Evaluation of drug promotional brochures in a tertiary teaching hospital of Kannur, India

Background: Pharmaceutical industries worldwide are heavily involved in aggressive drug promotions. WHO has framed guidelines for ethical drug promotion in 1988. The transparency of pharmaceutical advertisements is important because decision of the physician is likely to be influenced by the claims made by the pharmaceutical companies in the promotional drug brochures and pharmaceutical industries treat their marketing material as “educational material” for doctors. Authors did this study to analyze the information given on drug promotional brochures by the drug companies using ethical criteria of drug promotion by WHO 1988 and to verify the authenticity of the claims given by the pharmaceutical companies in drug promotional brochures.Methods: Cross sectional study extending from 1/8/2012 to 31/7/2013. 612 drug promotional brochures satisfied our inclusion criteria. Drug brochures were analyzed with WHO ethical criteria 1988 and further categorizing the data into type of claims, number and source of references. Validity of journal articles were checked by using a validity measure developed by Cardarelli.Results: Total 612 brochures satisfied inclusion criteria. INN was mentioned in 93.8% of collected brochures. Brand name was mentioned in 100% brochures. Content of active ingredients was mentioned in 92% of brochures. Name of the other ingredients known to cause problem 28.4% of brochures. Dosage form or regimen was mentioned in 23.2% of brochures. Approved therapeutic use mentioned in 65.7% brochures. Side effects and major adverse drug reactions were mentioned in 31.4% brochures. Precautions and contraindications and warnings were mentioned in 30.4% drug promotional brochures. Drug interactions were mentioned in 26.5% brochures. Name and address was mentioned by 69.1% brochures. There were 1144 claims and 739 references. Efficacy claims were 84.88% of the total claims. Main source of reference was from journal articles (74.1%) and among them 49.65% were randomized control trials. Only 47.94 % of the journal references were valid.Conclusions: Brochures were lacking in vital information which included contraindication, warning, precaution, name of the other ingredients known to cause problem hence companies were found violating WHO ethical criteria. Claims were not well supported with references. Less than half of the given journal references were only valid. This study highlights the need of healthcare professionals to remain cautious about promotional material presented by pharmaceutical representatives

Stepwise Formation Constants of La(III), Ce(III), Pr(III) & Nd(III) with 4-H'ydroxy- 3-formyl-(2'/4')-methylazobenzenes

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Quality of life of alcohol dependent patients attending a deaddiction centre in Kannur district

Background: Quality of life (QOL) is individuals' perceptions of their position in life. QOL of alcohol dependent patients is an area that has received relatively less attention compared to other alcohol related problems.Methods: A deaddiction centre based cross sectional study was done on 370 individuals using a predesigned questionnaire during the period of 2012-2013. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 17. Spearman’s rank correlation test was used to find association between the study variables.Results: The mean age of the study subjects was 38.08±8.46 years. The mean duration of drinking was 12.62±7.47 years. The overall score of the QOL and the perceived health in alcohol dependent patients was 3.19±0.89 and 3.01±0.98 respectively. The mean of the transformed scores of physical, psychological, social and environmental domains are 69.12±12.82, 57.84±12.81, 58.52±17.05, 68.62±10.23 respectively. Statistical analysis of age with physical, environmental and social domains showed a significant negative correlation; literacy status with QOL, perceived health, physical, psychological, social and environmental domains showed a significant positive correlation; socio economic status with QOL and psychological domain showed a significant positive correlation; duration of drinking with QOL, perceived health, physical and psychological domain showed a significant negative correlation.Conclusions: Harm from alcohol use is a major public health problem. Reducing the level of social and health harms from alcohol requires preparation and planning

Marine ornamental fishes and their breeding: CMFRI initiatives

The marine ornamental fish trade is a sunrise industry in aquaculture and has become a growing industry worldwide. As a result the trade of marine ornamentals has been expanding in recent years and has grown into a multimillion dollar enterprise mainly due to the emergence of modern aquarium gadgets and technologies for setting and maintenance of miniature reef aquaria. Since the marine ornamental trade is operated throughout the tropics, the global marine ornamental trade is estimated at US$ 200- 330 million. Since India is endowed with a vast resource potential of marine ornamentals distributed in the coral seas and rocky coasts with patchy coral formations and the increasing the demand in the domestic trade, it appears very much lucrative for India to venture into this industry

An unusual termination of facial vein and anterior division of retromandibular vein into external jugular vein: a case report.

Facial vein, being the largest vein of the face forms the common facial vein after joining with the anterior division of retromandibular vein below the angle of the mandible. Usually, it drains into the internal jugular vein. During routine dissection of head and neck region of a male cadaver, aged approximately 50 years, an unusual pattern in the termination of veins on the left side of the neck was observed. The formation, course and termination of external jugular vein were normal. The anterior division of retromandibular vein joined with external jugular vein about 5 cm above the clavicle and the facial vein opened into the external jugular vein about 2.5 cm above the clavicle. In addition, there was a thin venous communication between anterior division of retromandibular vein and external jugular vein. The superficial veins of the neck are often used for cannulation; either for intravenous infusion or for central venous pressure monitoring. Furthermore, these venous segments are used as a patch for carotid endarterectomies. Hence, a thorough knowledge of the normal anatomy and their variations may be useful for performing these procedures

Microsatellite Identification in Solanaceae Crops Associated with Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase (NDK) Specific to Abiotic Stress Tolerance through in silico Analysis

Abiotic stress often causes a series of morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that affect plant growth, development and productivity. To cope with abiotic stresses, it is necessary to understand plant responses to stresses that disturb homeostatic equilibrium at the cellular and molecular level. Genomic information on Capsicum annuum has been explored to identify microsatellite markers associated with abiotic stress tolerance and assign them to cognate functional groups related to specific stress responses. Several in silico methods have been used to identify simple sequence repeats associated with stress responsive gene candidates in Capsicum annuum. In this study, a microsatellite marker has been identified in Capsicum annuum associated with Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase (NDK) having multiple environmental stress tolerance (oxidative, high temperature and salt stress) and which is also highly conserved in crops of Solanaceae. These are house-keeping enzymes that maintain intracellular levels of all nucleoside triphosphates (NTP) with the exception of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). These are also involved in phytochrome A response, UV-B signaling, auxin responses and oxidative stress signaling