Knowledge, attitude and practice of pharmacovigilance among private healthcare professionals of Rajkot city

Background: Spontaneous reporting is an important tool in pharmacovigilance. However, its success depends on cooperative and motivated prescribers. In order to improve the reporting rate, it is essential to improve the Knowledge, Attitude and the Practices (KAP) of the healthcare professionals with regards to the ADR reporting and the pharmacovigilance. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of pharmacovigilance among private prescribers of Rajkot city.Methods: It was a prospective questionnaire based survey type of study which was carried out among the private practitioners of Rajkot city. A questionnaire which was suitable for assessing the basic Knowledge, Attitude and the Practice (KAP) of pharmacovigilance was designed and distributed among the private doctors and filled up forms collected back and analyzed by microsoft excel 2007.Results: Out of 600 distributed forms 332 forms were received back, reflecting a response rate of 55.33%. 13.86% doctors didn’t know about the term pharmacovigilance. 76.80% doctors experienced ADR during their clinical practices. 17.77% doctors maintain the record for patient safety and medico legal aspect.13.25% doctors reported ADR at different places. Lack of knowledge and awareness and medico legal problems were common reasons for under reporting of ADR.78.30% doctors agreed to keep ADR monitoring mandatory. Preferred methods for reporting ADR were electronic media and personal communication.Conclusions: There was a great need to create awareness among the private doctors to improve the reporting of ADRs. Even though ADR reporting make compulsory by doctors unless there is no strict government rules and regulation success of pharmacovigilance programme is questionable

A study of effectiveness and safety of topical combination therapy for acne vulgaris patients in dermatology department of a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Acne vulgaris is a dermatological disorder characterised by formation of comedones and inflammatory lesions. Acne is one of the most common reason for visiting a dermatologist in early adulthood. The current line of management for mild to moderate acne is topical medications with antimicrobials and retinoids. The present study assessed the effectiveness and safety of topical combination therapy for mild to moderate acne vulgaris.Methods: An observational, prospective and comparative study conducted on newly diagnosed acne vulgaris patients who were treated with topical combination therapy. Changes in the total, inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesion counts, investigator global assessment (IGA) and dermatology life quality index (DLQI) scales were recorded to check effectiveness. Treatment emergent adverse events were recorded in suspected ADR reporting form for safety assessment.Results: Participants (n=97) were treated with three topical combination treatments either clindamycin-benzoyl peroxide (group-A), clindamycin-adapalene (group-B) or benzoyl peroxide-adapalene (group C). Majority of participants (42.3%) were treated with clindamycin-benzoyl peroxide group. Reduction from baseline of total, inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesion counts were highly significant within group comparison (p<0.001), but between group differences were not significant. Significant improvement in DLQI and IGA scores were noted in all three groups, but between group comparison showed no significant differences. All three groups were safe and well tolerated and equally improve participant’s quality of life.Conclusions: all three topical combination drugs for mild acne vulgaris had similar effectiveness in terms of reduction in acne lesions with similar safety profile

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on food addiction in India

Food addiction (FA) has a long-term impact on the health of individuals. This study analyses the changes in FA and related behaviour in India in the wake of lockdown which started on 25th March 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak. This paper provides insight into the food consumption behavior of various segments of the population during this lockdown. It offers some new insights in this regard by establishing the relationship between a temporary pause in the consumption of palatable food and FA. This study was conducted between March and May 2020 in two stages. First, a quantitative study used the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) to identify food addicts from a sample of 150 respondents. In the second stage, in-depth telephone interviews were conducted with the food addicts; the responses were recorded, transcribed, and analysed to ascertain the changes in their overall consumption and addiction behavior towards palatable foods. This was done by conducting a thematic analysis with the help of the NVivo software where various tools like word cloud and cluster analysis were used. This study found that COVID-19 restrictions had significantly brought down the addiction to palatable food in India as the regular consumption chain had got broken during the lockdown. The consumption of palatable food is expected to remain low for a brief period after the lockdown due to hygiene issues like improper or lack of sanitization and cleanliness. However, in the long-run, the consumption of palatable food is expected to rise in India owing to its growing population, modernisation, increasing disposable income and changes in customer preferences. These findings have significant implications for the food, packaging and health industries as the changes in customer behavior will certainly impact them, and they need to duly change their strategy to adapt to the changes promptly

Ferroelectric relaxor behaviour in Pb(Fe0.5Ta0.5)O3

The relaxor ferroelectric lead iron tantalate, Pb(Fe0.5Ta0.5)O3 (PFT) is synthesized by Coulombite precursor method. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the sample at room temperature shows a cubic phase. The field dependence of dielectric response is measured in a frequency range 0.1 kHz – 1 MHz and in a temperature range from 173–373 K. The temperature dependence of permittivity (ε ′) shows broad maxima at various frequencies. The frequency dependence of the permittivity maximum temperature (Tm) has been modelled using Vogel-Fulcher relation.Ferroelectric relaxor behaviour in Pb(Fe0.5Ta0.5)O3 Chandrahas Bharti*, S N Choudhary and T P Sinha1 University Department of Physics, T M Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur-812 007, Bihar, India 1Department of Physics, Bose Institute, 93/1, A P C Road, Kolkata-700 009, India E-mail : [email protected] Department of Physics, T M Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur-812 007, Bihar, India 1Department of Physics, Bose Institute, 93/1, A P C Road, Kolkata-700 009, Indi

