Investigation of anti-arthritic potential of Acacia torta (roxb.) craib

Background: Acacia torta (Roxb.) Craib, traditionally used in respiratory, circulatory, digestive, musculo-skeletal, skin diseases etc., Numerous plants of this genus have been used in folk medicine to treat stomach pain, cough, diarrhoea, piles, sore-throat; as astringent, antipyretic, antimicrobial, antimalarial, antiviral, anti-oxidant and as anti-hypertensive. Hence, the present study was aimed to investigate the anti‐arthritic potential of Acacia Torta (Roxb.) Craib, since, systematic study of this plant has not been carried out.Methods: Ethanol and water were used to prepare stem extract by soxhlet extraction method. The extract is evaluated by using Freund’s complete adjuvant induced arthritis in albino wistar rats at the dose of 100mg/kg/p.o. and 400mg/kg/p.o. and indomethacin at 10mg/kg were used for the study.Results: The hydro alcoholic extract of the stem Acacia torta (Roxb.) Craib in crude form contains phytoconstituents like saponins, tannins, steroids, and triterpenes. The reference standard, Indomethacin at the dose of 10 mg/kg showed significant inhibition of paw edema by 71.61% (P <0.001), as compared to the vehicle control. Treatment with the hydro alcoholic extract of stem Acacia Torta at doses of 100 and 400 mg/kg caused significant inhibition of paw edema by 59.26% (P <0.001) and 69.14% (P <0.001) respectively, was observed on 21st day, as compared to the vehicle control.Conclusions: The data obtained from the present study indicated that several factors may contribute to the anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic activity of hydro alcohol extract of the stem Acacia torta (Roxb.) Craib. adjuvant induced arthritis showed inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis might be the major mechanism by which the hydro alcoholic extract of the stem Acacia torta (Roxb.) Craib exerts anti-inflammatory and arthritic activity

A study on relationship of facebook and game addictive behaviour with personality traits among medical students

Background: Use of social networking sites and playing internet games are more common web activities among adolescents. Students are more prone to internet abuse for several reasons- natural affinity towards internet, free and unlimited access, flexible schedules, and freedom from parental interference and psychological immaturity.  The aim was to study on relationship of facebook and game addictive behaviour with personality characteristics among medical students.Methods: This was a cross sectional observational study, carried out on 140 medical students. All the students were taken randomly. Assessment of sociodemographic details was done with the help of semi-structured performa, bergen facebook addiction scale, game addiction scale and big five inventory were used to see facebook and game addictive behavior and personality traits. Statistical analysis used for comparison of dichotomous variables chi-square test. Correlation and Linear regression was applied to see association. Data analysis was done with the help of statistical software SPSS 23. 0.Results: Mean score of facebook addiction scale among medical students was 39.94 (S.D. 13.133) and mean score of Game addiction scale was 11.19 (S.D. 04.966). It was found that agreeableness (β= -0.275, p=0.000) and extraversion (β = -0.368, p = 0.000) displayed significant associations with FB Total. While neuroticism (β=0.277, p=0.001) and agreeableness (β= -0.177, p=0.029) displayed significant associations with game addictive behavior.Conclusions: In our study we conclude that students with high agreeableness, high neuroticism and low extraversion were more related with Facebook and game addictive behavior. Extraversion was the most powerful predictor of Facebook addiction and neuroticism for gaming addiction.

ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF STEM BARK ESSENTIAL OIL CONSTITUENTS OF LITSEA GLUTINOSA C. B. ROB.

Objective: To evaluate the chemical composition, antibacterial and antioxidant properties of stem bark essential oil of Litsea glutinosa C. B. Rob.Methods: The essential oil isolated from stem bark of L. glutinosa and their chemical composition was analyzed by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detector. The in vitro antibacterial activity of the stem bark essential oil was investigated against eight human pathogenic bacterial clinical isolates using agar disc diffusion method and MIC value was determined by modified resazurin microtitre-plate assay. The antioxidant activity of essential oil was measured by 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), 2, 2-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonate radical cation (ABTS) and β-carotene bleaching assay.Results: GC-MS analysis of stem bark essential oil resulted in the identification of 37 compounds, off which 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (62.57%), hexadecanoic acid (12.68%), stigmast-5-en-3-ol (6.87%) and vitamin E (2.51%) were the main constituents representing 84.63% of the oil. The determination of in vitro antibacterial activity of stem bark essential oil resulted in significant inhibition zone (15.00±0.57 mm) and MIC value (0.15±0.15×10-2 mg/ml) against the pathogenic bacteria Vibrio cholera followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi. The results of DPPH radical scavenging (IC50:4.540±0.06 µg/ml), ABTS (IC50:256.02±0.06 µg/ml) and β-carotene bleaching assay (%I: 78.51±0.42 %) showed significant in vitro antioxidant property.Conclusion: L. glutinosa stem bark essential oil showed potential antibacterial activity against the Vibrio cholera. The results of this investigation supported the ethnomedical claim of essential oil as a demulcent, antidiarrheal and antioxidant drug

Assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practice among interns about over the counter drugs in a tertiary care hospital in India

