[FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub]  [PubMed]

Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is a naturally occurring analog of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) that has been used in research and clinical medicine for many years. GHB was used clinically as an anesthetic in the 1960s but was withdrawn due to side effects that included seizures and coma. GHB has been implicated in a number of crime types; most notably in drug-facilitated sexual assault. GHB is abused by three main groups of users: Body builders who use the substance believing that it stimulated the release of growth hormone; sexual predators who covertly administer the drug for its sedative and amnesic effects and club-goers (rave parties) who take the drug for its euphoric effects. The short-lived hypnotic effects, relative safety and widespread availability of the drug have made it particularly well suited to this role. The drug has an addictive potential if used for long term. The primary effects of GHB use are those of a CNS depressant and therefore range from relaxation, to euphoria, confusion, amnesia, hallucinations, and coma. Despite the increased regulation, GHB remains widely available through the Internet where one can easily purchase the necessary reagents as well as recipes for home production. There are reports of patients being unresponsive to painful stimuli and cases of oral self-mutilations linked to the abuse of GHB, though quiet rare. Such cases should remind odontologists that intra-oral lesions may be the result of self-mutilation either due to mental illness or altered states caused by the use of prescription or non-prescription drugs.

[ABSTRACT]  [FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

The study aimed to evaluate the effect of cupping therapy at a clinical setting for knee osteoarthritis. A randomized, controlled clinical trial was conducted. Cupping was performed on 0-6 ^th day; 9-11 ^th day and 14 ^th day, i.e., 11 sittings follow-up to determine longer term carryover of treatment effects utilizing both objective and subjective assessment. The assessment was performed before and after treatment spreading over a period of 15 days. The results of this study shows significant and better results in the overall management of knee osteoarthritis, particularly in relieving pain, edema, stiffness and disability. The efficacy of treatment with cupping therapy in relieving signs and symptoms of knee osteoarthritis is comparable to that of acetaminophen 650 mg thrice a day orally, in terms of analgesia, anti-inflammatory and resolution of edema with minimal and temporary side-effects like echymosis and blister formation while as control drug has greater side-effects particularly on upper gastrointestinal tract. It is recommended that further studies are conducted with a larger study samples and of longer duration.

[ABSTRACT]  [FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

Asthma and diabetes have strong relationship; both are cause and effect of each other. Oxidative stress due to bronchial asthma may cause insulin resistance whereas lack of proper insulin can cause defective smooth muscle relaxant. There is no single medicine available that can manage both diseases, rather the mainstay treatment of bronchial asthma causes hyperglycemia. Keeping this problem in focus, in this study the hypoglycemic effect of an indigenous antiasthmatic Ayurvedic drug Shirishadi was evaluated. Pancreatic alpha amylase and glucosidase inhibitors offer an effective strategy to lower the level of post prandial hyperglycemia via control of starch breakdown. For evaluation of hypoglycemic activity of drug, in-vitro alpha amylase and alpha glucosidase enzyme inhibition was calculated. Ethanolic extract of compound showed 76.40% + 0.88% reduction in alpha amylase activity and 63.85% + 0.36% in alpha glucosidase activity with IC ₅₀ 0.68 mg/ml and 2.89 mg/ml, respectively. This study suggests that the ethanolic extract of Shirishadi polyherbal compound effectively acts as alpha amylase and glucosidase inhibitor leading to a reduction in starch hydrolysis and hence acts as antiasthmatic as well as hypoglycemic drug.

[ABSTRACT]  [FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

Methanol, ethanol, Tween 20 and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) are widely used as dissolving agents in Artemia salina lethality test (aka brine shrimp lethality test [BSLT]) to screen the pharmaceutical properties of natural products. Nevertheless, there is lack of toxicity level of these solvents against brine shrimp. High concentration of these organic solvent might be toxic for this zoology invertebrate and interfere in the experimental outcomes. To avoid this, permissible concentration of the solvents used in BSLT was identified. BSLT was performed to evaluate the toxicity effect of Tween 20, methanol, ethanol and DMSO at 24 h post-treatment time point against A. salina. The suggested maximum working concentration (v/v) for DMSO, methanol, ethanol was found to be 1.25% and that for Tween 20 was 0.16%. LC ₅₀ for the solvents were 8.5% (DMSO), 6.4% (methanol), 3.4% (ethanol) and 2.5% (Tween 20). The findings have shown a toxicity level among the solvents in descending order as Tween 20 > ethanol > methanol > DMSO. DMSO is a safer solvent to be used in BSLT compared with other tested solvents, whereas Tween 20 has been shown to be the most stringent solvent among the tested solvents. The findings are resourcefully useful to avoid interference of solvents in the assessment of natural products using BSLT.

