Larvicidal and Smoke Repellent Activities of Spathodea campanulata P.Beauv. against the Malarial Vector Anopheles stephensi Lis (Diptera: Culicidae)

As we talk about diseases certainly we have to say about the vectors and the major disease causing vectors is mosquito. The natural products have been a rich source of medicines since they provide a host of many bioactive compounds with a wide range of applications. Anopheles stephensi which transmits plasmodium responsible for malarial fever. Vector control can be achieved by using insecticidal larvicidal organophosphorates or synthetic compounds. The toxicity of the chemical has side effects. More over the constant use of these chemicals will lead to gain the resistance to these mosquitoes. As a result Investigations were made to evaluate the larvicidal activity and smoke repellent potential of Spathodea campanulata P.Beauv. (Family: Bignoniaceae) to identify suitable bio active compound in selected medicinal plants. The present paper deals with larvicidal and mosquito repellency activity of Spathodea campanulata. The extracts of Spathodea campanulata were found most effective with LC50 value of 1.343, 1.607, 1.981, 2.165, 2.432 of I, II, III, IV and pupa respectively. The smoke toxicity was more effective against the Anopheles stephensi. Smoke exposed gravid females oviposited fewer eggs when compared to those that were not exposed

Effect of foam Sclerotherapy in various Vascular and Lymphatic Malformations

INTRODUCTION : Sclerotherapy is an intravascular injection of a chemical irritant to cause chemical thrombophlebitis. The term was coined in the 1940's by American physician H. I. Biegeleisen[1]. Sclerotherapy is being used in treating varicose veins, hemangiomas and lymphangiomas. Introduced more than 150 years ago[2], sclerotherapy remains the most effective procedure for permanent eradication of pathologically enlarged as well as cosmetically undesirable but otherwise normal veins. Innovative devices have been introduced within the past 10 years that utilize electromagnetic energy sources to target vein wall constituents directly or indirectly and either transcutaneously or intravascularly, but these procedures are significantly less effective and reproducible than sclerotherapy for permanently eradicating unwanted veins. Foam sclerotherapy, in which the sclerosant is mixed with air or physiological gases, is more efficacious than direct injection of sclerosants[3], as air in the foam prolongs the contact of the agent with the endothelium. Hence, maximum sclerosant action can be obtained at lesser concentration and quantity. Foamed agent exerts its effect at microcirculation, which is inaccessible to other procedures. AIM OF THE STUDY : 1. To assess the effectiveness of foam sclerotherapy in various vascular and lymphatic malformations. 2. To observe the adverse effects of foam sclerotherapy during and after the procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS : Study type : Prospective non-randomized interventional study Study population : 40 patients of both sex; age group : 15 to 65 years. {28 with varicose veins with complications, 10 with hemangioma, 2 with lymphangioma} Study period : January 2009 to September 2010 (18 months). First 6 months : Interventional period. Next 12 months : follow-up period. Place of study : Department of Dermatology, Govt. Stanley Medical College, Chennai. The patients chosen for the study, were from the general pool attending the Dermatology out patient department. Initially, 70 patients with varicose veins who came with complaints of pain, itching, edema, discolouration, dilated veins over legs; 15 with hemangioma presenting with swelling and 2 with lymphangioma were subjected to the pre-sclerotherapy consultation, assessment and investigations as given below. Out of them, 28 patients with varicose veins (legs), 10 patients with hemangioma (tongue, gluteal region, hand, trunk of size varying from a minimum of 3 x 2cm to a maximum of 12x8cm) and 2 with lymphangioma (posterior one third of tongue and gluteal region), who were enrolled for the study, according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The mean age group was 32.7 years (15 – 65 years) of both sexes. RESULTS : Total no. of patients in the study group : Male : 30, Female : 10. Out of 28 patients with varicose veins –3 patients presented with pain over the dilated veins, 3 with swelling of feet, 2 with itching, 4 with discolouration of legs, 4 with leg ulcer, 12 with stasis dermatitis. CONCLUSION : Following were the conclusions derived from this study • Sclerotherapy is a potentially valuable method of treatment for vascular and lymphatic malformations • Foam sclerotherapy causes maximal sclerosant action at lesser concentration and quantity • The effect is exerted at microcirculation which cannot be achieved through any other procedures. • This study demonstrates a complete resolution rate of 89.2% for varicose veins in an average of 4.2 sittings, 70% for hemangiomas – average of 3.9 sittings and 50% in case of lymphangiomas in 5.5 sittings (average), over a period of 18 months. • The healing of stasis dermatitis (66.7%) and venous ulcers (50%) were found to be accelerated following foam sclerotherapy. • Though a recurrence rate of 10.7% was noted in patients with varicose veins, foam sclerotherapy is a minimally invasive technique that can be repeated without any real increase in the risks or complexity of the procedure. • Only minor adverse effects like postsclerotherapy pigmentation , cutaneous devitalisation (1 patient) were noted. No major complications like anaphylaxis, pulmonary embolism or stroke were observed. • Hence foam sclerotherapy is a simple, safer, feasible, affordable in-office procedure which can be performed without hospitalization or anaesthesia. • It allows the patient, a rapid return to normal daily activity • Furthermore it is cheap in comparison to almost all of the other methods available today

