A comparative study of antinociceptive effect of fluoxetine with pentazocine in rodent model

Background: Chronic pain affects millions of people across the globe, commonly coexisting with depression. Antidepressants like fluoxetine have shown potential to have analgesic activity with superior safety profile and hence might be better suited in the treatment of chronic pain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the antinociceptive activity of fluoxetine and to compare the antinociceptive effect of fluoxetine with pentazocine.Methods: Adult albino rats weighing 150-200 grams were used in this study. Screening method used was Acetic acid induced writhing method in rats. Rats were divided into three groups of 5 animals and drugs administered as follows: group-1:  distilled water (control), group-2:  Fluoxetine, group-3:  Pentazocine. All drugs were administered 30 minutes before the onset of pain stimulus. Statistical analysis was done by using one way-analysis of variance (one way ANOVA) followed by Tukey-Kramer test.Results: Fluoxetine failed to show significant antinociceptive activity in Acetic acid induced writhing method.Conclusions: Fluoxetine is an SSRI and one of the most commonly prescribed drug for depression. It is proven to act at multiple sites like serotonin transporter and opioid µ receptor, both of which may play a role in its analgesic activity

Study of adverse drug reactions among tuberculosis patients in a tertiary care hospital: a retrospective observational study

Background: The aims of the study was to study adverse drug reactions (ADRs) among tuberculosis (TB) patients in a tertiary care hospital and to determine causality, severity and outcome of ADRs.Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital over a period of 6 months. Data was collected from records of TB patients in RNTCP centre of a tertiary care hospital regarding information of patients, drugs used, ADRs. It was evaluated using appropriate scales. Simple descriptive statistics was used for analysis.Results: Out of 37 patients who experienced ADRs, 22 (59.45%) were male and 15 (40.54%) were female. Majority of patients were in the age group of 36 to 45 years (37.83%). 36 (97.3%) patients were diagnosed with pulmonary TB and 1 (2.7%) patient had extra pulmonary TB. Among 37 ADRs gastrointestinal (GI) reactions were most common 11 (29.72%) followed by musculoskeletal 9 (24.32%). Causality assessment showed 19 (51.35%) as probable and 18 (48.65%) ADRs as possible, Severity assessment was 24 (64.8%) reactions were in mild, 10 (27.02%) in moderate and 3 (8.1%) in severe grades. Outcome assessment was 26 (70.3%) patients were recovering from reactions, 9 (24.32%) had recovered and 2 (5.4%) did not recover at the time of reporting.Conclusions: Proper monitoring of ADRs helps in reducing patient’s burden of repeated hospital visits and expense occurring due to admissions. This can be prevented by educating patients about early reporting of ADRs

Drug utilization study and adverse drug reactions of oral anti diabetics among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in tertiary care hospital

Background: The aim was to evaluate the drug utilization pattern of oral antidiabetic drugs in type 2 diabetes mellitus outpatients and monitor adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with oral antidiabetic drugs.Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out by collecting the data of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients visiting outpatient department of noncommunicable disease clinic of a tertiary care hospital for a period of one year. The data of demographic, drug utilization pattern and adverse drug reactions of patients on oral antidiabetic drugs was collected and entered in a proforma.Results: Total number of patients in this study were 39 out of which 21 (53.85%) patients were females and 18 (46.15%) patients were males. Majority of patients were in the age group 51-70 years (66.6%). Metformin was the most commonly prescribed drug 76.9% followed by Glibenclamide 17.9%. About 7.7% of patients who were taking oral antidiabetic drugs later switched over to insulin as their blood glucose levels were not controlled. Out of 18 (46.15%) patients, hypertension (38.5%) was the most common comorbid condition and a concomitant drug was prescribed was amlodipine 25.6%. Among all the adverse drug reactions observed, diarrhoea was the most common adverse drug reaction reported 76.9%.Conclusions: Metformin was the most commonly used oral antidiabetic drug. Diarrhoea was the common adverse drug reaction reported

Secondary Metabolite Production and Terpenoid Biosynthesis in Endophytic Fungi Cladosporium cladosporioides Isolated from Wild Cymbopogon martinii (Roxb.) Wats

: Endophytic fungi Cladosporium cladosporioides (F1-MH810309) and Cladosporium tenuissimum (F2-MN715834) from the leaf of wild Cymbopogon martinii (MT90507) were isolated and selected based on the persistent occurrence during different seasons of the year. They were identified based on the morphological features and molecular characterization (ITS sequence), and later deposited at NCBI. Phytochemical studies on F1, F2 and host extracts showed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, phenols, terpenoids and tannins. The GC-MS of F1 extract (control) under the axenic condition revealed compounds like hexadecane, heptadecane,2,4-Ditert-butylphenol, E-14 hexadecenal, geraniol, geranyl acetate and cubenol similar to the host. The GC-MS of F2 extract (control) revealed metabolites that were unique. Further, both F1 and F2 were cultured in the supplementation of different concentrations (5%, 10%, 15% and 20%) of the host plant extract (an-axenic condition). The GCMS of F1 extracts (test) exhibited good growth and showed the gradual increased production of terpenoid compounds whereas the F2 (test) did not show any growth. These compounds such as hyrdoxymenthol, nor-borneol, cedralacetate, α-cyclogeraniol, campesterol, β-cyclogeraniol, linalool oxide,2,3-boranediol, citronellyltiglate and 2,3-pinanediol were produced in a minor quantity and were known as biotransformed forms of the precursor compounds present in the host extract. In comparison, only F1 was able to produce terpenoids similar to the host species both in axenic and an-axenic conditions. Hence from the current study, the endophytic fungus F1 isolated from wild C. martinii for the first time can serve as a better resource for the bioprospection of an important terpenoid and its metabolites

Odontogenic Keratocyst Looks Can Be Deceptive, Causing Endodontic Misdiagnosis

Odontogenic keratocyst (OKC) is the cyst arising from the cell rests of dental lamina. It can occur anywhere in the jaw, but commonly seen in the posterior part of the mandible. Radiographically, most OKCs are unilocular when presented at the periapex and can be mistaken for radicular or lateral periodontal cyst. When the cyst is multilocular and located at the molar ramus area, it may be confused to ameloblastoma. Lots of cases have been reported in the literature where OKC is associated with the nonvital tooth. So trauma could be one of the reasons in inducing this cyst. In our case, it was in the anterior region at the periapex of nonvital tooth having traumatic occlusion. Hence, the diagnosis of radicular cyst was made and endodontic treatment was done

Somatic embryogenesis and plant-regeneration from inflorescence culture of java citronella (cymbopogon-winterianus)

Embryogenic callus was induced from immature inflorescence segments of Java citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) and maintained for 2 years on Murashige and Skoog's medium supplemented with 2,4-D (l mg l−1). The callus cells retained the original chromosome number of 2n = 20. The somatic embryos germinated into plantlets on MS basal medium or medium with IAA, NAA, BAP or KN individually (l mg l−1). The regenerated plantlets developed a good root system on full strength solid MS inorganics medium with IAA (1 mg l−1). The regenerated plants were similar to the donor plant in morphology and had the same chromosome number, but showed some variation in the essential oil content