OPUNTIA ELATIOR MILL.–ITS PHYTOCHEMISTRY AND PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES-A REVIEW

Opuntia elatior Mill. (OE) (Family Cactaceae), commonly recognized as Red Prickly pear, is a plant of varied nutritional and medicinal benefits. The species has been scrutinized for the composition and wide array of pharmacological activities. This review is attempted with an aim to document the updated status of OE with respect to its phytochemistry and pharmacological actions. The data is collected from the extensive review of literatures from scientific articles, dissertations and books available on various web-based search engines such as Pub-med, Google-scholar and Science direct and few unpublished observations. The fruit is reported to be rich in carbohydrates, flavonoids, phenolics, betalains, vitamin C and minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, and potassium. Extract and the fruit as a whole are reported for anti-oxidant, hematinic, anti-leukemic, anti-diabetic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory, anti-fertility, broncho-dilatory, mast cell degranulation, radio-protective and anti-arthritic activities. It is reported to be safe for administration in a dose dependent manner. OE is a nutritionally and medicinally important drug with a wide range of traditional and pharmacological applications. There is a vast scope for research on the varied traditional claims of this drug. This review might help for the further research on the species

Intra-articular dexmedetomidine and clonidine for postoperative analgesia in arthroscopic knee surgery

Background: Many drugs have been used for postoperative pain management which is a common and distressing symptom after knee arthroscopy. But no single ideal intra-articular drug has been found. This study was done to assess the efficacy of intra-articular dexmedetomidine and clonidine for postoperative pain relief in patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgeries.Methods: Fifty  patients of American Society of Anaesthesiologists of  grade I/II, aged 20-70 years posted for arthroscopic knee surgery were randomly divided into groups I (clonidine group) and group II (dexmedetomidine group). 25 patients in group I received  1 µg/ kg of clonidine diluted to 20 ml in normal saline and group II patients received 1 µg/kg of dexmedetomidine diluted to 20 ml in normal saline via intra-articular route at the end of the surgery. Visual analogue score (VAS), time to give the first dose of analgesia and total dose of analgesic required in first 24 hours was evaluated in each group.Results: VAS score was lower and time to first analgesic requirement was greater in Group II in comparison to Group I which was statistically significant. Total dose of analgesic used in Group II patients was significantly less compared to patients in Group I which was statistically significant. Conclusions: Intra-articular dexmedetomidine is more effective in providing prolonged postoperative analgesia after arthroscopic knee procedures and reduces the total dose of analgesic required postoperatively compared to clonidine.

EFFECT OF SHODHANA (PURIFICATION/PROCESSING) ON POWDER MICROSCOPICAL AND ANALYTICAL PARAMETERS OF GUNJA (ABRUS PRECATORIUS LINN.) SEEDS

Objective: Seeds of Gunja (Abrus precatorius Linn.) are being used by the Ayurvedic physicians for the management of different diseases only after proper shodhana (processing) with some specific media like godugdha (cow's milk), kanji (sour gruel) and nimbu swarasa (lemon juice). The impact of shodhana on gunja seed through microscopical and analytical profile have not been studied and reported scientifically yet. Hence, the present study has been designed to evaluate the effect of shodhana on phyto-pharmacognostical characters of Gunja seeds.Methods: Red variety of Gunja seeds were processed with cow's milk for six hours whereas sour gruel, lemon juice and water (as control) for three hours following the standard procedures for swedana (boiling), recommended by the classical text of Ayurveda. The obtained seeds were investigated for their powder microscopical characters and phytochemical characters like preliminary phytochemical screening (qualitative test) and quantitative estimation for protein following standard protocol.Results: Organoleptic study shows variations in colour, odour, taste and appearance in all samples (coarse powder) after shodhana. Powder microscopical study highlights some changes like more number of oil globules in godugdha (cow's milk) shodhita and starch grains in kanji (sour gruel) shodhita gunja seeds. Preliminary phytochemical screening reveals the presence of alkaloids, saponin glycoside, flavonoids, reducing sugar, etc. and protein estimation shows the minimization of protein contents in most of the sample after shodhana.Conclusion: The observed data can be helpful to delineate the impact of shodhana process on gunja seeds.Â

