Importance of Pharmacophore in Designing Anticonvulsant Agents.

Drug design is one of the critical aspects of the drug development process. The present review focused on different heterocyclic molecules having anticonvulsant activity with structural diversity and common pharmacophoric features. For the first time (1995), Dimmock and his team introduced specific arrangements of three important pharmacophores for anticonvulsant activity. These pharmacophores include two hydrophobic binding sites and one hydrogen binding site. After a few years (2012), Pandeya modified Dimmock's concept by adding one more pharmacophoric feature as an electron donor in the previously suggested pharmacophoric arrangement of the anticonvulsant. As a result, numerous scientists designed anticonvulsant drugs based on Dimmock's and Pandeya's concept. In addition, marketed anticonvulsant preparation containing Riluzole, Phenobarbital, Progabide, Ralitoline, etc., also holds the suggested pharmacophores by Dimmock and Pandeya's pharmacophoric concept. This review mainly focuses on the compilation of reported scientific literature in the last decade on the pharmacophoric features of different heterocyclic anticonvulsants, which will help develop new anticonvulsants.

Comparison of two commercial ELISA kits for detection of rubella specific IgM in suspected congenital rubella syndrome cases and rubella IgG antibodies in a serosurvey of pregnant women.

Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for antibody identification, is important for laboratory confirmation of rubella infection in different settings. The Enzygnost rubella ELISA, widely used in the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network, is expensive and often unavailable. Qualitative and quantitative performance of the Euroimmun ELISA was compared with the Enzygnost ELISA, for detection of rubella specific IgM, using 283 sera collected from suspected congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) patients and IgG antibodies using 435 sera from a serosurvey among pregnant women. Good qualitative agreement was observed for detection of both rubella specific IgM (94.7% agreement and κ of 0.86) and IgG (96.3% agreement and κ of 0.84). Bland-Altman analysis for IgG yielded a mean difference of 0.781 IU/ml with 97.1% values within ±2 SD of the mean difference. Our study findings suggest that Euroimmun ELISA may be considered for detection of rubella specific IgM in suspected CRS cases and rubella specific IgG in surveillance studies.

Sero-prevalence of rubella among pregnant women in India, 2017.

BACKGROUND: We conducted a sero-survey among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics of six hospitals which also function as sentinel sites for CRS surveillance, to estimate the prevalence of IgG antibodies against rubella. METHODS: We systematically sampled 1800 pregnant women attending antenatal clinics and tested their sera for IgG antibodies against rubella. We classified sera as seropositive (titre ≥10 IU/ml), sero-negative (titre <8 IU/ml) or indeterminate (titre 8-9.9 IU/ml) per manufacturer's instructions. In a sub-sample, we estimated the titers of IgG antibodies against rubella. IgG titer of ≥10 IU/mL was considered protective. RESULTS: Of 1800 sera tested, 1502 (83.4%) were seropositive and 24 (1.3%) were indeterminate and 274 (15.2%) were sero-negative. Rubella sero-positivity did not differ by age group, educational status or place of residence. Three hundred and eighty three (87.8%) of the 436 sera had IgG concentrations ≥10 IU/mL. CONCLUSION: The results of the serosurvey indicate high levels of rubella sero-positivity in pregnant women. High sero-prevalence in the absence of routine childhood immunization indicates continued transmission of rubella virus in cities where sentinel sites are located.