AYURVEDIC MANAGEMENT OF STARGARDTS MACULAR DEGENERATION- A CASE REPORT

Stargardts disease is a juvenile macular dystrophy which tends to appear between the ages of 10 to 20, although visual impairment may not be apparent until as late as ages 30 to 40.  Visual acuity including colour vision testing, visual field analysis, ERG, Fundus Fluorescein Angiography and Amsler grid charting are the useful diagnostic techniques for this disease. Even though significant research is taking place in this area, no treatment is available till date for this disease and general approach of macular degeneration is following now. In Ayurveda by considering the visual disturbance and field defect, this disease can be included under one the 12 types of Drishtigata rogas. Pitthavidagdhadrishti is one of the disease explained by Acharya Susrutha in Drishtirogas is more appropriate to define this clinical condition. As there is no common line of management following in these types of diseases in Ayurveda, an attempt has been made to explain a case treated as per the Ayurvedic principles. This article describes a30 year old male patient diagnosed as Stargardts macular degeneration and underwent Ayurvedic treatment protocol starting from the Snehapana and ending with Yogavasthi. By executing the Ayurvedic treatment, the quality of the vision mainly color perception including distant and near acuity is improved at least for a period of four years. The distant vision improved up to 6/24 and near vision N6 (P) in better eye.  The treatment methodology adopted in this case can be taken as a guideline to manage the macular degenerative diseases which need extensive management to tackle the pathology

EFFICACY OF CHEDANA AND LEKHANAKARMA IN PALPEBRAL FORM OF VERNAL KERATOCONJUNCTIVITIS (VKC) – A CASE STUDY

Ocular allergy is often under-diagnosed but has a significant impact on the quality of life and vision in all ages especially in childhood. Although its incidence varies by geographical location, the prevalence is difficult to gauge as allergies tend to be underreported compounded by the difficulty in classification. Vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) is one of the most commonly occurring types of allergic conjunctivitis. It usually appears in three forms i.e., palpebral, bulbar and mixed and predominantly occurs in younger age group between 4-20 years. This chronic disease is characterized by the formation of giant papillae which constantly irritates the cornea and predispose to ectatic corneal disorders like keratoconus and cause myopia and astigmatism. Topical corticosteroids relieve itching, redness and edema but should be used with caution as their constant use are known to cause glaucoma, cataracts, secondary bacterial; viral and fungal infections and delayed wound healing. In Ayurveda, the disease Vartmasharkara shows clinical features similar to this disease and Acharya Susruta has suggested Chedana followed by Lekhana to manage this condition. This article describes the case report of a 12 year old male child who had complaints of palpebral form of VKC. In the present study, it is observed that Ayurvedic management along with Chedana and Lekhanakarma has provided significant relief in all signs and symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis

Assessment of medication adherence in Helicobacter pylori positive patients on standard triple therapy: a prospective study

Background: In the current study patient compliance to the standard triple therapy were assessed. The objective behind this research was to assess the patient medication adherence to the standard triple therapy in Helicobacter pylori infection.Methods: A prospective study was carried out for a period of 1 year and samples were taken from the gastroenterology department. Patient who was RUT (rapid urease test) positive by endoscopy were considered as H. pylori infected and they were prescribed with standard triple therapy. This regimen involves amoxicillin 1000 mg and clarithromycin 500 mg and proton pump inhibitor (PPI) twice a day for 14 days. Adherence to this triple therapy was assessed during the study. Medication adherence assessed using Morisky, Green and Levine (MGL) adherence scale. MGL adherence questionnaire was given to patients during first week and second week of therapy. The patients will be counselled regarding the drug administration, drug related problems and the infection. They were also provided with written instructions in leaflets. 88 patients were analyzed.Results: In this study, 84 patients had a good adherence 95.5%; but other 4.5% didn't fully comply with the physician's order. After the first week of standard triple therapy, adherence was increased to a mean score from 2.193±0.1301 to 3.5227±0.0704 in the second week. The medication adherence score significantly increased along with patient counselling.Conclusions: Medication adherence was improved in the 14 days course along with patient education helped to comply with the standard triple therapy

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Goldfish farming gained more attention among the ornamental fishes in aquaculture industry. The occurrence of bacterial infections and further antimicrobial treatment lead to the major crisis of antibiotic resistance in aquaculture. We have isolated diverse enterobacteriaceae groups which affect the goldfish and identified their response towards 46 antimicrobials of 15 different classes. Thirteen significant bacterial isolates such as Edwardsiella tarda, Serratia marcescens, Klebsiella aerogenes, Proteus penneri, P. hauseri, Enterobacter cloacae, E. cancerogenus, E. ludwigii, Citrobacter freundii, E. coli, Kluyvera cryocrescens, Plesiomonas shigelloides and Providencia vermicola were recovered from the infected fish with the Shannon-wiener diversity index of 2.556. Multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index was found to be maximum for P. penneri (0.87) and minimum for C. freundii and E. cloacae (0.22), highlighting the hyper antibiotic selection pressure in the farm. The minimum concentration of antibiotics required to inhibit most of the resistant isolates was found to be > 256 mcg/ml. All the isolates were susceptible towards ciprofloxacin. Plasmid curing and further AMR tests could reveal the location of antibiotic resistance genes mainly as plasmids which determine the large extent of AMR spread through horizontal gene transfer. This study is the first of its kind to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profile of enterobacteriaceae recovered from goldfish, before and after plasmid curing.Department of Science and Technology (SERB) for providing National Postdoctoral Research fellowship (PDF/2017/000378

Pongamia pinnata : An Untapped Resource for the Biofuels Industry of the Future

Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre is a fast-growing leguminous tree with the potential for high oil seed production and the added benefit of the ability to grow on marginal land. These properties support the suitability of this plant for large-scale vegetable oil production required by a sustainable biodiesel industry. The future success of P. pinnata as a sustainable source of feedstock for the biofuels industry is dependent on an extensive knowledge of the genetics, physiology and propagation of this legume. In particular, research should be targeted to maximizing plant growth as it relates to oil biosynthesis. This review assesses and integrates the biological, chemical and genetic attributes of the plant, providing the basis for future research into Pongamia’s role in an emerging industry