Formulation Development and In Vitro Characterization of Oral Floating In Situ Gelling Liquid System Of Rivastigmine Tartrate

The Rivastigmine tartrate oral In situ gel was developed using gelling agents such as Sodium Alginate, Gellan gum, Iota carrageenan and HPMC K4M. ❖ Physical compatibility study showed that the drug and excipients are physically compatible with each other. ❖ Chemical compatibility study was performed using FT-IR spectroscopy and FT-IR studies revealed that there was no change in major peaks, thus confirming no interaction between the drug and excipients. ❖ Calibration curve of Rivastigmine tartrate was constructed in Simulated Gastric Fluid (SGF) of pH 1.2 and it obeys Beer Lambert law. ❖ 10 formulations (F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6, F7, F8, F9, F10) of Rivastigmine tartrate In situ gel were prepared using varying concentrations of different polymers such as Sodium Alginate, Gellan Gum and Iota Carrageenan along with HPMC K4M (0.1 % w/v) as the release retardant. ❖ The prepared formulations (F1 - F10) were evaluated for Physical appearance, Pourability, pH, viscosity, In vitro gelation study, In vitro buoyancy study, Density, Gel strength, Percentage water uptake, Drug content and In vitro drug release. ❖ All the formulations had good physical appearance, free flowing and did not produce any gelation at room temperature. ❖ All the formulations except F4 exhibited good gelling capacity. In the formulation F4 containing only Iota carrageenan as the main polymer, the gel that was formed dispersed rapidly. ❖ All the formulations showed floating lag time of less than 2 minutes and duration of floating was greater than 12 hours. ❖ Formulation F9 and F10 exhibited lower density than the density of gastric fluid (~1.004 gcm−3) and higher gel strength when compared to other formulations. ❖ The percentage water uptake was higher for formulations F9 and F10 due to the presence of combination of 3 polymers i.e. Sodium alginate, Gellan gum and Iota carrageenan. ❖ The percentage drug content of all the formulations was in the range of 96.08-98.69 % indicating uniform distribution of drugs. ❖ In vitro drug release study showed that only the Formulations F9 and F10 released 99.91 % and 91.11% of drug respectively at the end of 12 hours, while the other formulations showed more than 90% of drug release even before the period of 12 hours. ❖ Based on the results of evaluation of In situ gel, the Formulations F9 and F10 was considered suitable for providing prolonged delivery of Rivastigmine tartrate. Since the Formulation F9 had lower viscosity and was easily pourable than the formulation F10 without significant differences in other parameters, Formulation F9 containing Sodium alginate (0.5 % w/v), Gellan gum (0.15 % w/v), Iota carrageenan (0.2 % w/v) and HPMC K4M (0.1%) was chosen as the optimized formulation. ❖ The In vitro release kinetic study of the optimized formulation F9 showed that the formulation followed Zero-order kinetics and Non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. ❖ The stability studies indicated that the optimized formulation F9 was stable and did not show any significant changes in the physical appearance, pH, gelling capacity, floating time, viscosity, drug content and In vitro drug release at the end of 1 month. The overall results indicate that formulation of Rivastigmine tartrate as oral floating In situ gel provides controlled release of the drug. This may improve the patient compliance due to ease of administration and reduction in dosing frequency. Hence, the developed formulation can be used as an alternative to the conventional dosage form for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in patients