Prevalence of menopausal symptoms and its association with various factors among women in post menopausal age group: a cross-sectional study

Background: Menopause is an important time in women's life and it is a natural event in the process of aging. The onset of menopause heralds a time of diminished estrogen exposure, which may have both acute and chronic effect on health and quality of life.Methods: It was a cross sectional study, conducted for a period of 3months i.e. June to August 2018 among post menopausal women in 8 selected villages with a sample size of 247.Results: The common post- menopausal symptoms were joint and muscular discomfort, bladder problems, symptoms of dryness of vagina, physical and mental exhaustion. Factors like education, occupation, socio-economic status, marital status, parity, mode of delivery, age at menopause and BMI was related to one or more menopausal symptoms.  Conclusions: Proper and timely intervention among post menopausal women will help to reduce the symptoms and lead a better quality of life.

OPEN LABEL COMPARATIVE CLINICAL TRIAL OF DVIPANCHAMOOLADI TAILA AND KSHEERABALA TAILA MATRA VASTI IN THE MANAGEMENT OF LOW BACK ACHE

Low back pain is a leading cause of disability, interferes with quality of life and work performance, and is the most common reason for medical consultations. Few cases of back pain are due to specific causes; most cases are non-specific. The most common presentation is acute back pain and is usually self-limiting, lasting less than three months regardless of treatment. Chronic back pain is a more difficult problem, which often has strong pathological and psychological overlay like work dissatisfaction, boredom, and a generous compensation system contribute to it. Among the diagnoses lumbar spondylosis is blamed. No single treatment is superior to others; even surgery is seldom successful at alleviating it. Hence a clinical study was conducted on 30 patients with classical sign and symptoms of Katigraha (LBA) with an aim to find out the effectiveness of Dvipanchamooladi taila Matra basti (oil enemata of an indigenous compound). The patients were randomly divided in to two groups 15 patients in each. Group I (Trial) administered with Dvipanchamooladi taila matra basti and Group II (Control) – Ksheerabala taila Matra basti (enemata prepared by processing Sida Cordifolia root with milk and sesame oil) for a total period of nine days. The trial drug being potentiated by its inherent properties like anti-inflammatory, anodyne etc. exhibited favorable result with an effectiveness of 87.30% to reduce the sign and symptom of low back ache & the effect of the trial therapy were statistically highly significant with a p-value of > 0.01 in the management of Low back ache

Formation of Morphable 3D­model of Large Scale Natural Sites by Using Image Based Modeling and Rendering Techniques

No global 3D model of the environment needs to be assembled, a process which can be extremely cumbersome and error prone for large scale scenes e.g. the global registration of multiple local models can accumulate a great amount of error, while it also presumes a very accurate extraction of the underlying geometry. On the contrary, neither any such accurate geometric reconstruction of the individual local 3D models nor a very precise registration between them is required by our framework in order that it can produce satisfactory results. This paper presents an application of LP based MRF optimization techniques and also we have turned our attention to a different re­ search topic: the proposal of novel image based modeling and rendering methods, which are capable of automatically reproducing faithful (i.e. photorealistic) digital copies of complex 3D virtual environments, while also allowing the virtual exploration of these environments at interactive frame rates