[ABSTRACT]  [FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effect the formulation factors on in vitro permeation of voriconazole through freshly isolated goat and sheep corneas. An increase in the pH of the drops from 4.0 to 8.0 resulted in significant (P < 0.05) increase drug permeation. Raising concentration of the drops from 0.05% to 0.2% (w/v) significantly, (P < 0.05) increased drug permeation, but decreased the percent permeation. Corneal transport of voriconazole is both pH and concentration dependent. Eye drops containing disodium edetate (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) alone or combination with benzalkonium chloride showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher permeation as compared with control formulation. Addition of beta-cyclodextrin to the formulation enhanced corneal permeation of voriconazole. Compared with control formulation, voriconazole 0.2% (w/v) drop containing viscosity modifier produced significant (P < 0.05) decrease in permeation. Most of the formulations showed higher zone of inhibition against Candida albicans.

[ABSTRACT]  [FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

The aim of this study was to assess the extent of poly-pharmacy, occurrence, and associated factors for the occurrence of drug-drug interaction (DDI) and potential adverse drug reaction (ADR) in Gondar University Teaching Referral Hospital. Institutional-based retrospective cross-sectional study. This study was conducted on prescriptions of both in and out-patients for a period of 3 months at Gondar University Hospital. Both bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were used to identify risk factors for the occurrence of DDI and possible ADRs. All the statistical calculations were performed using SPSS^; software. A total of 12,334 prescriptions were dispensed during the study period of which, 2,180 prescriptions were containing two or more drugs per prescription. A total of 21,210 drugs were prescribed and the average number of drugs per prescription was 1.72. Occurrences of DDI of all categories (Major, Moderate, and Minor) were analyzed and DDI were detected in 711 (32.6%) prescriptions. Sex was not found to be a risk factor for the occurrence of DDI and ADR, while age and number of medications per prescription were found to be significant risk factors for the occurrence of DDI and ADR. The mean number of drugs per prescription was 1.72 and hence with regard to the WHO limit of drugs per prescription, Gondar hospital was able to maintain the limit and prescriptions containing multiple drugs supposed to be taken systemically. Numbers of drugs per prescription as well as older age were found to be predisposing factors for the occurrence of DDI and potential ADRs while sex was not a risk factor.

[ABSTRACT]  [FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

[FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of a Unani formulation in hypertension. A total of 90 patients with total cholesterol level of more than 220 mg/dl with associated conditions were included in this study. A total of 30 patients having a mean systolic blood pressure (BP) of 133.86 mmHg comprising Group A received Unani formulation Safoof-e-Muhazzil (SM) in its classical powder form in the dose of 5 g twice a day orally. Group B comprising of 30 patients with a mean systolic BP of 133.13 mmHg received same drug, but in compressed tablet form in the same dosage, whereas, 30 patients comprising Group C with a mean systolic BP of 129.45 mmHg, received Atorvastatin 10 mg as a standard control. Patients were evaluated on each follow-up at 2 ^nd , 4 ^th and 6 ^th week. The mean systolic BP in Group A and B before treatment was 133.86 ± 3.028 mmHg and 133.13 ± 2.852 mmHg, which significantly decreased to 119.33 ± 1.922 mmHg (P < 0.001) and 119 ± 1.760 mmHg (P < 0.001) respectively. In the control Group C before treatment BP was 129.45 ± 2.499 mmHg and after treatment it significantly decreased to 124.34 ± 1.794 mmHg (P < 0.01). The percentage change after treatment was 10.85%, 10.61% and 3.94% respectively in each group. Mean diastolic BP in Group A and B before treatment was 85.06 ± 2.11 mmHg and 84.56 ± 1.5 mmHg, which significantly decreased to 79.06 ± 1.56 mmHg (P < 0.001) and 79.96 ± 1.15 mmHg (P < 0.001) respectively, BP before treatment in Group C was 83.23 ± 1.588 mmHg, which was decreased to 124.34 ± 1.794 mmHg (P < 0.01). The study results indicate that the test drug was quite effective in reducing both systolic as well as diastolic BP.

[ABSTRACT]  [FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

Introduction: The development of newer synthetic approaches toward the synthesis of polynuclear heteroaromatics and their application in the synthesis of some biologically active compounds has been discussed in this study. Materials and Methods: The synthesis of novel spiro pyrrolidino oxindoles was performed for the construction of amino acid linked polynuclear heteroaromatics by cycloaddition reaction. This reaction method is one of the most important methods for the construction of spiro pyrrolidino oxindole from the commercially available starting material isatin. Then the synthesized compounds were subjected for evaluation of nitric oxide scavenging and cytotoxic effects against tumor cell lines. Results: All the six synthesized compounds demonstrated promising antioxidant and cytotoxic effects in vitro. Conclusion: Form the present study, it can be concluded that the synthesized compounds are fruitful in terms of their chemical purity, structural novelty, marked biological activities (antioxidant and cytotoxic) in vitro and last of all the lucid and picturesque synthetic methodology to synthesize the molecules in a in a non-hazardous and environmental friendly way.

[ABSTRACT]  [FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]

[FULL TEXT]  [PDF]  [Mobile Full text]  [EPub] [CITATIONS]  [PubMed]