Investigation of wound healing activity of Lantana camara L. in Sprague dawley rats using a burn wound model.

Summary: Lantana camara is used in herbal medicine for the treatment of skin itches, as an antiseptic for wounds, and externally for leprosy and scabies. The objective of our study is to investigate burn wound healing activity of the leaf extract of L.camara in rats. The animals were divided into two groups of 6 each. The test group animals were treated with the ethanol extract of L. camara (100 mg kg-1 day-1) topically and the control group animals were left untreated. Healing was assessed by the rate of wound contraction, period of epithelialization. Antimicrobial activities of the extract against the specific microorganisms were assessed. The extract showed antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella Pneumoniae and E.coli. Extract treated wounds were healed in about 21 days which is not distinct from the controls. Our data suggest that L.camara has antimicrobial activity but not wound healing promoting activity on burn wound. Industrial relevance: Extensive work has been done on the L. camara and demonstrated the antimicrobial and fungicidal activity of its chemical constituents. Lantana oil is used for the treatment of skin itches and as an antiseptic for wounds. It has been used in folk medicine for the treatment of cancers, chicken pox, measles, ulcers, swellings, eczema. Our earlier work showed the healing activity on excision wound model. However, there is no data to support the wound healing activity of L. camara on burn wound. Hence, we have conducted the present study to explore the wound healing activity and the antimicrobial activities of L. camara against the specific microorganisms which generally infect burn wound.

Influence of Helium-Neon laser photostimulation on excision wound healing in Wistar rats.

The importance of laser photostimulation is now accepted generally but the laser light facilitates wound healing and tissue repair remains poorly understood. So we have examined the hypothesis that the laser photo stimulation can enhances the collagen production in excision wounds using excision wound model in Wister rat model. The circular wounds were created on the dorsum of the back of the animals. The animals were divided into two groups. The experimental group (n = 12) wound was treated with 632.8 nm He-Ne laser at a dose of 2.1J cmƒ{2 for five days a week until the complete healing. The control group was sham irradiated. The parameters studied were wound area, period of epithelization and hydroxyproline. Significant increase in the hydroxyproline content (p<0.001) and reduction in the wound size (p<0.001) was observed in study group when compared to controls. The significant epithelization (p<0.001) was noticed. The experimental wounds were, on average, fully healed by the 15th day, whereas the control group healed, on average by 22nd day. Wound contraction together with the hydroxyproline and experimental observations suggested that low intensity Helium-Neon laser photo stimulation facilitates the tissue repair process by accelerating collagen production in chronic wounds.

Demographic and Lifestyle Factors that affect HbA1c awareness amongst type II diabetic patients in Trinidad

• Trinidad and Tobago is amongst the countries with the greatest burden of type II diabetes in the western hemisphere • Educating type II diabetic patients in controlling their glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) are recommended as measures to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with type II diabetic complications • Measurement of HbA1c in type II diabetic patients represents their glycemic history for the former 8 ­ 12 weeks and should be tested every 3 months to monitor patients' metabolic control • This study is aimed at measuring HbA1c awareness amongst T2D population in Trinidad and making recommendations based on results

Cerebrospinal fluid lactate dehydrogenase and glutamine in meningitis

The cerebrospinal fluid concentration of Glutamine and Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were studied in patients with pyogenic and tubercular meningitis. Significant increase in Glutamine and LDH level (P<0.001) were observed in the test group when compared to the control group. LDH and glutamine may not be useful in differentiating viral from other meningitis. It may act as corroborative evidence of meningitis.