MONSTER PHASE OF ACETAMINOPHEN USE IN PREGNANCY: CURRENT VISION OF AN OLD DRUG

In various countries, Acetaminophen [APAP] is the frequently used painkiller found in hundreds of medications during pregnancy. It has been broadly used for eras and health care professionals prefer acetaminophen as a choice during pregnancy for relieving pain and fever. Current research reports bothersome inclinations in the rate of acetaminophen exposure and related pregnancy outcome. The exposure of pregnant women to acetaminophen is of great concern. Existing literature evidence shows that acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy may leads to preterm birth, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, male infertility, asthma in pediatrics. Therefore, the prophylactic anticipation of acetaminophen exposure can be a far-sighted approach in order to safeguard humans and wildlife from enduring dangerous effects. This article reviews the epidemiological findings and aims to shed awareness into the second generation outcome of an old drug in pregnant women

Epidemiology and control strategies of novel coronavirus disease in the context of India

An outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) occurred for the first time in Wuhan, China which spread as a pandemic to various countries of the world, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. Death toll in India on 8th February 2021 was 1,55,080. India had implemented steps such as lockdown and advised social distancing, washing of hands, and wearing masks to reduce the burden of Covid-19. This review discusses the epidemiological features, the population at risk and control strategies of novel coronavirus disease in India. The data was collected from various sources on individual details of Covid-19 cases, population density and affluence percentage from the literature studied. The data was used to analyse the susceptibility of the population to this disease. It was found that Indian males, age group 20 to 40 (based on morbidity) and above 60 (based on mortality) were at high risk. The authors compiled epidemiology, management and control strategies of covid-19 in India. Therefore, because of various early implementations, India has managed the disease well earlier, but in the current scenario (30 Nov 2020) morbidity and mortality have been at peak. Immunization of frontline workers started on 16th January 2021. Initially, 7,017,411 doses of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines have been given by 10th February 2021. Thus, the existing strategies like proper diagnosis, treatment, and successful implementation of vaccine inoculation will reduce covid-19 burden and may lead to normalcy

Characterization of haemocytes of the Indian edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston)

The haemocytes of the Indian edible oyster Crassostrea madrasensis were characterized using light and electron microscopy. The light microscopic study was conducted by staining a monolayer of the haemocytes with Geimsa. Cells without granules and with a large nucleus occupying much of the cytoplasmic area were grouped as hyalinocytes. Those with lesser amounts of basophilic cytoplasmic granules were characterized as semigranulocytes and those with large amounts of a mixture of acidophilic and basophilic granules were termed as granulocytes. Ultrastructural studies also revealed the presence of three types of haemocytes. Scanning electron microscopic studies were used to study the spreading behaviour of the haemocytes. Cytochemical studies revealed the presence of acidphosphatase, peroxidase and prophenol oxidase in the cells

Modulation of selected hemolymph factors in the Indian edible oyster Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston) upon challenge by Vibrio alginolyticus

Juveniles of Crassostrea madrasensis (mean weight 85.5 ± 2.3 g) were exposed to live cells of Vibrio alginolyticus (1.2 x 106 cells g-1) by intramuscular injection. Hemolymph samples were collected at different time intervals to study the modulations in the cellular and humoral factors. There was an increase in total hemocyte count, percentage granulocytes, serum protein, serum acid phosphatase, serum phenol oxidase and serum lysozyme in response to bacterial challenge upto three to five days post-injection. A decrease in the ability of hemocytes to phagocytose yeast cells was also noted. The hemolymph parameters of the test group became similar to that of control animals within two weeks of exposure to live bacterial cells

Impact of repeated NeemAzal®-treated blood meals on the fitness of Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes

Background: Herbal remedies are widely used in many malaria endemic countries to treat patients, in particular in the absence of anti-malarial drugs and in some settings to prevent the disease. Herbal medicines may be specifically designed for prophylaxis and/or for blocking malaria transmission to benefit both, the individual consumer and the community at large. Neem represents a good candidate for this purpose due to its inhibitory effects on the parasite stages that cause the clinical manifestations of malaria and on those responsible for infection in the vector. Furthermore, neem secondary metabolites have been shown to interfere with various physiological processes in insect vectors. This study was undertaken to assess the impact of the standardised neem extract NeemAzal® on the fitness of the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi following repeated exposure to the product through consecutive blood meals on treated mice. Methods: Batches of An. stephensi mosquitoes were offered 5 consecutive blood meals on female BALB/c mice treated with NeemAzal® at an azadirachtin A concentration of 60, 105 or 150 mg/kg. The blood feeding capacity was estimated by measuring the haematin content of the rectal fluid excreted by the mosquitoes during feeding. The number of eggs laid was estimated by image analysis and their hatchability assessed by direct observations. Results: A dose and frequency dependent impact of NeemAzal® treatment on the mosquito feeding capacity, oviposition and egg hatchability was demonstrated. In the 150 mg/kg treatment group, the mosquito feeding capacity was reduced by 50% already at the second blood meal and by 50 to 80% in all treatment groups at the fifth blood meal. Consequently, a 50 – 65% reduction in the number of eggs laid per female mosquito was observed after the fifth blood meal in all treatment groups. Similarly, after the fifth treated blood meal exposure, hatchability was found to be reduced by 62% and 70% in the 105 and 150 mg/kg group respectively. Conclusions: The findings of this study, taken together with the accumulated knowledge on neem open the challenging prospects of designing neem-based formulations as multi-target phytomedicines exhibiting preventive, parasite transmission-blocking as well as anti-vectorial properties. Keywords: Malaria, Vectors, Neem, Azadirachtin, Transmission-blocking, Anti-vectoria

