Protective effect of Nigella sativa against paracetamol induced hepatic and renal damages

Background: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are very commonly used as an analgesic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, and antiplatelet agent. They have significant adverse effect on liver and kidney besides damaging stomach. Their effect on liver and kidney are of serious concern. Hence, we have decided to study the preventive effect of Nigella sativa against paracetamol induced hepatic and renal damages.Methods: Ethanolic and aqueous extracts of N. sativa were prepared with the help of Soxhlet’s apparatus. Totally, 36 wistar albino rats (150-200 g) of either sex were divided into six groups of six each. Group I was administered with distilled water, Group II-VI were treated with paracetamol 750 mg/kg i.p. Group III-VI were test groups also treated with N. sativa aqueous extract (200 and 400 mg/kg p.o) and ethanolic extract (200 and 400 mg/kg p.o), respectively. The treatment was given daily for 7 days and on 8th all the rats were sacrificed and the blood was analyzed for hepatic and renal function tests and tissue was preserved for histopathological examination.Results: Paracetamol administration caused a marked hepatic and renal damage, which is evidenced by the increase in liver and renal function test parameters in the negative control group. N.sativa extracts prevented this damage. The protective was seen maximum in ethanolic extract followed by the aqueous extract in dose-dependent manner.Conclusion: Ethanolic extract showed significant protection against paracetamol-induced and renal damage

The therapeutic aspects of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) for cancer and their development: from nature to laboratory

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a group of neuromodulatory lipids and their receptors, which are widely distributed in mammalian tissues. ECS regulates various cardiovascular, nervous, and immune system functions inside cells. In recent years, there has been a growing body of evidence for the use of synthetic and natural cannabinoids as potential anticancer agents. For instance, the CB1 and CB2 receptors are assumed to play an important role inside the endocannabinoid system. These receptors are abundantly expressed in the brain and fatty tissue of the human body. Despite recent developments in molecular biology, there is still a lack of knowledge about the distribution of CB1 and CB2 receptors in the human kidney and their role in kidney cancer. To address this gap, we explore and demonstrate the role of the endocannabinoid system in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In this brief overview, we elucidate the therapeutic aspects of the endocannabinoid system for various cancers and explain how this system can be used for treating kidney cancer. Overall, this review provides new insights into cannabinoids' mechanisms of action in both in vivo and in vitro models, and focuses on recent discoveries in the field

JMASM 57: Bayesian Survival Analysis of Lomax Family Models with Stan (R)

An attempt is made to fit three distributions, the Lomax, exponential Lomax, and Weibull Lomax to implement Bayesian methods to analyze Myeloma patients using Stan. This model is applied to a real survival censored data so that all the concepts and computations will be around the same data. A code was developed and improved to implement censored mechanism throughout using rstan. Furthermore, parallel simulation tools are also implemented with an extensive use of rstan

Performance Evaluation of RAKE Receiver for UWB Systems using Measured Channels in Industrial Environments

The industrial environments are an important scenario for ultra wideband (UWB) communication systems. However, due to large number of metallic scatterers in the surroundings, the multipath offered by UWB channels is dense with significant energy. In this paper, the performance of RAKE receivers operating in a non line-of-sight (NLOS) scenario in these environments is evaluated. The channels used for the evaluation are measured in a medium-sized industrial environment. In addition, a standard IEEE 802.15.4a channel model is used for comparison with the results of the measured data. The performance of partial RAKE (PRake) and selective RAKE (SRake) is evaluated in terms of uncoded bit-error-rate (BER) using different number of fingers. The performance of maximal ratio combining (MRC) and equal gain combining (EGC) is compared for the RAKE receiver assuming perfect knowledge of the channel state. Finally, based on the simulation results, conclusions are drawn considering the performance and complexity issues for system design in these environments

Building an Inclusive Talent Pipeline: A Study on Women of the Indian Informational Technology Sector

Of the many women that are a part of the Informational Technology (IT) workforce, very few make it to senior roles. Occupational commitment measured as affective (AC), normative (NC), and continuance (CC) as well as career satisfaction (CS) are considered to be crucial in understanding this pattern of women not making it to senior roles. AC explains one\u27s emotional attachment to their career, NC is the obligation to stay the course in a career, and CC explains the opportunity cost to transfer from one career to the next. This study aims to understand the role of individual determinants (career identity, career adaptability) and occupational culture fit (the concept of screening potential candidates that is focused on aligning employees and employers with shared values, beliefs, and attitudes). This study also focuses on forms of organizational support (managerial support, job autonomy) that either act as enablers or barriers to sustaining commitment and satisfaction in IT occupations. Data collected from 200 IT women with at least 5 years of experience working in top 20 NASCOM companies were regressed to test the hypotheses. The result indicated that women with high scores in occupational culture (i.e., greater congruence with IT occupational demands) show higher career satisfaction (CS), affective commitment (AC), and normative commitment (NC). This indicates that there is a chance for organizations to actively improve women’s occupational demand of long, late, and erratic work schedules by looking at their safety and providing flexi-timing to help them manage a work-life balance. A performance evaluation system that focuses on results, rather than hours of effort, and that allows women flexibility to attend to certain late-night commitments at home could go a long way in helping them achieve a better culture fit. Women with strong career identities show higher AC and CC. Women that have high career identities are intrinsically motivated and place a high value on their work; hence, they continuously seek skill improvement opportunities. Employers can utilize this knowledge to proactively identify female employees with high career identities early in their professional journey then engage them in tasks that are meaningful and aligned with their interests and values. Further, results indicated that job autonomy—a person\u27s ability to have an influence over what happens in their work environment, in particular, the ability to influence matters that are relevant to their personal goals—led to higher CC; higher managerial support leads to career satisfaction, thereby indicating that managers can provide support by providing a participative decision-making mechanism and flexible timing for better work-life balance

