The Elephant in the Room:

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/firstfruitspapers/1092/thumbnail.jp

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF POLYHERBAL OINTMENT COMPRISING HARIDRA, MANJISTHA AND MOCHARASA

Even in areas where modern medicine is available, the interest on herbal medicines and their utilization have been increasing rapidly in recent years. Herbal formulations have recently attracted the interest towards versatile application as bioactive components of plants are natural source of medicines to heal various ailments. Herbal cosmetics are formulated, using different ingredients to form the base in which one or more herbal ingredients are used to cure various skin ailments. The present work is to formulate and evaluate the polyherbal ointment comprising Haridra (Curcuma longa), Manjistha (Rubia cordifolia) and Mocharasa (exudate from Salmali malabarica). These drugs have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antioxidant, wound healing properties etc. The aqueous extracts were prepared by using traditional method of maceration and Ghana kalpana. The neutral ointment base was prepared and formulation of ointment was done by incorporating the Ghana /extract in the base by Levigation process. Different trials in different proportion of extract and base were performed to obtain stable formulation by levigation and trituration method. Obtained stable formulation was evaluated for its Organoleptic Characters, physicochemical properties like state, color, odor, touch, ease of removal, pH, spreadability, solubility, Loss on Drying, Total ash, Water soluble extractive, Alcohol soluble extract. In toxicological Evaluation, determination of Heavy Metals and Microbial Analysis was done. In these studies, results are obtained within permissible limits and successful stable composition of extracts and base shows synergistic action and there was no evidence of phase separation or irritation and is safe for local application on skin

Management of early pregnancy loss with mifepristone and misoprostol: clinical predictors of treatment success from a randomized trial.

BackgroundEarly pregnancy loss is a common event in the first trimester, occurring in 15%-20% of confirmed pregnancies. A common evidence-based medical regimen for early pregnancy loss uses misoprostol, a prostaglandin E1 analog, with a dosage of 800 μg, self-administered vaginally. The clinical utility of this regimen is limited by suboptimal effectiveness in patients with a closed cervical os, with 29% of patients experiencing early pregnancy loss requiring a second dose after 3 days and 16% of patients eventually requiring a uterine aspiration procedure.ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate clinical predictors associated with treatment success in patients receiving medical management with mifepristone-misoprostol or misoprostol alone for early pregnancy loss.Study designWe performed a planned secondary analysis of a randomized trial comparing mifepristone-misoprostol with misoprostol alone for management of early pregnancy loss. The published prediction model for treatment success of single-dose misoprostol administered vaginally included the following variables: active bleeding, type of early pregnancy loss (anembryonic pregnancy or embryonic and/or fetal demise), parity, gestational age, and treatment site; previous significant predictors were vaginal bleeding within the past 24 hours and parity of 0 or 1 vs >1. To determine if these characteristics predicted differential proportions of patients with treatment success or failure, we performed bivariate analyses; given the small proportion of treatment failures in the combined treatment arm, both arms were combined for analysis. Thereafter, we performed a logistic regression analysis to assess the effect of these predictors collectively in each of the 2 treatment groups separately as well as in the full cohort as a proxy for the combined treatment arm. Finally, by using receiver operating characteristic curves, we tested the ability of these predictors in association with misoprostol treatment success to discriminate between treatment success and treatment failure. To quantify the ability of the score to discriminate between treatment success and treatment failure in each treatment arm as well as in the entire cohort, we calculated the area under the curve. Using multivariable logistic regression, we then assessed our study population for other predictors of treatment success in both treatment groups, with and without mifepristone pretreatment.ResultsOverall, 297 evaluable participants were included in the primary study, with 148 in the mifepristone-misoprostol combined treatment group and 149 in the misoprostol-alone treatment group. Among patients who had vaginal bleeding at the time of treatment, 15 of 17 (88%) in the mifepristone-misoprostol combined treatment group and 12 of 17 (71%) in the misoprostol-alone treatment group experienced expulsion of pregnancy tissue. Among patients with a parity of 0 or 1, 94 of 108 (87%) in the mifepristone-misoprostol treatment group and 66 of 95 (69%) in the misoprostol-alone treatment group experienced expulsion of pregnancy tissue. These clinical characteristics did not predict treatment success in the combined cohort alone (area under the curve=0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.48-0.64). No other baseline clinical factors predicted treatment success in the misoprostol-alone treatment arm or mifepristone pretreatment arm. In the full cohort, the significant predictors of treatment success were pretreatment with mifepristone (adjusted odds ratio=2.51; 95% confidence interval, 1.43-4.43) and smoking (adjusted odds ratio=2.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-4.49).ConclusionNo baseline clinical factors predicted treatment success in women receiving medical management with misoprostol for early pregnancy loss. Adding mifepristone to the medical management regimen of early pregnancy loss improved treatment success; thus, mifepristone treatment should be considered for management of early pregnancy loss regardless of baseline clinical factors

Producing Copper Powder from Copper Bleed Solution by Hydrogen Reduction

This paper deals with the bench scale investigation on the hydrogen reduction of a highly acidic copper bleed solution.(CBS), generated in an Indian copper smelter, to produce highly pure copper powder. A titanium-lined autoclave of 1 L capacity was used for this study. After the optimization of the parameters for the recovery of copper powder, hydrogen reduction of copper was done in a larger autoclave to validate the results