PHYTOCHEMICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF ANNONA SPECIES: A REVIEW

Herbal plants and phytogenic products have used for the treatment of various diseases from ancient times in the folklore medicine worldwide. Crude extracts from plants now play an important and valuable source for natural products that are used in the advancement of medicines against various diseases, for the improvement of pharmaceutical preparations and for novel bioscience research. One such plant genus is Annona, such as Annona muricata, Annona cherimola, Annona reticulata, Annona squamosa, and Annona senegalensis are some species widely cultivating in India and tropical regions of Asia for their edible fruits and medicinal values. These plants have been used for centuries as traditional folk medicine for the treatments of various diseases. The plants are considered to be a good source of vitamins, minerals, plant proteins, fibers, etc., as well as the plant is supposed to have many biological activities. This review describes the morphology and ecology of the plant, its ethnomedicinal uses, pharmacological activities, and phytoconstituents

Quality of Service Aware Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation for Rate Control in WSN

Different types of data can be generated by Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) in both Real-Time (RT) and Non-RT (NRT) scenarios. The combination of these factors, along with the limited bandwidth available, necessitates careful management of these categories in order to reduce congestion. Due to this, a Proficient Rate Control  and Fair Bandwidth Allocation (PRC-FBA) method has been created that prioritizes certain types of traffic and creates a virtual queue for them.In PRC-FBA, the Signal-to-Noise and Interference Ratio (SINR) model is applied to the problem of bandwidth allocation in WSN in an effort to find a compromise between equity and performance. Then, a brand-new bandwidth utility factor is defined with regard to equity and effectivenes. The FBA method in PRC-FBA is devoped for only improving   throughput, but not considering  delay. However, delay is the main factors for trasnmiitng NRT packets.  This paper offers a PRC with Quality of Service (QoS) aware Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (PRC-QDBA) approach for allocating bandwidth while prioritizing packets based on their traffic classes. This model employs a QoS associated dynamic bandwidth allocation strategy which efficiently distributes the unused time slots among the required nodes. The distribution technique is performed based on hierarchical manner utilizing a parent-child association of tree topology. The parent node receives traffic indication maps (TIMs) from the children nodes and adopts them to allocate time slots based on their demamds. If the parent node is unable to allocate the required slots, it creates a TIM that indicating the demands and transfer it to its immediate parent node. This increases the entire performance rate of RT traffic. Furthermore, this model assures the packet forwarding for previously accepted flows by allowing node transmission based on ancestral connection capabilities. Finally, simulation results demonstartes that the suggested model significantly increases the throughput and delay for bandwidth allocation while also enabling QoS support for RT traffic in WSNs.&nbsp

Anxiolytic activity of ethanolic and aqueous extract of Ficus carica Linn fruits in swiss albino mice

Background: Benzodiazepams are mainly used to treat anxiety but these drugs produce serious adverse effects, hence herbal drugs are preferred. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-anxiety activity of ethanolic and aqueous extract of Ficus carica (FC) Linn fruits in swiss albino mice.Methods: Male swiss albino rats weighing 25-30gms were divided into six groups and six animals in each group. Diazepam (1.0 mg/kg), AEFC (200 and 400 mg/kg) and EEFC (200 and 400 mg/kg) were suspended in 1% gum acacia and administered orally. The EEFC and AEFC (both extracts at 200 and 400mg/kg/p.o) and vehicle were administered for 7 days once daily p.o. and the last dose was given on the 7lh day, 60 min prior to exposure to the experimental paradigms viz., Elevated plus maze, T- maze model and Hole -board model.Results: Both the extracts of FC significantly increased the number of entries into, time spent and rears in the open arms. Also, it increased the percentile ratio of open arm to total arm entries in elevated plus maze. In T- maze, the both the extracts FC showed a significant increase in baseline latency and decrease in escape and avoidance. In the hole-board model a significant increase in the exploratory behavior like head-dipping and line crossing, rearing was observed after treatment with EEFC and AEFC. FC also decreases the nor-adrenaline levels and increase in serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain. These behavioural changes were significantly higher than that produced by the standard anxiolytic drug diazepam.Conclusions: It was concluded that ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Ficus carica fruits having antianxiety activity

Evaluation of Drug Susceptibility Profile among Category II Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients (Relapse, Failure, Defaulter) at Tirunelveli.

