Knowledge, attitude and practice of generic medicines among doctors in a tertiary care teaching hospital of Tripura, India

Background: The assessment of doctors’ perceptions and understanding about generic medicines may help in recognizing possible barriers to greater generic medicine usage. The primary objective of this study was to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of doctors toward generic medicines.Methods: A questionnaire based cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary-care teaching hospital of Tripura. The questionnaire was designed to assess the KAP about generic medicines. The doctors working in this institute during the study period were included. All data were analysed using statistical software for epidemiology (EPI6). P <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: 67.5% doctors agreed to the fact that generic medicines were intended to be interchangeable with a branded drug (p=0.0003). Among the doctors, 95% were aware that generic drug manufacturers need to conduct studies to show bioequivalence between the generic medicine and their branded counterparts (p <0.0001). Majority of the doctors (82.5%) were of the view that generic medicines were as safe as that of branded drugs (p <0.0001). 97.5% of the doctors agreed that importance of generic medicines should be taught in early part of internship. 75% doctors did not think that switching a patient from a brand-name to generic drug may change the outcome of the therapy (p <0.0001). 92.5% doctors said that they prescribe generic medicines (p <0.0001).Conclusion: The study showed that the doctors were well aware of generic medicines and Jan Aushadhi scheme of Govt. of India. It was also observed that efficacy, safety and quality profile of the medicine were the most important factors considered by doctors when they prescribe drugs

Antibiotic sensitivity pattern of bacterial isolates from urine samples of admitted patients with urinary tract infection in a tertiary care teaching hospital of Tripura, India: a hospital record based study

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) being one of the most common and a serious health problem both in the community and hospital settings each year worldwide, the emergence of antibiotic resistance in the management of UTI is a serious public health issue. The present study will analyse the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern of pathogens isolated from the urine samples of admitted patients suffering from UTI in Tripura Medical College and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Memorial Teaching Hospital (TMC).Methods: This was a hospital record-based study. The urine samples of clinically diagnosed UTI patients admitted in various departments of the hospital during the study period were included. The reports of culture and sensitivity testing of the samples were collected. The results were interpreted according to the guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI).Results: During the 12-month study period, a total of 752 urine samples were analysed. Enterococcus (43.75%) was the most frequently isolated bacteria, followed by E. coli (28.45%) and Klebsiella (14.89%). Enterococcus was highly sensitive (p<0.001) to vancomycin (95.33%), E. coli was mostly sensitive to nitrofurantoin (83.65%) and Klebsiella mainly sensitive to imipenem (75.49%).Conclusions: The study showed that positive urine culture with the antibiotic sensitivity of the isolates is very important for antimicrobial therapy, as antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem which causes ineffectiveness of treatment

Interleukin-22 Protects Intestinal Stem Cells from Immune-Mediated Tissue Damage and Regulates Sensitivity to Graft versus Host Disease

SummaryLittle is known about the maintenance of intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and progenitors during immune-mediated tissue damage or about the susceptibility of transplant recipients to tissue damage mediated by the donor immune system during graft versus host disease (GVHD). We demonstrate here that deficiency of recipient-derived IL-22 increased acute GVHD tissue damage and mortality, that ISCs were eliminated during GVHD, and that ISCs as well as their downstream progenitors expressed the IL-22 receptor. Intestinal IL-22 was produced after bone marrow transplant by IL-23-responsive innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) from the transplant recipients, and intestinal IL-22 increased in response to pretransplant conditioning. However, ILC frequency and IL-22 amounts were decreased by GVHD. Recipient IL-22 deficiency led to increased crypt apoptosis, depletion of ISCs, and loss of epithelial integrity. Our findings reveal IL-22 as a critical regulator of tissue sensitivity to GVHD and a protective factor for ISCs during inflammatory intestinal damage

COVID-19 therapeutics: Clinical application of repurposed drugs and futuristic strategies for target-based drug discovery

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the complicated disease COVID-19. Clinicians are continuously facing huge problems in the treatment of patients, as COVID-19-specific drugs are not available, hence the principle of drug repurposing serves as a one-and-only hope. Globally, the repurposing of many drugs is underway; few of them are already approved by the regulatory bodies for their clinical use and most of them are in different phases of clinical trials. Here in this review, our main aim is to discuss in detail the up-to-date information on the target-based pharmacological classification of repurposed drugs, the potential mechanism of actions, and the current clinical trial status of various drugs which are under repurposing since early 2020. At last, we briefly proposed the probable pharmacological and therapeutic drug targets that may be preferred as a futuristic drug discovery approach in the development of effective medicines

White light phosphorescence from ZnO nanoparticles for white LED applications

White light emission from a pristine, solid material is currently the biggest challenge in the lighting industry. In this paper we report for the first time highly reproducible, stable, and intense white phosphorescence (similar to 4-32 mu s) from phase-pure zinc oxide (ZnO) nanopowder synthesized by a simple, low temperature process. The structure and morphology were studied by XRD, FESEM, and TEM. The white light consisted of narrow blue (centered at similar to 425 nm) and broad yellow-orange (centered at similar to 625 nm) photoluminescence and the best result was observed at (0.36,0.33) in the CIE plot. The presence of zinc interstitial (Zn-i) and oxygen interstitial (O-i) defects responsible for such white phosphorescence was confirmed by EDX, XPS, and Raman studies. The visibly bright white emission has appreciable quantum yield (similar to 12-14%) and cool/near cool correlated color temperature, rendering it suitable for W-LED applications. Further, a defect chemistry-based thermodynamic interpretation was invoked to adequately explain the white emission

Food Industries Wastewater Recycling for Biodiesel Production through Microalgal Remediation

This article is an overview of a biosystem of food-industry wastewater (WW) treatment using microalgae towards circular bioeconomy through biosynthesis of compounds of added-value. Focusing on circular bioeconomy with concern to environmental pollution, the management of water-resource and energy-crisis could be combined; by upgrading conventional WW treatment and simultaneously producing a renewable and sustainable source of energy algal-lipids for biodiesel production. Phyco-remediation of food WW using microalgae has revealed many advantages that can fulfill new demands for the WW treatment. WWs can be valuable resources of micronutrients and organic content (carbon source) for algal cultivation. In this review, prospective routes for the production of value-added compounds (polysaccharides, amino acids, biofuels, and biopigments) along with the bioremediation of food industry WW have been discussed. Furthermore, limitations and issues of phyco-remediation of WW using microalgae have also been reviewed with perspectives for further research and development

Development and validation of a high-performance liquid chromatographic method for bioanalytical application with rimonabant

A simple and feasible high-performance liquid chromatographic method with UV detection was developed and validated for the quantification of rimonabant in human plasma. The chromatographic separation was carried out in a Hypersil BDS, C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm; 5�m). The mobile phase was a mixture of 10 mM phosphate buffer and acetonitrile (30:70, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The UV detection was set at 220 nm. The extraction recovery of rimonabant in plasma at three quality control (QC) samples was ranged from 84.17% to 92.64%. The calibration curve was linear for the concentration range of 20–400 ng/ml with the correlation coefficient (r 2 ) above 0.9921. The method was specific and sensitive with the limit of quantification of 20 ng/ml. The accuracy and precision values obtained from six different sets of QC samples analyzed in separate occasions ranged from 88.13% to 106.48% and 0.13% to 3.61%, respectively. In stability tests, rimonabant in human plasma was stable during storage and assay procedure. The method is very simple, sensitive and economical and the assay was applied to human plasma samples in a clinical (pharmacokinetic) study of rimonabant