Posted by admin on Jul 31, 2024 in |
Shilajit, a herbo-mineral blackish brown resin, extracted from humic rocks, is attributed to several therapeutic claims in Ayurveda like antiaging, health-promoter, immune- booster, urogenital problems and bio-enhancer. The lack of strong parameters for its quality control and standardization; and the knowledge gap to explain its mechanism of action are the important factors behind its restricted use. Here, for the first time, we have used a High-Resolution Advance Mass Spectrophotometer (HRAMS) to visualize the metabolites of shilajit and further identified novel metabolites for its characterization. Seven brands of shilajit, available in the market (5 resins and 2 capsules), were purchased and used to validate our findings in terms of molecular weight, abundance, retention time and structural characteristics. We found 14 novel metabolites and six of them were acidic, eight were non-acidic. Among them, only 4 metabolites were common in all seven samples, which were (a) NP-020214, (b) 3-tert- Butyladipic acid, (c) Dodecanedioic acid and (d) Azelaic acid. However when only resins were compared, then additional nine common metabolites were identified...
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Posted by admin on Oct 31, 2023 in |
Introduction: Preeclampsia (PE) is a common pregnancy-related hypertensive disorder that may result from abnormal placental development and is a major threat to the mother’s and foetus’s life. Methods: Placental miRNAs (miRNAs) profile was investigated using next-generation sequencing for the identification of potential biomarkers playing a role in aberrant placental development and to understand the pathophysiology(space between ‘the’ and ‘pathophysiology’) of PE. Placental tissues were collected from three patient groups (Control [n = 30], Early Onset of Preeclampsia (EOPE) [n = 30], and Late Onset of Preeclampsia (LOPE) [n = 30]) and performed miRNA profilingby Illumina sequencing, downstream analysis for identification, quantification and expression profiling is done by the quantifier.pl, script, and miRDeep2.pl, script. Results: Sequence analysis showed novel miRNAs that were disease-specific and common among all studied groups, suggesting the underlying placental pathologies in EOPE and LOPE. The real-time PCR analysis of 3 miRNAs (miR4743-5p, miR149-5p, and miR331-5p) was done, and observed differential expression in all three patient groups. MiRNA4743-5p was found to be significantly expressed EOPE when compared to control...
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Posted by admin on Jun 30, 2023 in |
Introduction: Ultrasound-guided axillary brachial plexus block is commonly used for forearm and hand surgery. Perineural dexamethasone 8mg has proved to prolong the duration of analgesia, but studies with low doses of dexamethasone are scarce. Hence this study was designed to determine the duration of analgesia with 2 mg dexamethasone used perineurally with ropivacaine. Methods: Fifty-Eight patients scheduled for forearm and hand surgeries were included in our study and randomly allocated into two groups. Group R- Axillary Brachial Plexus Block given with 0.75% Ropivacaine 18 ml and 2ml NS and Group RD- Axillary Brachial Plexus Block given with 0.75% Ropivacaine 18 ml and 2 mg Dexamethasone making a total volume of 20ml. Results: Four patients were excluded because of block failure. The time of first rescue analgesia in Group RD was 515.74±11.07 minutes and in Group R was 452.78±14.76 minutes and was statistically significant. Onset of sensory block and motor block in Group RD was earlier than in Group R and duration of sensory and motor block was also longer...
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Posted by admin on May 31, 2023 in |
Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to public health. This study investigated the occurrence of ESBL and colistin resistance among Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa recovered from clinical samples (n=500) in a tertiary teaching hospital in Abakaliki, Nigeria. The samples were bacteriologically analyzed using selective culture media, biochemical tests, and PCR. All isolates were screened for ESBL and colistin resistance genes using both PCR and disk diffusion methods that included standard antibiotic disks for susceptibility studies. E. coli (n=173), K. pneumoniae (n=120) and P. aeruginosa (n=62) were recovered from the clinical samples investigated. The most prevalent ESBL genes detected is blaCTX-M found in 3 isolates of P. aeruginosa, 4 isolates of E. coli and 2 isolates of K. pneumoniae. The colistin resistance gene, mcr-3 was detected in 4 strains of E. coli for the first time in Southeast Nigeria. Both mcr-1 and mcr-3 was not detected in the K. pneumoniae strains. Only the mcr-2 colistin resistance genes were detected in K. pneumoniae strains. There was no detection of...
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Posted by admin on Nov 30, 2022 in |
Cutaneous wound healing starts with an acute inflammatory phase marked by secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators that enhance infiltration of leukocytes with a peak in the first 24 to 48 h. This resolves to enable the continuation of other phases in series, namely, the proliferative, re-epithelialization, vascularisation, and tissue remodelling phases. The study uses a mechanical device, for the first time, to create a mechanical cutaneous wound in adult Zebrafish to simulate mammalian cutaneous wound. Topical application of 0.5% ointment of a fraction from hexane leaf extract of Vernonia arborea, accelerated wound healing in the developed model. The phytocompound in the fraction modulates the inflammation kinetics, increasing initial inflammation at 24 hrs by expediting neutrophil infiltration, three folds more than the untreated model. The resolution of inflammation was rapid in the experimental group after 3 dpw compared to the untreated control resulting in speedy proliferation and migration of keratinocytes and three times faster wound closure, measuring up to 92.3% as compared to 95.3% in the positive control group. The fraction...
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