ABSTRACT
Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are the most widely prescribed class of gastrointestinal drugs as they have minimal side effects and few significant drug interactions, and are generally considered safe for long-term treatment. The proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole, esomeprazole, pantoprazole, lansoprazole and rabeprazole have quite similar efficacy and potency. Current study was carried out at Jessore district in Bangladesh to investigate the current status of most commonly prescribed PPIs in terms of their generation, gender variation, age categorization and their preferred route of administration as well. However, esomeprazole was used by top most 70% patients, followed by 20%, 6%, 3% and 1% for omeprazole, pantoprazole, rabeprazole and dexlansoprazole respectively. 75% prescriptions were prescribed for oral route of administration. 55% male and 35% of 35-50 years aged patients are suffering from peptic ulcer diseases and uses PPIs for healing process. During proton pump inhibitor therapy, it was observed to have nausea of 30% and vomiting for 28% patients as a major side effect. This study reveals that the new generation PPIs becomes more popular for the treatment of gastric disorders among people of Jessore city, Bangladesh.
ABSTRACT
Handwritten prescription errors are worldwide common problem. We investigated the types and extent of prescription errors in three cities of Bangladesh. Total 900 outpatient prescriptions were surveyed following the guidelines of WHO and BNF. Prescription errors in superscription, inscription and subscription were analyzed by Microsoft Excel 2010. About 73% patients visited MBBS and 8% BDS doctors. The male outpatients (55%) were slightly higher than female (45%). Commonly found errors of prescription were in superscription part, i.e. gender (64.33%), age (17.67%) and name (5%) of the patients. In inscription part, most common error was the direction for drug use (42%) followed by the dosage regimens (28%), doses (26%), and dosage forms (12.67%) of the drug. In subscription part, illegible handwriting was most common (46%) followed by the prescribers sign (10.67%) and date (4%). In a single prescription, averagely 3 and maximally 8 drugs were found to be prescribed. Most frequently prescribed drugs were antibiotics (18.25%) followed by antacids (17.45%) and NSAIDs (13.60%). Errors in handwritten prescriptions are the primary causes of treatment failure in Bangladesh. More professional care by the prescribers’ and the inclusion of pharmacists in hospital can only reduce the errors and assure safer health.
ABSTRACT
In this study we investigated the antimicrobial and anticancer activities of ethyl acetate extract of co-culture of Streptomyces sp. ANAM-5 and AIAH-10 isolated from soil of mangrove forest Sundarbans, Bangladesh. The antimicrobial activity of ethyl acetate extract was determined using broth-dilution method against Candida albicans, Saccharromyces cerevaceae and Aspergillus niger whereas anticancer activity was evaluated against Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) cells in Swiss albino mice with the dose of 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg body weight (i.p). The Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) of ethyl acetate extract was found 32μg/ml against Candida albicans while 64 μg/ml against Saccharromyces cerevaceae and Aspergillus niger. The antineoplastic activity of the crude extract was increased in dose dependent manner with a significant value (p<0.01). Bacterial crude extract enhanced the mean survival time (MST) of tumor bearing mice at 71.79% and maximum cell growth inhibition was found 75.75 % with dose of 100 mg/kg body weight (i.p.). Our study revealed that ethyl acetate extract of co-culture of Streptomyces sp. ANAM-5 and AIAH-10 is an excellent source of antimicrobial and anticancer compounds which may become helpful to treat infections and cancer.