ABSTRACT

The real challenge in the development of an oral controlled-release drug delivery system is not just to sustain the drug release but also to prolong the presence of the dosage form within the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) until all the drug is completely released at the desired period of time. Floating drug delivery systems (FDDS) have ability to prolong the gastric residence time after oral administration at proper site and release of drug controlled also useful to achieve desired peak plasma concentration and increase bioavailability. This review specify characteristics as well as evaluation of floating microspheres

Keywords: FDDS, Gastric emptying time, Buoyancy, in vitro release

ABSTRACT

Jadwar, root of Delphinium denudatum is an important central Nervous system active drug of Unani  System of Medicine. The generic name of Jadwar is derived from a Greek word, which means Dolphin, as the nectary resembles the figure of Dolphin. The word Jadwar is Arabic form of Persian Zadwar, which means the great purifier or Antidote. In India Jadwar was named as Nirbisi due to its antidotal properties. In various classical texts, it has been mentioned to be sedative, analgesic, brain and nervine tonic and is recommended for various brain and nervine disorders like epilepsy, tremors, hysteria, atony, numbness, paralysis, morphine dependence. Jadwar is adultered with the root of Beesh (Aconite), a poisonous herb root that may cause death. Ethanolic extract showed antibacterial activity against Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Proteus vulgaris, Salmonella typhi and Klebsilla pneumoniae.

Keywords: Jadwar, Delphinium denudatum, Unani Medicine

ABSTRACT

Chia seed (Salvia hispanica) is an ancient oilseed used by Mayas and Aztecs as foodstuff. This seed is a natural source of omega-3 fatty acids (α-linolenic acid), soluble and insoluble fibers, and proteins in addition to other important nutritional components, such as vitamins, minerals, and natural antioxidants. Chia can be considered as “functional food” because apart from contributing to human nutrition, chia helps to increase satiety index, prevent cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory and nervous system disorders, and diabetes, among others. Today, chia seed offers a huge potential in the industries of health, food, animal feed, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals, among others, due to its functional components. However, the safety and efficacy of this medicinal food or natural product need to be validated by scientific research. In vivo and clinical studies on the safety and efficacy of chia seed are still limited.  This paper covers the up-to-date research on the identified active ingredients, in vivo and human trials on the health benefit of chia seed, and its current market potential.

Keywords: Salvia hispanica, Scanning electron microscopy, chia seeds, omega 3-fatty acids

ABSTRACT

The seaweed Hypnea valentiae was extracted with solvents hexane, acetone and methanol. In the preliminary screening, hexane extract showed wide spectrum activity against ten human bacterial pathogens. The maximum level inhibition was observed against Escherichia coli, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Micrococcus luteus and minimum against Vibrio cholerae. The assessment of seasonal variation in antibacterial activity with hexane extract showed higher activity during postmonsoon season followed by summer, premonsoon and monsoon season. The epiphytic bacterial density on surface of Hypnea valentiae was 25 x 10³ CFU/cm². Ten epiphytic bacteria (HV1- HV10) was isolated and the strain HV10 showed higher activity which was identified based on the morphologically and biochemical character as Alcaligenes sp. It was further cultured and the culture supernatant was extracted with hexane, n-butanol and water. The n-butanol extract showed higher activity against Shigella flexneri and minimum against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus epidermis. The investigation has proved that seaweed Hypnea valentiae and its epiphytic bacterial strain could be the potential source of bioactive compounds of biomedical importance.

Keywords: Hypnea valentiae, Antibacterial activity, Epiphytic bacteria and Solvents extraction

ABSTRACT

Mouth dissolving tablets one of the novel approaches in improving patient compliance. Levocetrizine hydrochloride the non-sedative antihistamine drug commonly used for the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Tablet containing levocetrizine with Doshion P54 (C) resin and different superdisintegrants like Sodium starch glycolate, crospovidone, and polacrilin potassium were used for the manufacturing of tablet. Direct compression technique is used for manufacturing of tablet. Combinations of excipients were incorporated to formulate the tablet. Effect of the combinations were studied to optimize the formulation. Compatibility between the drug and excipients were performed with the help of FTIR spectral analysis. The tablets were evaluated for their hardness, wetting time, disintegrating time and dissolution parameters. It was concluded that the tablets having the combination of drug with Sodium Starch Glycolate  and Polacriline Potassium  met all the evaluation parameters and thus selected as the optimized formulation. The optimized formulation was undergone for stability studies in predicting the shelf-life as per ICH guidelines and proved  for its adequate shelf-life.

Key words: Mouth dissolving tablet , Levocetrizine hydrochloride, FTIR, ICH guidelines.

