In-vitro antiviral activity of Carica papaya formulations against dengue virus type 2 and chikungunya viruses.

Dengue and chikungunya are diseases of global health significance and currently, no antivirals are available to treat these arboviral diseases. Carica papaya leaves extract is traditionally used to treat thrombocytopenia in patients infected with the dengue virus. The current study was undertaken to study the antiviral activity of commercially available Carica papaya leaves extract (CPLE) based products and CPLE prepared in four formulations against dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2) and chikungunya virus (CHIKV). Maximum nontoxic concentrations of the commercially available CPLE based products and CPLE based formulations (Carica papaya leaves in powder form, Carica papaya leaves in lyophilized form, Carica papaya leaves based silver nanoparticles and supercritical fluid extract of Carica papaya leaves) were used for screening the antiviral activity. The antiviral activity against DENV-2 and CHIKV were assessed post infection using focus forming unit assay. Effective formulations were tested under different conditions i.e. pretreatment, cotreatment and posttreatment. The virus output after treatment was assessed by real-time RT-PCR, immunofluorescence assay and focus forming unit assay. The results revealed Carica papaya leaves based silver nanoparticles and supercritical fluid extract of Carica papaya leaves formulations showed significant inhibition in case of DENV while papaya leaves in powder form showed significant reduction in case of CHIKV. This study demonstrates the antiviral activity of CPLE formulations against DENV-2 and CHIKV infection in in-vitro system and needs further validation in in-vivo models.

Status of research on Drosophila ananassae at global level.

Drosophila, a dipteran insect, has been found to be the best biological model for different kinds of studies. D melanogaster was first described by Meigen in 1830 , is most extensively studied species of the genus Drosophila and a number of investigations employing this species have been documented in areas such as genetics, behaviour, evolution, development, molecular biology, ecology, population biology, etc. Besides D. melanogaster, a number of other species of the genus Drosophila have also been used for different kinds of investigations. Among these, D. ananassae, a cosmopolitan and domestic species endowed with several unusual genetic features, is noteworthy. Described for the first time from Indonesia (Doleschall 1858), this species is commonly distributed in India. Extensive research work on D. ananassae has been done by numerous researchers pertaining to cytology, genetics, mutagenesis, gene mapping, crossing-over in both sexes, population and evolutionary genetics,behaviour genetics, ecological genetics, sexual isolation, fluctuating asymmetry, trade-offs etc. Genome of D. ananassae has also been sequenced. The status of research on D. ananassae at global level is briefly described in this review. Bibliography on this species from different countries worldwide reveals that maximum contribution is from India.

The analysis of distribution of multidrug resistant Pseudomonas and Bacillus species from burn patients and burn ward environment.

INTRODUCTION: Infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria act as a risk factor for mortality in burns patients. So keeping in view the crucial importance of reliable therapeutic decisions of multidrug resistance bacteria and role of hospital environment in bacteria colonization, our study is based on the evaluation of distribution of Pseudomonas sp. and Bacillus sp. in burn patients and burn ward environment. METHODS: The present prospective analysis was conducted on the patients undergoing treatment in the Burn ward of Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, during the period of January 2012 to March 2013. The multidrug resistant bacteria were characterized by following the CLSI guidelines. Molecular identification isolates were done by amplifying and sequencing 16S rDNA. RESULTS: In our study out of 510 samples of 280 burn patients, 263 samples were observed sterile and bacterial isolates were obtained from 247 samples. In burn patients out of 247 samples 43 MDR strains, and in burn ward out of 60 samples 4 MDR strain were observed. After 16S rDNA amplification of MDR isolates the prevalent bacterium was belonged to the genus Bacillus (8 species; 26 isolates) followed by genus Pseudomonas (5 species; 17 isolates). The burn ward environment isolates were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas stutzeri, Bacillus cereus and Acinetobacter baumanii. CONCLUSION: The major finding of our study is the predominance of B. cereus followed by P. aeruginosa in burn patients of Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana. While considering the role of hospital environment, no direct role of environmental isolates was observed in transfer of bacterial infection.

Cassia occidentalis L.: a review on its ethnobotany, phytochemical and pharmacological profile.

