Study on Self-medication Practices among University Students of Bangladesh.

Aims: To know how much knowledge and awareness university students of Bangladesh have about commonly used medicines. Study Design: The study was conducted on 1200 students randomly selected from 9 university of Bangladesh, in which 87.5% were master’s student and remaining 12.5% were honor’s students. Each willing participant shared their opinion. Place and Duration of Study: Dhaka University (DU), Jahangirnagar University (JU), Eastern University (EU), East West University (EWU), Daffodil International University (DIU), North South University (NSU), International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), University of Information Technology & Science (UITS) and University of Science & Technology (USTC), Bangladesh, from May to July 2012. Methodology: Questionnaires were distributed among the students, information about students and knowledge about self-medication practices of medicine was determined. Results: The present study revealed that most frequently used medicine was analgesic/antipyretic (58.75%), followed by antiulcerants (40.17%), antibiotics (18.17%), antihistamines (10.58%) and antitussive (9.33%). 54.5% students took analgesic/antipyretic based on self-decision, followed by 49.83% antibiotics, 43.5% antiulcerants, 46.83% antitussives and 31.08% antihistamines respectively. Based on retailer advice 25% students took antimicrobials. 47.83% students said that they took antibiotics because of fever, 27% said the reason was infection, 13.58% took antibiotics because of GI disease and 12.5% mentioned others. 67.67% had no idea about side effect of antibiotics, followed by 53.17% for analgesic/antipyretic, 53.2% for antihistamine, 47.75% for antitussives and 28% for antiulcerants. Conclusion: Self-medication was practiced with a range of drugs from the analgesic/antipyretic to antibiotics. Most of the students didn’t know about the side-effects of these medicines as well as the antibiotics resistance. Although the practice of self-medication is unavoidable; drug authorities and health professionals need to educate students about the health hazards of self-medication.

Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of Ageratum conyzoides stems.

Modern civilization is facing more than hundreds of disorders associated with free radicals and natural antioxidants from non-edible plants are gaining importance to fight these disorders. The intention of this report is to evaluate a well known medicinal weed Ageratum conyzoides stems for its antioxidant and cytotoxic Effects. Antioxidant potentiality of the crude methanolic extract of the Ageratum conyzoides (AC) stems was investigated on DPPH scavenging activity, reducing ability, total antioxidant capacity as well as total phenolic contents. Cytotoxic study was done by brine shrimp lethality bioassay and vincristin sulphate was used as standard. The total phenols and total antioxidant capacity of AC was found to be 38.125 ± 2.01mg/g equivalent of gallic acid and 333.37 ± 4.22mg/gm equivalent of ascorbic acid, respec-tively. The percentage (%) scavenging of DPPH free radical of the extract was found to be concentration dependent with IC50 value 46.01 ± 2.23μg/ml while IC50 value of standard ascorbic acid was found to be 29.56 ± 0.11μg/ml. The reducing power of AC was found to be concentration dependent. The cytotoxicity exhibited by AC was found promising with LC50 value 1.32μg/ml, comparing with the LC50 (0.689μg/ml) values of vincristin sulphate. The present investigation suggests that Ageratum conyzoides possesses remarkable antioxidant and cytotoxic property.

Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of Ageratum conyzoides stems.

Modern civilization is facing more than hundreds of disorders associated with free radicals and natural antioxidants from non-edible plants are gaining importance to fight these disorders. The intention of this report is to evaluate a well known medicinal weed Ageratum conyzoides stems for its antioxidant and cytotoxic Effects. Antioxidant potentiality of the crude methanolic extract of the Ageratum conyzoides (AC) stems was investigated on DPPH scavenging activity, reducing ability, total antioxidant capacity as well as total phenolic contents. Cytotoxic study was done by brine shrimp lethality bioassay and vincristin sulphate was used as standard. The total phenols and total antioxidant capacity of AC was found to be 38.125 ± 2.01mg/g equivalent of gallic acid and 333.37 ± 4.22mg/gm equivalent of ascorbic acid, respec-tively. The percentage (%) scavenging of DPPH free radical of the extract was found to be concentration dependent with IC50 value 46.01 ± 2.23μg/ml while IC50 value of standard ascorbic acid was found to be 29.56 ± 0.11μg/ml. The reducing power of AC was found to be concentration dependent. The cytotoxicity exhibited by AC was found promising with LC50 value 1.32μg/ml, comparing with the LC50 (0.689μg/ml) values of vincristin sulphate. The present investigation suggests that Ageratum conyzoides possesses remarkable antioxidant and cytotoxic property.

Evaluation of antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of methanolic extracts of Lagerstroemia speciosa leaves and barks.

Methanolic extracts of Lagerstroemia speciosa leaves (MLL) & barks (MBL) have been evaluated for their antimicrobial, antioxidant & cytotoxic activity. Antimicrobial activity of the extracts was evaluated against 11 Gram-positive, Gram-negative bacteria and 3 fungi using disk diffusion technique. Kanamycin (30μg/disc) was used as standard. Antioxidant potentiality of the extracts was investigated on DPPH scavenging activity, Total antioxidant capacity, Reducing ability as well as total phenolic contents. Cytotoxic study was done by brine shrimp lethality bioassay and vincristin sulphate was used as standard. In antimicrobial study, the average zone of inhibition exhibited by MLL & MBL (each 500μg/disc) was 10-20 mm & 12-21mm respectively. In DPPH scavenging activity, IC50 value was found 27.89 ± 0.83μg/ml,21±0.61 μg/ml and 16.76 ± 1.11μg/ml for MLL, MBL and standard ascorbic acid, respectively. Total antioxidant capacity was found 0.22 ± 398.37 mg/g and 4.02 ± 346.37 mg/g equivalent of ascorbic acid for MLL & MBL, respectively. Reducing ability was found concentration dependent for both the extracts. The total phenolic content was found 71.06 ± 2.01 and 60.65 ± 2.16 mg/g equivalent of gallic acid for MLL & MBL, respectively. The cytotoxicity exhibited by MLL was promising with LC50 value 9.602μg/ml, comparing with the LC50 (6.25 μg/ml) values of standard vincristin sulphate as a positive control. The results suggest into the plant extracts could be used as a potential therapeutics in many pathological conditions.