Posted by admin on May 1, 2013 in |
Self-medication is global problem but in developing regions, where drugs are available to customers easily it arises greater risks and challenges. Peshawar and Mardan are two big and heavily inhibited cities of a developing country, Pakistan hence in this study we aim to find the level of self-medication and general knowledge about antibiotics of the people in these two cities. We conducted our study on 500 participants from these two cities (250 from each) through a simple questionnaire. Our results confirmed that 78% of participants were using self-medication we also report that 45.2% of the participants prefer self-medication to a physician prescription. Our results also showed that 25.6% of the participants never check the expiry date on the antibiotics they use during self-medication. We also found that 63.6% of the participants believed that they know what type of antibiotic to take for which medical complications however in contrast 34.4% of participant reported that antibiotics could be used in dengue fever. We conclude that the knowledge and perception of inhabitants...
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Posted by admin on May 1, 2013 in |
Calliandra portoricensis a medicinal plant, is widely use in the treatment/management of various diseases in Nigeria. The ethyl acetate extract of the Calliandra portoricensis root bark were tested to evaluate the cytotoxicity, antioxidant (in vitro) and free radical scavenging activity. The different assay methods, including total antioxidant activity, free radical (nitric oxide, hydroxyl radicals and lipid peroxidation) scavenging assays were used to evaluate the antioxidant potential of the ethylacetate extract. While cytotoxic activities were evaluated using brine shrimps lethality assays. The methanol extract showed total antioxidant capacity of 2.362µg/mg of plant extract expressed as ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE) compared to 1µg/mg ascorbic acid; the extract exhibited two-fold scavenging activity with IC50 of 364.175 and 313.52µg/ml for nitric oxide and hydroxyl radicals compared to IC50 of 231.31µg/ml and 228.78µg/ml of ascorbic acid as standard respectively. The extract conferred 50% protection at the concentration of 51.92μg/ml on lipid peroxidation induced by FeSO4 in liver mitochondria. The Brine shrimp lethality bioassay of the extract showed cytotoxic activity of (LC50 = 0μg/ml) which...
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Posted by admin on May 1, 2013 in |
Plant derived drug molecules are frequently showing their role in treating the disease conditions with minimal side effects comparing to the synthetic molecules. Forest and trees are natural assets that provide a variety of benefits to the mankind. Currently available anthelmintic drugs require improved management, high cost and also worms developing resistance to these drugs. So, there is a need of investigation of new anthelmintic molecules. Blumea densiflora (compositae) and Salvinia cucullata (salviniaceae) are selected as test drugs for evaluation of anthelmintic activity. Helminth infections are distressing huge population in the world. These infections are contributing to the disorders like pneumonia, anaemia, eosinophilia and under nourishment. Indian earthworm, Pheretima posthuma was used for evaluating the anthelmintic activity due to its anatomical and physiological resemblance with the intestinal roundworm parasites of human beings. All the extracts shows significant anthelmintic activity compared to the standards. They exhibited varying degree of activity in a dose dependent manner and causes paralysis of the worms followed by death. The aqueous extract of Salvinia cucullata...
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Posted by admin on May 1, 2013 in |
Vernonia amygdalina, commonly called bitter leaf, is a perennial shrub that belongs to the family Asteraceae and grows throughout tropical Africa. Traditional medicine practitioners use the plant as in treatment of several disease conditions especially diabetes mellitus. In this research, the feasibility of tableting Vernonia amygdalina leaf was examined using three binders. Tableting of the leaf powder was done using wet granulation method. Various physicochemical parameters (angle of repose, bulk density, tapped density, Hausner’s ratio, Carr’s index, ash value etc.) were determined and found to be within normal limits. The strength of the tablets was assessed by crushing strength and friability of the tablets while the release properties were determined using disintegration and dissolution times. The result showed that the feasibility of tableting the leaves of Vernonia amygdalina is high, possible and promising and that gelatin is a better binder compared to maize starch and microcrystalline cellulose for tableting the leaf of Vernonia...
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Posted by admin on May 1, 2013 in |
Purpose of present research work was to develop mouth dissolving tablets of loperamide using superdisintegrants. Mouth dissolving tablets of loperamide were prepared by direct-compression method after incorporating superdisintegrants Ac-Di-Sol, Sodium Starch Glycolate (SSG), and Crosspovidone in different concentrations. Effect of superdisintegrants on disintegration and dissolution behavior of tablet in O.1 N HCl, phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) was evaluated. To address poor solubility of loperamide, solid dispersion using solvent evaporation techniques was prepared using hydrophilic carrier PEG4000, PVP K-30, and Urea. Improvement in dissolution of drug was observed in solid dispersion as compared to pure drug. The 100% drug release was obtained from the solid dispersion (prepared by solvent evaporation method) of Loperamide: PEG4000 (1:6) in 10 minute. Formulations were evaluated for Weight variation, hardness, and thickness, friability, wetting time uniformity of dispersion, drug content, disintegration time and in vitro dissolution studies. The drug content of all the formulations was within the acceptable limits of the United States Pharmacopoeia XXVII. Optimized formulation showed good release profile with maximum drug being...
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