A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF AGOMELATINE ON FOOD INTAKE AND BODY WEIGHT IN RESTRAINT STRESS MODEL IN ADULT SWISS ALBINO MICE

  Objectives: Agomelatine is a novel melatonin (MT) receptor agonist at MT 1 and 2, serotonin receptor antagonist and an effective chronobiotic agent. The study was designed to evaluate the effects of agomelatine on body weight and food intake in restraint stress model in adult Swiss albino mice.Methods: After the approval of Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, 40 male Swiss albino mice were randomly divided into four groups of 10 animals each; two were treatment groups which received 25 mg/kg (low dose) agomelatine, 50 mg/kg (high dose) agomelatine, standard group given trazodone and the control group administered the vehicle (1% hydroxyethyl cellulose [HEC]) intraperitoneally for the last 14 days in the 3 weeks study period. Chronic restraint stress was given for 4 hrs per day for all groups starting from day 0 to 21.Results: Using paired t-test, both 12 hrs (p=0.011) and 24 hrs (p<0.001) food intake in the high dose agomelatine group were significantly increased. Between groups using ANOVA test showed a statistically significant increase in food intake for this group when compared to the control group. Unlike the low dose agomelatine group (p=0.205), the mean body weight in the group treated with high dose agomelatine revealed a statistically significant rise compared to that of the control (p=0.001) in ANOVA test.Conclusion: High dose agomelatine was effective in antagonizing the body weight lowering effect of restraint stress in addition to amelioration of reduced food intake. The study has potentially brought out the additional therapeutic benefit of agomelatine in improving the altered feeding and body weight changes when used in the treatment of the depression

A STUDY COMPARING THE ANORECTIC ACTIVITY OF HOT AND COLD AQUEOUS EXTRACTS OF DOLICHOS BIFLORUS LINN. SEEDS IN FREELY FEEDING RATS

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the anorectic activity of hot (pre-cooked under pressure) and cold (soaked overnight) aqueous extracts of the seeds of D. biflorus in freely feeding Wistar albino rat model.Methods: Hot extract at a dose of 4 % w/v was given to the group 1 and cold extract at a dose of 4 % w/v was given to group 2 while group 3 was kept as the control group. Food intake and analysis of behavioral satiety sequence (BSS) was assessed after 4 w of extract administration whereas body weight was recorded both before and after treatment.Results: Cold extract group showed significant anorectic activity (p<0.05) but not the hot extract group. The cold extract group, unlike the hot extract group also exhibited an acceleration of the BSS indicating that the anorectic activity is primary.Conclusion: The study has thus brought out the potential appetite suppressant activity of the cold extract of D. biflorus seeds.Keywords: Dolichos biflorus, Anorectic, Behavioral satiety sequence, Food intak

A PROSPECTIVE STUDY ON QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH URINARY CALCULI

  Objective: The objective of the study is to compare the quality of life (QoL) in both men and women with urinary calculi using SF-12 questionnaire and also to improve by patient education. Patient counseling can scientifically improve the physical and mental component of certain diseases that could be a relief to the patient. Non-pharmacological approaches could be an alternative to the drug therapy.Methods: The present study involves prospective study on QoL in patients with urinary calculi. The methodology involves the collection and documentation of general information of the patient including personal history, family background, clinical findings, investigations, and medical illness associated with urinary calculi. Further, quality is documented using SF-12 questionnaire designed to assess the impact of urinary calculi and their complications.Result: It can be seen that there is an extremely significant (p<0.0001) values were obtained when compared between pre- and post-counseling phases of physical and mental component scores (PCS and MCS). Patient's PCS and MCS improved extremely significant in post-counseling.Conclusion: Patients counseling plays a major role in the management of signs and symptoms among patient with urinary calculi. Clinicians should be aware of the risk of impaired health-related QoL (HRQoL) in stone formers. A new and promising endpoint in the management of urolithiasis is improvement of HRQoL

Antibiotic sensitivity pattern to urinary tract infections in a tertiary care hospital in South India

