Prescribing pattern of fixed dose combinations of antibiotics in a post-operative surgical ward of tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Fixed dose drug combinations (FDCs), are combinations of two or more active drugs. It should be used when the combination has an established advantage over single drug in efficacy, safety and compliance. The World Health Organization (WHO) lists only 19 of such combinations. But Indian market is filled with hundreds of FDCs which were not approved leading to irrational use. This study was focused on finding out the fixed dose combination of antimicrobial agents used in the post-operative general surgery ward of a tertiary care teaching hospital.Methods: After getting approval from institutional human ethics committee the prescriptions of patients admitted during April 2013 to March 2014 were analyzed. Demographic data, FDC prescribed by surgeons, Dose, Frequency, Duration, Route, Formulation, Brand or generic drugs, Adverse events due to use of FDC were collected and SPSS version 17 was used for statistical analysis. Fixed dose combinations were used in 90 Patients. The most commonly used FDC were ampicillin with Cloxacillin (43) followed by amoxicillin with clavulanic acid (22), cefoperazone with sulbactam (19) and piperacillin with tazobactam (6). A common drug used in combination along with FDC was metronidazole and aminoglycoside. The irrational combination seen in this study was ampicillin with Cloxacillin (8.88%) of the total FDC which is not approved by DCGI or FDA.Results: In this study out of 145 drugs used, 41drugs were administered three times a day, 90 drugs were given two times a day and 14 drugs were given once a day dosing. 53 patients received FDCs for prophylaxis and 37 patients for treatment purpose. All FDCs were prescribed in brand names. No adverse drug reaction was observed in this study.Conclusions: Consultants should undergo continuing medical education (CME) on newer drug combinations and their adverse drug reactions which will be evidence-based rather than to rely on representatives

Food utilization in the fish Channa striatus exposed to sublethal concentrations of DDT and methyl parathion

Sublethal concentrations of DDT and methyl parathion (MP) in the medium significantly affected the rates of feeding, absorption and conversion in Channa striatus. Fish exposed to 250 ppb DDT or MP consumed 23 or 50% less food than those exposed to pesticide-free water. Correspondingly, absorption rate also decreased from 120 cal/g live fish/day in the control to 88 and 59 cal/g/day in those exposed to 250 ppb DDT and MP. Efficiency to convert the absorbed food into body substance dropped from 30% in the control to 6 and 12% in the 250 ppb DDT and MP groups. Metabolic rate of the control averaged to 84 cal/g/day; whereas exposure to DDT did not significantly affect the metabolic rate, a concentration of 250 ppb MP depressed the rate to 52 cal/g/day

A prospective comparative efficacy of azilsartan and telmisartan in hypertensive patients

Background: Hypertension (HT) is defined as either a sustained systolic blood pressure of greater than 140 mmHg or a sustained diastolic blood pressure of greater than 90 mmHg, according to joint national committee (JNC VIII) on hypertension.Methods: A prospective, open, randomized parallel group comparative study of AZL versus telmisartan was done in patients of stage-I HT. The study included 80 patients, 40 in each group (group I and group II) coming to the Department of Pharmacology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Pillayarkuppam, Pondicherry from January 2016 to December 2017. The study was conducted over 8 weeks. Group-I, patients received azilsartan 40-80 mg per day in divided doses and group-II, patients received telmisartan 40-80 mg per day in divided doses according to severity of hypertension.Results: Patients receiving AZL 40 mg and telmisartan 40 mg showed a significant fall (p<0.05) in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) at 4 weeks and 8 weeks, when compared to baseline. The difference in SBP and DBP between group I (AZL) and II (telmisartan) was statistically significant at 4 weeks (p<0.05) and was highly significant at 8 weeks (p<0.001). Adverse effects such as nasopharyngitis, upper respiratory tract infection, gastroenteritis, headache, dizziness, and fatigue were reported with both drugs.Conclusions: Reduction of BP with AZL was more as compared to telmisartan at 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Safety and tolerability were similar in both groups

Effect of steroid injection on food utilization in Channa striatus

Synthetic anabolic sex steroid hormones such as methyltestosterone (MT), testosterone (T), testosterone propionate (TP), estroid (ED), diethylstilbesterol (DES), diethylstilbesterol dipropionate (DES dipro) and docabolin (DN) were tested separately for their effect on food utilization in Channa striatus. Injection of low dosages of DES, DES dipro and TP acts as appetite depressors and Dn, MT, Ed and T as stimulators. MT, Ed and Dn induced not only increased feeding but also increased conversion. T promoted growth along with food consumption. Though DES and DES dipro suppressed feeding; individuals receiving these hormones showed increased growth with increasing dosage

Effects of the Po2 on surfacing activity and food utilization in the air-breathing perch Anabas scandens

Fed Anabas scandens surfaced 555 times, swimming 278 m/day in non-aerated water (PO2 66 rnm Hg) and 855 times, travelling 428 m/day in aerated watcr (PO2: 147 mm Hg). Consumption, assimilation, production and metabolism of either series averaged 22. 18. 5 and 13 mg dry substance/g live fish/day, respeclively

