Sustainable Traditional Medicine: Taking the Inspirations from Ancient Veterinary Science

Rapid reduction in natural resources as a consequence to the expanded urbanization, global warming and reduced natural habitat posed a considerable threat to the sustainability of traditional medicine. Being completely dependent upon natural resources like herbs, minerals and animal products, traditional medicine would possibly rank first in order of extinction of heritage if an alternative way is not considered well in time. In reference to the use of animal products, Ayurveda presents some unique examples where animals are used without causing harm to them and so without posing a threat to their existence. In the current context, when natural resources are facing a threat to their existence, a revisit to these ideas may give us a new insight to refine our look at natural resources used in traditional medicine

A Retrospective Observational Study of Accidental Carbamate Poisoning Among Children Referred to a Tertiary Care Center in Rural Maharashtra, India

Background: Carbofuran is a widely-used carbamate insecticide which is listed as highly hazardous (Class 1b) by the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of pesticides. We report the poisonings among children following exposure to carbofuran crystal form, which is used as a household remedy for head lice infestation.Methods: The medical case records from June 2016 to January 2019 of a Tertiary Care Hospital in rural Maharashtra, India, were examined for the pediatric poisoning due to exposure to blue crystals in sachets being sold as medication for head lice infestation and its confirmation as being carbofuran. A total of 14 such exposures were found among 64 cases of pediatric poisoning (excluding bites and sting envenomation), recorded in the above period. The children were evaluated for their presentations, manner of unintentional poisonings, clinical profile, and outcomes.Results: The results in carbofuran poisonings showed universal unintentional exposure with the majority of patients being infants and toddlers. It was the most significant single cause of poisoning, excluding bites and envenomation, in the above period. The clinical features of excessive cholinergic activity were consistent with the characteristics of carbamate poisoning. Comparison with other poisonings during the period did not show significant differences concerning variables such as age, sex, religion, and length of hospital stay.Conclusion: Unintentional poisoning of the class1 pesticide carbofuran, among younger children, is associated with misuse and availability in the environment. Our obtained data about the agent, host, and environmental factors related to the poisoning are consistent with data available on the literature

Widening the options for recurrent malaria.

The global need for new antimalarial drugs and new combinations is enormous and urgent,1, 2 but their successful delivery needs resilience to overcome the barriers imposed by expensive and lengthy clinical development plans. Attention is often directed to areas such as southeast Asia, where some antimalarial combinations are failing but transmission intensities are much lower than in sub-Saharan African countries. Children in Africa have frequent and life-threatening malaria infections as they grow up, and these need to be treated safely

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Expresses a Novel Ph-Dependent Divalent Cation Transporter Belonging to the Nramp Family

Mammalian natural resistance–associated macrophage protein (Nramp) homologues are important determinants of susceptibility to infection by diverse intracellular pathogens including mycobacteria. Eukaryotic Nramp homologues transport divalent cations such as Fe2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, and Cu2+. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis (bacillus Calmette-Guérin [BCG]) also encode an Nramp homologue (Mramp)

Severe falciparum malaria in Gabonese children: clinical and laboratory features

BACKGROUND: Malaria continues to claim one to two million lives a year, mainly those of children in sub-Saharan Africa. Reduction in mortality depends, in part, on improving the quality of hospital care, the training of healthcare workers and improvements in public health. This study examined the prognostic indicators of severe falciparum malaria in Gabonese children. METHODS: An observational study examining the clinical presentations and laboratory features of severe malaria was conducted at the Centre Hospitalier de Libreville, Gabon over two years. Febrile children aged from 0 to 10 years with Plasmodium falciparum infection and one or more features of severe malaria were enrolled. RESULTS: Most children presenting with severe falciparum malaria were less than 5 years (92.3% of 583 cases). Anaemia was the most frequent feature of severe malaria (67.8% of cases), followed by respiratory distress (31%), cerebral malaria (24%) hyperlactataemia (16%) and then hypoglycaemia (10%). Anaemia was more common in children under 18 months old, while cerebral malaria usually occurred in those over 18 months. The overall case fatality rate was 9%. The prognostic indicators with the highest case fatality rates were coma/seizures, hyperlactataemia and hypoglycaemia, and the highest case fatality rate was in children with all three of these features. CONCLUSIONS: Prompt and appropriate, classification and treatment of malaria helps identify the most severely ill children and aids early and appropriate management of the severely ill child

Selective Inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum ATPase 6 by Artemisinins and Identification of New Classes of Inhibitors after Expression in Yeast

Treatment failures with artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) threaten global efforts to eradicate malaria. They highlight the importance of identifying drug targets and new inhibitors and of studying how existing antimalarial classes work. Here, we report the successful development of a heterologous expression-based compound-screening tool. The validated drug target Plasmodium falciparum ATPase 6 (PfATP6) and a mammalian orthologue (sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase 1a [SERCA1a]) were functionally expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, providing a robust, sensitive, and specific screening tool. Whole-cell and in vitro assays consistently demonstrated inhibition and labeling of PfATP6 by artemisinins. Mutations in PfATP6 resulted in fitness costs that were ameliorated in the presence of artemisinin derivatives when studied in the yeast model. As previously hypothesized, PfATP6 is a target of artemisinins. Mammalian SERCA1a can be mutated to become more susceptible to artemisinins. The inexpensive, low-technology yeast screening platform has identified unrelated classes of druggable PfATP6 inhibitors. Resistance to artemisinins may depend on mechanisms that can concomitantly address multitargeting by artemisinins and fitness costs of mutations that reduce artemisinin susceptibility

Nutritional and antioxidant properties and their inter-relationship with pod characters in an under-exploited vegetable, Indian bean (Lablab purpureus)

Indian bean [Lablab purpureus (L.) Sweet] is an underexploited nutritious legume vegetable found in tropical regions of Asia and Africa. The nutritional and anti-oxidant properties of 21 pole type Indian bean genotypes were analysed in edible pods in terms of protein, sugar, chlorophyll, carotenoids, phenol, and proline contents. The analyses revealed a significant genotypic variation in the level of protein (102-635.6 mg), sugar (0.188-1.11 mg), chlorophyll (0.121-0.716 mg), phenol (1.7-9.67 mg), proline (0.02-7.06 µg) and carotenoids (0.04-0.231 mg). Estimation of genetic variability parameters revealed that chlorophyll a and non-reducing sugar had high estimates of PCV than GCV, whereas, protein, phenol, chlorophyll b, carotenoid, reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar had moderately high PCV than GCV indicating that such variability could be exploited for successful identification of genotypes for the specific biochemical property. In general, heritability estimates were recorded to be high for all the characters studied except chlorophyll a and reducing sugar. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance as percentage of mean was observed for proline, non-reducing sugar, chlorophyll a, carotenoidd, protein and phenol. Since such traits are controlled by additive genes, more importance need to be given to these traits while selecting the breeding lines rich in nutritional qualities

Ophthalmoplegia and Slurred Speech in an Intravenous Drug User

A 35-year-old heroin user presented with acute, progressive diplopia and slurred speech. Krishna and colleagues discuss the diagnosis and management of this patient

Rapid versus standard antibiotic susceptibility testing for treating bloodstream infections

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the effects of rapid susceptibility testing versus standard susceptibility testing for bloodstream infections (BSIs)