A detailed biochemical characterization, toxicological assessment and molecular docking studies of Launaea fragilis: An important medicinal xero-halophyte.

Launaea fragilis (Asso) Pau (Family: Asteraceae) is a wild medicinal plant that has been used in the folklore as a potential treatment for numerous ailments such as skin diseases, diarrhea, infected wounds, inflammation, child fever and hepatic pain. This study explored the chemical constitution, in-vivo toxicity, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and enzyme inhibition potential of ethanolic extract of L. fragilis (EELF). Additionally, in-silico docking studies of predominant compounds were performed against in-vitro tested enzymes. Similarly, in-silico ADMET properties of the compounds were performed to determine their pharmacokinetics, physicochemical properties, and toxicity profiles. The EELF was found rich in TFC (73.45 ± 0.25 mg QE/g) and TPC (109.02 ± 0.23 mg GAE/g). GC-MS profiling of EELF indicated the presence of a total of 47 compounds mainly fatty acids and essential oil. EELF showed no toxicity or growth retardation in chicks up to 300 mg/kg with no effect on the biochemistry and hematology of the chicks. EELF gave promising antioxidant activity through the CUPRAC method with an IC50 value of 13.14 ± 0.18 µg/ml. The highest inhibition activity against tyrosinase followed by acetylcholinesterase and α-Glucosidase was detected. Similarly, the antimicrobial study revealed the extract with good antibacterial and antiviral activity. A good docking score was observed in the in silico computational study of the predominant compounds. The findings revealed L. fragilis as a biocompatible, potent therapeutic alternative and suggest isolation and further in vivo pharmacological studies.

Robot-assisted and conventional urology surgical procedures: comparison of average length of stay, economic status, operative time and patient's expenditure in a tertiary care hospital of North India.

Robot-assisted surgeries allows the surgeons to operate using remote-controlled robotic arms that are more effective in comparison to conventional (open/laparoscopic) surgeries. However, there is substantial lack of evidence on the effectiveness of robot-assisted surgeries in low to middle income countries (LMICs) like India. A study was conducted with an aim to evaluate the average length of stay (ALOS), Operative time, economic status (patient's) and cost borne by the patient (patient's expenditure) for undergoing robot-assisted surgeries and conventional surgeries. Grouping of the surgical procedures was done wherein patients who were treated with robot-assisted surgical procedures were placed in Group-01 whereas those treated with conventional surgical procedures were placed under Group-02. Comparative evaluation of the two surgical groups revealed that in robot-assisted surgical procedure, the ALOS was less (18.43 vs. 23.14 days, p = 0.06) whereas operative time (316.7 vs. 252.63 min, p = 0.05) and patient's expenditure were more (INR 70,654.29 vs. INR 41,314.73, p = 0.00). However, there was no significant difference between the economic statuses of patients in both groups. The study concluded that in this era of rapidly expanding health care scenario; targeted, regular, rigorous and repeated training programmes in future may shorten the learning curve thereby paving a way to reduce the cost as well as the operative time of robot-assisted surgeries in LMICs.

Assessment of Avermectins-Induced Toxicity in Animals.

Macrocyclic lactones, particularly the avermectins, have completely revolutionized the approaches aimed at control of parasites. These avermectins are the most widely used anti-parasitic drugs in veterinary field with sales exceeding one billion US dollars annually. However, before clinical usage, their safety evaluation in the animals is a major critical factor that must be considered. Many studies have reported the negative effects of avermectins like ivermectin, abamectin, doramectin, and eprinomectin on the host animals. These harmful effects arise from avermectins targeting GABA and glutamate-gated chloride channels present both in the parasites and the host animals. In this review, various modes of avermectins action along with the negative effects on the host like nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, neurotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and endocrine disruption were discussed in detail. Furthermore, other important issues like ecotoxicity, drug resistance, and drug residues in milk associated with avermectins usage were also discussed, which need special attention.

