Major depressive disorder: association with vitamin C levels and role of vitamin C supplementation in pharmacotherapy

Background: Oxidative stress has a well-documented role in pathophysiology of depression. Decrease in levels of vitamin C, an antioxidant, has also been reported in major depressive patients. This study was conducted to assess the association of vitamin C deficiency with major depressive disorder and any change in clinical response to antidepressant therapy with vitamin C co-administration vis-a-vis baseline vitamin C level status.Methods: This study was a prospective, interventional, parallel, randomized and open label study. Sixty patients diagnosed as a case of major depressive disorder in accordance to ICD-10 criteria were enrolled after taking a written informed consent. Two clinical scales namely Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) and clinical global impression- illness severity (CGI-S) scale were used for assessment and monitoring.Results: Vitamin C deficient subjects had relatively severe disease as assessed by HDRS and CGI-S scales. A highly significant (p0.05) reduction was seen in HDRS and CGI-I scores in vitamin C sufficient group while also showing a comparatively milder disease.Conclusions: Vitamin C deficiency was found to have a direct relation with severity of illness, as those patients who had insufficient and sufficient vitamin C levels at recruitment were found to exhibit milder symptoms compared to those who were vitamin C deficient. With treatment, greater improvement was observed in those patients who were deficient at the outset

Assessment of Drug Related Problems and Pharmacist Interventions in Inpatients with Cardiovascular Disease

Aim. To identify and evaluate the nature and incidence of drug-related problems (DRPs) and to manifest the role of a pharmacist in ensuring safe and efficient use of medications with cardiovascular disease patients by using PCNE Classification to assess and report drug-related problems.Material and Methods. An Observational and Prospective study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital of medicine department of general and intensive/critical care units for a period of 6 months to identify and evaluate the nature and incidence of DRP’s and to manifest the role of a pharmacist in ensuring safe and efficient use of medications with cardiovascular disease patients by using PCNE Classification to assess and report drug-related problems.Results. Of 94 Patient profiles were evaluated out of which 78 (82.9%) patient profiles were identified with 208 DRPs. Among 208, 140 (67.3%) drug interactions, 15 (7.2%) untreated indication, 12 (5.8%) adverse drug reactions, 10 (4.8%) drug use without indication, 8 (3.8%) drug underused, 8 (3.8%) duration of treatment too short, 5 (2.4%) dose unclear, 4 (1.9%) inappropriate drug form, 3 (1.4%) duration of treatment too long, 2 (1.0%) too many drugs prescribed for an indication, 1 (0.5%) drug overused. For 208 DRPs identified and provided with 74 interventions which includes 30 (41.6%) drug discontinuation, 24 (33.3%) addition of a new drug, 4 (5.55%) change of dosage form, and 14 (19.4%) decrease the dose.Conclusion. The present study revealed that patients with cardiovascular diseases suffer from numerous DRPs that can be identified, resolved, or prevented to some extent by pharmacist intervention. Hence the study addresses the importance of clinical pharmacist in the management of DRPs among cardiovascular patients

Lokalne zarządzanie pandemią COVID-19: wnioski z reakcji i łagodzenia skutków w Lesotho

Pandemics are deemed accidents of history. Their control and impacts span over economic, social, geopolitical and ideological considerations. This paper attempts to answer how Lesotho responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, which factors hindered local-level implementation of COVID-19 response and mitigation, and how the kingdom’s local government disaster preparedness can be improved. A desktop study supported by virtual consultations with relevant players was conducted to gain insight for this study. Content and thematic analysis established a lack of administrative and financial decentralization in Lesotho, which had detrimental implications for COVID-19 response and mitigation.Pandemie są uważane za nieprzewidywalne wydarzenia w historii. Zagadnienia ich kontroli i oddziaływania mają wymiar gospodarczy, społeczny, geopolityczny i ideologiczny. W niniejszym artykule podjęto próbę odpowiedzi na pytanie, w jaki sposób Lesotho zareagowało na pandemię COVID-19, jakie czynniki utrudniały wdrożenie reakcji na pandemię i łagodzenie jej skutków na poziomie lokalnym oraz w jaki sposób można poprawić przygotowanie władz lokalnych na wypadek naturalnych katastrof. W celu analizy tych zagadnień przeprowadzono badanie typu desk research wsparte wirtualnymi konsultacjami z zainteresowanymi podmiotami. Analiza wykazała brak decentralizacji administracyjnej i finansowej w Lesotho, co miało szkodliwe konsekwencje dla reakcji na COVID-19 i łagodzenia skutków pandemii

