Quantitative UV-spectrophotometry estimation of risperidone using hydrotropic solubilization phenomenon

The aim of present study was to develop simple and economical UV- pectrophotometric method for estimation of Risperidone using Area Under Curve (AUC) technique with the application of hydrotropic solubilisation phenomenon. Aqueous urea solution (30% v/v ) was used as hydrotropic agent for solubilising risperidone. The method is based upon integration of area under curve for analysis of risperidone in the wavelength range of 265.0 - 287.40 nm. The drug followed linearity in the concentration range of 4 - 24 g/mL with correlation coefficient value r 2 > 0.99. Proposed method was validated for accuracy, precision, repeatability and ruggedness as per ICH guidelines. The proposed method was applied for qualitative and quantitative estimation of risperidone in pharmaceutical formulation and results were found in good agreement with the label claimed. This developed method can be used for routine analysis of Risperidone in bulk and tablets

Development of Ultraviolet Spectrophotometric Method for Analysis of Lornoxicam in Solid Dosage Forms

Purpose: An ultraviolet spectrophotometric system was developed and validated for the quantitative determination of lornoxicam in solid dosage forms.Methods: Lornoxicam was dissolved in 0.01M NaOH and analysed using ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry. Various analytical parameters such as linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were determined according to International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines.Results: Absorbance maximum in 0.01M NaOH was 377 nm. Beer’s law was obeyed over the concentration range of 2 - 20 mg/ml with a correlation coefficient (r2) value of 0.999. Percent range of error was 0.344 and 0.261 at 0.05 and. 0.01 confidence limits, respectively. Intra- and inter-day precision (% RSD) at different concentration levels were < 2 %, indicating that the proposed derivative spectrophotometric method is highly reproducible during one run and between different runs; LOD and LOQ were 0.105 and 0.318 mg/ml, respectively signifying that it can be adopted for routine quality testing. Mean recovery was 100.82 % for tablets. Low values of % RSD indicate the reliability of the proposed methodConclusion: The proposed method is highly sensitive, precise, accurate, cost-effective, reliable and rapid for the estimation of lornoxicam in solid dosage forms.Keywords: Lornoxicam, UV Spectrophotometry, Quantitative determination, Solid dosage forms

Improvement of flowability, compressibility and dissolution of aceclofenac by emulsion solvent diffusion with polyethylene glycol.

Objetivo: El objetivo detrás de este estudio es mejorar la tasa de compresión, la fluidez, packability y la disolución de aceclofenaco mediante la preparación de cristales esféricos utilizando el método cuasi emulsión de disolvente de difusión.Material y Método: Aglomerados esféricos de aceclofenac se prepararon con acetona, diclorometano y ac. HCl 0,1 N que actúan como buen disolvente, líquido aglutinante y mal disolvente respectivamente. En este último caso se añadieron diferentes cantidades de propilenglicol 6000.Resultados: Los aglomerados esféricos obtenidos se caracterizaron por tener una mayor fragmentación y menor recuperación elástica. En comparación con los cristales originales de aceclofenac, los aglomerados tienen mejores características de tamaño de partícula, fluidez, compactabilidad, empaquetado, solubilidad y velocidad de disolución lo que les hace más adecuados para compresión. Los estudios de difracción por rayos X y calorimetría diferencial de barrido mostraron una pequeña tendencia a formar amorfos durante la recristalización del aceclofenac aunque el estudio mediante espectroscopía infrarroja de Fournier no mostró cambios químicos.Conclusión: La presente investigación mejora de las propiedades de tabletas y characteristics de disolución de aceclofenaco.Aim: The objective behind this study is to improve the compressibility, flowability, packability and dissolution rate of aceclofenac by preparing spherical crystals using quasi emulsion solvent diffusion method.Materials and Method: Spherical agglomerates of aceclofenac were effectively prepared using acetone, dichloromethane and 0.1 N HCl as good solvent, bridging liquid and poor solvent respectively with different concentrations of polyethylene glycol 6000 in poor solvent.Results: Prepared agglomerates were spherical with enhanced fragmentation and less elastic recovery. Particle size, flowability, compactibility, packability, solubility and dissolution rate of agglomerates were preferably improved for direct compression compared with raw crystal of aceclofenac. X-ray powder diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry study indicated slight amorphization of drug during recrystallization but not associated with any chemical transition indicated by Fourier transforms infrared spectra.Conclusion: The present research improved tableting properties and dissolution characteristics of aceclofenac

Mortality from external causes in Africa and Asia: evidence from INDEPTH Health and Demographic Surveillance System Sites.

