Alpha-glucosidase inhibitory and antioxidant activities of various extracts of aerial parts of Fagonia indica Burm. F.

Purpose: To investigate in vitro antioxidant and anti-diabetic potentials of Fagonia indica Burm.f. Var. indica in order to provide scientific evidence for its traditional use. Methods: Cold maceration method was employed for the preparation of extracts of aerial parts of the plant using chloroform, n-hexane, methanol and water as solvents. Total flavonoid and polyphenolic content of various extracts were determined by standard methods. The antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities of the extracts were determined using 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and in vitro αglucosidase (maltase) inhibitory assays, respectively. Results: Preliminary results indicated the presence of various phytochemicals in the extracts. The chloroform extract exhibited the highest contents of total flavonoids (65.98 ± 1.63 mg QE/g) and polyphenols (26.75 ± 1.09 mg GAE/g). This extract also showed the highest free radical scavenging (64.74 ± 1.43 %) with IC50 value of 34.18 ± 5.57 µg/mL while the methanol extract exerted the highest αglucosidase (maltase) inhibitory activity (45.22 ± 0.46 %) with half-maximal concentration (IC50) of 220.4 ± 0.41 µg/mL. Conclusion: The extracts of the aerial parts of Fagonia indica possess significant anti-diabetic and antioxidant effect, thus justifying the traditional use of the plant for treatment of diabetes

Evaluating the antidiabetic and antioxidant properties of 5- benzyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiol

Purpose: To evaluate 5-Benzyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiol (OXPA) for antidiabetic and antioxidant properties. Methods: Antidiabetic activity was evaluated using three in vitro models, glucose uptake by yeast cells, alpha amylase inhibition assay and hemoglobin glycosylation inhibition assays. Antioxidant potential was determined by DPPH radical scavenging, reducing power and lipid peroxidation assays. Results: OXPA showed antidiabetic activity in all the three models. The activity of the compound was comparable with that of metronidazole in glucose uptake by yeast cells, but the alpha amylase inhibition activity of the compound was slightly lower than that of acarbose, whereas the hemoglobin glycosylation inhibition activity of the compound was higher than that of vitamin E. DPPH free radical and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity of the compound was comparable with that of vitamin C. In reducing power assay, the activity of the compound was lower than that of vitamin C (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The results of antidiabetic and antioxidant activity indicate that OXPA may be a drugcandidate for treating both diabetes and its associated oxidative stress

Effect of cellulose acetate phthalate and polyethylene glycol on physical properties and release of theophylline from microcapsules

O presente estudo descreve o desenvolvimento de microcápsulas de teofilina pelo método sem adição de solvente e o efeito da adição de plastificante na microencapsulação. A liberação foi estudada em água destilada e os dados foram analisados por vários modelos matemáticos para determinação do mecanismo de liberação. As microcápsulas preparadas mostraram-se esféricas, livres de corrente e com mais de 80% de fármaco encapsulado. O polímero - ftalato de acetato de celulose e o plastificante - polietileno glicol - afetaram as propriedades das microcápsulas, incluindo a liberação do fármaco (tempo para liberação de 50% do fármaco, T50). A formulação com a maior proporção de polímero e sem plastificante (F3) se mostrou como a de liberação mais lenta, com T50 = 4,3 h, enquanto as formulações com menor proporção de polímero e 20% de plastificante (m/m) (F13 &14) apresentaram a liberação mais rápida do fármaco, com T50 de 1,2 h e 1,3 h, respectivamente. A liberação do fármaco para a maioria das formulações seguiu o modelo de Higuchi. Concluiu-se, dos resultados do presente estudo, que o ftalato do acetato de celulose afeta significativamente a liberação controlada do fármaco em água, enquanto que a adição de polietileno glicol aumenta ligeiramente a liberação do fármaco.The present study describes the development of theophylline microcapsules by a non-solvent addition method and the effect of plasticizer addition on microencapsulation. The release was studied in distilled water and the data were analysed by various mathematical models for determining the mechanism of release. Prepared microcapsules were found to be spherical, free flowing and having more than 80% entrapped drug. The polymer - cellulose acetate phthalate and plasticizer - polyethylene glycol was considered to be affecting the properties of microcapsules including drug release (time for 50% drug release, T50). The formulation with the highest proportion of polymer and without plasticizer (F3) showed the slowest release with T50 = 4.3 h, while the formulation with lower proportion of polymer and 20% (w/w) plasticizer (F13 &14) showed the fastest release of drug with T50 values of 1.2 h and 1.3 h, respectively. The drug release from most of the formulations was found to be following Higuchi model. It is concluded from the results of the present study that cellulose acetate phthalate significantly affects the sustained release of the drug in water, whereas the addition of polyethylene glycol slightly enhances the drug release

