ANTIPYRETIC ACTIVITY OF ANNONA PLANTS LEAVES ON BREWER'S YEAST INDUCED FEBRILE RATS

Objective: To evaluate and compare the in vivo antipyretic activity of the methanolic extracts of selected three Annona plant leaves.Methods: The acute oral toxicity determined by OECD class method and the in vivo antipyretic activity was determined by brewer's yeast inducedpyrexia method.Results: The results showed that the methanolic extract of leaves of Annona plants are non-toxic and possessed significant antipyretic effect whichmay be attributed to the presence of flavonoids and saponins in the extracts.Conclusion: This study provides evidences for the antipyretic activity of Annona squamosa, Annona reticulata and Annona muricata possess antipyreticactivity at the tested doses 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight without any side effects, which could partly contribute to its ethno medical use.Keywords: Annona squamosa L, Annona reticulata L, Annona muricata L, Antipyretic activity, Brewer's yeast

Increased yield of smear positive pulmonary TB cases by screening patients with >2 weeks cough, compared to >3 weeks and adequacy of 2 sputum smear examinations for diagnosis

Background RNTCP recommends examining three sputum smears for AFB from Chest Symptomatics (CSs) with cough of >3 weeks for diagnosis of Pulmonary TB (PTB). A previous multi-centric study from Tuberculosis Research centre (TRC) has shown that the yield of sputum positive cases can be increased if duration of cough for screening was reduced to >2 weeks. Other studies have shown that two smear examinations are adequate for diagnosis of smear positive PTB . To validate the above findings, a cross sectional multi-centric study was repeated in different settings in five geographical areas in India. Methods Three primary and secondary level health facilities with high out-patient attendance were selected from two Tuberculosis Units (TU) in each of the 15 selected districts to screen about 10,000 new adult outpatients from each state. For patients who did not volunteer history of cough, symptoms were elicited using a structured simple questionnaire. All the CSs were referred for sputum examination. Results A total of 96,787 out-patients were registered. Among them 69,209 (72%) were new adult out-patients. Using >2 weeks of cough instead of > 3 weeks as the criterion for screening, there was an overall increase of 58% in CS and 23% increase in the detection of smear-positive cases. Among 211 patients, 210 were positive at least by one smear from the initial two specimens. Increase in the work-load if 2 smears were done for patients with cough of >2 weeks cough were 2 specimens (i.e.13 to 15) per day for an adult OPD of 150. Conclusion The yield of sputum positive PTB cases can be improved by screening patients with >2 weeks cough and two specimens are adequate for diagnosis

Clinical and biochemical parameters in relation to serum leptin levels in South Indian children and adolescents

Objective To investigate the relationship between serum leptin and lipid profile in South Indian School children and adolescents, and to evaluate the role of serum leptin in obese, overweight and congenital heart diseased children and adolescents; in South Indian population and its correlation with anthropometric and biochemical parameters. Methods The study included 185 school going children and adolescents. (52 obese, 49 overweight, 25 congenital heart disease children and adolescents, were compared with 59 normal controls, aged between 10–17 years). Anthropometric variables, lipid profile, fasting serum glucose were analyzed by autoanalyser and serum leptin by ELISA. Results Serum leptin levels were significantly elevated in obese and overweight children than in control children (36.88±18.60ng/mL, 20.64±11.18ng/mL vs 7.97±2.79ng/mL; p value <0.001), and decreased in congenital heart diseased children than in control children (6.20±4.23 ng/mL vs 7.97±2.79ng/mL; p value <0.005). Conclusions This study provides a good relationship between serum leptin levels and anthropometric and biochemical parameters, such as total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol. We observed negative correlation between serum leptin and fasting glucose levels and HDL-cholesterol levels were found to be non-significant among the groups. Further studies with large sample size are needed to ascertain the relationship between serum leptin and lipid profile in different groups of children and adolescents

Comparison between serum insulin levels and its resistance with biochemical, clinical and anthropometric parameters in South Indian children and adolescents

There is a rising trend in the prevalence of insulin resistance among obese, overweight children and adolescents. The serum insulin and its correlation with biochemical, clinical and anthropometric parameters were evaluated in 185 children and adolescents (59 control, 52 obese, 49 overweight, 25 congenital heart disease) of age group 10–17 years. The levels of serum insulin were measured by ELISA. Serum insulin levels were found to be significantly increased in children who were obese, overweight and had congenital heart disease, than controls. Serum insulin levels positively correlated with BMI, WHR, and serum C-peptide, serum leptin, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Fasting glucose levels were found to be negatively correlated with serum insulin levels. HDL-cholesterol levels were non-significant among the study groups. We identified nine obese children (five girls and four boys) with the features of metabolic syndrome and 69% of obese and overweight children were identified with insulin resistance. Insulin resistance was strongly associated with metabolic syndrome and its components, especially with central obesity and hypertriglyceridemia

Synthesis of 4<i>H</i>-3,1-Benzothiazin-4-Ones <i>via</i> C-N/C-S Bond Forming Reactions

A Phosphine-free and effective process has been expressed for the formulation of N,S-heterocycles following a C-N/C-S bond forming reactions. The described process operates through EDC-HCl-mediated heterocyclization of diverse isothiocyanates and bis-nucleophiles to deliver 1,3-thiazinone derivatives, which eliminates the use of hazardous reagents. The developed protocol was found applicable over a wide range of substrates in delivering N,S-heterocycles in excellent yields at room temperature and short reaction time.</p

Capability of polygonum cuspidatum extract in inhibiting AGEs and preventing diabetes

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder disease associated with advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and protein glycation. The effect of polygonum cuspidatum extract (PE) on AGEs and Nε‐(Carboxymethyl)‐L‐lysine formation, protein glycation, and diabetes was investigated. Six primary phenolics in a range of 12.36 mg/g for ellagic acid to 0.01 mg/g for piceid were determined in PE. In an intermediate‐moisture‐foods model, inhibition rate of PE was as high as 54.2% for AGEs and 78.9% for CML under aw 0.75. The protein glycation was also inhibited by PE. In a diabetic rat model, the levels of blood glucose, serum malondialdehyde, cholesterol, triglycerides, and low‐density lipoproteins were effectively reduced by PE treatment. The antioxidation capacity (T‐AOC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were also mediated by PE. Additionally, the activates of liver function‐related enzymes including alkaline phosphatase (ALP), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT), and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) in diabetic rat were improved by PE