The effect of Laja in dyslipidemia: an interventional pre-post test

Background: Dyslipidemia is a lipoprotein metabolism disorder and a major risk factor for Cardio Vascular Diseases. The National Cholesterol Education Programme (NCEP) guidelines suggest dietary modifications, exercise and weight control as the main foundation of dyslipidemia treatment. Dyslipidemia can be considered as a kapha medoja vikara, managed with correction of agni and kaphamedahara drugs. L?ja (puffed rice) is an aharadravya ideal in this condition because it is having kaphamedahara property. Methods: This study was conducted at Govt. Ayurveda College, Tripunithura as an interventional pre-post study with control group to find out solution for normalizing lipid profile by changing diet without therapeutic medicine. 30 Participants were allotted in each groups by consecutive sampling and advised to follow diet restriction and exercise for both groups. In addition the study group consumed the L?ja peya two times daily before food. Study period was 90 days and assessment taken in 0th, 46th and 91st day. Results: The results showed significant effect on lipid profile in both groups. But in comparison to control group, the study group showed highly significant reduction in Total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL and Triglycerides and not in increasing HDL. Conclusions: L?ja which contains rice bran, low in fat and has Kashaya Madurarasa, lakhu alparooksha guna, agnideepana, kaphachidah and medahara property, that helps to digest the food properly and correct the metabolism. Thus laja peya has a beneficiary role in reducing Total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL and Triglycerides and there is no role in increasing HDL.

Ayurvedic management for hypertension with micro albuminuria: a case report

Hypertension is a non-communicable disease in which the pressure of blood pushing against the arterial walls becomes high. In chronic stage it leads to severe systemic diseases, which affects heart, kidney, lung etc. The main causative factors are unhealthy food and lifestyle, stress, smoking, Alcohol, obesity and hereditary. Microalbuminuria in Hypertension is an early sign of kidney damage and is considered as a predictor for the end stage of renal disease and cardiovascular disease. So, it is of great importance to manage microalbuminuria or high urine albumin creatinine ratio and progression of kidney disease in hypertensive patient. In Ayurveda references no proper description of hypertension is available. By viewing the pathogenesis and physiology, it is formed by the involvement of Tridoshas, Srotorodha, and Dhatudushti. The present case is a 60-year male patient was diagnosed uncontrolled hypertension with microalbuminuria, admitted for 1month, presented with complaints such as frothy urine, over tiredness, uncontrolled anger and increased blood pressure during evening time, not controlled by hypertensive modern medicines. His urine albumin-creatinine ratio was 106.98 mg/dl of creatinine, microalbumin in urine 138 mg/dl and uric acid was 11.5 mg/dl. He was advised the internal Ayurveda medicines, diet restriction and yogic breathing exercise. Within one month of treatment the urine albumin creatinine ratio and uric acid was reduced and became normal. His blood pressure also became controlled and recovered all symptoms. Ayurvedic treatment module appears to be safe and efficacious with early recovery and better outcomes in this case.

Clinical and angiographic profile of symptomatic patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and drug-eluting stent implantation

Background: There are limited number of studies in India which have looked at this clinical and angiographic characteristic of the disease. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the clinical and angiographic profile of symptomatic patients who underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation.Methods: This was an observational study conducted at a tertiary-care center in India between November 2014 and November 2015. A total of 106 consecutive patients who received either Cypher/Xience/BioMime stent presented with anginal symptoms were included in the study. Based on the type of stent received, patients were divided into two groups: (A) Limus group; (B) Paclitaxel group. Coronary angiogram was done in all the patients. Angioplasty data were collected from patient records. Angiographic profiles of the two groups were compared and analysed.Results: Among the 106 patients, 54 patients were included in the Limus group and 52 patients were included in the Taxus stent. De novo lesions were found to be significantly higher in the Limus group (40(74%), p = 0.06) whereas the in-stent restenosis was found to be significantly higher in the paclitaxel group (22(42.3%), p = 0.08). At follow-up, the incidence of death was 0% and no patients suffered by myocardial infarction. One (1.8%), two (3.8%) patients from the Limus and Paclitaxel groups had target vessel revascularization, respectively.Conclusions: Development of lesions in new areas rather than in-stent restenosis is the cause for angina in the majority of patients who underwent angioplasty presenting with anginal symptoms.