COMMIPHORA MUKUL EXTRACT AND GUGGULSTERONE EXHIBIT ANTITUMOUR ACTIVITY THROUGH INHIBITION OF CYCLIN D1, NF-Κß AND INDUCTION OF APOPTOSIS IN ORAL CANCER CELLS

ABSTRACTComiphora mukul, a promising medicinal plant and its constituent Guggulsterone (GS) is used in Ayurveda since decades. This study was aimed toinvestigate the anticancer potential of C. mukul and GS on oral cancer cell lines (SCC-4, KB). MTT assay was used to determine tumour cell proliferation,propidium iodide labeling and annexin V- binding, followed by flow cytometry was used to determine cell cycle and apoptosis of tumor cells aftertreatment. Expression of regulatory proteins such as NF-κß, cyclin D1, p53 and vascular endothelial growth factor was determined by western blot.C. mukul and GS significantly inhibited tumor cell growth, caused cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in both tumor cells. Such activities appeared to bedue to inhibition of NF-κß, cyclin D1and restoration of p53. Overall our data suggests that C. mukul and GS may be developed as chemopreventive andchemotherapeutic drug for oral cancer.Keywords: Commiphora mukul, Oral cancer, Antitumor, Cell cycle, Apoptosis, NF-κß, Cyclin D1, P53

Public Trust, Deliberative Engagement and Health Data Projects: Beyond Legal Provisions

In England, a new scheme for collating and sharing General Practitioners’ data has faced resistance from various quarters and has been deferred twice. While insufficient communication and ambiguous safeguards explain the widespread dissatisfaction expressed by the public and experts, we argue how dwindling public trust can be the most damaging variable in this picture - with implications not only for this scheme, but for any future project that aims to mobilise health data for medical research and innovation. We also highlight the indispensability of deliberative public engagement on the values being prioritised in health data initiatives, the significance of securing social license in addition to legal assurances, and the lessons in it of global pertinence

The dynamics of measles in sub-Saharan Africa.

Although vaccination has almost eliminated measles in parts of the world, the disease remains a major killer in some high birth rate countries of the Sahel. On the basis of measles dynamics for industrialized countries, high birth rate regions should experience regular annual epidemics. Here, however, we show that measles epidemics in Niger are highly episodic, particularly in the capital Niamey. Models demonstrate that this variability arises from powerful seasonality in transmission-generating high amplitude epidemics-within the chaotic domain of deterministic dynamics. In practice, this leads to frequent stochastic fadeouts, interspersed with irregular, large epidemics. A metapopulation model illustrates how increased vaccine coverage, but still below the local elimination threshold, could lead to increasingly variable major outbreaks in highly seasonally forced contexts. Such erratic dynamics emphasize the importance both of control strategies that address build-up of susceptible individuals and efforts to mitigate the impact of large outbreaks when they occur

Analgesic efficacy of dexmedetomidine versus fentanyl as an adjunct to thoracic epidural in patients undergoing upper abdominal surgery: a randomized controlled trial

Background: This randomised, double-blind study was designed to assess the analgesic efficacy of dexmedetomidine as compared with fentanyl as an adjunct to local anaesthetic in thoracic epidural for upper abdominal surgeries.Methods: Forty adult patients of American Society of Anesthesiologists grade I–II undergoing upper abdominal surgery were randomly allocated into two groups to receive 50 μg fentanyl or 50 μg dexmedetomidine as an adjunct to 10 ml 0.125%bupivacaine via thoracic epidural. Anaesthesia was induced with morphine, propofol and vecuronium and maintained by isoflurane with 60% nitrous oxide in oxygen. In the postoperative period patient-controlled analgesic pumps were used to deliver similar types of mixtures via the epidural catheter. Patients were evaluated for rescue analgesic requirements, haemodynamic stability, postoperative pain, sedation and any adverse events.Results: The groups were comparable regarding intraoperative analgesic requirements, recovery times and postoperative pain scores. The total consumption of rescue analgesia was significantly less in the dexmedetomidine group as compared with the fentanyl group (p = 0.049). Two patients in the fentanyl group had vomiting and one had pruritus. None of the patients had bradycardia, hypotension, excessive sedation or respiratory depression. Patients receiving epidural dexmedetomidine were more satisfied with the technique than those receiving fentanyl (p &lt; 0.001).Conclusion: It was concluded that the addition of dexmedetomidine with 0.125% bupivacaine in thoracic epidural provides effective perioperative analgesia with greater patient satisfaction compared with fentanyl.Keywords: adjuvants, dexmedetomidine, fentanyl, postoperative pain, thoracic epidura