A nematode as a model to investigate Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases: Potential of C. elegans unlocked?

The research work was partly supported by RFBR grant 18-29-12129mk

Acceptability of different oral dosage forms in paediatric patients in hospital setting

Objective The understanding of acceptability of existing dosage forms is limited in most of the world and hinders the development of acceptable, age‐appropriate medicines. The attributes of paediatric medicine acceptability may differ from country to country based on culture, healthcare infrastructure and health policies. This study was designed to map the acceptability of oral medicines in paediatric patients treated in hospital in India. Methods An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in patients aged below 18 years and taking any form of oral medication. Acceptability scores were obtained using CAST–ClinSearch Acceptability Score Test tool. Findings 490 patients were recruited and 193 evaluations of different pharmaceutical products available in 20 dosage forms and 7 routes of administration were studied. Oral liquids (50%) and tablets (35%) were the most commonly prescribed and administered forms. Regardless of the therapeutic class and age, the oral liquids were ‘positively accepted’ in infants and toddlers. Acceptability of tablets improved with age and appeared to be generally good from the age of 6. Conclusion This study indicates the limited progress towards adoption of age-appropriate dosage forms in India and thus impact on the acceptability of existing oral dosage forms. The key challenges posed by the adoption of age-appropriate formulations in India are (1) awareness of importance of appropriate administration and acceptability of medicines to children in India, (2) availability of age-appropriate dosage forms and (3) lack of child-appropriate medicine policies

Stepping into small shoes: Gaining user perspective on appropriate administration devices for paediatric medication in India

A cross sectional pan-India study about use of administration devices for paediatric oral and inhalation medicines was conducted with a diverse pool of participants of various age groups. Via 634 respondents from more than 15 states in India, this study has identified the administration devices commonly used by parents/caregivers for children 0 to 18 years and by children over 10 years. It has provided insights on device ease of use, challenges faced and recommendations to facilitate the correct use of administration devices for paediatric oral and inhalation medicines. Ethics approval (DPSRU-BREC/2020/A/008)) was obtained from the Biomedical Research Ethics Committee of Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University. The survey was completed by parents only (n = 514) and jointly by both parents and children (n = 120). The mean age of the child was 7.2 ± 4.96 years. 72% of the respondents reported that an oral medicine had been taken recently, 6.3% reported that an inhaled medicine had been taken and the remaining 21.9% reported that both an oral and inhaled medicine had been taken. The use of measuring cup was most prevalent followed by household spoons. The mean of the score for ease of use was found to be highest 4.6 ± 0.50 for oral syringe and lowest (3.8 ± 0.76) for measuring cups. The majority of them found the oral device easy to use. Difficulties were reported mostly for measuring cups and household spoons and were related to a lack of user instructions and measuring difficulties. The respondents who found the device easy to use had mostly received clear instructions from healthcare professionals. Compared to oral devices, there were very limited responses for inhalation devices (n = 175/634). Nebulisers with facemasks were most frequently used followed by manually actuated Metered dose inhalers with and without spacer. The mean of the ease-of-use score for dry powder inhalers was found to be highest (4.2 ± 0.37) followed by mist inhalers (4.0 ± 0) and manually actuated pressurised metered dose inhalers (4.0 ± 0.71). The nebulisers with facemask were reported to be difficult to use by most of the respondents despite receiving clear instructions from healthcare professionals.// The study findings add evidence to the understudied area of user experiences and perspectives on administration devices for oral and inhalation medicines in India. It highlights a need for initiatives to improve the usability, availability, and affordability of administration devices for children in India. Awareness on the importance of proper use of devices needs to be raised and sustained about the existence of affordable administration devices

In Silico Evaluation of Antifungal Compounds from Marine Sponges against COVID-19-Associated Mucormycosis

