EMERGING TRENDS OF PROBIOTICS IN FORMULATION DEVELOPMENT AS A BIOTHERAPEUTICS AGENT

Every being wants to live a healthy life. The increase in the discovery and development of medicines is the provokingdemand of mankind to meet with the increasing and spreading illness of the society. Pharmaceutical Sciences have proved itsworth to meet with the emerging problems with thorough challenges.The concept of probiosis, prebiosis and symbiosis havebeen recently emerged and being implemented in pharmaceutics to develop, design and delivery of probiotic drugs whichcan be administered orally as other medicines with its efficient efficacy and least jeopardy.However with the undergoingtrends of its designing and discovery, the emphasis has been focused on to its bimolecular mode of action. The presentreview work would also emphasize the pros and cons of the probiotic food supplements with the necessity for the inventionof preceding probiotic drugs which would rapidly pounce, quell and substitute the use of probiotic foods. The idea of thisprobiotic drug designing will be salutary to the society and would also meet with the cost

Global age-sex-specific mortality, life expectancy, and population estimates in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1950–2021, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Estimates of demographic metrics are crucial to assess levels and trends of population health outcomes. The profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on populations worldwide has underscored the need for timely estimates to understand this unprecedented event within the context of long-term population health trends. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 provides new demographic estimates for 204 countries and territories and 811 additional subnational locations from 1950 to 2021, with a particular emphasis on changes in mortality and life expectancy that occurred during the 2020–21 COVID-19 pandemic period. Methods: 22 223 data sources from vital registration, sample registration, surveys, censuses, and other sources were used to estimate mortality, with a subset of these sources used exclusively to estimate excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 2026 data sources were used for population estimation. Additional sources were used to estimate migration; the effects of the HIV epidemic; and demographic discontinuities due to conflicts, famines, natural disasters, and pandemics, which are used as inputs for estimating mortality and population. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) was used to generate under-5 mortality rates, which synthesised 30 763 location-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 1365 surveys and censuses, and 80 other sources. ST-GPR was also used to estimate adult mortality (between ages 15 and 59 years) based on information from 31 642 location-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 355 surveys and censuses, and 24 other sources. Estimates of child and adult mortality rates were then used to generate life tables with a relational model life table system. For countries with large HIV epidemics, life tables were adjusted using independent estimates of HIV-specific mortality generated via an epidemiological analysis of HIV prevalence surveys, antenatal clinic serosurveillance, and other data sources. Excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 was determined by subtracting observed all-cause mortality (adjusted for late registration and mortality anomalies) from the mortality expected in the absence of the pandemic. Expected mortality was calculated based on historical trends using an ensemble of models. In location-years where all-cause mortality data were unavailable, we estimated excess mortality rates using a regression model with covariates pertaining to the pandemic. Population size was computed using a Bayesian hierarchical cohort component model. Life expectancy was calculated using age-specific mortality rates and standard demographic methods. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were calculated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered values from a 1000-draw posterior distribution. Findings: Global all-cause mortality followed two distinct patterns over the study period: age-standardised mortality rates declined between 1950 and 2019 (a 62·8% [95% UI 60·5–65·1] decline), and increased during the COVID-19 pandemic period (2020–21; 5·1% [0·9–9·6] increase). In contrast with the overall reverse in mortality trends during the pandemic period, child mortality continued to decline, with 4·66 million (3·98–5·50) global deaths in children younger than 5 years in 2021 compared with 5·21 million (4·50–6·01) in 2019. An estimated 131 million (126–137) people died globally from all causes in 2020 and 2021 combined, of which 15·9 million (14·7–17·2) were due to the COVID-19 pandemic (measured by excess mortality, which includes deaths directly due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and those indirectly due to other social, economic, or behavioural changes associated with the pandemic). Excess mortality rates exceeded 150 deaths per 100 000 population during at least one year of the pandemic in 80 countries and territories, whereas 20 nations had a negative excess mortality rate in 2020 or 2021, indicating that all-cause mortality in these countries was lower during the pandemic than expected based on historical trends. Between 1950 and 2021, global life expectancy at birth increased by 22·7 years (20·8–24·8), from 49·0 years (46·7–51·3) to 71·7 years (70·9–72·5). Global life expectancy at birth declined by 1·6 years (1·0–2·2) between 2019 and 2021, reversing historical trends. An increase in life expectancy was only observed in 32 (15·7%) of 204 countries and territories between 2019 and 2021. The global population reached 7·89 billion (7·67–8·13) people in 2021, by which time 56 of 204 countries and territories had peaked and subsequently populations have declined. The largest proportion of population growth between 2020 and 2021 was in sub-Saharan Africa (39·5% [28·4–52·7]) and south Asia (26·3% [9·0–44·7]). From 2000 to 2021, the ratio of the population aged 65 years and older to the population aged younger than 15 years increased in 188 (92·2%) of 204 nations. Interpretation: Global adult mortality rates markedly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, reversing past decreasing trends, while child mortality rates continued to decline, albeit more slowly than in earlier years. Although COVID-19 had a substantial impact on many demographic indicators during the first 2 years of the pandemic, overall global health progress over the 72 years evaluated has been profound, with considerable improvements in mortality and life expectancy. Additionally, we observed a deceleration of global population growth since 2017, despite steady or increasing growth in lower-income countries, combined with a continued global shift of population age structures towards older ages. These demographic changes will likely present future challenges to health systems, economies, and societies. The comprehensive demographic estimates reported here will enable researchers, policy makers, health practitioners, and other key stakeholders to better understand and address the profound changes that have occurred in the global health landscape following the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and longer-term trends beyond the pandemic

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Comparison of bupivacaine vs bupivacaine with fentanyl intrathecally in caesarean section

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of fentanyl with hyperbaric bupivacaine in spinal anesthesia for caesarean section. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in anesthesia department of tertiary care teaching hospital of Gujarat. Group A received 2.0 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine(hyperbaric) with 0.25 ml of normal saline and Group B received 2.0 ml of 0.5% bupivacaine(hyperbaric) with 0.25 ml of injection fentanyl (12.5 μg).  Characteristics of sensory blockade, motor blockade, analgesia, APGAR score, surgical variables, hemodynamics parameters and complications were noted and compared in both the groups. Results: There was no significant difference in onset of sensory block in both groups (p>0.05) but there was statistically significant difference present regarding duration of regression of sensory blockade (p<0.05). Time of motor onset and time to get grade 0 from grade 3 block were comparable in both groups (p>0.05). Duration of complete analgesia (time from sensory onset time to first feeling of pain) and duration of effective analgesia (time from sensory onset time to first dose of rescue analgesic) were significantly prolonged in group B as compared to group A (p<0.001). There was also no statistically significant difference observed in mean pulse rate, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, and mean arterial pressure in both the groups during entire period of time (p>0.05). Conclusions: The present study concluded that intrathecal fentanyl 12.5 μg with bupivacaine produce prolonged sensory block as well as post operative analgesia compared to bupivacaine alone for caesarean section with insignificant hemodynamic changes without affecting neonatal outcome

Home Automation System using ZigBee and PandaBoard as a Gateway (HAS-ZP)

Abstract — Today’s homes have as many wires as the number of devices to control. Home automation using ZigBee and PandaBoard as a gateway does away with the need for separate wires and even remotes. The wireless home area network doesn’t require line-ofsight communication. The HAS-ZP is a wireless home automation system that can be implemented in existing home environments, without any changes in the infrastructure. Home Automation lets the user control the home appliances from his or her smart-phone or laptop. The assigned actions can happen depending on time or other sensor readings such as light, temperature or sound from any connected device in the Home Automation network. With the help of PandaBoard, currently working as gateway, we can control, command, operate and observe the end devices. Here we are considering end devices like fan, bulb, TV, Music System, doors, windows etc. with the single gateway, the system can control entire home irrespective of number of rooms or boundaries where each room will be connected with single receiver

Morphological Study of Nutrient Foramina in Long Bones of Upper Limb among North Gujarat Population

Introduction: Main source of nutrition to long bone during growth and ossification is nutrient artery. Nutrient canal opens as nutrient foramen on the surface of shaft which conducts the nutrient artery and the peripheral nerves to bones. Nutrient artery provides more than 60-70% of blood supply to long bone, 30- 40% through periosteal, metaphyseal and epiphyseal blood vessels. Aim: To determine number of nutrient foramina, its position on surface of shaft, size and direction of nutrient foramina either towards proximal end or distal end and find out foraminal index from the position of nutrient foramina. Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 177 dry bones (60 humerus, 60 radius, 57 ulna) of upper limb, available at Anatomy Department, GMERS Medical College Himmatnagar, during September 2021. All bones were observed for number, position and direction of nutrient foramina. Size of foramen was measured by needles of different size. Mean Foraminal index was calculated for each long bone of upper limb by using Epi Info™ for windows, CDC, Atlanta, version 7.2. Results: Majority of bones had single nutrient foramina, all foramina were directed towards the elbow joint. All nutrient foramina were on flexor surfaces of bone, except one bone (radius). Majority of nutrient foramina were situated on middle 3rd of the shaft. Size of nutrient foramen was range from 22 to 28 gauge of needle. Conclusion: Information on nutrient foramina of long bones of upper limb will be useful in many orthopedic surgeries like microvascular bone grafting and many plastic reconstructive surgeries. During surgeries like fracture repair, bone graft or muscle graft care should be taken, not to damage these nutrient vessels to keep intact blood supply of bone

Novel Approaches in the Drug Development and Delivery Systems for Age-Related Macular Degeneration

The number of patients with ocular disorders has increased due to contributing factors such as aging populations, environmental changes, smoking, genetic abnormalities, etc. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the common ocular disorders which may advance to loss of vision in severe cases. The advanced form of AMD is classified into two types, dry (non-exudative) and wet (exudative) AMD. Although several therapeutic approaches are explored for the management of AMD, no approved therapy can substantially slow down the progression of dry AMD into the later stages. The focus of researchers in recent times has been engaged in developing targeted therapeutic products to halt the progression and maintain or improve vision in individuals diagnosed with AMD. The delivery of anti-VEGF agents using intravitreal therapy has found some success in managing AMD, and novel formulation approaches have been introduced in various studies to potentiate the efficacy. Some of the novel approaches, such as hydrogel, microspheres, polymeric nanoparticles, liposomes, implants, etc. have been discussed. Apart from this, subretinal, suprachoroidal, and port delivery systems have also been investigated for biologics and gene therapies. The unmet potential of approved therapeutic products has contributed to several patent applications in recent years. This review outlines the current treatment options, outcomes of recent research studies, and patent details around the novel drug delivery approach for the treatment of AMD

Advanced pulmonary drug delivery formulations for the treatment of cystic fibrosis

Cystic fibrosis (CF), a fatal genetic condition, causes thick, sticky mucus. It also causes pancreatic dysfunction, bacterial infection, and increased salt loss. Currently available treatments can improve the patient's quality of life. Drug delivery aided by nanotechnology has been explored to alter the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of drugs. In this short review, we aim to summarize various conventional formulations and highlight advanced formulations delivered via the pulmonary route for the treatment of CF. There is considerable interest in advanced drug delivery formulations addressing the various challenges posed by CF. Despite their potential to be translated for clinical use, we anticipate that a significant amount of effort may still be required for translation to the clinic.Peer reviewe