FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF BESIFLOXACIN NON-ERODIBLE OCULAR INSERTS

Objective: Ocular inserts offer many advantages over conventional dosage forms, like increased ocular residence, the possibility of releasing a drug at a slow and constant rate, accurate dosing, exclusion of preservatives, and increased shelf life. Besifloxacin is a very important drug for the treatment of infectious conjunctivitis. The present study was aimed to formulate and evaluate Besifloxacin Non-Erodible Ocular Insert using Pullulan and polyvinyl pyrrolidone as a drug reservoir, PEG 400 as a plasticizer, and Eudragit RS-100 as a rate-controlling membrane. Methods: Central composite design was employed to study the effect of independent variables, i.e., effects of Pullulan amount (X1) and PVP (X2) on the dependent variables, i.e., % moisture absorption and In vitro diffusion rate. After evaluation of all thirteen batches of ocular insert reservoir formulation, BSF2 and BSF4 were selected as a satisfactory formulation and was sandwiched between rate-controlling membrane, which was made up of Eudragit RS-100 (3 and 5%). Results: The drug content of all formulations was found to be in the range of 95.33 to 99.89 %. In vitro diffusion of Besifloxacin from reservoir formulations (BSF1 to BSF13) was found to be 62.44 to 70.62 %. In vitro diffusion rate of an ocular insert of Besifloxacin can offer benefits such as increasing residence time, prolonging drug release in the eye for 24 h. Eudragit RS-100, as a sustained drug release polymer, showed promising sustained released action. Conclusion: The study concluded that Besifloxacin non-erodible ocular inserts can be successfully developed using Pullulan and polyvinyl pyrrolidone, which will sustain the release of the drug also reduce the frequency of administration, and thereby may help to improve patient compliance

Detection of dengue-4 virus in pune, western india after an absence of 30 years - its association with two severe cases

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Difference in severity of dengue outbreaks has been related to virus serotype, genotype and clades within genotypes. Till the 1980 s, India and Sri Lanka reported low number of dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) cases despite circulation of all four serotypes of dengue virus (DENV). Since the 1990 s the occurrence of DHF has increased. The increase has been attributed to changes in virus lineage especially with regard to DENV-2 and DENV-3. DENV-1 has been associated with dengue fever (DF) outbreaks and DENV-4 reports have been rare. The emergence of DENV-4 was reported recently in 2003 in Delhi and in 2007 in Hyderabad. The last report of DENV-4 from Maharashtra was in 1975 from Amalner.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report on the detection of DENV-4 in Pune, Maharashtra after an absence of almost 30 years. Two cases were detected in 2009-10, serotyped by multiplex reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Both the cases were recorded as severe dengue (Category 3) requiring intensive care unit (ICU) level of treatment. Depending on the hemagglutination inhibiting (HI) antibody titres the 2009 case was characterized as a primary infection and the 2010 case as a secondary infection. Both the cases presented plasma leakage and neither showed any kind of haemorrhage. The 2009 case survived while the 2010 case was fatal. An isolate was obtained from the 2009 case. Based on envelope (E) gene sequence analysis, the virus belonged to genotype I of DENV-4, and clustered with isolates from India and Sri Lanka and was distant from the isolates from Thailand. The nucleotide and amino acid diversity of the E gene of the Indian isolates increased from 1996 to 2007 to 2009 in context of the E gene sequences of other isolates belonging to genotype I.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The increasing diversity in the circulating DENV-4 calls for close monitoring of the DENV-4 serotype.</p

“Effectiveness of Video Assisted Teaching Programme On Knowledge Regarding Premenstrual Syndrome Among Adolescent Girls Studying at Akkamahadevi Women’s Arts, Science and Commerce College at Bagalkot.

Background: Adolescent stage is very important in the life of a girl, because in this stage physical, sexual and psychological maturity takes place. The major landmark of puberty for females is menarche, the onset of menstruation, which occurs on an average between ages 12 and 13. The start of menstruation is usually a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Aims: To assess the effectiveness of video assisted teaching programme on knowledge regarding premenstrual syndrome among adolescent&nbsp; girls studying at akkamahadevi women’s arts, science and commerce college at Bagalkot.Settings and Design: This Experimental study included a sample of 100 adolescent girls. 50 adolescent girls for experimental group had received Video assisted teaching programme at akkamahadevi women’s arts, science and commerce college at Bagalkot.Methods and Material: Data were collected using Structured Interview schedule method. Tools used for data collection were; socio-demographic questionnaire and Structured knowledge questionnaire.Results: Result depicts that an administration of Video assisted teaching programme to the experimental group has increased (16.55 %) their knowledge regarding Premenstrual syndrome as compared with control group.Result showed that there is a statistically significant difference between pre-test and post –test knowledge scores regarding premenstrual syndrome among adolescent girls of both experimental (t=-15.13 (tab, p&lt; 0.0001) and control group (t=-2.187, p&lt; 0.05) adolescent girls.A statistically significant difference was found between post- test knowledge scores regarding premenstrual syndrome of experimental group and control group adolescent girls [t=10.166, p&lt;0.0001].There was no significant association was found between knowledge scores regarding premenstrual syndrome among adolescent girls of experimental group with any of their selected socio-demographic variables. There is a significant association between area of residence (?2==4.675, P&lt;0.05) between knowledge scores regarding premenstrual syndrome and there was no significant association found between knowledge scores regarding premenstrual syndrome among adolescent girls of control group with any of their remained selected socio-demographic variables