Cassia occidentalis L. is an annual or perennial Ayurvedic plant which is used in several traditional medicines to cure various diseases. This weed has been known to possess antibacterial, antifungal, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, anticancerous, antimutagenic and hepatoprotective activity. A wide range of chemical compounds including achrosin, aloe-emodin, emodin, anthraquinones, anthrones, apigenin, aurantiobtusin, campesterol, cassiollin, chryso-obtusin, chrysophanic acid, chrysarobin, chrysophanol, chrysoeriol etc. have been isolated from this plant. The presented review summarizes the information concerning the botany, ethnopharmacologyquery, phytochemistry, biological activity and toxicity of the C.occidentalis plant.

Fluoride distribution in groundwater and survey of dental fluorosis among school children in the villages of the Jhajjar District of Haryana, India.

Fluoride concentration of groundwater reserves occurs in many places in the world. A critical area for such contamination in India is alluvial soil of the plain region, consisting of five blocks (Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh, Beri, Matanhail, and Sahalawas) of the Jhajjar District adjacent to the National Capital Territory of India, New Delhi. The purpose of this study was to assess the association between water fluoride levels and prevalence of dental fluorosis among school children of the Jhajjar District of Haryana, India. The fluoride content in underground drinking water sources was found to vary in villages. Hence, the villages were categorized as high-fluoride villages (1.52-4.0 mg F/l) and low/normal-fluoride villages (0.30-1.0 mg F/l). The source of dental fluorosis data was school-going children (7-15 years) showing different stages and types of fluorosis who were permanent resident of these villages. The fraction of dental fluorosis-affected children varied from 30% to 94.85% in the high-fluoride villages and from 8.80% to 28.20% in the low/normal-fluoride villages. The results of the present study revealed that there existed a significant positive correlation between fluoride concentration in drinking water and dental fluorosis in high-fluoride villages (r = 0.508; p < 0.001) and insignificant correlation in low-fluoride villages.

Removal of fluoride by thermally activated carbon prepared from neem (Azadirachta indica) and kikar (Acacia arabica) leaves.

The present investigation deals with fluoride removal from aqueous solution by thermally activated neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves carbon (ANC) and thermally activated kikar (Acacia arabica) leaves carbon (AKC) adsorbents. In this study neem leaves carbon and kikar leaves carbon prepared by heating the leaves at 400 degrees C in electric furnace was found to be useful for the removal of fluoride. The adsorbents of 0.3 mm and 1.0 mm sizes of neem and kikar leaves carbon was prepared by standard sieve. Batch experiments done to see the fluoride removal properties from synthetic solution of 5 ppm to study the influence of pH, adsorbent dose and contact time on adsorption efficiency The optimum pH was found to be 6 for both adsorbents. The optimum dose was found to be 0.5g/100 ml forANC (activated neem leaves carbon) and 0.7g/100 ml forAKC (activated kikar leaves carbon). The optimum time was found to be one hour for both the adsorbent. It was also found that adsorbent size of 0.3 mm was more efficient than the 1.0 mm size. The adsorption process obeyed Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The straight line of log (qe-q) vs time at ambient temperature indicated the validity of langergren equation consequently first order nature of the process involved in the present study. Results indicate that besides intraparticle diffusion there maybe other processes controlling the rate which may be operating simultaneously. All optimized conditions were applied for removal of fluoride from four natural water samples.

Hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activity of ethanolic extract of Salvadora oleoides in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats.

OBJECTIVE: To find out the hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activity of an ethanolic extract of the aerial part of Salvadora oleoides Decne in euglycemic and alloxan-induced diabetic albino rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Diabetes was induced in albino rats by administration of alloxan monohydrate (120 mg/kg, i.p.). Normal as well as diabetic albino rats were divided into groups (n = 6) receiving different treatments: vehicle (control), ethanolic extract (1 g and 2 g/kg b.w), and standard antidiabetic drug tolbutamide (0.5 g/kg b.w.). Blood samples were collected by cardiac puncture and were analyzed for blood glucose and lipid profile on days 0, 7, 14, and 21. RESULTS: The ethanolic extract of S oleoides produced significant reduction (P < 0.001) in blood glucose and also had beneficial effects (P < 0.001) on the lipid profile in euglycemic as well as alloxan-induced diabetic rats at the end of the treatment period (21(st) day). However, the reduction in the blood glucose and improvement in lipid profile was less than that achieved with the standard drug tolbutamide. CONCLUSION: We concluded that an ethanolic extract of S oleoides is effective in controlling blood glucose levels and improves lipid profile in euglycemic as well as diabetic rats.

