Makshika Visha - The Concepts of Honey Bee Envenomation in Ayurveda

Human being is afraid of a multitude of dangers he has to encounter for his survival. These threats range from diseases of endogenous origin or exogenous factors like bites or stings of various animals. Knowingly or unknowingly, human beings are subjected to the exposure of poisons or toxins. Poisoning cases due to insect bites are very common in clinical practice. People are often bitten by mosquitoes, flies, and spiders or stung by ants, bees, yellow jackets, wasps, hornets and scorpions. Although they are not usually serious, insect bites and stings can be itchy and painful and in some cases may need an emergency medical visit.The damshalakshanas of different types of Keeta and a wide range of drugs used to treat the same is explained in detail in Ayurveda. The main objective of the present article is to put on display the commonest clinical presentations and treatment of Makshikavisha stumbled upon in day to day practice

IN VITRO ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF AQUEOUS AND ETHANOLIC LEAF EXTRACTS OF ACACIA AURICULIFORMIS

Objective: The present study focuses on in vitro antimicrobial properties of aqueous and ethanol leaf extract of Acacia auriculiformis tested on Gram-positive cocci, Gram-negative bacilli, multidrug-resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacilli, and fungus.Methods: Ethanol and aqueous extracts of the leaves of A. auriculiformis were prepared. Agar well diffusion was the method for antimicrobial susceptibility. Freshly grown standard strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) , Escherchia coli (E.coli) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, clinical strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Candida albicans (C. ailbicans), and MDR E. coli, and MDR Klebsiella pnuemoniae were used. Ampicillin disc (10 μg) was used as control.Results: The zone of inhibition was measured to determine the antimicrobial activity. Ethanolic extract of A. auriculiformis exhibited antibacterial activity against all the strains including MDR strains of K. pneumoniae and E. coli. Antifungal activity was exhibited by both aqueous and ethanol leaf extracts of A. auriculiformis.Conclusion: Ethanol extract could be used against MDR K. pneumoniae and MDR E. coli. Similarly, aqueous and ethanol extract can be the drug of choice for C. albicans infection. Further study is necessary to evaluate the accurate compound responsible for antibacterial and antifungal activity for pharmaceutical applications

Opportunities for children of migrant labour

In its broad and philosophical sense, the greater purpose of education is undoubtedly that of enabling every child to reach his or her full potential. The conviction that every child can learn seeks to capture this sensibility, even while keeping in mind that learning processes may vary with the individual child’s developmental stage, pace and motivation to learn. Another dimension to be factored in is the external environment within which learning is experienced and transacted, namely the socio-economic background of the child that quite often dominates and thereby, critically affects the development of learning

Borderline Ovarian Malignancies : A Single Institute Retrospective Study.

Background: Borderline ovarian tumors are histologically characterized as epithelial tumors with a stratified growth pattern but without destructive stromal invasion. Little is known about the histological subtypes and outcome, role of fertility sparing surgery and role of postoperative therapy in advanced stage in Indian scenario. While there is ample data in the world literature about this disease, prognosis in Indian patients is largely unknown due to dearth of studies in our setting. Objective: To study the demographic profile, clinical features, imaging, treatment and outcome of borderline ovarian tumors. Methods: This is a retrospective study of eighty seven patients with pathologically proven diagnosis of borderline ovarian tumor, diagnosed and treated from January 2006 to October 2011 at our institution. Most patients underwent surgical staging which incuded total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salphingo-oophorectomy, infracolic omentectomy, bilateral pelvic and para aortic lymphadenectomy. Young patients who had not completed their family underwent fertility sparing surgery. Patients with invasive metastatic implants received adjuvant chemotherapy. The outcome of these patients was correlated with stage, type of peritoneal implant, type of surgical procedure and with histological subtype. Results: At a median follow-up of 48 months, 100 percent survival was noted. One patient with stage III disease had recurrence. Conclusions: Borderline ovarian tumors occur at a younger age compared to invasive tumors. In patients with early stage disease who wish to preserve fertility, hysterectomy and contralateral oophorectomy are not necessary. Serous tumors occur at a younger age. They can be associated with invasive peritoneal implants and raised CA125 values. Majority of the serous tumors are bilateral and smaller in size compared to mucinous and endometroid tumors. Raised CA125 values did not correlate with the stage of disease. These patients have an excellent prognosis even in Indian scenario where majority of patients present with big ovarian masses

