Synthesis and in vitro drug release studies on substituted polyphosphazene conjugates of lumefantrine.

The present study pertains to the delivery of antimalarial drug (Lumifantrine). In this, polyphosphazene has been used in the synthesis of polyphosphazene-linked conjugates of Lumifantrine. These polymer-linked Conjugates have been synthesized and characterized by modern analytical techniques. The in-vitro drug release of Lumifantrine drug conjugates: p-Amino benzoic acid ester substituted polyphosphazene drug conjugate (15) and Glycine methyl ester substituted polyphosphazene drug conjugate (21) have been found to be 6.00 % and 5.96% (pH 1.2), 88.52% and 79.86% (pH 7.4), respectively. These drug conjugate may prove an effective delivery system for the treatment of malaria

Recent advancesin the development of novel drug delivery systems for the prophylaxis of malaria

The present review high-lights the advancement in nanoparticles formulations for the prophylaxis of malaria. An attempt has been made to describe various novel drug delivery systems based on approaches such as polymeric, metallic, natural, chitosan/antisense (AS) and chitosan/sense (S) oligodeoxynucleotide based nanoparticles etc. for the treatment of malaria. The polymer such as chitosan, hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose and polyvinyl pyrrolidone; the metal like gold and silver and other carriers such as glyceryl-dilaurate, albumin etc. have been explored for the development of novel nanoparticles formulations. These developed nanoparticles formulation have improved the targeted drug delivey of various clinically used antimalarial therapeutic agents such as hydroxychloroquine, curcumin, artemisinin, artemether and lumefantrine etc

Discussion and expostulations on postoperative worsening of hearing following middle ear surgeries

Abstract Background Hearing assessment after middle ear surgery has always been of interest to otologists for one of its major unavoidable and unpredictable complication is hearing loss. As the initial indication for operation is to treat precisely this problem, this complication poses a major dilemma for surgeons. We, thus, aimed to detect the proportion of postoperative worsening of hearing, causes, and risk factors in patients undergoing middle ear surgery. Method This retrospective descriptive study was conducted in the department of otolaryngology of a tertiary care center and data of medical records were retrieved from January 2016 until December 2020. This study included middle ear surgery patients with pre- and postoperative audiometric results. Those patients whose hearing worsened post-operatively (where bone conduction deteriorated > 10 dB) were noted and assessed accordingly. Results The medical records regarding morphological and audiological outcomes of 178 patients were available. We observed auditory degradation after surgery in eight patients (five primary cases and three revision cases), with an overall incidence rate of 4.49%. The mastoidectomy was performed in seven cases, either cortical (n = 5) and modified radical (n = 2). Modified radical mastoidectomy showed the greatest incidence of hearing loss (40%) among all surgical procedures. Except in one case, where sudden, profound loss occurred following otorrhoea on third day, hearing loss was progressive in rest of cases. Conclusion A patient with deteriorating hearing after middle ear surgery must be evaluated properly. There is an increased chance of hearing loss following surgery that involves more ossicular manipulation, drilling, extensive disease clearance, and revision. Utmost care must be taken while operating around ossicles and during disease clearance in key areas. Proper consent should be taken from such patients to avoid future litigations

Very high particulate pollution over northwest India captured by a high-density in situ sensor network

Abstract Exposure to particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) is a cause of concern in cities and major emission regions of northern India. An intensive field campaign involving the states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi national capital region (NCR) was conducted in 2022 using 29 Compact and Useful PM2.5 Instrument with Gas sensors (CUPI-Gs). Continuous observations show that the PM2.5 in the region increased gradually from < 60 µg m−3 in 6–10 October to up to 500 µg m−3 on 5–9 November, which subsequently decreased to about 100 µg m−3 in 20–30 November. Two distinct plumes of PM2.5 over 500 µg m−3 are tracked from crop residue burning in Punjab to Delhi NCR on 2–3 November and 10–11 November with delays of 1 and 3 days, respectively. Experimental campaign demonstrates the advantages of source region observations to link agricultural waste burning and air pollution at local to regional scales