Evaluation of effectiveness of rupatadine and olopatadine in patients of allergic rhinitis at Indore: a randomized control trial

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is one of the most prevalent atopic disorders that affect productivity and quality of life. Although individually olopatadine and rupatadine are efficacious in AR, data on the head to head study of these drugs in Indian population are scanty, so present study was undertaken with an aim to compare the efficacy, safety, and cost effectiveness of rupatadine and olopatadine in patients’ of allergic rhinitis.Methods: A prospective, randomized, double blind, parallel group, comparative 2 weeks clinical study conducted in eighty patients of AR in the Department of Pharmacology, Index Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Indore. Following inclusion and exclusion criteria, 67 patients were recruited and randomized to two treatment groups and received the respective drugs for 2 weeks. At follow-up, parameters assessed were total nasal symptom score (TNSS), change in total and differential count of eosinophil.Results: In olopatadine group, there was a significantly higher reduction in TNSS (P < 0.05) than that of rupatadine. Both the drugs significantly reduced the absolute eosinophil count, but olopatadine (P <0.001) was found to be superior. The incidence of adverse effects was found to be less in olopatadine group when compared with rupatadine group.Conclusions: Both rupatadine and olopatadine provide effective relief of the symptoms of AR. However, clinical benefit occurs significantly more with olopatadine. However, rupatadine was more cost‑effective than olopatadine in treating the patients of AR in term of effectiveness

INDRALUPTA (ALOPECIA AREATA): A CASE SUCCESSFULLY TREATED WITH JALUKAVCHARANA (LEECH THERAPY)

Hair disorders cause negative impact towards the individual and his/her quality of life. Indralupta is a Kshudraroga characterized by loss of hair. It can be correlate with alopecia areata, which is having chief complaint of hair loss on body especially on scalp without any clinical inflammatory signs. Raktamokshana is a technical term employed to denote a para-surgical procedure to expel out the vitiated blood from selected areas of the body, by specific methods. Ayurveda classical text propounds practical guidelines for bloodletting and claims it as most effective therapy in half of the body ailments. Jalaukavacharna Karma (Leech therapy) is considered as the ideal method to expel out the vitiated blood safely, quickly, and effectively. Here a case of Indralupta (alopecia areata) successfully treated with Ayurveda Raktamokshana treatment is recorded

Buttressing the Staple Line: A Randomized Comparison Between Staple-Line Reinforcement Versus No Reinforcement During Sleeve Gastrectomy

Bariatric surgery is recommended for Indian patients with body mass index (BMI) >32.5 kg/m(2) with at least one comorbidity and >37.5 kg/m(2) without a comorbidity. In laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, bleeding and leakage from the staple line are common post-operative events. Peri-Strips Dry® with Veritas® (PSD-V) is used in staple-line reinforcement. This was a single-investigator, multicenter, randomized study of 100 patients undergoing standard sleeve gastrectomy with a 34 or 36 French bougie. Patients were randomized 1:1 to PSD-V or control groups; no buttress material was used in the control group. The primary objective was to assess complication rates (any staple-line bleed or leak from the intra-operative visit through day 30) associated with sleeve gastrectomy. Surgical time (from first incision to closure of last incision) and the number of clips and/or sutures used to control bleeding were also assessed. Fewer staple-line bleeds were observed in the PSD-V group than the control group (23/51 [45.1 %] vs 39/49 [79.6 %] patients; p = 0.0005), and the bleeding was of a lower severity (p = 0.0002). No staple-line leaks were observed. Surgical time was shorter in patients who received PSD-V (58.8 vs 72.8 min; p = 0.0153), and fewer patients required hemostatic clips and/or sutures (10/51 [19.6 %] vs 33/49 [67.3 %] patients; p < 0.0001). Fewer patients in the PSD-V than the control group experienced adverse events (2/51 [3.9 %] vs 5/49 [10.2 %] patients). The use of PSD-V reduced the incidence and severity of staple-line bleeding and was associated with a reduction in surgical time compared with no staple-line reinforcement

Potentials and limitations of microorganisms as renal failure biotherapeutics

Renal insufficiency leads to uremia, a complicated syndrome. It thus becomes vital to reduce waste metabolites and regulate water and electrolytes in kidney failure. The most common treatment of this disease is either dialysis or transplantation. Although these treatments are very effective, they are extremely costly. Recently artificial cells, microencapsulated live bacterial cells, and other cells have been studied to manage renal failure metabolic wastes. The procedure for microencapsulation of biologically active material is well documented and offers many biomedical applications. Microencapsulated bacteria have been documented to efficiently remove urea and several uremic markers such as ammonia, creatinine, uric acid, phosphate, potassium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride. These bacteria also have further potential as biotherapeutic agents because they can be engineered to remove selected unwanted waste. This application has enormous potential for removal of waste metabolites and electrolytes in renal failure as well as other diseases such as liver failure, phenylketonuria, and Crohn’s disease, to name a few. This paper discusses the various options available to date to manage renal failure metabolites and focuses on the potential of using encapsulated live cells as biotherapeutic agents to control renal failure waste metabolites and electrolytes