BACKGROUND: Mortality from external causes, of all kinds, is an important component of overall mortality on a global basis. However, these deaths, like others in Africa and Asia, are often not counted or documented on an individual basis. Overviews of the state of external cause mortality in Africa and Asia are therefore based on uncertain information. The INDEPTH Network maintains longitudinal surveillance, including cause of death, at population sites across Africa and Asia, which offers important opportunities to document external cause mortality at the population level across a range of settings. OBJECTIVE: To describe patterns of mortality from external causes at INDEPTH Network sites across Africa and Asia, according to the WHO 2012 verbal autopsy (VA) cause categories. DESIGN: All deaths at INDEPTH sites are routinely registered and followed up with VA interviews. For this study, VA archives were transformed into the WHO 2012 VA standard format and processed using the InterVA-4 model to assign cause of death. Routine surveillance data also provide person-time denominators for mortality rates. RESULTS: A total of 5,884 deaths due to external causes were documented over 11,828,253 person-years. Approximately one-quarter of those deaths were to children younger than 15 years. Causes of death were dominated by childhood drowning in Bangladesh, and by transport-related deaths and intentional injuries elsewhere. Detailed mortality rates are presented by cause of death, age group, and sex. CONCLUSIONS: The patterns of external cause mortality found here generally corresponded with expectations and other sources of information, but they fill some important gaps in population-based mortality data. They provide an important source of information to inform potentially preventive intervention designs

Design, synthesis, nuclear localization, and biological activity of a fluorescent duocarmycin analog, HxTfA

HxTfA 4 is a fluorescent analog of a potent cytotoxic and antimalarial agent, TfA 3, which is currently being investigated for the development of an antimalarial vaccine, PlasProtect®. HxTfA contains a p-anisylbenzimidazole or Hx moiety, which is endowed with a blue emission upon excitation at 318 nm; thus enabling it to be used as a surrogate for probing the cellular fate of TfA using confocal microscopy, and addressing the question of nuclear localization. HxTfA exhibits similar selectivity to TfA for A-tract sequences of DNA, alkylating adenine-N3, albeit at 10-fold higher concentrations. It also possesses in vitro cytotoxicity against A549 human lung carcinoma cells and Plasmodium falciparum. Confocal microscopy studies showed for the first time that HxTfA, and by inference TfA, entered A549 cells and localized in the nucleus to exert its biological activity. At biologically relevant concentrations, HxTfA elicits DNA damage response as evidenced by a marked increase in the levels of γH2AX observed by confocal microscopy and immunoblotting studies, and ultimately induces apoptosis

A community-based health education programme for bio-environmental control of malaria through folk theatre (Kalajatha) in rural India

BACKGROUND: Health education is an important component in disease control programme. Kalajatha is a popular, traditional art form of folk theatre depicting various life processes of a local socio-cultural setting. It is an effective medium of mass communication in the Indian sub-continent especially in rural areas. Using this medium, an operational feasibility health education programme was carried out for malaria control. METHODS: In December 2001, the Kalajatha events were performed in the evening hours for two weeks in a malaria-affected district in Karnataka State, south India. Thirty local artists including ten governmental and non-governmental organizations actively participated. Impact of this programme was assessed after two months on exposed vs. non-exposed respondents. RESULTS: The exposed respondents had significant increase in knowledge and change in attitude about malaria and its control strategies, especially on bio-environmental measures (p < 0.001). They could easily associate clean water with anopheline breeding and the role of larvivorous fish in malaria control. In 2002, the local community actively co-operated and participated in releasing larvivorous fish, which subsequently resulted in a noteworthy reduction of malaria cases. Immediate behavioural changes, especially maintenance of general sanitation and hygiene did not improve as much as expected. CONCLUSION: This study was carried out under the primary health care system involving the local community and various potential partners. Kalajatha conveyed the important messages on malaria control and prevention to the rural community. Similar methods of communication in the health education programme should be intensified with suitable modifications to reach all sectors, if malaria needs to be controlled