Urinary fluoride levels and prevalence of dental fluorosis in children of Jhajjar District, Haryana.

A study was conducted in the Jhajjar district of Haryana to assess the fluoride excretion in the population exposed to environmental fluoride and efforts were being made to correlate the results with dental fluorosis. The mean fluoride concentration in drinking water samples of Bahadurgarh, Beri, Jhajjar, Matanhail and Sahalawas blocks of Jhajjar district were 2.05 mg/L, 2.14 mg/L, 2.05 mg/L, 2.14 mg/L and 1.93 mg/L respectively. The mean urinary fluoride concentration was 1.58 mg/L in Bahadurgarh, 1.48 in Beri, 1.50 in Jhajjar, 1.51 in Matanhail and 1.56 in Sahalawas. The mean prevalence of fluorosis on the basis of stage of dental fluorosis was highest of yellowish brown type and on the basis of TSIF score, score 4 type fluorosis was highest in most of the blocks of Jhajjar district. The study revealed that more than 50% of the individuals were found to be affected with flurosis in this district.

Latitudinal allozymic variability in natural populations of Zaprionus indianus from India.

Twelve natural populations of Z. indianus from India, collected along lines of latitude, were analyzed electrophoretically and the geographical pattern of variation was compared at 15 allozyme loci. Except for Mdh-2, all the loci revealed extensive polymorphism. The allele frequency variation revealed a statistically significant correlation as well as regression coefficients with the latitude. The populations revealed extensive clinical variation at all the polymorphic loci, which depicted moderate to higher FST values. Thus, the observed genetic divergence in colonizing populations of Z. indianus shows the role of natural selection that varies spatially along the north-south axis of the Indian subcontinent.

Geographical clinal variation at seven esterase-coding loci in Indian populations of Zaprionus indianus.

Twelve Indian natural populations of Zaprionus indianus, collected along 22 degrees latitudinal range, were analysed electrophoretically for allozymic variation of esterase gene-enzyme system. Interestingly, all the seven Est loci were found to be highly polymorphic in all the populations of Z. indianus. The genetic structure of Z. indianus populations was characterized by extensive inter-populational genotypic as well as allelic frequency heterogeneity and higher genic differentiation at all the esterase-coding loci. All the polymorphic loci in geographical populations of Z. indianus revealed latitudinal clines, and changes in allelic frequencies were found to correlate with latitude. The occurrence of higher genetic variability in Z. indianus populations was in agreement with its habitat-generalist or broad niche-width characteristics, i.e., the species populations utilized diverse food resources and displayed adaptation to variable climatic conditions. Thus, the observed genic divergence patterns in colonizing populations of Z. indianus could be maintained by balancing natural selection varying spatially along the north-south axis of the Indian sub-continent.

Allocation of doctors to health centres in Haryana state of India--a case study.

Medical Administrators are usually confronted with the problem of determining the number of doctors to be posted at different health centres within their jurisdiction. In India the number of doctors allocated to a health centre is normally decided without any proper study of the health needs of the area served by the centre. In certain areas the number of doctors posted is considerably different from the requirement of the area. Also, in certain health centres situated in villages lacking in modern amenities, absenteeism among doctors poses a very serious problem in day to day running of the health centres. The problem of allocation is formulated and a heuristic method is suggested for determining the optimum number of doctors to be posted at each health centre in order to maximise the number of patients seen by the doctor per day. The heuristic method is applied to nine health centres of Haryana state of India in order to demonstrate the potential benefits.

Make Nirodh as important as food and water.

PIP: A month-long advertising display contest resulted in the distribution of 3.5 million Nirodh condoms to eligible couples in Delhi in the same period. This is equal to the distribution normally achieved in 1 year. Speaking at the prize distribution ceremony, J.P. Yadav, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, termed the Nirodh an alternative to sterilization and the IUD, methods that have been declining in acceptance. He noted that population control was essential to improving the quality of life in India. The contest was cosponsored by the Union Carbide India Ltd. and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.^ieng