INTRODUCTION : Tuberculosis is a disease of great antiquity. There is evidence of spinal tuberculosis in Neolithic, pre Columbian and early Egyptian remains. It was described in the Vedas and other Hindu texts as Rajyakshma-the king of diseases. Tuberculosis became a major problem during the industrial revolution, when crowded living conditions favoured its spread. Though the disease was known since ancient times, the organism causing tuberculosis was described only a century ago by Robert Koch on 24th March 1882. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES : 1. To analyse the risk factors that had led to retreatment of the study group. 2. To study the profile of drug sensitivity pattern of CAT II patients and correlate it with the socio demographic status of these patients. 3. To assess the influence of risk factors like socio demographic characteristics, DM, HIV status, smoking and previous treatment as a marker for the development of Drug Resistant TB in the study group. MATERIALS AND METHODS : The present study was conducted at the Department of Thoracic Medicine, Tirunelveli Medical College, Tirunelveli for a period of one year from May 2007 to April 2008 to assess the drug susceptibility profile of Category II patients registered under RNTCP. Inclusion criteria: The study population constituted; 1. Smear positive patients, with history of previous anti tuberculous treatment for more than one month comprising cases of Failure, treatment after Default and Relapse started on the CAT-II regimen. 2. Patients who had completed or defaulted Category II treatment, found to be still sputum positive and referred to Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai for Drug Susceptibility Testing. 3. The above cases that had been previously treated under RNTCP were alone included. Exclusion criteria: 1. Extra pulmonary cases of Category II and 2. Cases who had been previously treated privately were not included for the study. Socio demographic and clinical characteristics such as smear status, type of case, type of disease, category, treatment details such as drug regularity, number of doses taken by the patients and reasons for default were obtained from patient. Information on patient’s literacy, occupation, and personal habits like smoking, other diseases like diabetes and HIV were also obtained. Early morning sputum specimens were collected in a sterile container from the study group who were smear positive by Ziehl Neelsen method. Surface decontamination was done by immersing the specimen container in Lysol solution before transferring to the laboratory. All the laboratory works were carried out as per standard laboratory procedures and Bio-safety norms in Class II Biosafety cabinet. RESULTS : The collected data were edited for completeness, consistency and accuracy. They were analysed by the parameters like mean, median and percentages. The differences of above parameters were tested by the parametric tests like ‘Z’ and‘t’ and non-parametric test like c2 test, which was applicable wherever. The statistical package used for analysis and interpretation is SPSS (version-13) with the level of significance P=0.05. CONCLUSION : Age, sex, residence, education, income, diabetes were not risk factors for retreatment tuberculosis and multidrug resistant tuberculosis. Smoking was a significant risk factor among relapse, failure and MDR cases. There is a need to devise effective strategies for counselling patients about the impact of smoking on their cure. Irregular and interrupted treatment was a risk factor among defaulters, failures and multidrug resistant cases. Ensuring adherence to a full course of treatment is the key to cure TB patients and prevent the emergence of drug resistance. Drug related problems like nausea, vomiting, giddiness were the leading cause to default from treatment. The innovative strategies in health education are the need of the hour. HIV reactivity was noted among defaulters in the present study and not among MDR cases. As drug sensitivity testing is not routinely performed, NTM cases had been registered for retreatment unnecessarily. Though registered for retreatment, most of the isolates were sensitive to all the first line drugs and hence can be successfully treated with a category II regimen if they are compliant enough. Drug resistance was more among prior treatment failure cases, necessitating the need for timely culture and sensitivity testing for those who remain sputum positive during the course of treatment to curb the spread of multidrug resistant strains

IDENTIFICATION OF BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS IN CYMODOCEA SERRULATA-A SEAGRASS BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY–MASS SPECTROSCOPY

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the lead phytocompounds present in the ethanol extract of the seagrass Cymodocea serrulata by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS).Methods: 1 kg of C. serrulata whole seagrass powder was subjected to extraction on polarity basis using five solvent such as hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and water. Since ethanol extract showed a maximum antioxidant property, its phytochemicals were investigated using GCMS technique. The phytocompounds identified through GC were interpreted with mass spectra national institute standard and technology library.Result: The GCMS analysis of ethanol extract of C. serrulata identified peaks of six different compounds they are hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (7.70%), hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester (4.11%), tetradecanoic acid (62.89%), pentadecanoic acid(62.89%), cholesta4, 6dien3ol (5.88%), and stigmasterol (19.42%).Conclusion: The GCMS study of C. serrulata ethanol extract unveils the presence of bioactive compounds that have a pharmacological and nutraceutical values

