Nanoformulations of quercetin: a potential phytochemical for the treatment of uv radiation induced skin damages

Abstract The continuous prolonged exposures of sun light especially the ultra violet (UV) radiation present in it, cause not only the risk of skin cancer but also it may cause premature skin aging, photodermatoses and actinic keratoses. Flavonoids (including Flavane, Flavanone, Flavone, Flavonol, Isoflavone, Neoflavone etc.) having potent antioxidant activity, used as topical applications for protection against UV induced skin damages as well as for skin care. Most commonly used flavonoid is quercetin (Flavonol), which is present in fruits, vegetables, and herbs. We aim to review the research focused on development of different novel formulations to treat UV radiations induced skin diseases. In this review, several formulations of flavonoid quercetin were discussed and their outcomes were compiled and compared in context to solubility, stability and efficiency of application. On the basis this comparative analysis we have concluded that three formulations, namely glycerosomes, nanostructured lipid carriers and deformable liposomes hold good applications for future aspects for topical delivery of quercetin. These formulations showed enhanced stability, increased quercetin accumulation in different skin layers, facilitated drug permeation in skin and long-lasting drug release.

Prospective Analysis of Post-Operative Admissions in the Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a special unitprimarily concerned with the care of patients with acute,recoverable, life- threatening, critical illness and injuries, whichrequire constant close monitoring and support. ICU servicesare expensive and limited resources require stratification ofpatients. The present prospective study was undertaken toevaluate the post-operative admissions in the intensive careunit of a tertiary care hospital.Materials and Methods: Present study was conducted toevaluate all the post-operative admission in the Intensive CareUnit for a period of one year (Nov 2013 and Nov 2014). Allpost-operative patients were divided into three groups: Group 1– Informed Admissions, Group 2 – Uninformed Admissions,Group 3 – Post surgical Admissions. At the time of admissionto ICU, the following data were noted: demographic data, initialdiagnosis, vital parameters, pre-operative and peri-operativevariables were collected from patient’s case sheet andanaesthesia case sheet. Additionally, various hemodyanamicsvariables, duration of stay at ICU and outcome of the patientswere noted. All the statistical analysis was performed usingSPSS version 20. A p value of <0.05 was consideredsignificant.Results: The present study is a prospective evaluation studyconducted on 341 patients who were admitted in the ICU of atertiary care hospital from the operating room. On the basis ofgender distribution more males were admitted in the ICU(61.6% in compare to 38.4% females) among the total ICUadmissions within a year. For hemoglobin percentage inplanned admissions and in unplanned admission was notsignificant with P-value of<0.001. The average duration ofanaesthesia is more in planned admissions of total postoperative ICU admissions. This was not significant with P-valueof< 0.001. In planned admission to ICU, males are 47.2%,females 29.0%, in unplanned admissions male are 14.4%,female 8.8 % and in emergency condition males are 0.0%,females 0.6%. This was significant with P-value of>0.001. Thepost-operative Oxygen desaturation was not significant with Pvalue of <0.001. The post-operative admissions were notsignificant with P-value of <0.001. The total post-operative ICUadmissions were able to sustain head for more than 5 sec. Thiswas not significant with P-value of <0.001. The post-operativeICU admissions had hypotension was not significant with Pvalue of <0.001. In post-operative ICU admissions, tachycardiain was not significant with P-value of <0.001. Maximum numberof hospital stay was 2-4 days of total post-operative ICUadmissions. And minimum days for ICU stay was > 7 days Thiswas significant with P-value of >0.001.Conclusion: It was observed that the unplanned admission toICU rates in thiscentre was 0.40%. The predominant reasonsfor unplanned post-operative admissions to ICU were intraoperative complications. Nearly 50% of admissions were purelyfor monitoring and observation. Early recognition ofcomplications, timely intervention and timely intensive care andmonitoring are essential to improve outcomes.

Empirical model for estimating dengue incidence using temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity: a 19-year retrospective analysis in East Delhi / 한국역학회지

OBJECTIVES: Aedes mosquitoes are responsible for transmitting the dengue virus. The mosquito lifecycle is known to be influenced by temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity. This retrospective study was planned to investigate whether climatic factors could be used to predict the occurrence of dengue in East Delhi. METHODS: The number of monthly dengue cases reported over 19 years was obtained from the laboratory records of our institution. Monthly data of rainfall, temperature, and humidity collected from a local weather station were correlated with the number of monthly reported dengue cases. One-way analysis of variance was used to analyse whether the climatic parameters differed significantly among seasons. Four models were developed using negative binomial generalized linear model analysis. Monthly rainfall, temperature, humidity, were used as independent variables, and the number of dengue cases reported monthly was used as the dependent variable. The first model considered data from the same month, while the other three models involved incorporating data with a lag phase of 1, 2, and 3 months, respectively. RESULTS: The greatest number of cases was reported during the post-monsoon period each year. Temperature, rainfall, and humidity varied significantly across the pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post-monsoon periods. The best correlation between these three climatic factors and dengue occurrence was at a time lag of 2 months. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity significantly affected dengue occurrence in East Delhi. This weather-based dengue empirical model can forecast potential outbreaks 2-month in advance, providing an early warning system for intensifying dengue control measures.

Serological profile of HSV-2 in patients attending STI clinic: Evaluation of diagnostic utility of HSV-2 IgM detection.

Objective: The present study was done to evaluate the serological profile of herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) among patients attending sexually transmitted infections (STI) clinic and to determine the utility of detecting HSV-2 IgM antibodies in such patients. A correlation of HSV-2 infection with other STI including HIV has also been attempted. Materials and Methods: Hundred consecutive patients who attended STI clinic, with one or more of the complaints as enunciated by WHO in syndromic approach for the diagnosis of STI, were included as subjects. All subjects were screened for common STI by standard laboratory procedures/ commercially available kits. HSV-1 and HSV-2 IgM antibody was detected by commercially available enzyme immuno assay kit in all patient's sera. Sera were also tested for other STI, namely HIV, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus and Treponema pallidum. Antigen detection for Chlamydia trachomatis was done in genital swabs of all patients by Bio-Rad Chlamydia Microplate EIA 31189 (United States) kit. Results: Thirty patients were found to have genital herpes. In 17/30 (56.6%) patients, HSV-2 serology was found to correlate with the clinical diagnosis. The coexistence of other infection in HSV-2 seropositive patients was detected in 8/30 patients. None of the patients having concomitant infections were clinically diagnosed accurately. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of IgM antibodies for the diagnosis of genital herpes was 73.91%, 90.91%, 70.83% and 92.91% respectively. Conclusion: HSV-2 IgM detection could only be used as a supportive test for the diagnosis of genital herpes . It needs to be emphasized that the sensitivity and positive predictive value scores are pointers for further improvement in the commercial assay systems and a large sample size may determine the broader utility of such systems.