. metformin and myoinositol on anthropometric parameters in patients of the Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).Methods: A prospective, open-labeled, randomized, comparative, clinical study was conducted on 60 patients. The patients were randomly divided into two groups of 30 each to receive either of the following two treatments: group A: Tablet myoinositol 1g twice daily. group B: Tablet metformin 500 mg thrice daily for 24 w. Anthropometric parameters were assessed by measuring body weight, Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-hip ratio (WHR) at baseline and subsequently at the end of 12 w and 24 w.Results: In both the groups, there was a statistically significant improvement in over a period of 24 w. In group A, the values for weight at baseline, 12 w and 24 w expressed in mean±SEM are 63.96±.90, 62.33±.88 and 61.20±.85 while in group B the values were 63.58±1.88, 62.26±1.74 and 60.86±1.65. In group A, the values for BMI at baseline, 12 w and 24 w were 26.45±.41, 25.78±.42 and 25.31±.40 while in group B the values were 26.09±.76, 25.53±.71 and 24.96±.68 respectively. In group A, WHR values were 0.79±.007, 0.78±.007 and 0.78±.007 while in group B 0.79±.010, 0.79±0.108, 0.79±.011 at baseline, 12 w and 24 w respectively. However, on comparing both the groups at 12 and 24 w, no statistically significant difference was observed in all the parameters.Conclusion: There was a definite improvement in anthropometric parameters with both metformin and myoinositol but on comparing these drugs, no significant difference was observed. Thus, myoinositol can also be used as an alternative to metformin for the treatment of PCOS

Bibliometric analysis of Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism

Background: Bibliometric analysis of the journal is a method to assess the research impact or research influence of that journal. This information can also be used to evaluate the influence/performance of a researcher and to provide a comparison between researchers. This work was aimed at performing bibliometric analysis of Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism (IJEM). Materials and Methods: The publications of year 2011-12 of IJEM were analyzed. Total number of articles published, type of articles, their authorship, and the coverage of various subspecialties was studied. The publications were also classified as Indian or foreign, from endocrine or nonendocrine departments and from academic or nonacademic institutions according to the institution of first author. Results and Conclusions: A total of 10 main issues and 7 supplementary issues were published in IJEM in year 2011 and 2012. These included a total of 605 publications, which depict a dramatic increase in the number of publications in last 2 years as compared to the previous years. Taking collectively, review articles were published in majority. Maximum number of articles was dealing with pancreas and metabolic disorders followed by thyroid. Other endocrine organs were given almost similar importance. Publications were largely originating from endocrine departments and from academic institutions. Although maximum number of articles were from India, but the publications from other countries are also on an increase. Thus, the widespread coverage of this journal suggests that IJEM has begun to represent global face of Indian endocrinology

Organic Electronics in Biosensing: A Promising Frontier for Medical and Environmental Applications

The promising field of organic electronics has ushered in a new era of biosensing technology, thus offering a promising frontier for applications in both medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring. This review paper provides a comprehensive overview of organic electronics’ remarkable progress and potential in biosensing applications. It explores the multifaceted aspects of organic materials and devices, thereby highlighting their unique advantages, such as flexibility, biocompatibility, and low-cost fabrication. The paper delves into the diverse range of biosensors enabled by organic electronics, including electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, and thermal sensors, thus showcasing their versatility in detecting biomolecules, pathogens, and environmental pollutants. Furthermore, integrating organic biosensors into wearable devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem is discussed, wherein they offer real-time, remote, and personalized monitoring solutions. The review also addresses the current challenges and future prospects of organic biosensing, thus emphasizing the potential for breakthroughs in personalized medicine, environmental sustainability, and the advancement of human health and well-being