DEVELOPMENT OF NANOPARTICLES SUSPENSION FOR PAEDIATRIC DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Objective: Enalapril maleate (EM) is an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor. It is generally prescribed for the treatment of hypertension, heart failure and chronic kidney diseases in adults and children. EM 2.5 mg, 5 mg, 10 mg and 20 mg tablets and EM injection 1.25 mg/ml are currently available in the market. But a liquid paediatric formulation of this medicine is not currently available. Also, it is a BCS class III drug, having a bioavailability of approximately 60%. The present study proposes a new strategy for improvement of drug bioavailability and taste masking: EM nanoencapsulation within polymeric nanoparticles suspensions prepared with Eudragit RS100 (ERS100) as polymer and Tween 80 as a stabilizer, aiming at obtaining a liquid dosage form suitable for paediatric administration.Methods: Nanoprecipitation method used for the preparation of nanoparticles suspension. The preparations were evaluated for drug content, entrapment efficiency, particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity index, pH, viscosity and in vitro drug release. Based on the entrapment efficiency, viscosity and in vitro drug release the optimized formulation was selected. Optimized formulation evaluated for taste, ex vivo intestinal permeation, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy and release kinetic studies.Results: The optimized nanoparticle formulation F8 having drug to polymer ratio of 1:100 showed satisfactory drug content (95.1%), entrapment efficiency (77.71%), particle size (198.47 nm), pH (6.36), viscosity (2.9 x〖10〗^(-3)Pa•s) and 81.2% drug release after 12 h. The formulation has taste-masking properties and shows 84.6% drug permeation through the goat intestine within 12 h.Conclusion: The prepared nanoparticles suspension of Enalapril maleate was found to be an effective liquid pharmaceutical dosage form for paediatric administration with taste-masking properties

Infant with a foreign body bronchus: A fishy situation!

Foreign body aspiration (FBA) is a common cause of respiratory compromise in early childhood. Numerous unique foreign bodies in the tracheobronchial tree have been reported in the literature. FBA can result in a spectrum of presentations ranging from incidental to acutely life threatening. Described here is a case of inhalation of a live fish caught from a household aquarium by a 10-month-old infant. The infant presented to us with worsening respiratory distress, and an emergency diagnostic rigid bronchoscopy retrieved the fish and the baby survived. This instance highlights the importance of actively investigating pediatric patients with  bronchoscopy when suspicion of FBA is high. This case report of a live fish aspiration in an infant that was successfully removed is a first of its kind.Keywords: bronchoscopy, foreign body aspiration, respiratory distres

कृषि विज्ञान केंद्र नारककल

कृषि विज्ञान केंद्र नारकक

Production technology of coir pith cake formulation of Trichoderma harzianum

Low cost formulations and delivery system are necessary for wide adoption of bio-control of plant diseases using microbial antagonists. Though several plantation crops wastes/by-products including coir pith are used for multiplication of Trichoderma species, no attempt has been made so far to develop a low cost commercial product with long shelf life and high population of antagonist. A technology has been developed to prepare a commercial product viz., Trichoderma coir pith cake (TCPC) using ‘maida’ flour and Trichoderma harzianum biomass. It has been found that dried TCPC packed in polythene bags can be stored at room temperature (26-30 °C) for 10 months with high level of T. harzianum population. Through a simple activation process of moistening the dried TCPC and incubating under room temperature for 2 days, luxurious growth of Trichoderma covering the entire product was obtained and thus the population could be increased to a very high level. Mean T. harzianum population in dry TCPC after 10 months of storage was found to be 5.0x106 CFU g–1 which has increased to 14.4x106 CFU g-1 on activation. Though the population after one year could be increased from 1.6x106 CFU g-1 in dry TCPC to 5.2x106 in activated, it is ideal to recommend a shelf life period of 10 months while commercializing the product. The new, simple and low cost technology developed, thus, clearly indicates that coir pith, a waste from coconut industry can be made into value added and environment friendly commercial product for management of plant diseases. Several such products can be commercially prepared for different microbial bioagents following this production technology