Evaluation of orthosiphon stamineus aqueous extract for in vitro antimycobacterial activity and its interaction with isoniazid

In addition to a number of traditional medicinal uses, recently the consumption of leaves of Orthosiphon stamineus infusion (Misai kuching Tea and Java Tea) has gained popularity in many countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The plant is known to have antioxidant activities and some constituents possessing antimycobacterial activity, hence may have interaction with isoniazid (INH), an anti-TB drug acting through free radicals. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate a standardized aqueous extract of the plant and some of its fractions for antimycobacterial activity and to evaluate potential interaction with INH. Using HPLC, total contents of betulinic, oleanolic and ursolic acids in the extract, hexane (HF), chloroform (CF) and ethyl acetate fractions (EA) were found to be 0.016, 0.62, 0.183 and 0.00 mg/g, respectively. In antimycobacterial assays, the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the extract, HF, CF and INH were found to be 25.00, 3.12, 6.25 and 0.39 μg/mL, respectively. The combinations of the extract as well as the fractions with INH -in various proportions- exhibited fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI) > 0.5 and ≤ 4, which indicated no statistically significant interaction. The results of the present study indicate that aqueous extracts of the plant have no significant interaction with INH.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Evaluation of seeds of phoenix sylvestris as novel candidate adsorbent in paracetamol poisoning

The adsorption of certain metal ions and dyes on powdered seeds (pits) of Phoenix sylvestris (Arecaceae) suggests the investigation of such material for the adsorption of oral poisoning substances from the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to prepare different types of adsorbents from date pits and explore their adsorption capacity for paracetamol at two physiological conditions, enzyme free simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. The activated charcoal was used as a control. The equilibrium contact time, determined by combining the three forms of date pits and activated charcoal separately with paracetamol in a ratio of 15:1 w/w in both the fluids, was found to be 60 min. The adsorption of all the adsorbents for paracetamol was investigated by increasing the amount of adsorbents while keeping the amount of adsorbate fix, and the data obtained was found to be fit in the Langmuir isotherm. The bonding constants of all the adsorbents were significantly different in SGF (p < 0.05), whereas not significantly different in SIF. The adsorption capacities of all the adsorbents were not significantly different in SGF, whereas, significantly different in SIF (p < 0.05). The results of this study indicate that date pits may be used to prepare activated carbon that may serve as an economical adsorbent for the management of paracetamol oral poisoning cases.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Bryophyllum pinnatum: BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION, VERNACULAR NAMES, PARTS USED, TRADITIONAL USES, PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHRMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES

