An evaluation of knowledge, attitude and perception about adverse drug reactions and pharmacovigilance among intern doctors in a medical college teaching hospital of Sangli

Background: Underreporting of various adverse drug reactions (ADRs) by consultants is a common incurable problem. National pharmacovigilance program is one of the ongoing programs to monitor the adverse drug reactions & reporting at the earliest to the nearby AMCs. As medical interns are budding doctors, the focus of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and perception about ADRs and pharmacovigilance in them.Methods: A cross section questionnaire-based study was conducted after approval by our institutional ethics committee pretested and validated questions consisting of 20 questions (knowledge, attitude, perception) were administrated to medical interns. The filled questionnaires were collected and analysed.Results: In our study, medical interns have fair enough idea about ADR and pharmacovigilance. In knowledge domain they were aware of term ADRs (100%), pharmacovigilance (72.6%). In attitude domain majority of interns (80.6%) known availability of ADR forms, compulsory of pharmacovigilance unit (90.3%). In perception domain very poor response from interns, not even a single intern had reported any ADR filled form and they don’t know meaning of re-challenge and de-challenge, very few interns (9.7%) know how to manage the ADRs in emergency conditions.Conclusions: Under reporting problem can be improved by doing more teaching activities at undergraduate level and intern’s level including various workshops, CMEs, problem-based teaching of adverse reactions in their curriculum. These exercises will improve their reporting frequency and sensitize the interns from the undergraduate days itself in their upcoming clinical practice in community

ELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIOR OF XANTHENE FOOD DYE ERYTHROSINE AT GLASSY CARBON ELECTRODE AND ITS ANALYTICAL APPLICATIONS

Erythrosine is a xanthene food dye used in the food industries to enhance the appearance of the food. The electrochemical behavior of erythrosine at glassy carbon electrode was investigated by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry. The oxidation peak of erythrosine was observed in phosphate buffer of pH 5.0. The influence of different pH, scan rate and concentration were evaluated. The probable reaction mechanism involved in the oxidation of erythrosine was also proposed. Differential pulse voltammetric method with good precision and accuracy was developed for the determination of erythrosine dye in real samples. The peak currents were found to be linearly dependent on the concentration range of 1 x 10-5 to 6 x 10-4 M. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were noticed to be 1.9 x 10-7 and 6.6 x 10-7 M respectively

ELECTROCHEMICAL OXIDATION AND DETERMINATION OF AN ANTI-CANCER DRUG PEMETREXED DISODIUM

Abstract-The electrochemical oxidation of an anti-cancer drug Pemetrexed disodium has been investigated at glassy carbon electrode using voltammetric techniques. The dependence of current on potential, pH, concentrartion, scan rate, and excipients were investigated to optimize the experimental conditions. According to the liner relation between peak potential, peak current, scan rate and Pemetrexed disodium concentration, differential pulse voltammetric method for the quantitative determination in phosphate Buffer solution was developed. The linear response was obtained in the range of 10 µM to 0.75 µM with a detection limit of 0.19 µM. The electrochemical oxidation of mechanism of an anti-cancer drug Pemetrexed disodium was proposed. Keywords- Pemetrexed disodium, Cyclic Voltammetry, Electochemical Studies, Glassy carbon electrod

Analytical methods for detection of human cytomegalovirus clinched biosensor a cutting-edge diagnostic tool

Abstract Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a beta herpes-virus, which affects human being as a lifelong infection. HCMV is the prominent cause for the infections of congenital with a 1.0–2.4% incidence of live-births, along with possible severe classic cytomegalovirus. Crucial HCMV infection is usually asymptomatic in healthy hosts but it can cause severe or sometimes fatal illness in immuno-compromised neonates and individuals. Various conventional methods such as PCR, virus isolation, antigenemia test, histological and serological are available for detection of HCMV. Among all the analytical techniques, biosensors clinched as the most advanced technology, which offers many features such as simplicity, inexpensive, highly sensitive, and effective approach. The future of diagnosis will rely on the development of point-of-care devices, which can be used at the site of need, resource-restricted settings, and provides affordability. This review describes various analytical methods for the detection of HCMV emphasizing biosensing methods

A study of assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of antibiotic stewardship among healthcare providers in a tertiary care hospital of Sangli

Background: Antimicrobials are routinely used for variety of clinical conditions but are also misused leading to drug resistance bacteria in clinical practice. Consultants can gain the knowledge about it and can also have the depth of problem faced, their prescribing behavior mainly depends on their attitude and understanding of condition. Our aim of this study is to evaluate the knowledge and beliefs about antibiotics prescribing among health care workers in a tertiary care hospital of Sangli. Methods: Our present study was conducted in the Bharati hospital, BV (DU) medical college and hospital, Sangli. Ethical clearance from the institutional ethics committee was obtained and it was, cross-sectional questionnaire-based study carried out in the form of a survey in which a pretested, semi-structured, validated questionnaire was provided to junior residents, senior residents and faculty of different specialties and responses were recorded. Questionnaire comprises of 9 in knowledge, 10 in attitude and 10 in practice section. Results: Out of all participants 84.5% believed that no need of antibiotics for running and blocked nose. Majority 89.6% were expressed that sample culture should be sent before starting antibiotics. 90.4% participants believed that education of patients will help. Only 76.8% strictly adhere to the antibiotic policy of our hospital. Conclusions: The present study on antibiotic usage gives useful information about the knowledge, attitudes and practices of prescribers and help plan suitable educational modifications that aim at improving the antimicrobial prescribing and minimizing the development of drug resistance in our developing country

