Isolation and identification of cytotoxic compounds from a fruticose lichen Roccella montagnei, and it's in silico docking study against CDK-10

ABSTRACT Roccella montagnei Bél. belongs to lichen family Roccelleceae growing luxuriantly along the coastal regions of India. As Roccella has been shown to be bioactive, we prepared methanolic extract and assessed its anticancer potential. The methanolic extract showed significant in vitro cytotoxic activity against four human cancer cell lines such as colon (DLD-1, SW-620), breast (MCF-7), head and neck (FaDu). This prompted us to isolate bioactive compounds through column chromatography. Two compounds roccellic acid and everninic acid have been isolated, out of which everninic acid is reported for the first time. Both the compounds have been tested for in vitro cytotoxic activity in which roccellic acid showed strong anticancer activity as compared to the everninic acid. Cyclin Dependent Kinase (CDK-10) contributes to proliferation of cancer cells, and aberrant activity of these kinases has been reported in a wide variety of human cancers. These kinases therefore constitute biomarkers of proliferation and attractive pharmacological targets for development of anticancer therapeutics. Therefore both the isolated compounds were tested for in silico molecular docking study against Cyclin Dependent Kinase isomer enzyme to support the cytotoxic activity.

Study of Patient Satisfaction at a Super Specialty Tertiary Care Hospital.

Background: Hospitals have evolved from being an isolated sanatorium to a place with five star facilities. The patients and their relatives coming to the hospital not only expect world-class treatment, but also other facilities to make their stay comfortable in the hospital. This change in attitude and expectation has come due to tremendous growth of media and its exposure, as well as commercialization and improvement in the facilities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of patient/relatives’ satisfaction at tertiary care teaching hospital and feedback from them for improvement of the same. The study was conducted by distributing 100 structured questionnaires amongst patients and their relatives to find out the factors, which satisfy them in a tertiary care super specialty hospital. Methods: The study was conducted by: 1) Review of available national and international literature on the subject; carrying out a survey amongst 50 patients and their relatives at one of the surgical units by using structured questionnaire and by analyzing the data using appropriate statistical methods. Results: Eighty-two percent people were satisfied with the service at the admission counter while 81% were satisfied with room preparation at the time of admission. The nursing services satisfied 80% of people while 92% were satisfied with explanation about disease and treatment by doctor. The behavior of nurses, doctors and orderlies satisfied 92%, 92% and 83% of people, respectively. The cleanliness of toilets satisfied only 49%, while diet services satisfied 78% of people. Conclusion: The five major satisfiers were behavior of doctors, explanation about disease and treatment, courtesy of staff at admission counter, behavior and cooperation of nurses. The five major dissatisfiers were cleanliness of toilets, quality of food, explanation about rules and regulation, behavior of orderlies and sanitary attendant and room preparedness.