Emergency peripartum hysterectomy: a 7-year review at tertiary hospital

Emergency peripartum hysterectomy (EPH) is a major obstetric procedure, usually performed as a life-saving measure in cases of intractable obstetric hemorrhage. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, indications and the risk factors and complications of emergency peripartum hysterectomy (EPH). The medical records of 13 patients who had undergone EPH, between January 2012 and December 2018, were reviewed retrospectively. All necessary data was obtained by record review. The mean age of pregnant women was 30 year. There were 13 EPHs out of 15768 deliveries, a rate of 0.82 per 1,000 deliveries. Out of 13 women who underwent EPHs, 8 hysterectomies were performed after cesarean delivery and 5 after vaginal delivery. The most common indication for hysterectomy was abnormal placentation (7/13), followed by atony (4/13), rupture of scared uterus (1/13) and rupture of unscared uterus (1/13). There were two cases of intra-operative bladder injury, we had 1/13 maternal death because of EPH. There were no cases of neonatal mortality. In our series, abnormal placentation was the most common of indication for EPH. The risk factors for EPH were previous CS for abnormal placentation and placental abruption for uterine atony and peripartum hemorrhage. Limiting the number of CS deliveries would bring a significant impact on decreasing the risk of EPH

Productivity Enhancement of Livestock through Promotion of Fodder Cultivation in Jehanabad District

Livestock production is the backbone of Indian agriculture and also plays a key role in providing employment especially in rural areas. In India, there is no practice of fodder production in rural areas and animals generally consume naturally grown grasses and shrubs which are of low quality in terms of protein and available energy, they are thus heavily dependent on seasonal variations and this results in fluctuation in fodder supply round the year affecting supply of milk round the year. For proper growth and development of the livestock, feed management is of great importance. In Jehanabad district, majority of the farm families are small and marginal having agriculture + livestock farming system. In spite of having large cattle population in the district, the area under fodder production is hardly 1-2 percent of the total cropped area. The continuous use of rice and wheat straw for feeding without use of green fodder is one of the reasons for low milk production and poor health of milch animals. There is acute shortage of fodder especially green nutritious fodder, which is major cause of low productivity of livestock, especially in hilly area (Deb Roy et al., 1989) The main 3 reasons for low productivity is insufficient and low quality fodder and feed including grazing facilities (Deb Roy, 1993). Presently research has been mainly conducted on cultivation of green fodder in irrigated areas but it is high time to emphasize to dry land fodder or partially irrigated fodder crops

Type-III supracondylar humerus fracture: functional outcome of open reduction and internal fixation after failed closed reduction

Background: To evaluate results of open reduction and internal fixation with Criss cross k-wires after failed closed reduction in Gartland type III Supracondylar fracture of humerus in our institution.Methods: This prospective study was conducted at the Krishna Rajendra hospital affiliated to the orthopaedic department of Mysore medical college and research institute from December 2018 to December 2019. Twenty-five patients of type-III fracture of supracondylar humerus were included within the study. Consent was obtained from all patients. Under anaesthesia, closed reduction was attempted first. When 2-3 attempts of closed reduction failed, an open reduction and internal fixation with cross k-wires was performed. Fortnightly follow up was applied for the first 8 weeks then monthly for the next 4 months. The clinical outcome was evaluated using Flynn criteria.Results: Out of 25 patients, 16 were male and 9 were female. Left side was involved in 17 patients and right side in 8. Mean age was 6.9 years with age range from 3 to 12 years. Excellent or good results were obtained in 23 (92%) patients and fair or poor in 2 (8%). Conclusions: We conclude that these fractures must be managed aggressively, by a specialised surgeon. Open reduction and internal fixation of severely displaced supracondylar fractures of the humerus is a safe and effective method when a satisfactory reduction can't be obtained by 2-3 attempts on closed method