Global plant trait relationships extend to the climatic extremes of the tundra biome

The majority of variation in six traits critical to the growth, survival and reproduction of plant species is thought to be organised along just two dimensions, corresponding to strategies of plant size and resource acquisition. However, it is unknown whether global plant trait relationships extend to climatic extremes, and if these interspecific relationships are confounded by trait variation within species. We test whether trait relationships extend to the cold extremes of life on Earth using the largest database of tundra plant traits yet compiled. We show that tundra plants demonstrate remarkably similar resource economic traits, but not size traits, compared to global distributions, and exhibit the same two dimensions of trait variation. Three quarters of trait variation occurs among species, mirroring global estimates of interspecific trait variation. Plant trait relationships are thus generalizable to the edge of global trait-space, informing prediction of plant community change in a warming world.Peer reviewe

Tundra Trait Team: A database of plant traits spanning the tundra biome

Abstract Motivation: The Tundra Trait Team (TTT) database includes field-based measurements of key traits related to plant form and function at multiple sites across the tundra biome. This dataset can be used to address theoretical questions about plant strategy and trade-offs, trait–environment relationships and environmental filtering, and trait variation across spatial scales, to validate satellite data, and to inform Earth system model parameters. Main types of variable contained: The database contains 91,970 measurements of 18 plant traits. The most frequently measured traits (> 1,000 observations each) include plant height, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf fresh and dry mass, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen, carbon and phosphorus content, leaf C:N and N:P, seed mass, and stem specific density. Spatial location and grain: Measurements were collected in tundra habitats in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, including Arctic sites in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Fennoscandia and Siberia, alpine sites in the European Alps, Colorado Rockies, Caucasus, Ural Mountains, Pyrenees, Australian Alps, and Central Otago Mountains (New Zealand), and sub-Antarctic Marion Island. More than 99% of observations are georeferenced. Time period and grain: All data were collected between 1964 and 2018. A small number of sites have repeated trait measurements at two or more time periods. Major taxa and level of measurement: Trait measurements were made on 978 terrestrial vascular plant species growing in tundra habitats. Most observations are on individuals (86%), while the remainder represent plot or site means or maximums per species. Software format: csv file and GitHub repository with data cleaning scripts in R; contribution to TRY plant trait database (www.try-db.org) to be included in the next version release

Magnetron sputter deposited NiCu alloy catalysts for production of hydrogen through electrolysis in alkaline water

NiCu alloy catalysts with varying composition for electrolysis in alkaline water have been prepared by DC magnetron co-sputtering under Ar gas environment at substrate bias of −60 V. Nanocrystallinity, lattice parameters and grain size of the NiCu alloys have been measured by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD). Elemental and microstructural analysis of the NiCu alloy have been done by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) as well as transmission electron microscopy (TEM). To analyze the NiCu alloys activity towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), cyclic voltammetry measurements have been done in a 6 M KOH at room temperature and further HER activities have been correlated with the varying Cu concentration in NiCu alloy catalysts. Keywords: NiCu alloy, Magnetron sputtering, Electrolysis in alkaline water, Hydrogen evolution reactio

Stability Indicating HPLC Method for Simultaneous Quantification of Trihexyphenidyl Hydrochloride, Trifluoperazine Hydrochloride and Chlorpromazine Hydrochloride from Tablet Formulation

A new, simple, precise, rapid, selective and stability indicating reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method has been developed and validated for simultaneous quantification of trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride, trifluoperazine hydrochloride and chlorpromazine hydrochloride from combined tablet formulation. The method is based on reverse-phase using C-18 (250×4.6) mm, 5 μm particle size column. The separation is achieved using isocratic elution by methanol and ammonium acetate buffer (1% w/v, pH 6.5) in the ratio of 85:15 v/v, pumped at flow rate 1.0 mL/min and UV detection at 215 nm. The column is maintained at 30 °C through out the analysis. This method gives baseline resolution. The total run time is 15 min. Stability indicating capability is established buy forced degradation experiment. The method is validated for specificity, accuracy, precision and linearity as per International conference of harmonisation (ICH). The method is accurate and linear for quantification of trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride, trifluoperazine hydrochloride and Chlorpromazine hydrochloride between 5 - 15 μg/mL, 12.5- 37.5 μg/mL and 62.5 - 187.5 μg/mL respectively