PASSIVE AND IONTOPHORETIC PERMEATION OF CAPTOPRIL GEL: AN IN VITRO AND IN VIVO STUDY

The  Objective  of  this  work  was  to  formulate  and evaluate  captopril  gel  to  assess  its  suitability  for  transdermal delivery  by  passive  and  iontophoresis.  A  polymer  gel  was prepared  using  hydroxypropyl  methyl  cellulose  and  in  vitro skin permeability was assessed in full thickness skin of rabbits and  pigs.  For  in  vivo  studies  New  Zealand  rabbits  were  used. In vitro  passive permeation was carried out in Franz diffusion cell but for iontophoresis, diffusion cell was modified according to  Glikfield  design.  Iontophoresis  was  performed  at  a  current density  of  0.5  mA/cm2via  silver  /silver  chloride  electrodes with passive controls but for in vivo  study current density wasreduced  to  0.1  mA/cm2.  Blood  samples  were  analyzed  for drug content by HPLC. Results of the  in vitro  study indicated that iontophoresis considerably increased  the permeation rate of  captopril  compared  to  passive  controls  in  both  the  skin types  (P<0.01).  The  plasma  concentration  of  captopril  was significantly  higher  (P<0.001)  than  that  obtained  in  the passive  controls.  Results  showed  that  the  target  permeation rates  for  captopril  could  be  achieved  with  the  aid  of iontophoresis by increasing the area in an appreciable range.Key words:   Captopril,  iontophoresis,  transdermal,  Rabbit,  Pigskin, in vitro, in vivo

Institutional Structure of Cotton Research in India

The chapter traces the landmark events in the contemporary history of cotton in India. The achievements in research and development that transformed India from a chronic importer of cotton to the largest producer and a net exporter of cotton are highlighted. The structure of cotton research undertaken by the institutes under the National Agricultural Research and Education System (NARES) are also elaborated. The institutional mechanism responsible for varietal release, seed production and transfer of technology are briefly described. The immediate challenges facing the cotton sector and approaches to tackle them are also discussed

Transdermal Delivery of Antihypertensive Agents: A tabular update

Transdermal Drug Delivery System is viable drug delivery platform technology and has a strong market world wide. Transdermal Drug Delivery System is particularly desirable for drugs that need prolonged administration at controlled plasma level that basis make appropriateness to antihypertensive agents for their transdermal development. Controlled zero order absorption, easily termination of drug delivery, easy to administration also support for popularity of transdermal delivery. This paper reviews the work on transdermal studies of antihypertensive agents in the tabular form.Keywords: Transdermal, Antihypertensive agents

Phylogeography and domestication of Indian river buffalo

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The water buffalo- <it>Bu</it><it>balus bubalis </it>holds tremendous potential in livestock sector in many Asian countries, particularly India. The origin, domestication and genetic structure of the Indian river buffalo are poorly understood. Therefore, to understand the relationship among the maternal lineages of Indian river buffalo breeds and their domestication process, we analysed mitochondrial D-loop region of 217 animals representing eight breeds from eight different locations in India along with published sequences of Mediterranean buffalo.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The maximum parsimony tree showed one major clade with six internal branches. Reduced median network revealed expansion from more than one set of haplotypes indicating complex domestication events for this species. In addition, we found several singleton haplotypes. Using rho statistics, we obtained a time estimate of 6300 years BP for the expansion of one set of hapltoypes of the Indian domestic buffalo. A few breed specific branches in the network indicated an ancient time depth of differentiation of some of the maternal lineages of river buffalo breeds. The multidimensional display of breed pairwise F_STvalues showed significant breed differentiation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Present day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from the wild populations after the initial domestication events. Our data are consistent with the available archaeological information in supporting the proposition that the river buffalo was likely to be domesticated in the Western region of the Indian subcontinent, specifically the present day breeding tracts of the Mehsana, Surati and Pandharpuri breeds.</p