ABSTRACT

The main aim of the study to evaluate the association between co morbid conditions with respiratory tract infections and assess the targeted therapy in treating respiratory pathogens associated with co morbidity. We performed a prospective observational study, evaluating respiratory tract infectious patients, with or without co morbidity. This study was carried out during June 2013 to October 2013. Among 170 RTIs patients enrolled in the study, in that 11(6.5%) were diagnosed with Cardiovascular diseases, 51(30%) with Endocrine disorders, 9 (5.3%) with Hepatic diseases, 7 (4.12%) patients with Genito urinary diseases, 6 (3.53%) with Autoimmune disorders, 25 (14.7%) with Respiratory diseases, 1 (0.59%) patients with immunocompromised diseases and 10 (5.88%) patients with central nervous system diseases. Among 170 patients, in that 120 (70.59%) RTIs patients with co morbidity and 50 (29.41%) normotensive patients without co morbidity. Antibiotics were given as empirical therapy and targeted therapy RTIs patient with co morbidity, in that 91(53.53%) treated as empirically and 29(17.06%) as targeted therapy. The patients with diabetes mellitus had greater risk of developing RTIs. When a patient reports a RTI with co morbidity, it is necessary to identify and assess the co morbidity so as to prevent further complications and irrational therapy. Hence, for patients with RTIs and co morbidity, it is very essential to perform the culture and sensitivity pattern.

Key words: RTIs, Co morbidity, Empirical therapy, Targeted therapy.

ABSTRACT

Current study endeavored to examine the microbiological quality as well as the anti-bacterial traits of different sterile liquid drops commonly applied for the treatment of eye and ear infections in Bangladesh. Fifteen (15) different types of liquid drops manufactured in different pharmaceutical industries were microbiologically examined through common, traditional and replicable cultural and biochemical tests. Total viable bacterial and fungal load (~10¹ -10⁴ cfu/ml) showed repugnant contamination of which 7 samples significantly exceeded United States Pharmacopeia (USP) or British Pharmacopeia (BP) limit (<10² cfu/ml). While the fecal coliforms and Escherichia coli were absent in all samples, the prevalence of Staphylococcus spp. and Bacillus spp. was scored in 80% and 60%, respectively in all samples. Two samples were found to harbor Klebsiella spp., and Pseudomonas spp. Samples were also analyzed for antimicrobial activity against different pathogenic bacteria on Muller-Hinton agar. Thirteen (13) samples (88.66%) exhibited the anti-bacterial activity up to a zone of inhibition size of 42.5 mm against almost all pathogens tested.

Key Words: Eye & Ear drops, microbiological quality, antimicrobial activity, public health.

ABSTRACT

This work is aimed at investigating the hepatoprotective effects of Rauwolfia vomitoria extract on liver enzymes following oral administration. Twenty wistar rats of weights 195 -215kg were divided into four groups designated as A,B,C & D. Group A served as the control and received 0.4ml of distilled water;  the experimental groups B,C &D were orally administered with 0.6ml, 0.75ml and 0.81ml of extract of Rauwolfia vomitoria for twenty eight days. Twenty four hours after the  last administration, the animals were weighed, anaesthetized under chloroform vapour and dissected. The liver tissues were removed and weighed. Blood samples were collected through cardiac puncture using sterile syringes and  needles. Blood for serum preparation was collected into sterile plain tubes and stored in the refrigerator for analysis. The activities of serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphotase (ALP) were determined using randox kit method.  The final body weight of the experimental groups (B,C & D) increased significantly (P<0.001)with the control. The relative liver weight of the experimental groups (B,C &D) statistically increased ( P<0.001) relative to the control (A). The activity levels  of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alinine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphotase (ALP) in the experimental groups (B,C &D) are similar with the control (A). This study therefore suggest that consumption of Rawuwofia vomitoria extract at different doses did not cause any biochemical alterations in the liver enzymes.

Keyword: Wistar rats, Rauwolfia vomitoria, Liver weight, Body weight, Hepatoprotective effects.

ABSTRACT

Four simple, accurate and precise methods have been developed and validated for the determination of cisatracurium besylate in bulk and in its pharmaceutical preparation. The first method was a spectrofluorimetric method based on measuring the native fluorescence intensity (FI) of cisatracurium (CIS) in aqueous micellar medium at 317 nm upon excitation at 235 nm in the range of 0.2- 2.2 µg.mL^-1. The other three methods were adopted for the determination of the studied drug in the presence of its alkaline degradation product including a spectrophotometric method namely, first derivative of ratio spectra (DD¹) in the range of 8-38 µg.mL^-1 and two high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods, one with diode –array detector (DAD) and the other with fluorescence detector (FLD) in the ranges of 1.0- 40.0 µg.mL^-1 and 0.25-20.0 µg.mL^-1, respectively. Separation was achieved on Supelco Discovery^®C₁₈ column (150 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 µm) and Agilent Zorbax^® SB- CN column (50 mm x 4.6 mm, 1.8 µm) for HPLC - DAD and HPLC- FLD methods, respectively. All the proposed methods were validated and successfully applied for the determination of CIS in bulk and in pharmaceutical preparation with good recovery ranges between 99.92- 100.71. The results obtained by applying the proposed methods were statistically analyzed and compared with those obtained by the manufacturer method, and no significant difference was found.          

Keywords: Cisatracurium besylate, Diode-array detector, Fluorescence detector, Spectrofluorimetry and First derivative ratio of ratio spectroscopy.