Impact of educational session on knowledge and attitude towards teratogenicity among undergraduate medical students: a comparative study

Background: Teratogenicity is a major cause of abortion, still birth and can result in longterm disability with a significant impact on individuals, families, societies and healthcare systems. Drugs being one of the causes of teratogenicity, creating awareness among medical students, the future prescribing physicians, the rate of teratogenicity can be decreased. The objective was to compare the attitude and knowledge about teratogenicity among the medical undergraduates before and after an educational session on teratogenicity.Methods: A pre-validated semi structured questionnaire on attitude and knowledge about teratogenicity was distributed to 2nd year medical students (147) before and after teratogenicity educational session. Results obtained were compared within the group. Paired t test was used for within the group comparison. P-Value <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results: Improvement in knowledge showed statistically significant improvement following teratogenicity educational session (P-Value=0.0003). Improvement was there in post session attitude scores as well, however, it was not significant (P-Value=0.64).Conclusions: Early reinforcement about teratogenicity in medical students enables them to decide appropriate drug therapy while prescribing for females of reproductive age group

Development of modified apple polysaccharide capped silver nanoparticles loaded with mesalamine for effective treatment of ulcerative colitis

The objective of study was to develop modified apple polysaccharide (MAP) based silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) loaded with mesalamine (MES) for effective treatment of ulcerative colitis in acetic acid induced rat model. AgNPs were prepared by reducing silver nitrate using MAP solution. The size and zeta potential of AgNPs was 89 ± 3 nm and −16.3 ± 1.54 mV and AgNPs loaded with MES (AgNPs-MES) was 101 ± 9 nm and −14.27 ± 2.16 mV. The dissolution study revealed about 54% drug release after 5 h indicating release of drug at the colonic site. The in vivo study was carried out on acetic acid induced ulcerative colitis rats and efficacy of treatment was assessed through evaluation of disease activity index and level of antioxidants as well as tumor necrosis factor-α after 7th and 14th day of induction of colitis. Histopathological evaluation of colonic tissue was also carried out. The results revealed that AgNPs-MES (high dose) provided better therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of UC as compared to its low dose, MES alone, MES-MAP, AgNPs alone and MAP alone. It was concluded that MAP based AgNPs loaded with MES were successfully formulated and found to be effective in treating ulcerative colitis

Me3Al-mediated domino nucleophilic addition/intramolecular cyclisation of 2-(2-oxo-2-phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines; a convenient approach for the synthesis of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines

A simple and efficient protocol for the construction of 1-aminoisoquinolines was achieved by treating 2-(2-oxo-2- phenylethyl)benzonitriles with amines in the presence of Me 3 Al. The reaction proceeds via a domino nucleophilic addition with subsequent intramolecular cyclisation. This method provides a wide variety of substituted 1-aminoisoquinolines with good func- tional group tolerance. Furthermore, the synthetic utility of this protocol was demonstrated in the successful synthesis of the anti- tumor agent CWJ-a-5 in gram scale