SEKA -A CURTAIN RAISER TO OCULAR THERAPY IN THE MANAGEMENT OF INFLAMMATORY DISEASES OF EYE

Kriyakalpa- Topical Ocular Therapeutic procedures enlisted under Bahirparimarjana Chikitsa are boon to treat Netra vikaras in present day practice as it carry the advantages such as the structures directly, crossing certain barriers providing more time for bio-availability. Acharya Sharangadhara has also highlighted Kriyakalpa and also gave a clinical order of application of these procedures. He opined that Netra Parisheka/Seka (closed eye irrigation), Ashchyotana (Eye drops), Pindi (Poultice application), Bidalaka (application of medicated paste on lids), these four are applied in Aamavastha (inflammatory stage), where as Tarpana (Satiation), Putapaka (retention of medicinal decoction along with Mamsa rasa), Anjana (Collyrium/eye ointment) are indicated in Nira amavastha (chronic stage) of Netra roga (Eye diseases). These are the seven procedures in order of their clinical application. The importance of Seka (irrigation) - local ocular therapeutic and its measures in eye care is immense in to the present day in any inflammatory conditions as acute management due to its vast advantages, cost effect, availability of the drugs and procedure. In this area of Presentation a brief overview on Seka, its variants, Indications, Clinical applications and rationality of the drugs used which are commonly available and Probable mode of action will be convened to increase the confident level and make more ease to practice Seka in different inflammatory conditions as an acute management to achieve success clinically

A CLINICAL STUDY ON THE EFFICACY OF TRIPHALADI PRATISARANA IN KRUMIGRANTHI (BLEPHARITIS)

Blepharitis or inflammation of the eye lid is one of the most frequently encountered eyelid disorder. It is often a troublesome condition for patients owing to the long standing nature of disease and fluctuations in its severity. The chronic inflammation can cause the damage to occular surface ie to the conjunctiva and cornea because of the intimate relationship between the lids and ocular surface. Blepharitis, if not recognized and appropriately managed, can lead to worsening of signs and symptoms, changes in visual function, disrupted preocular tear film, structural changes in eyelash follicle resulting in trichiasis, madarosis, tylosis and a negative impact on quality of life of patients.Complete disease elimination is rarely achieved with the modern line of management which include topical antibiotic and weak steroid ointment. Based on the site of pathology, clinical features and the sequale of the disease it can be well correlated with the Sandhigata roga -Krumigranthi wherein the Krumis will later invade to the inner structures of eye. Pratisarana is one of the treatment modality explained for the treatment of Krumigranthi in the classics. Thus an observational study has been conducted on patients (n=10) of Shalakya tantra OPD of SKAMC, Bangalore to evaluate the efficacy of Triphaladi pratisarana in the management of Krumigranthi. The present study has come out with promising results in the reduction of signs and symptoms of anterior blepharitis. However clinical trials on large sample with long duration of follow up is necessary to establish the efficacy of Pratisarana as a procedure of choice and to analyse the recurrence rate after treatment.

A Clinical Study in Evaluating the Efficacy of Eranda Taila for Augmentation of Labor

Background and Objectives: The journey of pregnancy and delivery of a baby is a memorable event in every woman’s life. Labor is an intricate process relying on many factors like passage – the pelvis; passenger – the fetus and power – uterine contractility and maternal expulsive effort for its successful outcome. The time taken for normal labor in primi is 12–14 hours and latent phase of labor is expected not to exceed more than 8 hours,1 thus any intervention that augments and eases labor is well accepted, providing comfort to mother and fetus. Garbha niskramana kriya2 being one of the important functions of apanavata, its normalcy is necessary for normal labor. Our ancient acharyas have explained anuvasana basti3-6 in the ninth month paricharya of garbhini, where basti tends for vatanulomana, particularly apanavata and for garbhamarga snehanarth. Eranda taila7 having vatanulomana, yonivishodhana and adhobhaga doshahara property is used since ages and by folklore people in labor, selected for the study.Method: A single blind comparative study, conducted on 45 primi and primipara gravida term pregnancy patients from IPD and OPD of S.D.M. Ayurveda Hospital, Kuthpady, Udupi. Selected 45 patients were randomly assigned in three groups of 15 patients each. Intervened with Eranda taila orally 30 mL, Matra Basti 30 mL and 2.5 IU of oxytocin in 1 pint of RL fluid administered as per the protocol of induction to the respective groups. The outcome measures, which were assessed, were progress in labor using the standard parameters of Bishop’s score and partogram and compared within groups.Results: Eranda taila matra basti showed fast progress on all the parameters for delivery with statistical significance in time taken for first stage of labor with p value <0.05. Eranda taila paana showed slow and gradual progress and the control group had almost nearer action as eranda taila matra basti.Conclusion: Eranda taila matra basti group showed good results than the other study groups by augmenting the labor and reducing duration of first stage of labor