The world is already facing the devastating effects of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A disseminated mucormycosis epidemic emerged to worsen this situation, causing havoc, especially in India. This research aimed to perform a multitargeted docking study of marine-sponge-origin bio-active compounds against mucormycosis. Information on proven drug targets and marine sponge compounds was obtained via a literature search. A total of seven different targets were selected. Thirty-five compounds were chosen using the PASS online program. For homology modeling and molecular docking, FASTA sequences and 3D structures for protein targets were retrieved from NCBI and PDB databases. Autodock Vina in PyRx 0.8 was used for docking studies. Further, molecular dynamics simulations were performed using the IMODS server for top-ranked docked complexes. Moreover, the drug-like properties and toxicity analyses were performed using Lipinski parameters in Swiss-ADME, OSIRIS, ProTox-II, pkCSM, and StopTox servers. The results indicated that naamine D, latrunculin A and S, (+)-curcudiol, (+)-curcuphenol, aurantoside I, and hyrtimomine A had the highest binding affinity values of −8.8, −8.6, −9.8, −11.4, −8.0, −11.4, and −9.0 kcal/mol, respectively. In sum, all MNPs included in this study are good candidates against mucormycosis. (+)-curcudiol and (+)-curcuphenol are promising compounds due to their broad-spectrum target inhibition potential. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Minobrnauka: 075-15-2020-777Funding: This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Grant no.: 075-15-2020-777)

Ex-ante Impacts of Rabi Sorghum Technologies in India

The  major  technologies  in  rabi  sorghum  are  classified  as  1.  Crop  Improvement  2.  Crop  Management  and  3.  Markets  and  prices.  The  choice  of  any  combination  depends  on  the  resource  endowments  of  farmers,  access  and  availability  of  quality  inputs  at  the  right  time  and  place  and  the  market  forces.  The  ex‐ante  analysis  of  technologies  considering  different  interventions,  likely  rate  of  adoption  and  costs  and  benefits  of  different  technologies  is  done.

Impact of Potential Technologies for Post-Rainy Season Sorghum (in Maharashtra) and Pearl Millet (in Gujarat, Haryana, and Rajasthan) in India

In  India,  sorghum  is  cultivated  during  rainy  and  post‐rainy  season  in  central  and  western  Maharashtra,  Northern  Karnataka,  Andhra  Pradesh  and  Tamil  Nadu.  Sorghum  is  cultivated  in  Maharashtra  both  for  grain  and  fodder  during  kharif  (on  13.84  lakh  ha)  and  rabi  season  (on  31.12 lakh ha). The rabi sorghum occupied 64 % of sorghum area. In Marathwada rabi sorghum  is cultivated in 10.48 lakh ha, and in Western Maharashtra in 20.14   lakh ha.  HOPE  project  aims  at  increasing  productivity  in  the  target  areas  from  35‐40  %  in  four  years.  Under  this  project  six  clusters  and  12  villages  are  covered   in  Marathwada  and  Western  Maharashtra.    Besides  targeting  improved  varieties,  targeting  on  the  key  recommended  technologies,  management  practices  like  drilling  of  fertilizer  along  with  seed,  seed  treatment,  deep  sowing,  wide  row  spacing,  optimum  plant  population,  Integrated  Pest  Management  (IPM)  and  Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) are crucial. In addition, moisture use efficiency  towards  reducing drought risk is vital.

SARS-COV-2 AND MUCORMYCOSIS: IN SILICO EXPLORATION OF MARINE NATURAL PRODUCTS AS POTENT PROTEIN TARGET INHIBITORS

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of RF (Ref. #075-15-2022-1118, dated 29/06/2022

Crop Credit Flow in Maharashtra, India, with Special Reference to Postrainy Season Sorghum

Agriculture is being increasingly recognized as a commercial activity. Modern farm technology is, to a great extent, capital intensive. Production requires modern inputs of good quality, and it needs expenses to be allocated for mechanization and related costs. The farming community thus requires agriculture credit for various activities such as land development, minor irrigation, farm mechanization and for the purchase of inputs to cultivate annual and perennial crop

Postrainy Season Sorghum Marketing in India: Constraints and Opportunities

Indian agricultural marketing systems function relatively well although a number of critical issues impinge on their efficient functioning. For example, markets in the hinterland are generally thin, localized and segmented - smallholders dominate the agricultural system and this leads to low marketed surplus. The process of price discovery is often non-transparent; markets are ‘multi-level’ with many intermediaries, leading to high transaction/marketing costs, so, to sell their produce, farmers are dependent on intermediaries to avail of credit facilities in interlinked markets (credit/ input and output markets). Lack of grading and storage facilities and lack of information on market intelligence...