Bryophyllum pinnatum (Family: Crassulaceae) is a traditional herb that has widely been used for removal of kidney stones and is found to possess a number of pharmacological activities such as antiviral, antipyretic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hypocholesterolemic, antioxidant, diuretic, antiulcer, styptic, antidiabetic, astringent, antiseptic, antilithic, cough suppressant, anticancer, antihypertensive, fungitoxic and uterine relaxant. The plant contains flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanins, glycosides, alkaloids, phenols, bufadienolides, saponins, coumarins, carotenoids, sitosterols, quinines, tocopherol and lectins. The flavonoids rutin, quercetin, luteolin and luteolin 7-O-&beta;-d-glucoside detected in the plant might be a responsible factor for the anti-inflammatory effect. Diuretic and antioxidant activity of the plant could be responsible for its wide use against urolithiasis. Anthocyanidines could be responsible for the antimicrobial activity of the plant. Kaempferol 3-O-&alpha;-l-arabinopyranosyl (1&rarr;2) &alpha;-l-rhamnopyranoside) and two other polar flavonoids (quercetin 3-O-&alpha;-l- arabinopyranosyl (1&rarr;2) &alpha;-l-rhamnopyranoside and 4&prime;, 5-dihydroxy-3&prime;, 8-dimethoxyflavone 7-O-&beta;-d- glucopyranoside) are responsible for the antileshmanial activity. Bufodienolides are found to have cytotoxic property and hence might be responsible for the anticancer effect. The present study is undertaken to update and ease the researchers to get a comprehensive summary of the plant regarding its botanical description, common name, parts used, traditional uses, phytochemical evaluation and pharmacological activities

A multidisciplinary approach to triage patients with breast disease during the COVID-19 pandemic: Experience from a tertiary care center in the developing world

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a need to prioritize care because of limitation of resources. Owing to the heterogeneity and high prevalence of breast cancers, the need to prioritize care in this vulnerable population is essential. While various medical societies have published recommendations to manage breast disease during the COVID-19 pandemic, most are focused on the Western world and do not necessarily address the challenges of a resource-limited setting.Aim: In this article, we describe our institutional approach for prioritizing care for patients presenting with breast disease.Methods and results: The breast disease management guidelines were developed and approved with the expertise of the Multidisciplinary Breast Program Leadership Committee (BPLC) of the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. These guidelines were inspired, adapted, and modified keeping in view the needs of our resource-limited healthcare system. These recommendations are also congruent with the ethical guidelines developed by the Center of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC) at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), Karachi. Our institutional recommendations outline a framework to triage patients based on the urgency of care, scheduling conflicts, and tumor board recommendations, optimizing healthcare workers\u27 schedules, operating room reallocation, and protocols. We also describe the Virtual Blended Clinics , a resource-friendly means of conducting virtual clinics and a comprehensive plan for transitioning back into the post-COVID routine.Conclusion: Our institutional experience may be considered as a guide during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for triaging care in a resource-limited setting; however, these are not meant to be universally applicable, and individual cases must be tailored based on physicians\u27 clinical judgment to provide the best quality care

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Microsoft Word - 10326 Tamplate

Abstract: The basic motivation behind this research work is to assist enormous number of disable people to enhance their capabilities regardless of their disability. In particular, we have focused and addressed the deafness and dumbness disability in human beings on technological basis. The aim was to design a system to help such people. Sign language has been used as our database in whole recognition process. The gestures have been read by comparison with available signs in the database. The work is comprised of three major parts. 1) Acquiring images in real time environment through any imaging device. 2) Recognition of those images on the basis of probability by comparing with the database. 3) Finally translating recognized images into possible output. We have used various algorithms to validate the approach and to check the efficiency. In particular, mainly adaboost and Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithms have been tested. Both of these algorithms worked well but SVM was found to be optimum with respect to time efficiency as compared with adaboost

IMPACT OF FORCED MARRIAGES IN TV DRAMAS: A CASE STUDY OF FEMALE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

This study investigates the role of TV dramas in highlighting the problems of forced marriages and impact of these dramas on females. Pakistani TV dramas are produced on various social issues and taboos exist in our society with a view to create awareness among the viewers, the young generation in particular. Islam strictly prohibits forced marriages. This awareness helps them understand and resolve their issues. The research was conducted with the help of survey method while using questionnaire as a tool of data collection of 200 females through random sampling. The theoretical framework of the study was based on Cultivation Theory. The findings showed that TV dramas with forced marriage content are creating awareness and leaving impact on female viewers