AYURVEDIC MANAGEMENT OF VATARAKTA- A CASE STUDY

Vatarakta is a disease explained in Ayurveda involving Vata Dosha imbalance affecting Rakta Dhatu, where the Vayu gets aggravated due to long distance rides on animals like elephants, camels, horses, and on the other hand Rakta or blood gets vitiated by the consumption of Lavana, Amla, Katu, Kshara etc The Vata, whose passages are blocked by Rakta further undergoes vitiation and further contaminates the Rakta or blood. The blood vitiated by Vayu later burns the whole blood in the body and later gravitates towards the foot. This vicious amalgamation of vitiated Vata and Rakta is called Vatarakta. Vatarakta can even be correlated to Gout on the basis of etiopathology. A 49 years old male patient approached the OPD with the chief complaints of: Right middle finger swelling along with discoloration. Right feet swelling along with burning sensation of b/l sole. Right shoulder joint pain along with difficulty in movements. General weakness was also seen. All the above complains were since 4 months. The patient was given completely Ayurvedic medicines and Panchkarma therapies for 8 days, and later was shifted on only Ayurvedic medicines on discharge and the results were remarkably seen. Hence this study was taken to prove that Ayurvedic management has remarkable results in Vatarakta (Gout). Observation and results were drawn on the basis of assessment criteria. Discussion was done on the basis of entire observations during research. Conclusion was drawn on the basis of result

ROLE OF NATURAL POLYMER IN SUSTAINED AND CONTROLLED RELEASE

Now a day there has been an important development in different dosage forms for existing and newly designed drugs and natural products, and synthetic as well as semi-synthetic excipients always need to be used for a variety of purposes. Gums and mucilages are widely used as natural materials for conventional and novel dosage forms. With the increasing interest in polymers of natural origin, the pharmaceutical world has compliance to use most of them in their formulations. Moreover, the tremendous orientation of Pharmaceutical world towards these naturally derived polymers has become a subject of increasing interest to discover, extract and purify such compounds from the reported origin. These polymers such as natural gums and mucilage are bio-compatible, cheap and easily available and are preferred to synthetic and semi synthetic excipients because of their lack of toxicity, low cost, availability, soothing action and non irritant nature. In the present review gums and mucilage’s, used as a excipients as well as carrier for sustained or controlled release

Effect of Nucart VG (Boswellia serrata in combination with veg glucosamine sulphate) in comparison with glucosamine sulphate to improve quality of life of knee osteoarthritis patients: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Boswellia serrata has been proved to be an effective and safe herb for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA). This study aims at assessing the synergistic effect of this herb with vegetarian glucosamine sulphate, a nutritional supplement, on knee osteoarthritis using quality of life indicators.Methods: This was an open label, parallel group randomized trial of 12-week duration. Sixty-six subjects were equally randomized to two treatment arms: Boswellia serrata extract (600 mg) and glucosamine (750 mg) [Nucart VG]; and glucosamine sulphate (market comparator) 750 mg. Patients were administered 1 tablet twice-a-day post-meal for three months. Efficacy of treatment was measured on primary end-points like EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D) (health status indicator), visual analogue scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC) scale (pain indicators), while safety was measured in terms of vital parameters. Both intention-to-treat (ITT) and per-protocol (PP) analyses were performed for comparing scores between the two groups.Results: The baseline characteristics of patients between two groups were insignificantly different (p>0.05). In ITT analysis, the health status (EQ-5D score) of patients in Nucart VG group improved significantly than the comparator group at follow up 2 (p=0.037) and showed further improvement at follow up 3 (p=0.012). The pain indicators i.e. VAS and WOMAC scores were significantly lower in Nucart VG group right from follow up 1 till follow up 3 (p<0.05). Similar were the observations during PP analysis.Conclusions: Nucart VG is beneficial for the treatment of mild to moderate knee OA, as inferred from the functional and health status assessment

Trace amounts of enhancing factor/phospholipase A<SUB>2</SUB> in mouse peritoneal exudate cells

