Sleep complaints and daytime sleepiness among pharmaceutical students in Tripoli

Background: The effect of sleep difficulties has achieved a great deal of attention recently, with university students considered as a homogenized population, particularly affected by sleep habits.Aim: The objective of this study was to investigate whether Libyan college students experience sleep disturbance during their academic programmes. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the college of Pharmacy, Tripoli University, during February 2010. A total of 201 students, including 179 females (89.05%) and 22 males (10.95%), were recruited from different academic levels. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and included a number of life-style variables. Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was used for the assessment of daytime sleepiness. Results: This study showed that the total sleep time (TST) on a weeknight was 6.40 h and 67 students reported napping during daytime. The TST plus naps totalled 7.39 h. Out of eight possible dozing situations, we found that the mean score for ESS was 8.78. In addition, 79 students showed an ESS score of 10. Furthermore, our results showed that the majority of students (92%) reported poor sleep satisfaction with quality and duration of sleep hours. Thinking about difficulty of study but not increasing education programs or tea/coffee consumption is associated with sleep difficulties reported. Moreover, 77.6% of students reported an irregular sleepwake schedule. Conclusion: These findings indicate that students experienced excessive daytime sleepiness. The TST of pharmaceutical students in Libya, as in other developing countries, is less than those reported by Western students. Students experienced various environmental demands during their college years and, their quality of sleep was negatively affected.Keywords: college students; sleep habits; sleep disorders; Epworth Sleepiness Scal

Experimental evaluation of anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive and antipyretic activities of clove oil inmice

Background: Clove oil of Eugenia caryophyllata (Myrtaceae) is a light yellowish fluid obtained from dried flower buds. Clove oil is used traditionally to relieve toothache.Aim: The aim of the present work was to study the anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive and antipyretic potential of clove oil in mice.Methods: Analgesic activity was examined using acetic-acid-induced abdominal constrictions and the hot plate test. Carrageenan-induced paw edema and brewer’s-yeast-induced pyrexia were used to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity and the antipyretic effects, respectively. The oil was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) at a dose of 33 mg/kg body weight and the effects were compared with reference drugs.Results: In the antinociceptive test, mice treated with clove oil exhibited significantly decreased acetic-acidinducedwrithing movements by a maximum of 87.7% (p<0.01) compared with a decrease of 77.7% (p<0.01) in response to aspirin injection (100 mg/kg, intraperitoneal, i.p.). Similarly, in the hot plate test, clove oil significantly increased the reaction latency to pain after 60 min by 82.3% (p<0.05) compared with morphine value of 91.7% (p<0.01). In addition, clove oil and indomethacin produced anti-inflammatory effects, as demonstrated by respectively 50.6% (p<0.05) and 70.4% (p<0.01) inhibition of mouse paw edema induced by carrageenan. Furthermore, clove oil significantly attenuated the hyperthermia induced by yeast at ΔT-max by 2.7oC (p<0.001), and time of peak effects was 30-180 min compared with a paracetamol value ΔT-max of 3.2oC (p<0.001). The estimated i.p. LD50 of clove oil was 161.9 mg/kg. Phytochemical screening of the oil showed the presence of eugenol.Conclusion: The present findings demonstrate the potential pharmacological properties of clove oil and provide further a support for its reported use in folk medicine.Keywords: Eugenia caryophyllata; clove oil; eugenol; antinociceptive; anti-inflammatory; antipyretic; mic

Antinociceptive activity of Mentha piperita leaf aqueous extract in mice

Mentha piperita L. (Labiatae) is an herbaceous plant, used in folk medicine for the treatment of several medical disorders.In the present study, the aqueous extract of Mentha piperita leaf, at the i.p doses 200 and 400 mg/kg, showed significant analgesic effects against both acetic acid-induced writhing and hot plate-induced thermal stimulation in mice, with protection values of 51.79% and 20.21% respectively. On the contrary, the Mentha piperita leaf aqueous extract did not exhibit anti-inflammatory activity against carrageenan induced paw oedema.These findings indicate that Mentha piperita has a potential analgesic effect that may possibly have mediated centrally and peripherally, as well as providing a pharmacological evidence for its traditional use as a pain reliever