A study to assess knowledge and attitude towards HIV among students from Mumbai university

Background: India has the third largest HIV epidemic in the world. The Indian epidemic is characterized by low levels in the general population and elevated concentrations among high-risk groups. The present study was planned to determine the awareness of HIV among students from Mumbai University.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among students from Mumbai University, India during May–June 2017. Two hundred and fifty students were approached to participate in the study of which 199 agreed to participate (males: 132; females: 67). Pretested questionnaire was distributed and collected data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23.Results: Study participants had high knowledge (86%) and attitude score (87%). There was no significant difference between males and female participants for attitude and knowledge, except for one question regarding knowledge about HIV transmission via breastfeeding to child.Conclusions: Present study showed that there are no misconceptions or negative attitudes regarding HIV among students. A longitudinal study with a larger sample size across India is recommended for further investigation

A study to assess knowledge and attitude towards HIV among students from Mumbai university

Background: India has the third largest HIV epidemic in the world. The Indian epidemic is characterized by low levels in the general population and elevated concentrations among high-risk groups. The present study was planned to determine the awareness of HIV among students from Mumbai University. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among students from Mumbai University, India during May–June 2017. Two hundred and fifty students were approached to participate in the study of which 199 agreed to participate (males: 132; females: 67). Pretested questionnaire was distributed and collected data was analyzed using IBM SPSS version 23. Results: Study participants had high knowledge (86%) and attitude score (87%). There was no significant difference between males and female participants for attitude and knowledge, except for one question regarding knowledge about HIV transmission via breastfeeding to child. Conclusions: Present study showed that there are no misconceptions or negative attitudes regarding HIV among students. A longitudinal study with a larger sample size across India is recommended for further investigation

Oral delivery strategies for nutraceuticals: Delivery vehicles and absorption enhancers

Lifestyle issues contribute to the development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Together with appropriate diet and exercise, nutraceuticals may contribute to managing prevention at an early stage prior to therapeutic intervention. However, many useful food-derived bioactive compounds will not sufficiently permeate the small intestine to yield efficacy without appropriate oral delivery technology. The pharmaceutical industry uses commercialised approaches for oral delivery including solubilizing technologies for small molecules, which could be applied to selected nutraceuticals with solubility issues. Systems currently being studied for labile and poorly permeable hydrophilic peptides and macromolecules include nanoparticles, intestinal permeation enhancers (PE) and mucolytics. These may also have potential for application to nutraceuticals with similar sub-optimal physicochemical characteristics. Scope and approach We introduce factors which effect oral delivery of four types of nutraceuticals, namely fatty acids, bioactive peptides, micronutrients, and phytochemicals. Factors preventing oral absorption can arise from molecule physicochemical characteristics, which influence solubility, stability, and epithelial permeability in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). We highlight the potential of selected delivery strategies to improve oral bioavailability of different types of nutraceuticals. Key findings and conclusions There is an opportunity for the nutraceutical industry to leverage the pharmaceutical industry's progress in oral drug delivery. The use of delivery approaches using formulation with excipients or substances with a history of use in man has potential to improve solubility, stability, or permeability of nutraceuticals, leading to improved oral bioavailability. Leveraging oral delivery formulation approaches across nutraceutical and pharmaceutical molecules will lead to synergies for both fields

Curcumin nanoformulations: A review of pharmaceutical properties and preclinical studies and clinical data related to cancer treatment

Curcumin, a natural yellow phenolic compound, is present in many kinds of herbs, particularly in Curcuma longa Linn. (turmeric). It is a natural antioxidant and has shown many pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-cancer, and anti-Alzheimer in both preclinical and clinical studies. Moreover, curcumin has hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, hypoglycemic, antirheumatic, and antidiabetic activities and it also suppresses thrombosis and protects against myocardial infarction. Particularly, curcumin has demonstrated efficacy as an anticancer agent, but a limiting factor is its extremely low aqueous solubility which hampers its use as therapeutic agent. Therefore, many technologies have been developed and applied to overcome this limitation. In this review, we summarize the recent works on the design and development of nano-sized delivery systems for curcumin, including liposomes, polymeric nanoparticles and micelles, conjugates, peptide carriers, cyclodextrins, solid dispersions, lipid nanoparticles and emulsions. Efficacy studies of curcumin nanoformulations using cancer cell lines and in vivo models as well as up-to-date human clinical trials are also discussed