Assessment of antimicrobial prescribing and rationality of drug usage in general practitioners in Pune city, India

Background: Most of the common ailments are managed by general practitioners (GPs). GPs prescribe major bulk of the drugs sold in the market. Naturally, irrational use of drugs at this level could lead to disastrous consequences. So this study was undertaken to determine prescribing pattern of Antimicrobials (AMA) and the rationality of drug usage by GPs in Pune city.Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. Pune city was divided into 5 zones. MBBS, BAMS and BHMS GPs doing Allopathic practice were selected randomly. 2 GPs of each specialty per zone were selected; this gave us 10 GPs of each degree – so total 30 GPs.30 Prescriptions at each GP were collected – total 900 prescriptions. The following parameters were studied- Diagnosis of patient, Average no. of drugs/prescription Percentage of AMAs prescribed, Rationality of AMA, Selection of AMAs diagnosis wise, Rationality of Prescription.Results: More than 75% patients coming to GPs were suffering from communicable diseases. Average no. of drugs / prescription and percentage of prescription with AMAs was high in all GPs. Macrolides was the most common group of AMA used by MBBS whereas Cephalosporins was used by BAMS and BHMS. Irrational use of AMAs was high in BHMS GPs. Use of irrational FDCs, banned drugs, steroids was high in BAMS GPs.Conclusions: There are deficiencies in prescription practices among all GPs. Not only are GPs prescribing the highest number of  AMAs  per prescription anywhere, their prescription practices for common health problems are highly inappropriate. High level of irrational use of drugs by BAMS and BHMS GPs are cause of concern

Trust in robot-mediated health information

This paper outlines a social robot platform for providing health information. In comparison with previous findings for accessing information online, the use of a social robot may affect which factors users consider important when evaluating the trustworthiness of health information provided

A Study of the Residual 39Ar Content in Argon from Underground Sources

The discovery of argon from underground sources with significantly less 39Ar than atmospheric argon was an important step in the development of direct-detection dark matter experiments using argon as the active target. We report on the design and operation of a low background detector with a single phase liquid argon target that was built to study the 39Ar content of the underground argon. Underground argon from the Kinder Morgan CO2 plant in Cortez, Colorado was determined to have less than 0.65% of the 39Ar activity in atmospheric argon.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figure

A031 Développement d’un peptido-mimétique de la glycorpotein VI plaquettaire comme outil d’imagerie de la fibrose

ObjectifLa glycoprotéine VI est le récepteur d’activation des plaquettes par les collagènes de type I et de type III. Nous avons émis l’hypothèse que nous pourrions développer une sonde spécifique du collagène basée sur la spécificité de GPVI et que cette sonde permettrait de visualiser la fibrose in vivo par une méthode non invasive.MéthodesUn anticorps bloquant la liaison de GPVI au collagène a été utilisé pour cribler une banque peptidique permettant d’identifier un motif peptidique cyclique. La capacité du peptide à mimer la GPVI a été analysée par des études de liaison et de compétition en phase solide. La liaison au collagène tissulaire a été analysée par histochimie. L’imagerie in vivo a été réalisée par injection du peptide-marqué au Tc-99m dans un modèle de fibrose cicatricielle sur infarctus du myocarde chez le rat, scintigraphie et autoradiographieRésultatsLe peptide, nommé collagelin, se lie de manière spécifique à l’anticorps anti GPVI 9O12.2 et aux collagènes I et III in vitro et la liaison est inhibée par GPVI indiquant que le peptide mime GPVI. Cependant le collagelin n’inhibe pas l’agrégation des plaquettes induite par le collagène. Les études d’histochimie montrent que le collagelin se lie au collagène tissulaire sur coupe d’aorte et de queue de rat indiquant que le collagelin se comporte comme un traceur du collagène. Dans le modèle d’infarctus cicatriciel, une accumulation du collagelin radiomarqué est observée dans la zone cardiaque par scintigraphie planaire et tomographie chez les animaux avec MI mais pas chez les animaux contrôles ni avec un peptide contrôle. L’accumulation du traceur dans les zones de fibrose a été mise en évidence ex vivo par superposition des images d’autoradiographies et d’histologie sur coupes congelées.ConclusionNous avons produit un peptide qui mime en partie le site de liaison de GPVI au collagène. Ce peptide se comporte comme un traceur spécifique du collagène in vitro et in vivo. Nous proposons que ce traceur pourrait être utile pour le diagnostic et le suivi évolutif de la fibrose dans un grand nombre de pathologies

Various Approaches for Predicting Land Cover in Mountain Areas

Using former maps, geographers intend to study the evolution of the land cover in order to have a prospective approach on the future landscape; predictions of the future land cover, by the use of older maps and environmental variables, are usually done through the GIS (Geographic Information System). We propose here to confront this classical geographical approach with statistical approaches: a linear parametric model (polychotomous regression modeling) and a nonparametric one (multilayer perceptron). These methodologies have been tested on two real areas on which the land cover is known at various dates; this allows us to emphasize the benefit of these two statistical approaches compared to GIS and to discuss the way GIS could be improved by the use of statistical models.Comment: 14 pages; Classifications: Information Theory; Probability Theory & Applications; Statistical Computing; Statistical Theory & Method

Anti-anaphylactic and mast cell stabilizing effect of <i>Calotropis gigantea</i> extract

Calotropis gigantea (Linn.) R.Br. (Asclepiadaceae), commonly known as milkweed or swallow- wort, is found chiefly in wasteland throughout India. It has been reported as a traditional folkloric medicine in treatment of asthma in the Indian literature. Roots containing α-and β-amyrin are reported to possess anti-lipoxygenase activity. Hence, our objective was to evaluate the effect of the methanolic extract of Calotropis gigantea (CG) root on egg albumin induced passive paw anaphylaxis and compound 48/80 induced mast cell degranulation in rats. CG were given at doses of 100, 200, 400 mg/kg, p.o., to rats. We found that CG significantly increases percentage inhibition of paw edema volume at all doses but shows significant percentage protection of the mast cells at 400 mg/kg. p.o., to rats. Hence, the present investigation confirm the use of CG as anti-anaphylactic and mast cell stabilizing in treatment of asthma.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire