The protective effect of L. siceraria against depression using behavioural despair animal models

Background: In recent years, the search for novel pharmacotherapy from medicinal plants for psychiatric illness was significantly progressed. The present study was performed to evaluate the antidepressant activity of ethanolic extract of Lagenaria siceraria in animal models.Methods: The antidepressant activity of ethanolic extract of the fruit of L. siceraria in rats was assessed using forced swim test and tail suspension test. Imipramine at 15 mg/kg was used as standard antidepressant drug.Results: The ethanolic extract of L. siceraria fruit (EELS) was significantly and dose-dependently reduced the duration of immobility after repeated treatment for 7 days in Forced swim test and Tail suspension Test. But combination of L. siceraria (200mg/kg) with Imipramine gave a highly significant result (p<0.001) in reduction of immobility duration and the effect of high dose (400mg/kg) with imipramine (15mg/kg) did not decrease the duration of immobility period in both animal models at end of the study. In this work the dose of 400mg/kg afforded more protection than the imipramine.Conclusions: The results obtained from this study was indicate that the antidepressant activity of L. siseraria

A randomized controlled study of nebulized 3% saline versus 0.9% saline with adrenaline in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis

Objective: The objective was to determine whether nebulized hypertonic (3%) saline with adrenaline is more effective than nebulized0.9% saline with adrenaline in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis. Materials and Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, controlledstudy 100 patients were randomly allocated into two groups (50 patients in each group). In Group A (normal saline group), 4 ml ofnormal saline (0.9%) and 1 ml of 1:1,000 adrenaline was given as nebulization with oxygen flow of 6-8 L/min. In Group B (hypertonicsaline group), 4 ml of hypertonic saline (3%) and 1 ml of 1:1,000 adrenaline was given as nebulization with oxygen flow of 6-8 L/min.The nebulization was given at an interval of 4 h, 6 times daily till the patient was ready for discharge. Results: The percentageimprovement in clinical severity scores after inhalation therapy was not significant in Group A on 1st-3rd day after admission (3.4%,2.1%, and 4%, respectively). In Group B, significant improvement was observed on these days (7.4%, 8.7%, and 9.9%, respectively,p&lt;0.001). Furthermore, the improvement in clinical severity scores differed significantly on each of these days between the two groups.Using 3% saline decreased the hospitalization stay by 25%, from 3.4±1.7 days in Group A to 2.5±1.4 days in Group B (p&lt;0.05).Conclusion: In the treatment of acute bronchiolitis, 3% saline nebulization with adrenaline decreases the length of hospitalization andsymptoms as compared to 0.9% saline nebulization

Polymorphous Low-Grade Adenocarcinoma

Polymorphous low-grade adenocarcinoma (PLGA) is a rare, malignant salivary gland tumor commonly affecting the minor salivary glands, histologically showing morphological diversity and a low metastatic potential. Hereby reporting a case of PLGA in a 58-year-old male patient showing involvement of antral floor

Serum cortisol level in indian patients with severe sepsis/septic shock

Background: The relationship between cortisol level and sepsis is not known in Indian patients of severe sepsis/septic shock. Aims: The study was done to determine the optimal range of cortisol levels, defining the adrenocortical response, and predicting the mortality, if possible, in the above type of patients. Settings and Designs: The study was a single-centered prospective cohort study, conducted in a tertiary referral center, North India. Materials and Methods: Sixty patients with severe sepsis (n = 30) and septic shock (n = 30) were recruited. Basal and postcosyntropin (1 μg)-stimulated cortisol levels were measured, and all patients were closely monitored with daily assessments of clinical and laboratory variables. Western diagnostic criteria were followed for defining adrenal insufficiency (AI). The end point was the survival assessed at day 28 or death, whichever came earlier. Results: The mean basal (T0) and poststimulation (T30) cortisol levels were 31.77 ± 15.9 μg/dL and 37.58 ± 17.31 μg/dL, respectively. In all sepsis patients, 48.33% qualified as AI at T0 ≤ 24 μg/dL, 61.67% at delta cortisol (Δ = T30-T0) ≤7 μg/dL, and 78.33% at Δ ≤9 μg/dL. Using receiver operating characteristic curve, the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.4954, signifying poor prediction to death. Conclusions: Indians have completely different characteristics of cortisol levels in sepsis patients, in comparison to the Western data. They have higher range of basal cortisol levels, higher percentage of AI, and an inability to predict mortality with the cortisol levels. Hence, there is requirement of an international study to confirm the dichotomy of the results

Evaporation of biomass fast pyrolysis oil: Evaluation of char formation

Evaporation experiments of biomass fast pyrolysis oil and its aqueous fractions at low (TGA-10°C/min, Glass tube-100°C/min) and high (atomization ~10 6°C/min) heating rates are performed. Slow heating of pyrolysis oil produced ~28% char (on carbon basis), whereas atomization of oil droplets (~117µm) produced ~9% char in the temperature range of 500-850°C. Aqueous fractions and glucose solutions also produced less amount of char by evaporating at higher heating rates (~3% char) when compared with slower heating (~24% char). The results obtained show that not a single lumped components class in pyrolysis oil can be identified that is primarily responsible for the char formation. At low heating rate, higher concentrations of organics in the bioliquids result in higher char yields, which reveals that a certain fraction in the oil produce char with a reaction order higher than one (polymerization reactions). The measured trends in char yield can be described by a model in which certain fraction of oil is converted by two parallel reactions to char and gas/vapor

Evaporation of pyrolysis oil: Product distribution and residue char analysis\ud

The evaporation of pyrolysis oil was studied at varying heating rates (∼1–106°C/min) with surrounding temperatures up to 850°C. A total product distribution (gas, vapor, and char) was measured using two atomizers with different droplet sizes. It was shown that with very high heating rates (∼106°C/min) the amount of char was significantly lowered (∼8%, carbon basis) compared to the maximum amount, which was produced at low heating rates using a TGA (∼30%, carbon basis; heating rate 1°C/min). The char formation takes place in the 100–350°C liquid temperature range due to polymerization reactions of compounds in the pyrolysis oil. All pyrolysis oil fractions (whole oil, pyrolytic lignin, glucose and aqueous rich/lean phase) showed charring behavior. The pyrolysis oil chars age when subjected to elevated temperatures (≥700°C), show similar reactivity toward combustion and steam gasification compared with chars produced during fast pyrolysis of solid biomass. However, the structure is totally different where the pyrolysis oil char is very light and fluffy. To use the produced char in conversion processes (energy or syngas production), it will have to be anchored to a carrie