Evaluation of antioxidant and hepatoprotective property of ethanolic extract of curculigoorchioides in albino rats

Background: Liver, the largest organ invertebrate body, it the major site of intense metabolic activities. Being the largest chemical factory of the body, the liver performs innumerable functions. The functional units of liver are called either hepatic or classic lobules or acini. The hepatic lobules consist largely of parenchymal or epithelial glandular cells called hepatocytes, which are arranged as interconnected plates or laminae.Methods: All the animal experiments were conducted according to the ethical norms approved by Ministry of Social Justices and Empowerment, Government of India, and Institutional Animal Ethical Committee guidelines. Fifteen rats were selected for this study and randomly divided into three groups of five each. Group I include control rats that received isocarolic quantity of sucrose in the same volume as experimental rats that received ethanol. Group II includes ethanol treated rats. Ethanol was administered daily at regular intervals by gastric intubation at a dose of as 20% aqueous solution 1 ml for 60 days. Group III includes ethanol (1ml of 25%) + Curculigoorchioides rhizome (80mg/kg b.wt) treated rats for 60 days, daily at regular intervals by gastric intubation.Results: The effect of ethanol alone and ethanol+curculigoorchioides rhizome extract (combined) on adult male rat liver metabolism were assessed in the present study and compared with the control rate. The mean body weight of ethanol treated rats was lesser than control and ethanol+curculigoorchioides rhizome extract treated rats. (Table 1, Figure 1) Data on liver weight from control, ethanol alone and ethanol+curculigoorchioides extract (combined) treated rats did not show much variation (Table 1, Figure 2).Conclusions: The effect of curculigo orchioides rizhomes extract+ethanol (combined) on adult male rat liver metabolism was assessed in the present study and compared with control and ethanol alone treated rats. The administration of ethanol accelerates the glycogenolysis and drastically reduced the hepatic glycogen content. The hepatic transaminase activity was swayed by ethanol treatment and reverted to normalcy by combined treatment. Elevated levels of serum enzyme are indicative of cellular leakage and loss of functional integrity of cell membrane in liver. The reversal of altered transaminase activities to normal by plant extract supplementation suggest its hepatoprotective action

Effects of the Po<SUB>2</SUB> on surfacing activity and food utilization in the air-breathing perch Anabas scandens

Fed Anabas seandens surfaced 555 times, swimming 278 m/day in non-aerated walcr (Po2: 66 rnm Hg)' and 855 limes, travelling 428 m/day in aerated watcr (Po2: 147 mm Hg). Consumption, assimilation, production and metabolism of either series averaged 22, 18, 5 and 13 mg dry substance/g live fish·day, respeclively. The high Po2 elevated metabolism, increased surfacing and swimming activities but failed 10 alter food utilization. Culturing A. scandens in aerated waters offers no special advantage. Starved fish in non-aerated and aerated waters surfaced 330 times and swam 164 m/day, expending 1.5 mg/g ·day

Studies on energy transformation in the freshwater snail Pila globosa 1. Influence of feeding rate

The effects of eleven chosen feeding levels ranging from 0 to 198 mg damp dry (plant) Ceratophyllumlg live snail /day on the absorption, conversion and metabolism of the snail Pi/a globosa (of 1•9 g body weight) have been studied. Absorption rates increased from 3•0 to 21•0 mg dry food /g live snail/day in snails fed 3-4-28'8 mg dry food/ g live snail/day. In these snails, absorption efficiency decreased from 87•5 to 73•0 %

Natural occurrence of monoploids and polyploids in the Indian catfish, Heteropneustes fossilis

Owing to the absence of well-defined sex chromosomes in fishes, polyploidy has spontaneously originated, perhaps repeatedly, and has been sustained in populations of diverse orders. In fact much has been written on this subject by Ohno. Expectedly, natural triploid populations have evolved in 8 genera representing 3 orders of fish; the viviparous Poeciliids (Poecilia, Poecilopsis), oviparous Cyprinids (Carassius; Misgurnus; Phoximus; Rutilus) and Athernids (Menidia). Viable hybrid unisexual triploids have also been recorded in Poecilia: (i) P. latipinna-2 mexicana, and (ii) P. latipinna-mexicana; Poecilopsis: (i) P. 2 monacha-lucida (ii) P. monacha-2 lucida, and (iii) P. monacha-viriosa-lucida; and Phoximus: (i) P. 2 eos-neogaeus, and (ii) P. eos-2 neogaeus. Likewise, naturally occurring tetraploids have been reported in Carassius auratus, the European Barbus sp., Misgurnus anguillicaudatus and Cobitis biwae. The frequency with which unusual base replacements, inactivating mutations can occur in the duplicated genes, and the workload for replication has perhaps minimized the abundance of tetraploid fish species