Effect of copper toxicity on the hemolymph factors of the Indian edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston)

The Indian edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis collected from the backwaters of Kochi, India were exposed to three sub-lethal concentrations of copper viz. 0.1, 0.5 and 1 ppm at a salinity of 12 ppt. Modulations in different heamolymph factors such as total hemocyte count, differential hemocyte count, phagocytosis, serum protein, serum acid phosphatase, serum phenol oxidase and serum lysozyme were studied. It was found that, the lowest concentration of copper had a stimulating effect on all the parameters studied. However, at higher concentrations except serum lysozyme all the hemolymph parameters studied showed significant reduction. Although copper could act as an immunostimulant at lower doses, it significantly reduced the disease resistance of the species at concentrations above 0.5 ppm in mesohaline waters

Effect of salinity on the hemocyte profile and phagocytosis in the Indian edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston)

Effect of salinity on the hemocyte profile and phagocytosis in the Indian edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston) Groups of Indian edible oysters (Crassostrea madrasensis) of average size 6.6 + 1.5 cm x 4.2 + 0.2 cm, were maintained at different salinities of 6, 12,25 and 35 ppt for a period of 1 month. On termination of the experiment, hemolymph samples were withdrawn from adductor muscle sinuses and analyzed for total hemocyte counts, differential hemocyte counts and phagocytic function of the hemocytes. The results revealed that the total hemocyte counts were significantly high at 35 ppt and it was mainly contributed by semigranulocytes. In animals maintained at all other salinity levels, hemocyte counts did not show significant variations. The phagocytic index was significantly low (p < 0.05) in oysters maintained at 6 and 35 ppt salinities compared to other treatment groups

Inflammatory reactions of the Indian edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston) and its modulations on exposure to Nuvan and copper

Inflammatory responses in the Indian edible oyster Crassostrea madrasensis under apparently normal conditions and on exposure to an organophosphorous pesticide (Nuvan) and a heavy metal (copper) were studied. The inflammation was induced in the adductor muscle by injecting Freund’s complete adjuvant. The animals were exposed to these pollutants for 14 days. Samples were examined histologically at 24 hours, and on the 3rd and 7th day. In the animals that were maintained in apparently normal conditions, initially there was mild to moderate infiltration of hemocytes, which secreted proteinaceous material. At later stages, the hemocytes were found to excrete fibrin like shreds, which were observed radiating from small cells. Finally, these hemocytes (fibrocytes) aggregated into nodules, in which some of the cells assumed a spindle shape and were arranged in concentric layers, forming a mass of cells. In Nuvan and copper exposed animals, the inflammatory reactions were very much subdued

Filtering Algorithm for Real Eigenvalue Bounds of Interval and Fuzzy Generalized Eigenvalue Problems

This paper deals with an interval and fuzzy generalized eigenvalue problem involving uncertain parameters. Based on a sufficient regularity condition for intervals, an interval filtering eigenvalue procedure for generalized eigenvalue problems with interval parameters is proposed, which iteratively eliminates the parts that do not contain an eigenvalue and thus reduces the initial eigenvalue bound to a precise bound. The same iterative procedure has been proposed for generalized fuzzy eigenvalue problems. In general, the solution of dynamic problems of structures using the finite element method (FEM) leads to a generalized eigenvalue problem. Based on the proposed procedures, various structural examples with an interval and fuzzy parameter such as triangular fuzzy number (TFN) are investigated to show the efficiency of the algorithms stated. Finally, fuzzy filtered eigenvalue bounds are depicted by fuzzy plots using the α-cut

Radiopaque materials from natural polymers: Special emphasis on chitosan and natural rubber

The present work is to impart radiopacity in various natural polymers like chitosan, natural rubber and derivatives of chitosan and to characterize it. This thesis collated the radiopaque properties of these radiopaque polymers and various technological applications in the medical field. The applications of radiopaque polymers leads to an exploitation of radiopaque properties like X-ray visibility, optical density, effective atomic number, attenuation coefficient of biopolymers like chitosan, chitosan formate, chitosan acetate, carboxy methyl chitosan and natural rubber. The radiopaqe properties of these materials highly depend upon the size, shape, amount of radiopacifier and crystallinity of the radiopaque material. Radiopaque chitosan microspheres were prepared by cross linking with glutaraldehyde followed by the encapsulation of barium sulpahte. The effect of different emulsion systems on the morphology of chitosan microspheres were studied. The study concentrates radiopaque natural rubber for shielding applications. It reveals that to improve the particle size, morphology and crystalline phase of the zinc oxide particles, a novel method for the preparation of zinc oxide is adopted. A detailed radiopacity study was done in natural rubber containing 100phr precipitated zinc oxide prepared from different zinc salts. One of the significant findings of this investigation is that NR vulcanizates containing precipitated zinc oxide (from zinc acetate) shows higher attenuation coefficient. These interesting findings reveal the applications of these natural radiopaque systems in various fields like surgical tools, medical tubings, catheters, radiation shielding,etc