Comparative study of the effect of ethanolic extract of Swietenia mahagoni seeds with rosiglitazone on experimentally induced diabetes mellitus in rats.

The study was performed to compare the blood glucose lowering effect of Swietenia mahagoni seeds with an oral antidiabetic drug, rosiglitazone in experimentally induced diabetic rats. Twentyfour healthy Long Evans Norwegian strain of rats were included in the study and divided into four groups (A, B, C and D) comprising 6 rats each. Group A (control group) received standard rat food for 14 days. Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal administration of alloxan 120 mg/kg body weight in Group B, C and D. Group B was given standard food for 10 days and considered as diabetic control. Group C and D were treated with ethanolic extract of Swietenia mahagoni seeds 1000 mg/kg and rosiglitazone 10 mg/kg orally respectively. Administration of ethanolic extract of Swietenia mahagoni seeds in group C and rosiglitazone in group D produced a significant reduction in blood glucose level as compared to diabetic control (group B). Histological examination of pancreas showed destruction of beta cells in Islets of pancreas in group B whereas retaining of islets and few degranulations of beta cells of pancreas found in group C and group D. The observations and results of the present study provide information that ethanolic extract of Swietenia mahagoni seeds has hypoglycaemic effect in experimentally induced diabetic rats which requires further investigation.

Evaluation of culture, histological examination, serology and the rapid urease test for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori in patients with dyspepsia in Bangladesh.

Helicobacter pylori, a gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium, has been established to have a causal association with chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, gastric adenocarcinoma, and low-grade lymphoma. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of culture, histological examination, the rapid urease test, and serology for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection. A total of 45 consecutive subjects with various upper gastrointestinal symptoms were included in this study. The rates of diagnosis of H. pylori infection were 51.1%, 55.6%, 82.2%, and 93.3%, by culture, rapid urease test (RUT), histological examination, and serology, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 95.5%, 82.6%, 84.0%, and 95.0%, respectively for RUT; 95.5%, 30.4%, 56.8%, and 87.5% for histological examination; 100%, 13.6%, 54.8% and 100% for serology.

Incidence of helminthic infections and comparative study of pyrantel pamoate with levamisole and mebendazole in hospital patients at Barisal, Bangladesh.

A study was carried out to find out the incidence of helminthic infections in hospitalized patients at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College, Barisal and to determine the comparative efficacy of pyrantel pamoate, levamisole, and mebendazole. It was observed that 76.2 per cent of total hospitalized patients were infected with intestinal helminths. Polyparasitism (52.6 per cent) was more frequent than single infection (21.8 per cent). Amongst these, 47.5 per cent was suffering from Asearis lumbricoides (AL), 42.5 per cent from Hookworm (H.W) and 65.8 per cent from trichuris trichura (TT). Out of 255 cases examined separately, 40 per cent was suffering from Enterobious vermicularis (EV) infection. The comparative study showed that mebendazole produced egg negative stool in 90.9 per cent of AL, 95.6 per cent of HW and 86.8 per cent of TT after eight days of treatment. On the other hand, pyrantel pamoate cured AL in 93.3 per cent, HW in 78.5 per cent and TT in 34.2 per cent eases. Levamisole cured 75 per cent AL, 4.1 per cent H.W. and 22.2 per cent TT within the same period.