Posted by admin on Jun 1, 2014 in |
The poor bioavailability and therapeutic response exhibited by conventional ophthalmic solutions due to rapid precorneal elimination of the drug may be overcome by the use of in situ gel-forming systems that are instilled as drops into the eye and undergo a sol–gel transition in the cul-de-sac. Norfloxacin ophthalmic solution has been shown to be effective ocular infections and may be used in patients with chronic conjunctivitis or ocular irritation. Norfloxacin in-situ gel was prepared using various concentrations of polymers such as Carbopol-934 and HPMC K4M by pH triggered gelling system with objectives of increasing contact time, achieving controlled release, reduction in frequency of administration and greater therapeutic efficacy of drug. The prepared in-situ gels were then evaluated for their visual appearance, clarity, pH, drug content analysis, in-vitro gelation (Gelling capacity), rheological studies, sterility testing and in-vitro drug release studies. It is evident from these studies that, formed polymeric in-situ gels had transparent, clear possessing satisfactory gelling capacity. The developed formulation was light yellow in colour, therapeutically efficacious, stable, non-irritant...
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Posted by admin on Jun 1, 2014 in |
The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of oral administration of aqueous extracts of Cleome rutidosperma leavesand Senecio biafrae roots on blood glucose, biochemical parameters, lipid profile, antioxidant enzymes activity and hepatic glucose regulating enzyme activities in Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. STZ was administered as a single dose (60mg/kg wt, i.p.) to induce diabetes. The effects of the extracts were compared with the standard drug Glibenclamide (600μg/kg b.wt). The aqueous extract of both plants at different doses (125mg/Kg, 250mg/Kg and 500mg/Kg) administered orally to the diabetic rats for 28 days, produced significant (p < 0.05) decrease in the level of blood glucose, feed and water intake as well as serum cholesterol, triacylglycerols, low density lipoprotein (LDL), creatinine, urea, bilirubin and activity of liver marker enzymes such as AST, ALT, ALP and TBARS in liver and kidney. Treatment also produced significant (p < 0.05) increase in body weight, PCV, High density lipoprotein (HDL), Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT), Glutathione-S-Transferase (GST) and Glutathione Reductase(GR). Administration of both extracts...
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Posted by admin on Jun 1, 2014 in |
Background: Health care professionals, patients, public, patient caretakers, and other professionals prefer to ask their medication-related questions to community pharmacists as they are easily accessible to them. It is challenging for pharmacists to keep up the pace of medicine discovery and development and have better and effective information than the patients retrieve information independently. Aim and objectives: The aim of this study was to identify information resources of medicine used by the community pharmacists in various parts of Oman to update the knowledge and provide updated and effective information to the patient and other medical professionals. Other objectives of this study were to know the most common primary, secondary, tertiary, web based and other information resources used by the community pharmacists. Methods: Total of 71 community pharmacies in different parts of Oman were contacted personally. Pharmacists at the sample community pharmacies completed a self-administered questionnaire that consisted of six sections. First section presented demography of population for the study. Second section elicited type of sources of information the community...
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Posted by admin on Jun 1, 2014 in |
Houttuynia cordata Thunb. (H. cordata) is used as a remedy for diarrhoea and dysentery in Asia, but has not been investigated for its antidiarrhoeal properties. Antidiarrhoeal activity of 80% “methanol extract of H. cordata” (HCM) was investigated in this study using castor oil induced diarrhoea, castor oil induced intraluminal fluid accumulation as well as charcoal transit in wister albino rat. The extract significantly increased the latent period of diarrhoea in all the models. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins, and tannins. It is suggested that the extract may contain biologically active components that may be useful against diarrhoea, thereby justifying its use in ethnomedical practice as an antidiarrhoeal agent. The HCM produced a significant (P < 0.05) dose dependent decrease castor oil induced diarrhoeal faeces with values of 54.35% and 65.22% respectively at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg vs. 93.48 for reference dose loperamide. The extract also significantly decreased the gastrointestinal motility 33.22% and 51.53% as well as fluid accumulation 26.53% and 43.54 at both...
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Posted by admin on Jun 1, 2014 in |
In the present endeavour, bioprospecting potentials (antimicrobial activity, antibiotic susceptibility pattern, enzyme activity and dye degradation ability) of endophytic bacteria isolated from different plants were explored. Total of thirty bacterial endophytes were isolated from the leaves of selected plants by using sterilization treatment followed by serial dilution agar plate technique. All the isolates were evaluated for the antimicrobial activity against 7 pathogenic strains including 2 Gram positive bacteria (Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus amyloliquifaciens)and 2 Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica ser. typhi)and 3 fungi (Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus sp. and Candida albicans) using agar well diffusion method. Of the 30 bacterial isolates, twenty endophytic bacterial isolates exhibited both antifungal and antibacterial activity. It was observed that 33.33% of isolates exhibited urease activity, 66.66% amylase activity, while 50% esterase activity. Malachite green degradation was observed in 16 (53.33%) endophytic bacterial isolates. The antibiotic susceptibility pattern of endophytic bacterial isolates was evaluated. Five Gram negative bacterial isolates were sensitive to Amikacin, Levofloxacin, Cephotaxime, four isolates sensitive to Aztreonam and three isolates...
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