Level of sleep disorders among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the level of sleep disorders among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and to see if there was any difference in terms of demographic variables and socioeconomic status. METHODS: The cross-sectional descriptive observational study was conducted from March to June 2017, and data was collected through purposive sampling from different tertiary health care centres of Faisalabad, Pakistan. Sleep-50-Urdu scale was used to measure sleep disorders among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. SPSS 21 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 140 respondents 70(50%) each were males and females with an overall mean age of 48.64±17.39 years. The patients had significantly high level of narcolepsy (p<0.05), but those from high socioeconomic status had relatively lower level of narcolepsy (p<0.05). Male patients and people from lower socioeconomic status also suffered from sleep apnoea and insomnia along with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Narcolepsy along with sleep apnoea and insomnia were significantly more prevalent among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients from lower socioeconomic status.

Prevalence of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus in Pakistan: Results of screen-diabetes disease registry.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes in patients visiting the primary care physicians for any reason in urban outpatient settings. METHODS: This national, multicentre, non-interventional disease registry was conducted from October 2011 to August 2013 across Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan and comprised randomly selected health centres with qualified general practitioners. Patients aged 45 years or more and willing to have a random blood sugar screening test were selected. They were screened on American Diabetes Association risk factors. Fasting blood glucose and glycated haemoglobin of patients with random blood sugar >200 mg/dL were checked and those with values >126 mg/dL or >6.5% respectively were considered newly-diagnosed type diabetics T2DM. They were followed up three months later. RESULTS: There were 8,250 patients with a mean age of 53.2±8.1 years, and mean body mass index of 27.3±5.3kg/m2. The prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes in patients visiting primary care physicians for any reason was 525(6.4%). Overall, 484(92.2%) of the newly-diagnosed type 2 diabetics were advised lifestyle modification, 460(88.1%) were put on oral anti-diabetic drugs, and insulin was initiated in 50(9.5%) patients. There was a mean decrease of 1.6±1.6%in glycated haemoglobin and 41.9±56.8mg/dL in fasting blood glucose from baseline to the three-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of undiagnosed diabetes in Pakistan was found to be considerable. With proper management, significant improvement was shown.

Socio-economic burden of parasitic infections in yaks from 1984 to 2017 on Qinghai Tibetan Plateau of China-A review.

Yak is an important animal for the Tibetans at Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China. The burden of parasitic diseases has been a major threat to the health of yaks at this region presenting a considerable socio-economic losses and impact to yak production and local nomads. Keeping in view, we collected the published papers from 1984 to 2017 on major parasitic infections in yaks by electronic literature search from five databases including CNKI, Google, PubMed, Science Direct and Web of Science. The prevalence of Eimeria, Babesia, Theileria, Hypodermosis, Cystic echinococcosis, Alveolar echinococcosis, Toxoplasma gondii, Neospora caninum, Cryptosporidium, Giardia duodenalis, Enterocytozoon bieneusi, Toxocara vitulorum, and Fascioliasis infection in yaks was found to be 48.02%, 13.06%, 36.11%, 59.85%, 16.93%, 0.99%, 20.50%, 5.14%, 10.00%, 3.68%, 4.07%, 22.23% and 28.7% respectively. Data presented are contemplated to enhance our current understanding on the major parasitic diseases of yaks at Qinghai Tibetan plateau, China. The main aim of this effort is to ameliorate the effects of the parasitic burden in this specie; so that, the attempts are made to minimize the incidence of these infections in future to raise the socio-economic levels of local community.

A review on epidemiology, global prevalence and economical losses of fasciolosis in ruminants.

Fasciolosis is an important plant borne trematode zoonosis in ruminants caused by the Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigentica, It is classified as a neglected tropical disease and found in more than 50 countries especially where sheep and cattle are reared. Fasciolosis is a serious animal health problems in many rural and urban areas of world, causing significant financial losses due to decrease in production and viscera condemnation in animals. Accurate diagnosis of fasciolosis is always remained a challenging task for the field practitioners. There is no comprehensive summary on the occurrence and distribution of the infection at international level. Therefore, we intended to provide a complete overview on the prevalence and epidemiology of fasciolosis in farm animals from a global prospective. It includes to map the global distribution of fasciolosis in different areas of the world to identify the endemic regions which may be a source of potential disease outbreak. The financial liability related to fasciolosis on the livestock production has also been addressed. For this purpose, the published data during 2000-2015 (15 years) on fasciolosis was reviewed and collected by electronic literature search of four databases including Google, PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science. Data presented are contemplated to enhance our current understanding of the parasite's geographical distribution, host range, and economic losses. Information provided would be useful for the application of more effective control strategies against fasciolosis in different geo-economics regions of the world.