SHORT REVIEW ON PAIN (VEDANA) BY SUSHRUTA

Pain is an unpleasing sensation and emotional experience that links to tissue damage. It allows the body to react and prevent further tissue damage. It is an unpleasant feeling which only the individual himself can experiences because of that it cannot be objectively defined satisfactorily. However, International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) defines pain as, “An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage. It is not just a physical sensation, it is an influenced by attitudes, beliefs, personality and social factors, and can affect emotional and mental wellbeing” which somehow help to define pain. The present study reviewed all the literature related with pain in Ayurvedic literature as mentioned in Sushruta Samhita. The basic aim of this study was to explore briefly and review the concept of pain as per Sushruta Samhita. And for the same various books especially Sushruta Samhita and related supportive books and other web-based articles were reviewed for the better understanding of the concept. Only secondary data were used for writing this article

An IoT Framework for Addressing Parents Concerns about Safety of School Going Children

In this paper, we have proposed a novel application using Internet of things (IOT). This application is focused to address the concerns of the parents towards their school going kids. Mainly the concerns of the parents are to ensure the safety of their kids in school bus as well as at school premises. In this paper, we have tried to provide detailed technical implementation about how different sensing, communication technologies clubbing together provides a platform in terms of IoT, where proposed application can be implemented to ensure safety of school going children as it is the priority and concern for parents. In Proposed application, parents get notification when his child boards the bus for school and gets down the bus at home’s doorstep. Parents also get notification when child enters his Class Room first time in a day. Parents any time can access the location his child or school bus in which his child is travelling. In case of emergency, child can disseminate the signal to parents / Single point of contact (SPOC) at school to make them aware about emergency

The NAE Pathway : autobahn to the nucleus for cell surface receptors

Various growth factors and full-length cell surface receptors such as EGFR are translocated from the cell surface to the nucleoplasm, baffling cell biologists to the mechanisms and functions of this process. Elevated levels of nuclear EGFR correlate with poor prognosis in various cancers. In recent years, nuclear EGFR has been implicated in regulating gene transcription, cell proliferation and DNA damage repair. Different models have been proposed to explain how the receptors are transported into the nucleus. However, a clear consensus has yet to be reached. Recently, we described the nuclear envelope associated endosomes (NAE) pathway, which delivers EGFR from the cell surface to the nucleus. This pathway involves transport, docking and fusion of NAEs with the outer membrane of the nuclear envelope. EGFR is then presumed to be transported through the nuclear pore complex, extracted from membranes and solubilised. The SUN1/2 nuclear envelope proteins, Importin-beta, nuclear pore complex proteins and the Sec61 translocon have been implicated in the process. While this framework can explain the cell surface to nucleus traffic of EGFR and other cell surface receptors, it raises several questions that we consider in this review, together with implications for health and disease

Determinants of Overweight and Obesity among School Children in Mehsana district, India

WHO refers obesity as a global epidemic because of rapid increase in the number of overweight and obese individuals in last 20 years. The objective of the study was to study the prevalence of overweight and obesity and determine their associated factors among school children aged 10-12 years in Mehsana district in India. A single centric epidemiological study was conducted among 200 school children selected at random in Mehsana district school in the period from July 2011 to September 2011. Overweight and obesity were assessed using height, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference of each student in the class. A predesigned and pretested questionnaire was used to interview the students to elicit the information on family characteristics like number of family members, education and occupation of parents, their usual physical activity, habit of watching TV and time spent with computer and for sleeping as well as the pattern of dietary intake. Significant difference in BMI for boys (p&lt;0.0010) as well as girls (p&lt;0.0123) was observed in all the three underweight, overweight and obese groups as compared to normal group. Significant difference in hip and waist circumference was observed only in the underweight group as compared to normal. Risk of overweight and obesity was significantly higher in children who spent time in television viewing and/or with computer. The present study highlights childhood obesity is an emerging health problem which need to be confirmed by large scale studies and effective preventive strategies should be developed to halt this epidemic at its beginning

MUTRASHMARI (UROLITHIASIS): A CASE SUCCESSFULLY TREATED WITH GOKSHURADI GUGGULU

Urolithiasis is a process of resembling stone in urinary tract (In Kidney/Ureter/ Bladder). It is also known as Kidney stone disease. In Ayurvedic literature Urolithiasis is refereed as Mutrashmari. Urolithiasis is very common disease in India, men are more affected than woman and its recurrent rates are very high. The common symptoms of Urolithiasis are Intermittent dull or colicky flank Pain, Painful or Burning urination, Cloudy or foul-smelling urine, blood in the urine and Nausea/Vomiting. In modern system, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy, Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery and Laparoscopic Ureterolithotomy are the surgical option available for big size kidney stone. However, there is no proper internal medication available for small size Urolithiasis but causative factors, clinical features, type and prognosis of Mutrashmari are elaborately described in classical text of Ayurveda. Gokshuradi Guggulu is commonly used herbal medicine in Ayurveda for urinary disorders. Small kidney stones with a diameter of less than 5 millimeters are often flushed out in the urine. But here in this case 4mm kidney stone was creating pain and not flushing out even after more than a week. After medication it was found that the stone easily flushed out in the urine with the help of Gokshuradi Guggulu

Intimate hygiene for women: expert practice points

Intimate hygiene is an important health aspect of females in day-to-day life. The practices of intimate hygiene vary widely around the globe due to cultural and religious beliefs. Currently, professional recommendations are limited in advising the optimal hygiene practices. Inappropriate practices can be concerning with the possibility of the development of infectious complications. Regular use of hygiene practices can improve overall health and boost self-confidence in females. In this review, we provided our expert suggestions on the importance and standard practices that can be adopted by females worldwide for adequate and effective intimate hygiene