MOLECULAR DOCKING OF ANTITRYPANOSOMAL INHIBITORS FROM EUCALYPTUS TERETICORNIS FOR SLEEPING SICKNESS

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the antitrypanosomal inhibitors of Eucalyptus tereticornis for sleeping sickness through molecular docking and studies on Absorption distribution metabolism excursion and toxicology (ADMET). Methods: In silico molecular docking in ArgusLab software and ADMET analysis in AdmetSAR software was performed for the antitrypanosomal inhibitors of E. tereticornis for sleeping sickness. Results: Interactions were studied for the ten proteins responsible for sleeping sickness with the 50 antitrypanosomal inhibitors of E. tereticornis. Docking was performed to see the interaction and the best binding energy of compounds with the proteins involved in sleeping sickness. The docking scores were highest for betulonic acid with −15.66 kcal/mol followed by euglobal with −12.24 kcal/mol, B-pinene with −10.313 kcal/mol, A-pinene with −10.3418 kcal/mol, and the least docking score for P-cymene with −10.6045 kcal/mol. Docking results showed that only betulonic acid and euglobal showed that hydrogen bond interaction was as b-pinene, a-pinene, and p-cymene yielded no hydrogen bond interactions so we will be taking the former docking results for further studies. The best docking result was shown by betulonic acid with trypanothione reductase giving binding energy of −15.66 kcal/mol with hydrogen bond interaction of 2.9, so this result was taken for further analysis. Conclusion: The results of the compound extracted from E. tereticornis will become physiological relevant only when (i) the pure compounds of this plant is available in large quantities; (ii) the Eucalyptus is biochemically stabilized to avoid degradation and enhance absorption in the gastrointestinal tract; and (iii) special delivery methods for this drug to reach the areas of treatment. In this work, the efficacy of E. tereticornis to act against trypanosomal protein was initiated and thus further research in this process would help us to take full advantage of the remedial effects of the compounds extracted from this plant

Prolonged Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease is a Risk Factor for Thyroid Failure in Long-Term Survivors After Matched Sibling Donor Stem Cell Transplantation for Hematologic Malignancies

AbstractWe studied thyroid function in 81 long-term survivors of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT), with a median follow-up of 84 months (range, 45 to 166 months). Median age at transplantation was 35 years (range, 6 to 66). Seventy-two of the patients received a total body irradiation (TBI)–containing conditioning regimen (n = 23, 12 Gy; n = 49, 13 Gy). Twenty-one of the patients (25.9%) had subclinical hypothyroidism, and 9 (11.1%) developed overt hypothyroidism at a median of 28 months (range, 3 to 78 months) after allo-SCT. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that prolonged immunosuppressive therapy (IST) was significantly associated with subclinical hypothyroidism (odds ratio [OR] = 3.8) and overt hypothyroidism (OR = 2.6). Antithyroglobulin and thyroid peroxidase antibody were detected in 12 of 60 patients tested (20%). No correlation was found between the occurrence of thyroid antibodies and hypothyroidism (P = .13) or chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) (P = .55). In conclusion, thyroid dysfunction is relatively common after allo-SCT and is more likely to occur in patients receiving prolonged IST for cGVHD; however, thyroid dysfunction does not appear to be related to an antibody-mediated autoimmune process

Reaching the one billion mark: accomplishing the success story of COVID vaccination through public interrogation

Background: The COVID vaccination drive in India has recently crossed the one billion mark which is certainly a tremendous feat. Although women were initially hesitant, public propaganda and behaviour change communications encouraged them to come forward. The aim of the study was to assess the vaccination status of female population of the country through interrogation in obstetrics and gynaecology out patient departments (OBG OPD).Methods: Through this cross-sectional study, all women visiting OBG OPD were asked about type and number of vaccine doses received, dates of administration of first and second doses and whether they had any significant side effects following immunization.Results: A total of 1456 women were recruited in the study. Mean age of participants was 33.24±4.65 years. 36.26% participants were pregnant. 89.97% women had received at least one dose of vaccine and 48.76% participants were fully vaccinated. Majority received Covishield vaccine. Majority of the participants received first shot during the months of July, August and September. No women suffered from any adverse effect following immunization. Most women got motivated for vaccination from television (76.91%) and alert messages in mobile phones (61.59%). The results of our study reflects the success story of vaccination campaign as almost 90% of the participants had received at least one dose of vaccine.Conclusions: The proactive participation and untiring efforts of the frontline workers has been instrumental in achieving this remarkable landmark. India's successful vaccination campaign is a lesson to the world at large

Diversity in floral characters of monoecious nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt.)