Background: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common bacterial illnesses and hence one of the most important indications for antibiotic treatment. Current knowledge of the common organisms implicated in causing UTI in the local community and surveillance to monitor the changes in susceptibility of uropathogens are imperative to ensure appropriate therapy. The study objectives were to assess the proportion of UTI caused by each of the common urinary pathogens, to study the antibiotic drug sensitivity patterns by analyzing the culture and sensitivity reports and to identify the drugs which would be potentially favourable candidates for empirical therapy in the study locale.Methods: This hospital based cross sectional study was done by collecting the data from case records of patients who attended OPD or were admitted with diagnosis of UTI during the study period.Results: Escherichia coli was the single most important cause of UTI, accounting for 70% of the infection among the studied subjects, amongst which 55% was extended spectrum beta-lactamase producing organisms. A pattern of increased susceptibility to higher antibiotics like ertapenem, tigecycline and decreased sensitivity to fluroquinolones was evident. In addition, nitrofurantoin was found to be one of the antibiotics to which most of the organisms were susceptible (85%) favouring its use in empirical therapy of UTI.Conclusions: The pattern of accentuated susceptibility to higher antibiotics in the face of declining trend in the sensitivity to commonly used antibiotics necessitates promoting awareness on the need for rational prescribing of antibiotics among clinicians

Therapeutic evaluation of homeopathic treatment for canine oral papillomatosis

Aim: A study was conducted to evaluate the ameliorative potential of homeopathic drugs in combination (Sulfur 30C, Thuja 30C, Graphites 30C, and Psorinum 30C) in 16 dogs affected with oral papillomatosis which was not undergone any previous treatment. Materials and Methods: Dogs affected with oral papillomatosis, which have not undergone any initial treatment and fed with a regular diet. Dogs (total=16) were randomly divided into two groups, namely, homeopathic treatment group (n=8) and placebo control group (n=8). Random number table was used for allocation. Homeopathic combination of drugs and placebo drug (distilled water) was administered orally twice daily for 15 days. Clinical evaluation in both groups of dogs was performed by the same investigator throughout the period of study (12 months). Dogs were clinically scored for oral lesions on days 0, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, and 150 after initiation of treatment. Results: The homeopathic treatment group showed early recovery with a significant reduction in oral lesions reflected by clinical score (p<0.001) in comparison to placebo-treated group. Oral papillomatous lesions regressed in the homeopathic group between 7 and 15 days, whereas regression of papilloma in the placebo group occurred between 90 and 150 days. The homeopathic treated group was observed for 12 months post-treatment period and no recurrence of oral papilloma was observed. Conclusion: The current study proves that the combination of homeopathy drugs aids in fastening the regression of canine oral papilloma and proved to be safe and cost-effective

Comparative analysis of motion detection methods or video surveillance systems

In this paper, a motion detection module is proposed for real time dynamic video frames by comparing the three major classes of methods for motion detection namely Background Subtraction, Temporal differencing and Optical Flow method .A hierarchical background model is proposed based on segmenting the background images. The region model is extracted from the histogram of a specific region which is similar to the kind of a Gaussian mixture model. The pixel model is described by histograms of oriented gradients of pixels in each region based on the co-occurrence of image variations. Silhouette detection algorithm is proposed. The experimental results are carried out with a video database to demonstrate the effectiveness, which is applied to both static and dynamic scenes by comparing it with some well-known motion detection methods namely Temporal differencing and Optical Flow method and based on the results a motion detection module for dynamic video frames can be developed which is cost effective, shows high rate of accuracy, low rate of complexity, and well adapt to different kinds of shadow distributio

A STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT ON POTASSIUM HOMEOSTASIS IN PATIENTS ADMINISTERED HEPARIN FOR THROMBOPROPHYLAXIS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: Low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is an indirect thrombin inhibitor used clinically as an anticoagulant for thromboprophylaxis of patients at risk of deep vein thrombosis. The study was done to assess the magnitude of rise in serum potassium after administration of low molecular weight heparin comparing enoxaparin with dalteparin and to evaluate the frequency of clinically significant hyperkalemia in the population studied.Methods: The study was done as a prospective non-randomized observational study in a population of 32 patients started on heparin for thromboprophylaxis for deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary thromboembolism or stroke.Results: A statistically significant elevation in serum potassium was seen in patients treated with LMWH (p = 0.007). The magnitude of rise in potassium was significantly higher in enoxaparin (p = 0.008) than the dalteparin group (p = 0.447). A clinically relevant hyperkalemia of&gt;5 mEq/l was seen in 25% of the population studied. Other important associations detected from the study were that the advancing age and increasing dose could be potential risk factors contributory to an accentuated rise in serum potassium which may culminate in clinically significant hyperkalemia.Conclusion: The study has highlighted that the likelihood of rise in potassium levels during LMWH therapy necessitates monitoring of serum potassium

USER PERCEPTION TOWARDS SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES - AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH

