A study on pattern of adverse drug reaction in an adverse drug reaction monitoring centre of a tertiary care hospital in South Kerala, India

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADR) are rated as fifth leading cause of death and accounts for approximately 5% of all hospital admissions. Under reporting of ADR from healthcare professional is considered as the contributing factor for increased morbidity and mortality. India has taken well appreciated step to launch Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI) to safeguard heath care of Indian population. This study looks into the detailed analysis of ADR reported to adverse drug reaction monitoring centre (AMC), Government Medical College, Trivandrum to assess its pattern, causality, severity and seriousness of ADR. Primary objectives of this study are the pattern of adverse drug reactions reported to ADR monitoring centre (AMC) and secondary objective is to assess causality, severity.Methods: A record based descriptive study was conducted in the ADR monitoring centre of government medical college, Trivandrum, Kerala from September 1st  2016 to February 2017(6 months). The data were collected from the all reported case records/ ADR report form of CDSCO. The details of the various adverse drug reactions were identified and analysed to find the pattern of adverse drug reactions including distribution of age, gender, causal drug group, system organ class. Also, an attempt is made to do causality assessment using WHO UMC scale and severity by using Heart wig Seigel Scale.Results: Out of 320 ADR cases, majority of reports were due to cutaneous manifestations. Most common ADRs were erythema, induration, and rash, itching. Females were 56% and males were 44%. Majority cases were of adult age group. Causality 91.88% were probably related, 75.6% were mild reaction. 25% of cases were serious. 77.5% were recovered. Antibacterial implicated 25(7.8%) followed by anti-epileptics 24 (7.5%) ADR.Conclusions: The pattern of adverse drug reactions reported to this AMC is comparable to the studies done in other parts of country. A strong need for streamlining of ADR monitoring system and reporting reemphasized by this study, which will promote the ADR reporting in healthcare professionals

Electrochemical modelling of Li-ion battery pack with constant voltage cycling

In a battery pack, cell-to-cell chemical variation, or the variation in operating conditions, can possibly lead to current imbalance which can accelerate pack ageing. In this paper, the Pseudo-TwoDimensional(P2D) porous electrode model is extended to a battery pack layout, to predict the overall behaviour and the cell-to-cell variation under constant voltage charging and discharging. The algorithm used in this model offers the flexibility in extending the layout to any number of cells in a pack, which can be of different capacities, chemical characteristics and physical dimensions. The coupled electrothermal effects such as differential cell ageing, temperature variation, porosity change and their effects on the performance of the pack, can be predicted using this modelling algorithm. The pack charging voltage is found to have an impact on the performance as well as the SEI layer growth. Numerical studies are conducted by keeping the cells at different thermal conditions and the results show the necessity to increase the heat transfer coefficient to cool the pack, compared to single cell. The results show that the thermal imbalance has more impact than the change in inter-connecting resistance on the split current distribution, which accelerates the irreversible porous filling and ageing

A mass transfer based variable porosity model with particle radius change for a Lithium-ion battery

Micro pore-clogging in the electrodes due to SEI growth and other side reactions can cause adverse effects on the performance of a Lithium-ion battery. The fundamental problem of volume fraction variation and particle radius change during the charge-discharge process in a lithium-ion battery is modelled in this paper with the help of mass transfer based formulation and demonstrated on a battery with LiCoO2 chemistry. The model can handle the volume fraction change due to intercalation reaction, solvent reduction side reaction and the electrolyte density change due to side reaction contamination in the battery. The entire calculation presented in this paper models particle radius and volume fraction together and therefore gives greater accuracy in calculating the volume-specific-area of the reacting particles which is an important parameter controlling the Butler-Volmer kinetics. The mass deposit on the electrode (or loss of lithium) gives an indication of the amount of pre-lithiation required to maintain cell performance while the amount of mass deposited on the SEI helps to decide the safe operating condition for which the clogging of pores and capacity fade will be minimal. Moreover the model presented in this paper has wide applicability in analysing the stress development inside the battery due to irreversible porous filling

Use of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) to distinguish between nematodes of pathogenic significance

The availability of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) would be useful for studying the extent of diversity among morpholgically indistinguishable populations of filarial parasites. Such polymorphisms may be useful in correlating various physiological and clinical differences with parasite heterogeneity. In order to identify such RFLPs, we isolated DNA from microfilaria of 6 filarial species (Acanthocheilonema viteae, Brugia malayi, Brugia pahangi, Dirofilaria immitis, Litomosoides carinii and Setaria digitatum), digested the DNA with several restriction endonucleases, prepared Southern blots and probed with 32P-labelled DSA probes. The patterns of fragments generated using two restriction endonucleases, Mbo I and Taq I, in combination with two probes, rDNA from the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, and pBM103, an anonymous DNA probe from B. malayi, unequivocally distinguish between all 6 of the species. To ensure that the differences we observed between the species represent true interspecies variation rather than fortuitous individual variations we analysed DNA from several individual B. malayi and B. pahangi worms. The individual B. malayi worms demonstrated restriction profiles that were invariant, as did the individual B. pahangi worms, demonstrating that the differences we observed were true interspecies variations