Clastogenicity of sugar factory effluent using Allium assay

In the current study, an attempt was made to assess the physicochemical parameters of distillery effluent and its cytotoxic effects on root tip cells of onion (Allium cepa L.). The Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) were found to be very high in the effluent. The onion bulbs were treated with different concentrations of the distillery effluent (25, 50, 75 and 100%) at room temperature. The percentage mitotic index and relative division rate were found to be decreased significantly as the concentration of the effluent increased. On the other hand, mitotic inhibition percentage and relative abnormality rate were found to increase as the effluent concentration increased. The chromosomal abnormalities were found to be increased as the concentration of the effluent increased when compared to the control. The observed chromosomal abnormalities include sticky metaphase, disturbed chromosome, sticky telophase, multipolar chromosome, laggards, fragmented metaphase, fragmented anaphase, scattered anaphase and chromosomal bridge. From the present study, it can be concluded that higher concentrations of the effluent inhibit cell division when compared to the control.Â

Nicotine-Induced Effects on Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors (nAChRs), Ca2+ and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) in STC-1 Cells

In addition to the T2R bitter taste receptors, neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) have recently been shown to be involved in the bitter taste transduction of nicotine, acetylcholine and ethanol. However, at present it is not clear if nAChRs are expressed in enteroendocrine cells other than beta cells of the pancreas and enterochromaffin cells, and if they play a role in the synthesis and release of neurohumoral peptides. Accordingly, we investigated the expression and functional role of nAChRs in enteroendocrine STC-1 cells. Our studies using RT-PCR, qRT-PCR, immunohistochemical and Western blotting techniques demonstrate that STC-1 cells express several α and β nAChR subunits. Exposing STC-1 cells to nicotine acutely (24h) or chronically (4 days) induced a differential increase in the expression of nAChR subunit mRNA and protein in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. Mecamylamine, a non-selective antagonist of nAChRs, inhibited the nicotineinduced increase in mRNA expression of nAChRs. Exposing STC-1 cells to nicotine increased intracellular Ca2+ in a dose-dependent manner that was inhibited in the presence of mecamylamine or dihydro-β-erythroidine, a α4β2 nAChR antagonist. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA and protein were detected in STC-1 cells using RT-PCR, specific BDNF antibody, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Acute nicotine exposure (30 min) decreased the cellular content of BDNF in STC-1 cells. The nicotine-induced decrease in BDNF was inhibited in the presence of mecamylamine. We also detected α3 and β4 mRNA in intestinal mucosal cells and α3 protein expression in intestinal enteroendocrine cells. We conclude that STC-1 cells and intestinal enteroendocrine cells express nAChRs. In STC-1 cells nAChR expression is modulated by exposure to nicotine in a doseand time-dependent manner. Nicotine interacts with nAChRs and inhibits BDNF expression in STC-1 cells

E. coli AB 1157 susceptibility test, MTT assay on MCF-7 and HeLa cell lines of root and leaf fractions of Viburnum Linn. species

The aim of this study was to evaluate mutagenic bacterial susceptibility and cytotoxic potency of Viburnum coriaceumBlume and Viburnum erubescens Wall.ex DC in order to report the actual chemotherapeutic potentials of these two species.The methanolic (80%) leaf and chloroform root extracts of Viburnum Linn. Species were tested for their bacterial strainbased cytotoxicity employing Agar diffusion method suing E. coli AB 1157 strain. Also, the MTT assay was carried outemploying MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines and HeLa cervical cell lines. It was started with IC50 value determination of theselected test extracts from the results of bacterial strain based cytotoxicity. Upon increase in concentration up to 1000μg/mL in agar diffusion cytotoxicity studies VCMLE, VEMLE and VCCRE had shown diameter of inhibition zone 10 mm,9 mm and 10 mm respectively. Among other extracts, the VEMLE and VCCRE were selected to go ahead with anticanceractivity by MTT assay. The potentials of extracts through cytotoxicity mechanism had produced 30-40% protection againstcancer cell lines. It was concluded that VEMLE and VCCRE had produced the cytotoxic effect on E. coli AB 1157 strain.and were selected for the cytotoxic studies. The effects exhibited by the selected extracts may be due to the presenceof diverse number of active constituents present in Viburnum Linn species also may be to the presence ofunreported constituents