Ecological system with fear induced group defence and prey refuge

In this study, we investigate the dynamics of a spatial and non spatial prey-predator interaction model that includes the following: (i) fear effect incorporated in prey birth rate; (ii) group defence of prey against predators; and (iii) prey refuge. We provide comprehensive mathematical analysis of extinction and persistence scenarios for both prey and predator species. To better explore the dynamics of the system, a thorough investigation of bifurcation analysis has been performed using fear level, prey birth rate, and prey death rate caused by intra-prey competition as bifurcation parameter. All potential occurrences of bi-stability dynamics have also been investigated for some relevant sets of parametric values. Our numerical evaluations show that high levels of fear can stabilize the prey-predator system by ruling out the possibility of periodic solutions. Also, our model Hopf bifurcation is subcritical in contrast to traditional prey-predator models, which ignore the cost of fear and have supercritical Hopf bifurcations in general. In contrast to the general trend, predator species go extinct at higher values of prey birth rates. We have also found that, contrary to the typical tendency for prey species to go extinct, both prey and predator populations may coexist in the system as intra-prey competition level grows noticeably. The stability and Turing instability of associated spatial model have also been investigated analytically. We also perform the numerical simulation to observe the effect of different parameters on the density distribution of species. Different types of spatiotemporal patterns like spot, mixture of spots and stripes have been observed via variation of time evolution, diffusion coefficient of predator population, level of fear factor and prey refuge. The fear level parameter (k) has a great impact on the spatial dynamics of model system

Water and sanitation hygiene knowledge, attitude, and practices among household members living in rural setting of India

Background: Rural population in developing countries face water, sanitation, and hygiene-related health issues. To objectively highlight these issues, we studied the knowledge, attitude, and practices-related to drinking water and sanitation facilities among the rural population of Chennai, India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed involving individuals over 18 years of age living in Thandalam village, Chennai, India. Basic information about sociodemographic profile and existing drinking water and sanitation related knowledge, attitude, and practices was collected using a modified version of previously validated questionnaire and analyzed. Results: Forty-five percent of the participants were not following any methods of water treatment and among them half of the participants felt that water available to them was clean and did not require any additional treatment. Twenty-five percent of the participants surveyed did not have access to toilets inside their household. Conclusion: There is a need for intervention to educate individuals about drinking water treatment methods, sanitation, and hand washing practices

Lung function tests in different phases of menstrual cycle

Introduction: Menstrual cycle is an integral part of a woman’s life. During these different phases, rhythmic changes occur in the levels of ovarian hormones especially progesterone and estrogen. The goal of this study was to study the effect of the luteal and follicular phases of the menstrual cycle on bronchial reactivity (BR) in a group of women. Material and Methods: The fifty girl medical students of first year MBBS of 18 – 24 years age were undertaken to study pulmonary function tests in different phases of menstrual cycle. Pulmonary function tests were taken between 8 – 10 th day of menstrual cycle, that is in follicular phase and again were recorded between 20 – 22 nd day of menstrual cycle that is in luteal phase by using spirometric technique. The results were expressed as Mean ± Standard Deviation (Mean+ SD). Statistical analysis was done through Graph pad prism. Comparison of pulmonary function parameters in different phases of menstrual cycle was done by using one way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) by bonferroni post-hoc test. Results: Anthropometric measurement of all subjects in which mean age was 19.45 ± 1.80 years, arm span was 157.25± 6.37 cm, chest circumference was 80.58 ± 7.69 cm , height was 149.07 ±4.64 cm , weight was 45.65±6.69 Kgs. Spirometric study found FVC , FEV1, and PEFR increase in luteal phase of menstrual cycle compared to follicular phase, which were statistically significant. Conclusion: We found better lung functions which were statistically significant in luteal phase as compared to follicular phase of our subjects indicating a possible role of progesterone causing β adrenergic stimulation / sensitization

Isolation and characterization of proteins involved in cryoprotection from cold resistant mutants of <i style="">Pseudomonas fluorescens </i>ATCC13525

378-381The proteins isolated from cold resistant mutants of Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC13525 were biologically characterized. These proteins, designated as CRP-1 (41.6 kDa, from CRPF9) and CRP-2 (14.1 kDa, from CRPF8), were able to protect freeze-labile alkaline phosphatase (ALP) against freeze denaturation up to approximately 84% activity. Addition of BSA could not yield similar cryoprotection of ALP. However, 60% loss of enzymatic activity was recorded in absence of the proteins. Furthermore, the two proteins in combination protected the enzyme activity up to 86%. The freeze-thaw challenge given to the mutants and wild type cells revealed the mutant to be more resistant to freezing (-20°C). The survival percentage of the mutant cells after repeated freeze thaw was significantly higher (55.6%) than wild type (9.8%). Nevertheless, incubation at 10°C, prior to freezing (-20°C) resulted in a further increase in survival percentage of mutant cells (79.6%). The proteins isolated from these mutants possessed the cryoprotective ability, which could be correlated with increased freezing resistance of the mutants at low temperature