Clinical and economic outcomes of risperidone versus clozapine in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine clinical outcomes and direct cost associated with risperidone and clozapine for the treatment of chronic schizophrenia.Methods: In a prospective observational study on 100 patients with schizophrenia in a tertiary care setting clinical outcome was measured using positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) and costs by direct medical cost.Results: Both risperidone and clozapine significantly reduced the severity of psychotic symptoms (scores on the PANSS) from baseline, with no significant between group differences. The clinical improvement was more in the case of clozapine compared to risperidone group (p=0.479). In both groups, extrapyramidal symptoms and other adverse events were few, and their severity was generally mild. A statistical significance was noted in the total direct cost which was higher in patients receiving clozapine when compared to risperidone.Conclusions: Risperidone was well tolerated and as effective as clozapine in patients with chronic schizophrenia and more economical than clozapine

A LITERATURE REVIEW ON ANUKTA DRAVYA AND ITS PARIBHASA: STRATEGY TO UNDERSTAND THE CONFINES OF ANUKTA

Ayurveda deals with the Dravya, Guna and Karma of helpful and harmful materials (...yatascha aayushyyaani anaayushyani cha dravyagunakarma ani vedayatyato apyaayurvedaha….). It is not possible to speak about everything every time but one should decide their specific and own application as per necessities and should determine appropriately. The entities which are not much important and unavailable and if unavailable are not discussed it remains Anukta. Need of Anukta aushadi dravya is important because there is no material which cannot be used as drug (Jagat evam anoushadam). Anukta literally means unsaid, unuttered. In the context where nothing is clearly said, Anukta is taken as standard parameter. It helps not only in understanding the classical concepts but also becomes base for understanding the new diseases, drugs and treatment principles and so on. Problem facing related to Anukta dravya is Pratyaksham hi alpam, apratyaksham hi analpam i.e., known is less, unkown is more. Problem facing is difficulty in assessment of new drug in all aspects Naama, Rupa, Guna, Karma, Prayoga. Already we find scattered references regarding guidelines to know Anukta dravya based on classical text mainly according to Charaka. So this proper perception fulfils the scarcity of classical references to know the Anukta dravya, which in turn may help to take a clinical research based on this literary research

Synthesis of silver nanoparticles from in vitro derived plants and callus cultures of Costus speciosus (Koen.); Assessment of antibacterial activity

This study demonstrates for the first time the efficiencies of in vitro derived plantsand callus cultures of Costus speciosus extract in the rapid biosynthesis of stable silve rnanoparticles. Synthesis of silver nanoparticles may be influenced directly or indirectly byphytochemicals in plants such as phenolics, flavonoids, and diosgenin compounds. Thisstudy also highlights a cost effective and environment friendly technique for green synthesisof silver nanoparticles. These silver nanoparticles were found to be highly toxic againstdifferent multi drug resistant clinical samples such as gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, and the gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. This also provides evidence for developing large scale commercial productionof value-added products for biomedical / nanotechnology based industries, which is animportant step in the field of application of nanotechnology

Comparative mechanical properties studies on heat & unheat treated AL7075 alloy hybrid composites

In the present work, Al7075 based hybrid composites was developed using stir casting technique. Al7075 hybrid composites with different weight percentage of Mica, Graphite and E-glass fiber were developed to study the effect of these reinforcements on microstructure and mechanical properties, E-Glass fiber is kept constant at 0, 2, 4 %, Mica is varied from 1-3 % in steps of 1 and Graphite varied from 1-5 % in steps of 2. It can be seen that the three peaks corresponding to Al were seen at 38º, 46º and 65º 2θ angles and small peaks related to all the three reinforcement mica, graphite and E-glass fiber were observed in the XRD pattern. Grain size analysis was examined using Clemex Image-Analyzer software, it was observed that decrease in grain size of Al7075 matrix was found to decrease with the increase in reinforcements, Hardness was found to increase with increase in reinforcement content whether it could E-glass fiber from 0-4 % or mica from 1-% or graphite content from 1-5 %. Ultimate tensile strength increased with the increase in reinforcement content both before and after heat treatment

Recent advances in plant derived vaccine antigens against human infectious diseases