Design of Transport Layer Based Hybrid Covert Channel Detection Engine

Computer network is unpredictable due to information warfare and is prone to various attacks. Such attacks on network compromise the most important attribute, the privacy. Most of such attacks are devised using special communication channel called "Covert Channel". The word "Covert" stands for hidden or non-transparent. Network Covert Channel is a concealed communication path within legitimate network communication that clearly violates security policies laid down. The non-transparency in covert channel is also referred to as trapdoor. A trapdoor is unintended design within legitimate communication whose motto is to leak information. Subliminal channel, a variant of covert channel works similarly except that the trapdoor is set in a cryptographic algorithm. A composition of covert channel with subliminal channel is the "Hybrid Covert Channel". Hybrid covert channel is homogenous or heterogeneous mixture of two or more variants of covert channels either active at same instance or at different instances of time. Detecting such malicious channel activity plays a vital role in removing threat to the legitimate network. In this paper, we present a study of multi-trapdoor covert channels and introduce design of a new detection engine for hybrid covert channel in transport layer visualized in TCP and SSL.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Journa

AN INSIGHT TO RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA AND MANAGEMENT BY AYURVEDIC THERAPIES

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a hereditary group of degenerative eye diseases caused by genetic mutations affecting retina that lead to severe vision loss and blindness. In Ayurveda, the conditions like Kapha vidagdha drushti, Hraswajadya and Dhoomadarshi which has night blindness as the cardinal feature can be simulated to different stages of RP. Certain authenticated therapies are explained in our ancient literature which are time tested such as Tarpana (Nourishing eye bath therapy), Putapaka (eye bath therapy), Anjana (Collyrium), Nasya (Processed liquid instillation through nostrils by drops or powders), Sirodhara (application of continuous stream of oil over the head), Vasti (Medicated enema) etc. through which considerable results are achieved. The drugs and procedures described in Ayurveda have probable mode of action in crossing the blood retinal barrier, a protective measure of cells surrounding the retina. The extent of benefit in alleviating the clinical features of RP happens possibly because of the phytonutrients present in the formulations applied through various procedures crossing the blood retinal barrier. To validate the management protocol explained in classics, a retrospective study was conducted on five patients selected from the OPD/IPD of Dept of Shalakya Tantra of Sri Kalabyraveshwaraswamy Ayurvedic Medical College, Hospital &amp; Research centre, Vijayanagar (SKAMCH &amp; RC). The results assessed statistically proved significant in certain parameters indicating a beneficial effect in reducing the subjective symptoms of Retinitis pigmentosa

Study of drug utilization pattern in emergency medicine ward at a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: The emergency department represents an important platform for conducting drug utilization studies as patients present with a wide spectrum of diseases in acute form. An irrational prescription adversely affects the prognosis and recovery of patients. Hence, the objective of our study was to evaluate the drug utilization pattern and to determine the rationality of prescription using WHO prescribing indicators in emergency medicine ward.Methods: After obtaining Institutional Ethical Committee approval, a prospective observational study was conducted over 2 months. The case records of 150 patients admitted to the emergency medicine ward, with a hospital stay of more than 24hrs were reviewed to analyze the prescription pattern during the initial 48hrs of admission. Case records of patients irrespective of age, sex and diagnosis were included in the study. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the results (SPSS version 20).Results: A total of 1014 drugs were prescribed from 150 case records with a mean age of 47±18 years. An average of 6.76 drugs was prescribed per prescription; percentage of encounters with at least an antimicrobial was 115 (76.66%). Injections were prescribed in all patients (100%) and only 416 (41.02%) drugs were prescribed by generic name and 657 (64.79%) drugs abided to the WHO essential drug list. Majority of patients received anti-ulcerogenic drugs followed by antimicrobials.Conclusions: There was a tendency of polypharmacy with overuse of PPIs and antimicrobials. There is need to rationalize the drug therapy in terms of increasing prescription of drugs from essential drug list by generic name

A rare case of a ruptured ovarian pregnancy

Ovarian pregnancy is a rare type of extrauterine pregnancy accounting for 1 to 3% of all extrauterine pregnancies. We report a rare case of a ruptured ovarian pregnancy. A 22 year old, gravida 2 para 1 living 1 was admitted with amenorrhea of 4 weeks and 6 days with chief complaints of severe acute lower abdomen pain. Urine pregnancy test was positive. Ultrasonogram pelvis revealed left sided ruptured adnexal mass with moderated hemoperitoneum. Laparotomy was performed and a diagnosis of ruptured ovarian pregnancy was made. Biopsy of the mass was taken which confirmed the diagnosis. Although ovarian pregnancy is rare, in any case of a ruptured ectopic pregnancy where the tubes are found to be normal on laparotomy, an ovarian pregnancy must be ruled out. Early detection and prompt diagnosis can preserve the future fertility of the woman