Correlation between first trimester uric acid level and subsequent development of gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: The aim of the study was to correlate between first trimester uric acid level and its association with subsequent development of gestational diabetes mellitus.Methods: This is a prospective study conducted at Govt. Raja Mirasudar Hospital attached to Thanjavur Medical College, Thanjavur over a period of one year from September 2015. A total of one hundred and eighty seven ante natal women less than 14 weeks of gestational age who attended the outpatient antenatal department were included in this study. Serum uric acid estimation was done in women with 3.6 mg/dl and 2 with serum uric acid <3.6 mg/dl developed GDM. This shows development of GDM increases with increase in uric acid concentration.Conclusions: Though our study results suggest that serum uric acid level estimation in first trimester can be used as a marker to predict GDM in pregnant women, large scale studies are required before it can be recommended as a routine first trimester screening test for prediction of gestational diabetes mellitus

Qualitative and Quantitative Phytochemical profiling of Digera muricata (L.) Mart Leaves

Plants possess an extensive variety of therapeutic compounds that exhibit significant potential for application within the pharmaceutical industry. In order to identify the diverse phytochemical composition present in the plant, range of solvents including alcoholic, aqueous, hexane, petroleum ether and hydroalcoholic were employed these extracts were used and the preliminary qualitative analysis reveals the presence of phytochemicals in higher concentrations in the hydro ethanolic extract compared to other solvent. The powdered plant sample was further investigated for the quantification of phytochemicals which revealed the presence of high total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, saponin content, total tannin content and steroids content of 246.82 ± 17.27 GAE equivalents per gram, 193.18 ± 13.52 milligrams of quercetin equivalents per gram, 134.76 ± 9.43 milligrams of saponin equivalents per gram, of 61.80 ± 4.32 milligrams of Tannic acid equivalents per gram and 117.66 ± 8.23 milligrams of Cholesterol equivalents per gram respectively. The present study elucidates the potential for isolating specific compounds possessing economically valuable bioactive properties through the utilization of suitable plants and careful selection of an appropriate solvent for extraction

Vulval leiomyoma: a rare clinical entity

Vulval leiomyomas are rare benign tumors which arise from the smooth muscle cells within erectile tissue, blood vessel walls or round ligament remnants in labium majus. As they are rare, clinical diagnosis is often challenging. We report a case of 64 year old postmenopausal woman with a labial swelling of 3 months duration. It was clinically diagnosed as Bartholin`s gland cyst and intraoperatively the gross appearance was that of a leiomyoma and surgical excision was performed. Histopathological analysis confirmed the diagnosis of leiomyoma

Nonpuerperal inversion of uterus secondary to leiomyoma in menopause: a rare case report

Inversion of uterus is a rare clinical condition if not associated with third stage of labor or puerperium. Non-puerperal uterine inversion usually occurs secondary to tumor arising from the fundus of uterus. We report an unusual case of non-puerperal uterine inversion caused by large submucous fibroid in a 65 year old postmenopausal woman which was managed by combined abdomino-perineal approach

Phytochemical screening and in vitro antioxidant activity of the seagrass Cymodocea serrulata

1216-1221The seagrass Cymodocea serrulata was collected from Ramanathapuram coastal region and its antioxidant potential was determined. The ethanol extract showed the highest phenolic content of 284.94 mg/ml gallic acid equivalence and the ethyl acetate extract showed the highest flavonoids content of 40.18 mg/ml quercetin equivalence. The tannin content was higher at 264.71 mg/ml tannic acid equivalence in aqueous extract. The ethanol extract exhibited the highest 2,2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2¢-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activity with IC50 values of 44.47 µg and 2.5 µg, respectively. The ferric reducing ability and nitric oxide scavenging activity were efficient in both ethanol and aqueous extracts. The superoxide scavenging activity was high in hexane extract. The comparative antioxidant study of the subsequent extract of C. serrulata showed that the ethanol extract possesses the highest free radical scavenging property compared to other extracts. This may be due to the presence of high phenolic compounds. The study brings out the medicinal value of C. serrulata which can be used as a nutraceutical compound in various food and pharmaceutical industries