Floral diversity in monoecious type nutmeg reveals three types of flowers namely; pistillate, staminate and hermaphrodite flowers. The structure of hermaphrodite flowers in nutmeg is reported for the first time. The flowers are borne on the leaf axil, flowering habit of the three types of flowers are seen in cymes as well solitary in the same tree. The gynoecium consists of single ovary with bifid stigma in the pistillate flowers and the androecium of staminate flowers has adnate 7-13 anthers. Intra flower variability is evident in case of hermaphrodite flowers. In hermaphrodite flower the androecium ranges with 1-4 anthers, in the form of fused filament or free filament or both; some anthers are fused with the gynoecium. Besides remnants of the stamen in the developed fruits of hermaphrodite flowers, staminodes are also observed in the flowers. Colour of all the three types of flowers are light creamy yellow, with thick gamosepalous perianth which bursts as bilobed, trilobed, tetralobed and pentalobed lobes during anthesis. Analysis of variance of trees for flower types and floral attributes like flower type, number of anthers, length of anthers, length of filaments and length of ovary are found to be highly significant. High coefficient of variation is recorded for hermaphrodite (183.84) and pistillate (171.71%) flowers. The pollen viability of the hermaphrodite flowers are found less as compared to the staminate flowers. The percentage of pollen viability is 79.74% and 90.77% in hermaphrodite and male flower respectively. In the population studied, the occurrence of hermaphrodite flower in monoecious tree ranged from 0 - 10%

Traditional methods of purification (detoxification process) for Schedule E poisonous drugs

740-748Medicinal plants have different types of active phytochemicals, which are still in use, either in their crude form or after proper processing. Though most of the plant drugs are safe, few are poisonous and may cause immediate toxic effect or cumulative toxic effect for human health. There are 25 poisonous or toxic plants in Siddha texts listed in the Schedule E of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940. The concept of Suthimuraigal in Siddha not only covers the process of purification and detoxification of physical and chemical impurities but also minimizes the side effects and improves the potency/therapeutic efficacy of the purified drugs. The aim of this review is to perceive the importance of the Schedule E drugs through their immense uses to treat diseases and to flourish the knowledge of purification processes to detoxify the poisonous elements, thus enhancing and utilizing them in curing challenging diseases. The distinct purification methods mentioned in Ayurvedic journals have also been reviewed for possible information. Methods of Suthi are variable and some of the important Siddha Suthimuraigal are reviewed in this paper. The traditional methods of purification may combat the toxic effects like ulceration, swelling, giddiness, skin rashes, pruritis also, thus enhancing the efficacy of the drugs in healing various ailments. Since these poisonous plants have very high potential to treat diseases, the chemical changes which transpired during the Suthi are to be revealed in further studies such as quantitative and qualitative analysis after their purification before they are applied in medicines

Traditional methods of purification (detoxification process) for Schedule E poisonous drugs

Medicinal plants have different types of active phytochemicals, which are still in use, either in their crude form or after proper processing. Though most of the plant drugs are safe, few are poisonous and may cause immediate toxic effect or cumulative toxic effect for human health. There are 25 poisonous or toxic plants in Siddha texts listed in the Schedule E of Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940. The concept of Suthimuraigal in Siddha not only covers the process of purification and detoxification of physical and chemical impurities but also minimizes the side effects and improves the potency/therapeutic efficacy of the purified drugs. The aim of this review is to perceive the importance of the Schedule E drugs through their immense uses to treat diseases and to flourish the knowledge of purification processes to detoxify the poisonous elements, thus enhancing and utilizing them in curing challenging diseases. The distinct purification methods mentioned in Ayurvedic journals have also been reviewed for possible information. Methods of Suthi are variable and some of the important Siddha Suthimuraigal are reviewed in this paper. The traditional methods of purification may combat the toxic effects like ulceration, swelling, giddiness, skin rashes, pruritis also, thus enhancing the efficacy of the drugs in healing various ailments. Since these poisonous plants have very high potential to treat diseases, the chemical changes which transpired during the Suthi are to be revealed in further studies such as quantitative and qualitative analysis after their purification before they are applied in medicines