Effectiveness of a Yoga-Based Lifestyle Protocol (YLP) in Preventing Diabetes in a High-Risk Indian Cohort: A Multicenter Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial (NMB-Trial)

IntroductionThough several lines of evidence support the utility of yoga-based interventions in diabetes prevention, most of these studies have been limited by methodological issues, primarily sample size inadequacy. Hence, we tested the effectiveness of yoga-based lifestyle intervention against diabetes risk reduction in multicentre, large community settings of India, through a single-blind cluster-randomized controlled trial, Niyantrita Madhumeha Bharat Abhiyan (NMB). Research Design and MethodsNMB-trial is a multicentre cluster-randomized trial conducted in 80 clusters [composed of rural units (villages) and urban units (Census Enumeration Blocks)] randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to intervention and control groups. Participants were individuals (age, 20–70 years) with prediabetes (blood HbA1c values in the range of 5.7–6.4%) and IDRS ≥ 60. The intervention included the practice of yoga-based lifestyle modification protocol (YLP) for 9 consecutive days, followed by daily home and weekly supervised practices for 3 months. The control cluster received standard of care advice for diabetes prevention. Statistical analyses were performed on an intention-to-treat basis, using available and imputed datasets. The primary outcome was the conversion from prediabetes to diabetes after the YLP intervention of 3 months (diagnosed based upon HbA1c cutoff &gt;6.5%). Secondary outcome included regression to normoglycemia with HbA1c &lt;5.7%.ResultsA total of 3380 (75.96%) participants were followed up at 3 months. At 3 months post-intervention, overall, diabetes developed in 726 (21.44%) participants. YLP was found to be significantly effective in halting progression to diabetes as compared to standard of care; adjusted RRR was 63.81(95% CI = 56.55–69.85). The YLP also accelerated regression to normoglycemia [adjusted Odds Ratio (adjOR) = 1.20 (95% CI, 1.02–1.43)]. Importantly, younger participants (≤40 years) were found to regress to normoglycemia more effectively than the older participants Pinteraction&lt;0.001. ConclusionBased on the significant risk reduction derived from the large sample size, and the carefully designed randomized yoga-based intervention on high-risk populations, the study is a preliminary but strong proof-of-concept for yoga as a potential lifestyle-based treatment to curb the epidemic of diabetes. The observed findings also indicate a potential of YLP for diabetes prevention in low/moderate risk profile individuals that needs large-scale validation.Trial RegistrationClinical Trial Registration Number: CTRI/2018/03/012804

Animals and their products utilized as medicines by the inhabitants surrounding the Ranthambhore National Park, India

The present ethnozoological study describes the traditional knowledge related to the use of different animals and animal-derived products as medicines by the inhabitants of villages surrounding the Ranthambhore National Park of India (Bawaria, Mogya, Meena), which is well known for its very rich biodiversity. The field survey was conducted from May to July 2005 by performing interviews through structured questionnaires with 24 informants (16 men and 8 women), who provided information regarding therapeutic uses of animals. A total of 15 animals and animal products were recorded and they are used for different ethnomedical purposes, including tuberculosis, asthma, paralysis, jaundice, earache, constipation, weakness, snake poisoning. The zootherapeutic knowledge was mostly based on domestic animals, but some protected species like the collared dove (Streptopelia sp.), hard shelled turtle (Kachuga tentoria), sambhar (Cervus unicolor) were also mentioned as important medicinal resources. We would suggest that this kind of neglected traditional knowledge should be included into the strategies of conservation and management of faunistic resources in the investigated area