Pattern of drug use in psoriasis inpatients in the department of dermatology at a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: The pattern of drug use in people hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of psoriasis has never been studied previously in India. The aim of the study was to characterize the prescription pattern of people admitted to hospital with psoriasis so that rational prescribing could be promoted among dermatologists.Methods: Case files belonging to 32 patients, admitted in the Department of Dermatology with psoriasis, of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Kerala, over a period of 1-year were retrieved with the assistance of the medical records department. The data thus obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics.Results: The average age of patients who were admitted with psoriasis was 49.9 years, and their average duration of hospital stay was 7.96 days. A total of 296 formulations were prescribed to 32 patients. Out of 296 formulations, only 10 (3.37%) were generic and rest 286 (96.62%) branded. Fixed dose combinations consisted of 32.43% (96/296) of the prescribed formulations. Psoriasis vulgaris (56.25%) was the most common cause for admission. Of all the prescribed medications, 4 (1.35%) did not contain clear instructions for the route of administration. Strength was clearly mentioned in only 89 (30%) of the preparations. In 98% of the prescriptions, the exact dose was missing.Conclusions: The study reveals various deficiencies which exist in the prescribing pattern of drugs for management of psoriasis. Educational interventions among the doctors as well as students should be carried out to promote rational drug use.

Molecular epidemiology of clinical and carrier strains of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in the hospital settings of north India

BACKGROUND: The study was conducted between 2000 and 2003 on 750 human subjects, yielding 850 strains of staphylococci from clinical specimens (575), nasal cultures of hospitalized patients (100) and eye & nasal sources of hospital workers (50 & 125 respectively) in order to determine their epidemiology, acquisition and dissemination of resistance genes. METHODS: Organisms from clinical samples were isolated, cultured and identified as per the standard routine procedures. Susceptibility was measured by the agar diffusion method, as recommended by the Nat ional Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS). The modified method of Birnboin and Takahashi was used for isolation of plasmids from staphylococci. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing of clinical and carrier Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated during our study was performed as described previously. RESULTS: It was shown that 35.1% of Staphylococcus aureus and 22.5% of coagulase-negative staphylococcal isolates were resistant to methicillin. Highest percentage of MRSA (35.5%) was found in pus specimens (n = 151). The multiple drug resistance of all MRSA (n = 180) and Methicillin resistant Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus aureus (MRCNS) (n = 76) isolates was detected. In case of both methicillin-resistant as well as methicillin-sensitive Saphylococcal isolates zero resistance was found to vancomycin where as highest resistance was found to penicillin G followed by ampicillin. It was shown that the major reservoir of methicillin resistant staphylococci in hospitals are colonized/infected inpatients and colonized hospital workers, with carriers at risk for developing endogenous infection or transmitting infection to health care workers and patients. The results were confirmed by molecular typing using PFGE by SmaI-digestion. It was shown that the resistant markers G and T got transferred from clinical S. aureus (JS-105) to carrier S. aureus (JN-49) and the ciprofloxacin (Cf) and erythromycin (E) resistance seemed to be chromosomal mediated. In one of the experiments, plasmid pJMR1O from Staphylococcus aureus coding for ampicillin (A), gentamicin (G) and amikacin (Ak) resistance was transformed into Escherichia coli. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for A and G were lower in E. coli than in S. aureus. However, the MIC for Ak was higher in E. coli transformants than in S. aureus. CONCLUSION: There is a progressive increase in MRSA prevalence and multi-drug resistance in staphylococci. Vancomycin is still the drug of choice for MRSA infections. The major reservoir of methicillin resistant staphylococci in hospitals is colonized/infected inpatients and colonized hospital workers. Resistance transfer from staphylococci to E. coli as well as from clinical to carrier staphylococci due to antibiotic stress seemed to be an alarming threat to antimicrobial chemotherapy

Study of hardness and tensile strength of Aluminium-7075 percentage varying reinforced with graphite and bagasse-ash composites

Waste sugarcane bagasse-ash and graphite utilizing as reinforcement in fabricating of an aluminium alloy (Al-7075) based matrix hybrid composites. The aluminium matrix hybrid composites have been fabricated by stir-casting method at 750 °C. Casting was developed in circular metal mould having 5 circular slots of diameter of 21 mm and length of 250 mm. Adding bagasse-ash with varying reinforcement of three cases, in first case 2% constant with varying graphite 1%, 3%, and 5%, in second case 4%, and in third case 6% constant with varying same graphite percentage. The effect of the reinforcement has been performed through various mechanical tests. The mechanical properties measuring such as Brinell hardness and tensile strength of both the samples have been prepared as per the ASTM E23 and E8 standards. Results give out that there will be greater effect of reinforcing different bagasse-ash in aluminium alloy matrix hybrid composites. In the third case more enhanced mechanical properties have been achieved as compared to case one and two of bagasse-ash combination. It shows that the selection of bagasse-ash as reinforcement has one of the most significant criteria for the fabrication of aluminium matrix hybrid composites