RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ON THERAPEUTIC DRUG MONITORING OF LAMOTRIGINE IN INDIAN EPILEPTIC PATIENTS

Objective: Antiepileptic drugs (AED) are administered either singly or in combination with other drugs. Their pharmacokinetics is influenced by drug-drug interaction & inter-individual variations. Lamotrigine (LTG) is a second order AED with similar constraints. Hence studying the relationship between lamotrigine dosage and plasma concentration was undertaken to offer assistance in therapeutic regimen. Methods: Pre-dose blood samples for lamotrigine estimation were obtained from 267 patients (138adults & 127children) including 2 pregnant women. Lamotrigine estimation was done by high performance liquid chromatography. Results: In our study more children (73%) than adults (34%) were on adjunctive therapy with inhibitors (valproic acid) or inducers (phenytoin, carbamazepine, oxcarbamazepine). Irrespective of co-therapy lamotrigine level within therapeutic range with an optimal seizure control was obtained only in 76% of children and 65% adults. In case of polytherapy with valproic acid, when lamotrigine dose was maintained similar or lower than monotherapy, lamotrigine levels were 105% and 65% higher in adults and children respectively. Increased volume as observed in pregnancy had a remarkable influence on lamotrigine level. An increase in drug dose with an increase in gestation was required in both pregnant women to maintain the plasma level. Conclusion: Inter-individual variations, co-medications and clinical conditions like pregnancy influence plasma lamotrigine level. Thus, drug monitoring is essential to obtain therapeutic efficacy for individual dose optimization

Sol-gel Synthesis and Supercapacitive Characterization of Bismuth Vanadate

In this work, supercapacitive characterizations of the bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) nanoparticles is studied. BiVO4 is synthesized by the sol-gel method. The single phase of BiVO4 powder obeys monoclinic crystal structure as confirmed from X-ray diffraction. The electrodes of BiVO4 powder were prepared by doctor blade method. Electrochemical characterizations are carried by using cyclic voltammetry gives the maximum specific capacitance 494.1 F/gm at 5 mV/s scan rate. The maximum energy density, power density and efficiency for the optimized electrode is 435 Wh/kg, 1.69 kW/kg and 88.67 %, respectively. According to the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy curve of the optimized sample, the internal resistance of the BiVO4 electrode was 0.12 Ω

The Rise and Fall of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in COVID Era: A Therapeutic Journey and Synthetic Progress

With no proven therapy against COVID-19, the repurposing of existing drugs is an ongoing exercise. In this context, an antimalarial drug, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) received immediate stardom when the US-FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for HCQ against COVID-19 based on the limited clinical study. However, on 17 June 2020, WHO announced the stoppage of the HCQ trial for COVID-19 treatment based on data received from the Solidarity trial and UK\u27s Recovery trials indicating HCQ does not result in the reduction of mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients when compared with standard of care. In this context, the present review aims to provide a developmental journey of HCQ including medicinal chemistry highlighting the essential pharmacology and the current studies exploring its effectiveness against COVID-19, and its synthetic advancement