ABSTRACT
Background: Osteoporosis is a chronic disease leading to weakened and porous bones which increases the risk of fractures. It is a treatable condition using drugs like bisphosphonates. There is wide variation in the cost among various brands of bisphosphonates in the Indian market, so the objective of the study was to analyse cost of different brands of bisphosphonates.Methods: Cost of both oral and injectable bisphosphonates in the same strength and dosage forms was obtained from CIMS India (January-April 2019). For oral form of the drug, price was calculated per 10 tablets, for injectable form the price per ampoule or vial was calculated and cost ratio, percentage of cost variation was calculated.Results: 15 different formulations of bisphosphonates were analyzed and it was found that cost ratio is found to be highest with 60 mg of pamidronate injection and lowest with 10 mg alendronate tablet, also pamidronate 60 mg injection has highest percentage of cost variation (9632%) and lowest cost variation is seen with 10 mg alendronate (35%). Cost ratio of 11 formulations was found to be very high which was >2 while percentage of cost variation of 11 formulations was found to be more 100.Conclusions: This study concludes that there is wide variation in cost of various brands of bisphosphonates in India. The huge price variation creates unnecessary burden leading on the patients resulting in noncompliance which increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. Therefore, there is an urgent need to regulate the cost of various formulations of bisphosphonates which will reduce the financial burden on the patients.
ABSTRACT
Background: Skeletal muscle relaxants are the drugs which reduce unwanted spasm without interfering with consciousness and voluntary movements. The centrally acting muscle relaxants like Diazepam, is known to be GABA mimetics and other antiepileptics like Gabapentin and Pregabalin also act through the release of GABA. This study is done to investigate skeletal muscle relaxant property of these drugs in comparison to Diazepam.Methods: T Models used in the experiment are Grip Strength Test, Rota Rod Method, Beam Walk Test, Photoactometer Test. Animals were divided into 6 groups of 6 rats each: Group 1: Control group treated with normal saline (0.1 ml/10gm), Group 2: Standard-15mg/kg of Diazepam, Group 3:T1-60 mg/kg of Gabapentin, Group 4:T2-10 mg/kg of Pregabalin, Group 5:T3-60 mg/kg of Gabapentin+Diazepam, Group 6:T4- 10 mg/kg of Pregabalin+Diazepam. Mean and standard deviation was calculated for each group. One way ANOVA was used for multiple group comparisons followed by post hoc Tukey’s test for statistical significance between the groups.Results: Treatment with the above test drugs produced significant muscle relaxation and caused decreased fall off, sliding time, increase climbing time and decreased locomotor activity in all models indicating motor incoordination. The results obtained from both standard and test groups showed a highly significant difference in muscle relaxation when compared with the control group.Conclusions: The test drugs showed skeletal muscle relaxant property in rats comparable to Diazepam. In view of these results, it can open a new avenue for these drugs to be used as skeletal muscle relaxants after conducting clinical trials.
ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetes mellitus refers to a group of common metabolic disorders that share the phenotype of hyperglycemia resulting from defects of reduced insulin secretion, decreased glucose utilization and increase in glucose production. It is estimated that there are currently 285 million people worldwide and this number is set to increase to 438 million by the year 2030. India has the highest number of patients with known diabetes worldwide, with a prevalence of 11.6%. The aim of the study was to evaluate the anti diabetic activity of ethanolic extract of leaves of plant Ocimum sanctum in alloxan induced diabetes in rats. Methods: The study was conducted on 4 groups of 6 rats each to evaluate the hypoglycaemic effect of ethanolic extract of Ocimum sanctum. Glibenclamide was used as a standard drug and the results were compared in reference to it. Tween 80 was given for both normal and diabetic control groups. The fasting blood sugar levels were recorded on 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th days by glucometer. Results: The results indicate that the test compound ethanolic extract of Ocimum sanctum has significant and sustained oral hypoglycaemic activity, comparable with the hypoglycaemic effect of glibenclamide, a sulfonylurea. Conclusion: The hypoglycaemic potential of the test compound is found to be comparable with that of the standard drug glibenclamide.
ABSTRACT
The formation of diverse cell types from an invariant set of genes is governed by biochemical and molecular processes that regulate gene activity. A complete understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of gene expression is the major function of genomics. Computational genomics is a rapidly emerging area for deciphering the regulation of metazoan genes as well as interpreting the results of high-throughput screening. The integration of computer science with biology has expedited molecular modelling and processing of large-scale data inputs such as microarrays, analysis of genomes, transcriptomes and proteomes. Many bioinformaticians have developed various algorithms for predicting transcriptional regulatory mechanisms from the sequence, gene expression and interaction data. This review contains compiled information of various computational methods adopted to dissect gene expression pathways.