The use of plants for the production of vaccine is one of the important applications in the modern medicine. There are many advantages of using plants as the production system compared to traditional mammalian system. Many plant species have been exploited to accumulate vaccine antigens for human infectious diseases, and vaccine candidates are approaching the market. The transgenic plants are considered as cheap source and found alternative approach to fermentation for large-scale production of vaccine antigens. The autotrophic growth of plants requires only soil minerals, water, nitrogen, sunlight energy for the synthesis of vaccine antigens. Therefore, vaccine production by using plants is one of the cheap and efficient technologies. This review covers the recent advances of plant derived vaccine antigens for the prevention of human infectious diseases and focuses on the current methods

Role of salicyclic acid on conifer somatic embryogenesis

This review paper highlights about the role of salicyclic acid on somatic embryogenesis and also recent updates on cloning mature trees of  conifers using salicyclic acid were discussed. Salicyclic acid (SA) is a mobile molecule, which is capable of acting as a cell signal that senses, amplifies, and transmit information from a cell and might help in programming  towards embryogenesis during cloning. Very recently incorporation of 1.0 mg-1 SA in the DCR induction medium was found to be optimum for all  the genotypes of P. roxburghii in terms of increasing the percentage of somatic embryogenesis compared against control. Therefore, salicyclic acid can be used as growth regulator in conifer somatic embryogenesis and its use might help to solve the low initiation frequencies of many other recalcitrant pines. However, the mechanism of salicylate-induced  differentiation in plants is not known, although salicylate is a signal molecule implicated in eliciting many physiological functions in plants

Activation of cambial layer influences cloning of mature trees of conifers

The shoot apical meristems are organized pools of undifferentiated or embryonic cells (stem cells) maintained by a dynamic balance between cell division and differentiation. On the basis of our mature tree cloning of pines, it is found that actively dividing and totipotent cells (stem cells) are positioned only at the cambial layer of the apical meristematic tissue in conifers, so that their growth and division under in vitro conditions leading to a continuous flow of progeny cells. These progeny cells (stem cells) under stress conditions (cold/heat) undergo differentiation due to signal activation in cambial region and leading to the embryogenic pathway in conifers. On the other hand the rest of the layers (epidermis, cortex region and central pith or medulla) of the transverse thin section of shoot apical meristems of mature trees have  induced non--embryogenic tissue under in vitro conditions in conifers

Influence of bud break and apical meristematic tissue competence during cloning mature trees of conifers

This review paper highlights the influence of bud break and apical meristematic tissue competence in inducing embryogenic tissue during cloning mature trees of conifers. Bud burst depends on dormancy release by chilling or heat due to increase in the day temperature, and accumulation of thermal time above a species-specific threshold. The buds collected immediately after the bud burst were found very responsive for the in vitro cloningof P. kesiya, P. roxburghii and P. wallichiana, P. patula, and P. sylvestris, This might be duethe activation of the apical meristematic cells showing active growth of shoots in most of theconifers. The active dividing and totipotent cells might be positioned only at the cambiallayer of the apical meristematic tissue in conifers, so that their growth and division leads to acontinuous flow of progeny cells. These cambial layer cells under stress conditions undergodifferentiation and leading to the embryogenic pathway in conifers

Smoke saturated water promoted in vitro seed germination of an epiphytic orchid Oberonia ensiformis (Rees) Lindl.

This study highlights for the first time an in vitro seed germination of an epiphytic orchid Oberonia ensiformis (Rees) Lindl, from the Western Ghat Forest of Karnataka state,India promoted by smoke saturated water (SSW). High percentage germination (85%) andhigh percentage of plantlet recovery (73%) was achieved by culturing seeds on Mitra et al.(1976) basal medium supplemented with 10% (v/v) SSW. Well-rooted shoots weretransferred to pots containing charcoal chips, coconut husk and broken tiles (2:2:1) and 90%survived. Therefore, the role of SSW as a natural growth regulator at different stages ofdevelopment from seed germination to plant regeneration has been confirmed

Smoke promoted in vitro seed germination of Pholidota pallida Lindl.

This study reports the influence of smoke saturated water (SSW) on asymbiotic seed germination and an early differentiation of protocorms and plant regeneration of Pholidota pallida Lindl. High percentage germination (85%), and percentage of plant let recovery (71%)was achieved by culturing seeds on Mitra et al. (1976) basal medium supplemented with 10%(v/v) SSW. Well-rooted shoots were transferred to pots containing charcoal chips, coconut husk and broken tiles (2:2:1) and 90% survived. Therefore, smoke saturated water is an efficient, cheap and easy way to improve the seed germination, in vitro development and exvitro establishment of orchids