Anti-ulcer effect of rhizome of Curcuma longa Linn, by the method of pyloric ligation

Background: Substantial part of the world population has been known for a long time to suffer from peptic ulcer disease. In the present study, Curcuma longa, a plant belonging to the Zingiberaceae family was chosen for investigating its anti-ulcer properties.Methods: The rhizomes of Curcuma longa were collected locally. The extract was prepared by soxhlet extraction with 50% ethanol. Albino rats of Wistar strain (120-200 grams) obtained from the animal house of medical college Thiruvananthapuram were used. Ranitidine was collected from Kerala Sate Drugs and Pharmaceutical LTD Alapuzha. Antiulcer study in rats were done using the method of pyloric ligation.Results: Antiulcer study in rats using the method of pyloric ligation, extract of Curcuma longa in 1000mg/Kg dose levels exhibited significant protection against shay ulceration. The results were comparable to that of standard drug Ranitidine.Conclusions: The present study with extract of Curcuma longa revealed that it has significant anti-ulcer activity

Newer drugs for the treatment of hepatitis B viral infection

One of the main disadvantages of hepatitis B virus treatment is the persistence of the virus even after treatment. The main causes of this viral persistence can be an inadequacy of the immune function as well as some viral factors. The currently available drugs for hepatitis B are five oral nucleoside/nucleotide analogs (lamivudine, adefovir dipivoxil, tenofovir, entecavir, telbivudine) and two interferon drugs (interferon alfa-2b, pegylated interferon alfa-2a). However, these therapies do not lead to sustained remission, requiring indefinite treatment as viral load frequently rebounds once suppressive therapy is stopped

Drug utilization study of antihypertensive drugs and prevalence of blood pressure control in adult hypertensive patients based on JNC VIII guidelines in a tertiary care hospital: a cross sectional study

Background: Hypertension is a major independent risk factor for coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, stroke, chronic kidney disease and peripheral vascular diseases if left untreated. Drug utilization study of antihypertensive drugs and the study on prevalence of blood pressure control would help in reducing the burden of the disease and health expenditure.Methods: The study was conducted in the Outpatient Department of Medicine in Government Medical College, Thrissur. Patients aged 18yrs or above diagnosed with hypertension, on antihypertensive drugs were enrolled in the study. Patients suffering from secondary hypertension and acutely ill were excluded. Patients were enrolled after taking an informed consent. Demographic data, present treatment for hypertension, associated co- morbid conditions if any, and treatment of the same were recorded. BP was recorded, and cost of treatment was calculated using CIMS.Results: A total of 250 patients were included in the study. Mono therapy was used in 64.8% patients and combination therapy in 35.2%. Overall drug utilization pattern showed that CCBs (42.8%) were most commonly prescribed, followed by ACEIs (32.4%) and ARBs (29.2%). Most commonly prescribed combination therapy was ACE I + BB (29.3%), followed by ARB + CCB (21.3%). Mean cost of antihypertensive drug therapy was 3057.8 Rs / yr. Recommended target BP was achieved in 49.6% of patients.Conclusions: The prescription pattern of antihypertensive drug was in accordance to the JNC-VIII guidelines. The blood pressure target was achieved only in less than 50% of patients

Discovering Transcription Factor Binding Sites in Highly Repetitive Regions of Genomes with Multi-Read Analysis of ChIP-Seq Data

Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) is rapidly replacing chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with genome-wide tiling array analysis (ChIP-chip) as the preferred approach for mapping transcription-factor binding sites and chromatin modifications. The state of the art for analyzing ChIP-seq data relies on using only reads that map uniquely to a relevant reference genome (uni-reads). This can lead to the omission of up to 30% of alignable reads. We describe a general approach for utilizing reads that map to multiple locations on the reference genome (multi-reads). Our approach is based on allocating multi-reads as fractional counts using a weighted alignment scheme. Using human STAT1 and mouse GATA1 ChIP-seq datasets, we illustrate that incorporation of multi-reads significantly increases sequencing depths, leads to detection of novel peaks that are not otherwise identifiable with uni-reads, and improves detection of peaks in mappable regions. We investigate various genome-wide characteristics of peaks detected only by utilization of multi-reads via computational experiments. Overall, peaks from multi-read analysis have similar characteristics to peaks that are identified by uni-reads except that the majority of them reside in segmental duplications. We further validate a number of GATA1 multi-read only peaks by independent quantitative real-time ChIP analysis and identify novel target genes of GATA1. These computational and experimental results establish that multi-reads can be of critical importance for studying transcription factor binding in highly repetitive regions of genomes with ChIP-seq experiments

PRESCRIPTION AUDITING BASED ON THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) PRESCRIBING INDICATORS IN OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT OF A TEACHING HOSPITAL IN KERALA

Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the pattern of major drug groups prescribed, assess the Rational Prescription pattern by measuring the WHO Core Prescribing Indicators and to assess the quality of the prescriptions by assessing the legibility of prescription in the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: It was an analytical cross-sectional study done in hospital pharmacy for a period of 6 months. Approval from Institutional Research Committee and Institutional Ethics Committee was taken before starting the study. Sample size was taken as 1020. Results: One hundred and twenty prescriptions were analyzed. About 49% prescriptions were of males and 54% of females. Mean age of the patients were 46 years. A total of 3557 medicines were prescribed in 1020 prescriptions. Due to lack of legibility, we were unable to decode 122 medicines out of 3557 medicines prescribed. The dosage forms prescribed were; oral 87.4%, injections 1.4%, inhalational agents 0.4%, and topical agents 10.8%. Average number of medicines per prescription was 3.5. Percentage of medicines prescribed by generic name was 45%. Percentage of antibiotics per prescription was 24.8%. Percentage of injections per prescription was 4.8%. Percentage of medicines prescribed as per NATIONAL essential drugs list (EDL) was 3.2% and as per the WHO EDL was 2.6%. Percentage of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) was 6.5%. Conclusion: It was evident that polypharmacy was present as indicated by the average number of medicines prescribed. Medicines prescribed by generic name and from Essential Medicine List were less in number. Antibiotics and injections prescribed was in conformity with the WHO recommended values, which means that there was no irrational use of antibiotics and unwanted use of injectables. Percentage of FDCs was 6.5%. Most commonly prescribed drug was Ranitidine as per our study. Hence, as per this study, prescribers did not follow prescribing core indicators of the WHO closely, except for two indicators. The quality of prescriptions with respect to legibility and clarity was found to be optimal

Mechanisms of non-canonical signaling in health and disease: Diversity to take therapy up a notch?

Non-canonical Notch signaling encompasses a wide range of cellular processes, diverging considerably from the established paradigm. It can dispense of ligand, proteolytic or nuclear activity. Non-canonical Notch signaling events have been studied mostly in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the organism in which Notch was identified first and a powerful model for understanding signaling outcomes. However, non-canonical events are ill-defined and their involvement in human physiology is not clear, hampering our understanding of diseases arising from Notch signaling alterations. At a time in which therapies based on specific targeting of Notch signaling are still an unfulfilled promise, detailed understanding of non-canonical Notch events might be key to devising more specific and less toxic pharmacologic options. Based on the blueprint of non-canonical signaling in Drosophila, here, we review and rationalize current evidence about non-canonical Notch signaling. Our effort might inform Notch biologists developing new research avenues and clinicians seeking future treatment of Notch-dependent diseases