Enhancing factor (EF), a mouse phospholipase A2 (PLA2), has been purified from the small intestines, based on its ability to increase the binding of epidermal growth factor in a radioreceptor assay. EF/PLA2 was found to be localized predominantly in the Paneth cells in the small intestines. Whether mouse intestinal EF/PLA2 is identical/similar to mouse secretory PLA2 was to be determined. Phospholipases are known to play a crucial role in the process of inflammation. This paper reports the presence of trace amounts of EF/PLA2 in the peritoneal exudate cells. Western blot analysis of the acid extracts showed the presence of a 14 kDa immunologically cross-reactive protein. RT-PCR analysis using EF specific primers amplified a ~700 bp product which was further confirmed to be EF-specific by nested PCR analysis and sequencing. Presence of EF in the peritoneal exudate cells could be a unique mode of transport of growth factor modulator to the site of injury to aid in regeneration/cell proliferation of damaged tissue

ANTIHISTAMINIC ACTIVITY MODELS

Histamine is referred to as common allergic reactions and symptoms. Most of them are compared to histamine intolerance. Some common responses involved with this intolerance may vary but include headaches or migraines, nasal congestion or sinus problems, fatigue, hives, digestive problems, irregular menstrual cycle, nausea, and vomiting. Histamine is derived from a natural amino acid, S-histidine, through the histidine decarboxylase/ aromatic decarboxylase catalysis. Histamine is the compound that the mast cell generates for the immune response. Histamine promotes gastrointestinal secretion and induces capillary dilation, bronchial smooth muscle constriction, and reduced blood pressure. Antihistamines are medicinal products to treat allergic rhinitis and allergies. This includes the in vitro animal model and in-vivo tissue preparation antihistaminic activity. Animal models are significant instruments for understanding the pathological process of human illnesses in experimental medical science. Medicines associated with antihistamine include antiallergy, antivertigo, antimigraine, sedatives, antiemetic, etc. Elderly people are much more likely than youthful people to develop sleepiness from the use of antihistamines. The most common drugs used are cetirizine, levocetirizine, chlorpheniramine, diphenhydramine, loratadine, cimetidine, and fexofenadine. Animal models include histamine-induced bronchoconstriction, passive paw anaphylaxis, milk-induced leukocytosis and eosinophilia, clonidine, and haloperidol-induced catalepsy. While tissue models include isolated goat, and guinea-pig trachea chain preparation, as well as an isolated guinea pig, rat, mice ileum tissue preparation, and the dose-response curve of histamine, were plotted. The focus of the study had been on herbal plants and medicinal products, as they can effectively boost a variety of circumstances without significant adverse side effects. We can assess antihistaminic activity by using plant extracts or any synthetic drug

Antimicrobial Activities of the Leaves and Fruits of (Cassia fistula)

The biological activity of the extracts of the leaves and fruits of C. fistula tree, was tested against both fungi (Aspergillus niger and Penicillium digitatum), and two bacteria (Staph. aureus and E. coli). From the results it is clear that the leaf extracts were effective against the radial growth of the two fungi. For P. digitatum it was 1.0 mm at 100% concentration compared to 2.2 mm at the control treatment (0.0% concentration) at the 8th day. However, for A. niger it was only 0.5 mm at 100% concentration compared to 2.3 mm at the control treatment (0.0% concentration) at the 8th day. The results also showed that the fruit extracts of C. fistula were also effective in inhibiting the radial&nbsp; growth of&nbsp; both fungi, although the extracts are more effective against A. niger than P. digitatum , they gave complete inhibition at all of the concentrations The growth was inhibited even from the second day. The effects of the leaf and fruit extracts of C. fistula were also examined on the fresh and dry weights of both fungi (P. digitatum and A. niger). The leaf extracts were found very effective at their higher concentration compared to the control treatment. However the leaf extracts are better compared to the fruit extracts. The inhibition zone tests were also included in the present study, to evaluate the effect of the leaf and the fruit extracts of the C. fistula tree on inhibiting the growth of two bacteria (the Gram positive, Staph. aureus and the Gram negative, E. coli). The results indicated that the extracts were very effective in inhibiting the growth of the bacterium both bacteria. They gave 10.0 mm 9.0 mm inhibiting zones, for Staph. aureus and 13.0 mm and 11.0 mm inhibiting zones for&nbsp;&nbsp; E. coli, respectively