Awareness campaign for Fisherwomen

Women in fishing communities have decisioh-making role in community management. With the increasing commercialisation of fishing industry I women's access to post-harvest operations in fisheries has been declining: It is- estimated that only about 20 percent of women from traditional fishing households get opportunities for income generation from fishery related activities which are seasonal

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL GELS FOR THE TREATMENT OF PARONYCHIA

Objective: The aim of the study was to design and develop a gel based drug delivery system containing combinational drugs (ketoconazole, neomycin sulphate and diclofenac) for the effective treatment of Paronychia.Methods: The drugs used are ketoconazole, neomycin sulphate and diclofenac. The first two drugs provide an antifungal and antibacterial action and the last drug with a pain relieving effect. Two formulations of gels F1 and F2 were prepared using polymers like carbopol 934 and xanthan gum respectively. The amounts of drugs and other ingredients were kept as constant in both formulations. The prepared formulations were then evaluated by visual examination, pH, drug content, spredability, extrudability, drug release study, in vitro antibacterial study, in vitro antifungal study, stability studies and in vivo antibacterial study.Results: The obtained results were analyzed and compared. All the test results were within the accepted limit. The physicochemical properties of the gels were assessed and it was found that the two formulations have enough gel consistency with good spreadability and extrudability. The drug content and drug release studies of the prepared gels were done and the results showed that the all the three drugs were properly loaded into the gel system, with good drug release profile. The antimicrobial activities of the formulated gels were proved by both in vitro antifungal and antibacterial studies. The in vivo antibacterial studies revealed a significant reduction in bacterial count in wistar rats treated with prepared gel when compared with standard drug solution. From among all the developed formulations, F1 formulation with carbopol 934 has got a slight superior property when compared with formulation F2 xanthan gum as gelling agent.Conclusion: On the basis of the evaluation studies it was concluded that the drugs (ketoconazole, neomycin sulphate and diclofenac) were successfully incorporated into the different topical gel preparations with good physicochemical properties and antimicrobial activity. Therefore, it was concluded that our formulae could be very promising topical alternative for the treatment of Paronychia

Assessment of variability and performance of new landraces of small cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum Maton)

Even though fourteen improved varieties of small cardamom have been released in India so far, many of the farmers in thetraditional cardamom tracts still use farmer selected landraces as planting material and hence the importance of landraces is notquestionable. Four new landraces of small cardamom identified from Idukki district of Kerala State of India namely Pulari,Pappalu, Kalarikkal Bold and Arjun were evaluated along with Njallani Green Gold (popular landrace) and ICRI-2 (improvedvariety released by Indian Cardamom Research Institute) for growth, yield and quality characters. Eight growth characters, eightyield characters and eleven quality characters were analyzed for the purpose and all of them except two yield characters showedstatistically significant variation indicating the occurrence of significant genotypic difference between these landraces. A comparativeanalysis of overall performance of the four landraces was also carried out and the results showed that Pappalu, Kalarikkal Boldand Pulari performed significantly superior to Njallani Green Gold and ICRI-2, the controls. Pappalu showed 132.22 per centincrease in yield over Njallani Green Gold and 158.02 per cent over ICRI-2. The cumulative performance indices of all the newlandraces were worked out and the landrace Pappalu had the highest performance index of 30.06 followed by Kalarikkal Bold(27.45), Arjun (25.57) and Pulari (24.14). All the four new landraces have been found to be superior to ICRI-2 while Pappalu,Kalarikkal Bold and Pulari showed superiority over Njallani Green Gold, under preliminary evaluation

Action research for rural empowerment in Chellanam fishing village

The empowerment approach aims at equipping the rural people with ways and means of improving their living conditions. Extension education was found to be useful in producing the desired change in the target grou