EVALUATION OF STANDARDS OF SOME SELECTED COSMETIC PREPARATIONS

The aim of the present work is to analyze the standards of marketed cosmetic products which are largely consumed in day to day life of the people. The cosmeceutical should be tested for efficacy to ensure a proven skin benefit and also to substantiate marketing claims. The work was done by keeping the ideas of Bureau of Indian Standards to analyze the cosmetic products. The evaluation for the following cosmetics such as tooth pastes (Colgate, Closeup, Pepsodent, Vicco and Anchor) and face powders (Ponds, Eva, Fa, Cuticura and Spinz) are performed for their quality. All the marketed tooth pastes and face powders which had been evaluated complied with the standards specified by Bureau of Indian Standards. Hence all the selected marketed tooth pastes and selected face powders were found to be of good quality

Modified electrochemical parameter estimation of NCR18650BD battery using implicit finite volume method

The Pseudo Two Dimensional (P2D) porous electrode model is less preferred for real time calculations due to the high computational expense and complexity in obtaining the wide range of electro-chemical parameters despite of its superior accuracy. This paper presents a finite volume based method for re-parametrising the P2D model for any cell chemistry with uncertainty in determining precise electrochemical parameters. The re-parametrisation is achieved by solving a quadratic form of the Butler-Volmer equation and modifying the anode open circuit voltage based on experimental values. Thus the only experimental result, needed to re-parametrise the cell, reduces to the measurement of discharge voltage for any C-rate. The proposed method is validated against the 1C discharge data and an actual drive cycle of a NCR18650BD battery with NCA chemistry when driving in an urban environment with frequent accelerations and regenerative braking events. The error limit of the present model is compared with the electro-chemical prediction of LiyCoO2 battery and found to be superior to the accuracy of the model presented in the literature

Of Genes and Antigens: The Inheritance of Psoriasis

Psoriasis is one of a number of autoimmune diseases that display significant HLA associations. In particular, individuals with onset of disease prior to 40 years of age display striking associations with HLA-Cw6 and are much more likely to have a positive family for psoriasis. However, only about 10% of Cw6-positive individuals develop disease, suggesting that other genetic and/or environmental factors must be involved. Several compelling lines of epidemiologic evidence indicate that psoriasis susceptibility is inherited, albeit not in a simple monogenic fashion, and that genetic, rather than environmental, factors are primarily responsible for the variability in inheritance of psoriasis. Taken together, these observations suggest that one or more loci in addition to HLA are necessary for the development of psoriasis. The number of additional loci is likely to be small, because i) the disease is very common ii) substantial excess risk of psoriasis is observed in first degree relatives, and iii) nevoid variants of psoriasis have been reported, suggestive of somatic mutation of a single gene during development. The substantial homogeneity of the psoriatic phenotype and the clear evidence for increased HLA association and heritability in juvenile onset disease indicate that despite its complexity, psoriasis is a common disease whose etiology is amenable to elucidation through the techniques of modern molecular genetics. J Invest Dermatol 103:150S-153S, 199

Comparison of MHC class I risk haplotypes in Thai and Caucasian psoriatics shows locus heterogeneity at PSORS1

Earlier studies have shown that psoriasis in Japan and Thailand is associated with two different major histocompatibility complex (MHC) haplotypes – those bearing HLA-Cw6 and those bearing HLA-Cw1 and HLA-B46. In an independent case-control sample from Thailand, we confirmed the association of psoriasis with both haplotypes. No association was seen in Thai HLA-Cw1 haplotypes lacking HLA-B46 , nor was HLA-Cw1 associated with psoriasis in a large Caucasian sample. To assess whether these risk haplotypes share a common origin, we sequenced genomic DNA from a Thai HLA-Cw1-B46 homozygote across the ∼300 kb MHC risk interval, and compared it with sequence of a HLA-Cw6-B57 risk haplotype. Three small regions of homology were found, but these regions share equivalent sequence similarity with one or more clearly non-risk haplotypes, and they contain no polymorphism alleles unique to all risk haplotypes. Differences in psoriasis phenotype were also observed, including lower risk of disease, greater nail involvement, and later age at onset in HLA-Cw1-B46 carriers compared with HLA-Cw6 carriers. These findings suggest locus heterogeneity at PSORS1 (psoriasis susceptibility 1), the major psoriasis susceptibility locus in the MHC, with HLA-Cw6 imparting risk in both Caucasians and Asians, and an allele other than HLA-Cw1 on the HLA-Cw1-B46 haplotype acting as an additional risk variant in East Asians.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79072/1/TAN_1526_sm_tables1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79072/2/j.1399-0039.2010.01526.x.pd

Proximity-induced ferromagnetism and chemical reactivity in few-layer VSe2 heterostructures

Among transition-metal dichalcogenides, mono and few-layers thick VSe2 has gained much recent attention following claims of intrinsic room-temperature ferromagnetism in this system, which have nonetheless proved controversial. Here, we address the magnetic and chemical properties of Fe/VSe2 heterostructure by combining element sensitive x-ray absorption spectroscopy and photoemission spectroscopy. Our x-ray magnetic circular dichroism results confirm recent findings that both native mono/few-layer and bulk VSe2 do not show intrinsic ferromagnetic ordering. Nonetheless, we find that ferromagnetism can be induced, even at room temperature, after coupling with a Fe thin film layer, with antiparallel alignment of the moment on the V with respect to Fe. We further consider the chemical reactivity at the Fe/VSe2 interface and its relation with interfacial magnetic coupling