A COMPARATIVE PHARMACOGNOSTICAL EVALUATION OF THREE BOTANICAL SOURCE PLANTS OF JIVANTI

Objective: This study was undertaken to carry out a comparative pharmacognostical evaluation of three botanical source plants used in the name of classical Ayurvedic drug Jivanti.Methods: Leaves of three source plants of jivanti belonging to Asclepiadaceae family i.e. Leptadenia reticulata (Retz.), Holostemma ada-kodien Schult. and Wattakaka volubilis (Linn. f.) Stapf were evaluated for morphological and microscopical characters including quantitative microscopy, surface study, powder microscopy and histochemical studies.Results: Morphologically all the three species showed some similar characters like simple, opposite leaves with reticulate venation. The shape of the leaves were ovate to oblong in L reticulata and H ada-kodien whereas W volubilis was having broadly ovate or suborbicular leaves. Multicellular glandular warty trichomes, rosette crystals of calcium oxalate, lactiferous cells were observed in all the three species whereas prismatic crystals were also present in W volubilis. Palisade ratio and stomatal index were higher in H ada-kodien followed by L reticulata. Characteristic differences in the organoleptic characters like colour, taste, touch were observed in individual powder samples. Test for lignin, calcium oxalate crystal, starch grain and tannin showed a positive result in all the three samples.Conclusion: The present study reports specific pharmacognostical characteristics for the identification and differentiation of each botanical source plant. The observed results can also serve as a reference for any further investigations

Total knee replacement: a randomized study of clonidine and dexmedetomidine used for epidural postoperative analgesia

Background: Epidural anaesthesia with adjuvant is the preferred method for intra and postoperative pain relief after total knee replacement surgeries   but search for ideal adjuvant for prolonging the duration of postoperative analgesia without any side effect goes on. This study was conducted to evaluate the onset, extent and duration of sensory and motor block and side effects of clonidine or dexmedetomidine when used as an adjuvant in epidural anaesthesia in total knee replacement.Methods: 60 patients of ASA status I and II, posted for total knee replacement were randomly allocated into two groups of 30 each. Group I group patients received 18 ml of 0.5% levobupivacaine and clonidine 2 mcg/kg in epidural route and Group II group patients received 18 ml of 0.5% levobupivacaine and dexmedetomidine 1.5 mcg/kg in epidural route. Intraoperative and postoperative block characteristics as well as hemodynamic parameters were observed and recorded.Results: Dexmedetomidine had an earlier onset and longer duration of sensory and motor block in comparison to clonidine. Sedation scores were statistically significant with dexmedetomidine group in comparison to clonidine group.Conclusions: Dexmedetomidine was a better than clonidine as an adjuvant to levobupivacaine in epidural anaesthesia in total knee replacement

ASSESSMENT OF EFFECT OF SHODHANA ON PHYTOCHEMICAL AND CHROMATOGRAPHICAL PROFILE OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF CLASSICAL PROCESSED DANTI (BALIOSPERMUM MONTANUM WILLD.) ROOT

Objective: Ayurveda recommends the use of Danti root after Shodhana (Processing/Purification) where the powder Pippali (Piperlongum Linn.) fruit, honey and Kusha (Desmostachya bippinata Stapf.) leaves are being used. But the additive effect of all these drugs on Danti root are yet to be explored scientifically. Principal component analysis (PCA), a multivariate data analysis technique targeting to assess the discrimination effect of psychic nut, for evaluating the additive effect, can be used to assess the effect of Shodhana on preliminary physicochemical, phytochemical parameters upon four levels of Danti (Baliospermum montanum Willd.) root.Methods: Roots of raw Danti, after proper botanical authentication, were subjected for classically recommended Shodhana procedure and four groups of Danti root like raw Danti (RD), Classical processed Danti root (CPDR), Kusha processed Danti root (KPDR), water processed Danti root (WPDR) were obtained at various levels of Danti Shodhana. Methanolic macerated extracts of all four Danti root groups were subjected for preliminary physicochemical, phytochemical and chromatographic screening. The obtained data were analyzed with the help of the Un-scrambler Camo Software for multivariate data analysis.Results: The methanolic and water extractive value of CPDR group is more than remaining sections holding lower ash value and high-intensity colour reaction during phytochemical screenings of steroid, flavonoid etc.Conclusion: Analysis of PCA technique suggests a similar trend in between RD and KPDR group while CPDR and WPDR on a different in score plot