Efficacy of botanical extracts and entomopathogens on control of Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura

Interest in biological control of insect-pests of economically important plants has been stimulated in recent years by trends in agriculture towards greater sustainability and public concern about the use of hazardous pesticides. Botanicals and microorganisms have the capability to synthesize biologically active secondary metabolites such as antibiotics, herbicides and pesticides. In this investigation, washings of herbal vermicompost (called biowash; viz. Annona, Chrysanthemum, Datura, Jatropha, Neem, Parthenium, Pongamia, Tridax and Vitax) and plant growth promoting (PGP) bacteria [viz. Bacillus subtilis (BCB-19), Bacillus megaterium (SB-9), Serratia mercescens (HIB-28) and Pseudomonas spp. (SB-21)] and fungus (Metarhizium anisopliae) were evaluated for their efficacy against Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura. When the feed was treated with crude biowash for healthy larvae (4-day old), 42 and 86% mortality and 32 and 71% weight reduction over control was reported for H. armigera, while in the case of S. litura, it was between 46 and 74% larval mortality and 47 and 77% weight reduction over control. When healthy larvae were treated with PGP bacteria and fungus, the mortality rate varied between 59 and 73%, with 55 and 92% weight reduction over control on H. armigera, while for S. litura, 54 and 72% larval mortality and 44 and 79% weight reduction over control was reported. The results of the compatibility studies (entomopathogenic potential biowash of the botanicals with PGP bacteria and fungus) indicate that there was no definite sign of suppression of any of the botanicals on the PGP bacteria and fungus, except Datura with B. subtilis BCB-19, whereas, there was definite sign of enhanced growth of B. megaterium SB-9 with all the botanicals. Compatibility studies between PGP bacteria and fungus showed that all bacteria are compatible with each other except M. anisopliae. Crude biowash of the promising botanicals (Annona, Datura, Jatropha, Neem, Parthenium and Pongamia) were further fractionated on C18 solid phase extraction cartridge (SPE) and the resultant adsorbed and non-adsorbed fractions were tested against H. armigera. Results indicate that both adsorbed as well as non-adsorbed fractions showed significant mortality on H. armigera. Adsorbed fractions of all the six biowash showed mortality between 81 and 93% (64 and 73% for non-adsorbed fraction) over control and the weight reduction of the larvae was found between 73 and 91% (80 and 97% for non-adsorbed fraction) over control. It was therefore concluded that the aforementioned six botanicals and five entomopathogens has great potential in the management of H. armigera and S. litur

Fertilizer best management practices by SSNM and customized fertilizers for elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) cultivation in India

Elephant foot yam [Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson] is an important tuber crop grown in many parts of India for its starchy corm and the average yield of this crop is far below the potential productivity of 100 tonnes/ha. One of the reasons attributed to the lower yield is the imbalanced application of essential plant nutrients. Site specific nutrient management (SSNM) is the application of plant nutrients based on the soil and crop need, yield target and developed with the aid of models such as QUEFTS. This paper gives the result of four year study conducted to calibrate and validate the QUEFTS model for elephant foot yam cultivation and the development of SSNM zonation maps and secondary and micronutrient fortified customised fertilizers for the crop in major growing environments of India. Data collected from different field experiments conducted in major elephant foot yam-production regions of India during 1968 to 2011 were used to calibrate the model. The derived parameters of minimum and maximum accumulation of N (130 and 460), P (900 and 2100) and K (100 and 170) are proposed as standard borderline values in the QUEFTS model for elephant foot yam. A linear increase in corm yield was suggested by the model with N, P and K uptakes of 3.97, 0.71, and 7.05 kg N, P and K/1 000 kg corm. The average NPK ratio in total plant dry matter was 5.56:1:9.88. Based on these results, the model was calibrated using historical data as well as by conducting field experiments. It can be observed that fertilizer best management practices by SSNM resulted in an average actual corm yield of 33.45 tonnes/ha, whereas, the model predicted a yield of 35 tonnes/ha. The results of the study showed good agreement between predicted and measured corm yields during the four years, which indicated that the calibrated model can be used to improve NPK fertilizer recommendations for elephant foot yam in India. Based on the results and using soil fertility maps and agro ecological unit maps, SSNM zonation maps and secondary and micronutrient fortified customised fertilizers were developed for major elephant foot yam growing environments of India