Background: Drugs that are dispensed against a valid prescription issued to a patient by a registered medical practitioner are known as “prescription-only drugs”. In India, they have been regulated under schedule H, H1, G, and X of the Drugs and Rules (1945). The drugs which are not included in the list of “prescription-only drugs” are considered to be over-the-counter drugs (OTC). There is no provision for an OTC drug schedule in the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945, and these drugs have higher chances of misuse or abuse. This study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practice among medical interns about OTC drugs in a tertiary care hospital in India.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, which was conducted at Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India, from March 2018 to September 2018. A pre-validated questionnaire consisting of 24 questions to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice was administered to 80 medical interns chosen by simple randomization, out of which 14 questions were related to knowledge, 6 related to attitude and 4 related to the practice. The participants were provided 30 minutes to complete the questionnaire. The data recorded were analyzed using Microsoft Excel.Results: There were some gaps in the knowledge, attitude and practice among the medical interns about OTC medications.Conclusions: There is a need for special emphasis on the MBBS curriculum about the use of OTC drugs

Full factorial design for optimization, development and validation of HPLC method to determine valsartan in nanoparticles

AbstractHigh performance liquid chromatographic method was optimized, developed and validated as per the ICH guidelines. In this study the 20mM ammonium formate and acetonitrile in the 57:43 ratio were used as mobile phase for the analysis of valsartan. Full factorial design was used to optimize the effect of variable factors. The responses were peak area, tailing factor and number of theoretical plates. The quadratic effect of flow rate and wavelength individually as well as in interaction were most significant (p<0.0001 and p<0.0086, respectively) on peak area; the quadratic effect of pH of buffer was also most significant effect (p<0.0001) on tailing factor (5%) whereas the quadratic effect of flow rate and wavelength individually was significant (p=0.0006 and p=0.0265, respectively) on the number of theoretical plates. The high-performance liquid chromatographic separation was performed at the flow rate 1.0min/mL, UV detector wavelength 250nm and pH of the buffer 3.0 as optimized parameters using design of experiments. The retention time values of valsartan were found to be 10.177min. Percent recovery in terms of accuracy for the prepared valsartan nanoparticles was found in the range of 98.57–100.27%

Photo-degradation of Di Azo Dye Bismarck Brown by Advanced photo-Fenton Process: Influence of Inorganic Anions and Evaluation of Recycling Efficiency of Iron Powder

The present research work has demonstrated the usage of zero valent metallic iron (ZVMI) in the photo-Fenton process under UV light as a promising and novel technique for the complete degradation of di azo dye Bismarck Brown (BB) in aqueous medium. The influence of various reaction parameters like concentration of oxidants/dye/iron powder and pH of the solution was investigated and optimum conditions are reported. Ammonium persulfate (APS) proved to be better oxidant in comparison with hydrogen peroxide for enhancing the degradation rate and effectively inhibited the precipitation of iron hydroxides at higher dosages of iron powder which is attributed to the acidity provided by APS which is crucial for Fenton process. The rate constant for the kinetics of degradation using various oxidation processes follows the order: Fe0/APS/UV > Fe0/H2O2/UV > Fe0/APS/dark > Fe0/UV > Fe0/H2O2/dark > Fe0/dark > H2O2/UV > APS/UV. The effects of inorganic anions that are commonly found in the industrial effluents like NaCl, KNO3, Na2SO4, Na2CO3 and NaHCO3 at different concentrations on the degradation rate were studied in detail. The degradation was followed by UV-vis and GC-MS techniques

Pyrazole-based analogs as potential antibacterial agents against methicillin-resistance staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and its SAR elucidation

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is becoming lethal to humanity due to easy transmission and difficult-to-treat skin and flimsy diseases. The most threatening aspect is the rapid resistance development of MRSA to any approved antibiotics, including vancomycin. The development of new, efficient, and nontoxic drug candidate to fight against MRSA isolates is the need of the hour. The intriguing molecular structure and versatile bioactive pyrazole core attracting to development required novel antibiotics. This review presents the decade developments of pyrazole-containing derivatives with a broad antibacterial movement against diverged bacterial strains. In specific, we correlated the efficacy of structurally diversified pyrazole analogs against MRSA and discussed different angles of structure-activity relationship (SAR). The current survey highlights pyrazole hybrids' present scenario on MRSA studies, covering articles published from 2011 to 2020. This collective information may become an excellent platform to plan and develop new pyrazole-based small MRSA growth inhibitors with minimal side effects. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved

Influence of various aromatic derivatives on the advanced photo Fenton degradation of Amaranth dye

The photo degrdn. of Amaranth (AR) dye by advanced photo Fenton process in the presence of sym. peroxides like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and ammonium persulfate (APS) are investigated. The influence of various reaction parameters like the effect of iron dosage, concn. of H2O2/APS, initial dye concn., effect of pH and the influence of various arom. derivs. were studied and optimum conditions are reported. The efficiency of the oxidant was strongly influenced by the nature of arom. photoproducts formed during the course of the degrdn. reaction. To study their effect on the rate of degrdn. these arom. derivs. were added in known concn. (10 ppm)​. The influence of various arom. derivs. on the degrdn. kinetics shows the following order: hydroquinones > chlorophenol > dichlorobenzene > arom. carboxylic acids > anilidine > nitrophenol. The addn. of these derivs. did not influence the degrdn. pathway although it altered the reaction rate. The percentage COD and TOC removal were detd. in presence of arom. derivs. to evaluate the complete removal of the pollutant. Based on the intermediates obtained in the UV-​vis and GC-​MS spectroscopic techniques probable degrdn. mechanism has been proposed