A social networking site (SNS) or social media is an online platform that people use to build social networks or social relations with other people who share similar personal or career interests, activities, backgrounds or real-life connections. The advent of Social Networking sites and its resources have revolutionized the communication and social relation world. This paper aims to assess the user perception towards SNS like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In the study data was obtained through structured questionnaire collected from 250 users and the research data was tested using Percentage analysis, chi-square and spearman’s rank correlation. Factor of gender, age and purpose of social networking sites of Facebook users have significant association with level of perception. Age, occupation and annual income of Twitter users have significant association with level of perception and Gender, age and occupation of Linkedin users have significant association with level of perception. The study says there is a moderate association between ranks of Facebook and Twitter. Facebook was the most popular site compared to other Social Networking sites

Amelioration of Neuroprotective Effect of Semisynthetic Derivatives of Piperine in Rotenone induced Rat Model of Parkinson’s Disease

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder and defined as a complex disorder with multifactorial pathogenesis. The systemic rotenone model accurately replicates many aspects of the pathology of human PD and has provided insights into the pathogenesis of PD. Piperine is an alkaloid isolated from black pepper and possess antioxidant, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. AIM OF THE STUDY: The present study has been designed to evaluate the amelioration of neuroprotective effect of semisynthetic derivatives of piperine in rotenone- induced rat model of Parkinson’s disease. METHODS: In the present study, about 113 semisynthetic piperine derivatives (SDP) were subjected to ADMET properties, molecular docking studies using AutoDock 4.2 against target enzymes COMT (3A7D) and MAO-B (3PO7). Black pepper was used for the isolation of piperine. Based on in silico study, 6 compounds were selected and synthesized by three schemes with various substitutions. Analytical studies (UV, IR, NMR and Mass spectra) were done to confirm its structure and in vitro MAO-B inhibitory activity was performed. The compound (SDP 20) offered better IC50 value and hence it was selected for in vivo study. Acute toxicity was performed following OECD TG 423. About 24 Male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups (n=6). Animals in all the groups received rotenone in the dose of 2.5 mg/kg i.p daily for 28 days. Group I served as negative control. The animals in group II and III received SDP 20 (100 and 200 mg/kg respectively) p.o. The animals in group IV received levodopa (9mg/kg) and carbidopa(2.25mg/kg) p.o. Behavioral parameters (Rota rod, grip strength, locomotion and narrow beam walk test) were performed on weekly intervals throughout the study. Animals were sacrificed on 29th day for neurotransmitter and biochemical estimation and histopathological changes. RESULTS: The compounds were selected based on BBB barrier penetration and docking scores. A total of 6 compounds were synthesized and analytical studies were carried out. The in vitro MAO-B inhibitory activity was performed for the compounds and SDP 20 was selected for in vivo study. In in vivo study it was demonstrated that significant alteration in behavioral parameters, neurochemical changes, oxidative and histopathological changes were observed in rotenone- treated animals. Administration of SDP 20 prevented alterations induced by rotenone. CONCLUSION: These findings supports the PD treatment by lowering the impairments in motor activity. The results also suggest that SDP 20 may offer a promising and new therapeutic lead for the treatment of PD which needs further research

Investigation of keratinase activity by thermo-alkanophilic Nocardiopsis sp. SD6 isolated from feather waste soil / Subhasish Saha... [et. al.]

The aim of the study was to isolate keratinolytic actinobacteria from feather waste soil, poultry farm soil in Tiruchirappalli and Nammakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India and their keratinase activity were investigated by feather degradation. Totally 91 isolates were obtained from feather waste soil and poultry waste soil samples. Among the 91 isolates, 32 positive isolates were selected after grown on modified starch casein agar (SCA) medium with additional casein. All 32 proteolytic isolates were subjected for casein hydrolysis and four significant isolates were selected based on their growth on basal liquid medium containing chicken feather. The isolate SD6 was tentatively identified one of the best among 4 isolates. The isolate SD6 was characterized by morphological, biochemical and molecular property inducing 16s rRNA analysis based and has been identified as Nocardiopsis sp. SD6 (JF907189). The isolate was grown on modified starch casein broth (SCB). Supernatant from centrifuged culture was examined for protease and keratinase activity. The optimum temperature and pH for enzyme activity for both proteolytic and keratinolytic was found at 50°C, pH 8 respectively. Extracellular keratinase enzyme was separated from the culture supernatant by centrifugation and precipitated with ammonium sulphate (80% saturation) and followed by dialysis using dialysis membrane 150. Native PAGE was performed with the enzyme sample and visible bands were observed after de-staining. Zymogram gel electrophoresis was employed to identify the keratinase enzymes band and three bands in the gel were found with positive keratinase activity