A review on the commonly used methods for analysis of physical properties of food materials

The chemical composition of any food material can be analyzed well by employing various analytical techniques. The physical properties of food are no less important than chemical composition as results obtained from authentic measurement data are able to provide detailed information about the food. Several techniques have been used for years for this purpose but most of them are destructive in nature. The aim of this present study is to identify the emerging techniques that have been used by different researchers for the analysis of the physical characteristics of food. It is highly recommended to practice novel methods as these are non-destructive, extremely sophisticated, and provide results closer to true quantitative values. The physical properties are classified into different groups based on their characteristics. The concise view of conventional techniques mostly used to analyze food material are documented in this work.Axencia Galega de Innovación | Ref. IN607A2019/0

Designing Resource-Efficient and Environmentally Safe Cropping Systems for Sustainable Energy Use and Economic Returns in Indo-Gangetic Plains, India

Achieving an economically feasible and environmentally robust model in agriculture while satisfying the expanding population’s food demands is a global challenge. Hence, a three-year (2014–2017) study was conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana to design environmentally clean, energy-efficient, and profitable cropping systems. Twelve cropping systems viz., rice-wheat (CS1), basmati rice-hayola (transplanted)-mung bean (CS2), basmati rice-radish-maize (CS3), maize-potato-maize (CS4), maize + turmeric-barley + linseed (CS5), maize + turmeric-wheat + linseed (CS6), maize + radish-wheat + linseed-mung bean (CS7), groundnut + pigeon pea (5:1)-wheat + sarson (9:1) (CS8), maize + black gram-pea (bed) + celery (furrows) (CS9),: maize + pigeon pea-chickpea (bed) + gobhi sarson (furrows) (CS10), maize (green cobs) + vegetable cowpea + dhaincha (Sesbania spp.)-chickpea + gobhi sarson (CS11) and sorghum + cowpea (fodder)-wheat + gobhi sarson (9:1) (CS12) were tested in a four-times-replicated randomized block design. CS11 had the maximum system productivity (28.57 Mg ha−1), production efficiency (78.27 Kg Day−1 ha−1), irrigation water use efficiency (2.38 kg m−3), system net returns (4413.3 US$ ha−1), and benefit to cost (B:C) ratio (2.83) over others. In comparison to the CS1 system, this cropping system required ~78% less irrigation water for a unit economic production. However, the cultivation of CS12 registered the highest energy use efficiency (49.06%), net energy returns (6.46 × 103 MJ ha⁻¹), and global warming potential (GWP) (Mg CO2 e ha−1) at spatial scale. Among all the intensified systems, CS11 had the lowest GHGI (0.29 kg CO2 e kg−1). Furthermore, cultivation of CS6 resulted in the maximum bacterial and actinomycetes population in the soil, while CS5 yielded the highest fungal count (23.8 × 103 cfu g−1 dry soil) in soil. Our study suggests that the cultivation of CS11 is a resource-efficient, economically viable, and environmentally clean production system and could be a potential alternative to rice-wheat systems for developing a green economy policy for agricultural development in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) of India

Farm typology for planning targeted farming systems interventions for smallholders in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India

Due to complexity of smallholder farms, many times technologies with great potential fail to achieve the desired impact in leveraging productivity and profitability of the farming community. In the Indo-Gangetic Plains there is an urgent need to understand the diversity of farm households, identifying the main drivers deciding their system thus, classifying them into homogenous groups. In the present study, the diversity of smallholder farms was assessed using crop, livestock and income related characteristics and associated farm mechanization. Using principal component analysis and cluster analysis for 252 farm households, 4 farm types were identified i.e. Type 1. Small Farm households with cereal-based cropping system and subsistence livestock (39%), Type 2. Small Farm households with diversified cropping system dominated by cereal and fodder crops with only cattle herd (9%), Type 3. Marginal Farm household with diversified cropping system dominated by cash crop and herd comprising of only cattle (39%), Type 4. Marginal Farm household with diversified cropping system dominated by cereal crops and herd dominated by small ruminants (12%). Based on the constraints identified for different components of farming systems, low-cost interventions were planned for each farm type. These interventions have resulted in 84.8–103.2 per cent increase in the income of the farm HH under study suggesting usefulness of typology-based intervention planning in increasing income of small farm holders