Angiographic determinants for side branch treatment in distal unprotected left main coronary artery bifurcation percutaneous coronary intervention with single stent crossover technique

 Background: The aim of this study was to analyze angiographic parameters such as bifurcation angle, diameter at the polygon of confluence (POC) and SYNTAX score in predicting the need for side branch treatment with single-stent crossover technique from distal unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) to the major side branch.Methods: This was a retrospective and observational study. A total of 83 patients with distal ULMCA lesions were enrolled. Patients who underwent provisional single-stent crossover technique were compared with patients that required side branch treatment though plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA) 5 (6.0%) or stenting 7 (8.4%). Angiographic parameters, bifurcation angle, diameter at the POC and the SYNTAX score were analyzed for their ability to predict the need for side branch treatment.Results: Mean age of patients was 58.2±5.3 years. Males constituted 61 (73.5%) patients. Post main branch stenting 5 (6.0%) and 7 (8.4%) patients required side branch treatment with POBA and stent implantation, respectively. Binary regression revealed bifurcation angle (Z: 1.15, OR: 0.99, 95% CI: 0.97-1.01, p=0.25), diameter at the POC (Z: 1.1, OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.32-2.13, p=0.272) and SYNTAX score (Z: 1.51, OR: 1.18, 95% CI: 0.95-1.45, p=0.132) did not correctly predict the requirement of side branch treatment.Conclusion: Left main coronary artery to main branch stenting can be performed safely with single-stent crossover technique, irrespective of presence of side branch disease across a wide range of bifurcation angles, diameters at the POC and SYNTAX scores.

Antioxidant and Radical Scavenging Properties of β-Carotene on Cisplatin Induced Cardiotoxicity.

Objective: To investigate the protective role of β-Carotene against cisplatin induced cardiotoxicity in male albino rats. Methods: Various biochemical parameters such as Creatine kinase-MB, Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Triglycerides (TG) and Total cholesterol (TC) are being assessed. Also the levels of the in vivo antioxidants such as Reduced glutathione (GSH), Catalase (CAT), and Malondialdehyde (MDA) in the post mitochondrial supernatant of heart were measured. In addition, the histopathological studies were performed to study the protective activity of β-carotene. Results: Cisplatin administration has shown the elevated levels of the cardiac markers and diminished the endogenous antioxidant levels when compared with the normal rats. β-carotene treatment showed the inhibitory effect on the free radicals showing decreased levels of the cardiac markers like CK-MB, LDH, AST, ALT and ALP. The β-carotene treated rats showed significant (p<0.001) decrease in lipid peroxidation in both prophylactic and curative groups when compared to the cisplatin group. Also showed a significant (p<0.05, p<0.001) increase in the levels of GSH in prophylactic and curative group respectively when compared with the cisplatin group. Both prophylactic and curative groups have shown a significant (p<0.001) increase in the levels of CAT. Further, the histopathological studies confirm the protective effect of β-carotene. Conclusion: These findings justify the biological and traditional uses of β-carotene as confirmed by its promising radical scavenging activity against cisplatin induced cardiotoxicity.

Assessment of ground water quality in Mukkam, Chepalakancheru and Dallipeta: Coastal Villages of Vizianagaram District of Andhra Pradesh.

The present work was under taken to analyze the various water quality parameters, viz. pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids, total alkalinity, total hardness, chloride, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium and to assess the water quality in bore well and well water samples of three coastal villages Mukkam, Chepalakancheru and Dallipeta of Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. From each of the village, different sampling stations were identified and by composite sampling methods water samples were collected and analyzed for the various parameters. The results were compared with the values stipulated by World Health Organization (WHO), and ARE: 10500 for drinking water quality. In the present investigation the authors found that the overall quality of the three villages is poor and not recommended as potable.

Detection and spectrophotometric determination of tinidazole.

A direct spectrophotometric method was developed by the authors for the quantitative determination of tinidazole in a pure form and also in other pharmaceutical formulations. The method was based on the diazotization reaction between nitro group of the drug sample, sulphanilamide and NEDA. In the present method, the reddish-purple colour dye formed, exhibited a maximum absorbance at 540nm. Beer’s law was found to be obeyed in the range of 100-600μgmL-1for tinidazole with detection limits of 0.04μgmL-1. The present method was found to be precise, accurate for the qualitative and quantitative determinations.

Biosorption of copper from aqueous solution by chaetomorpha antennina algae biomass

The adsorption study on removal of copper metal from aqueous solution using untreated marine green algae namely Chaetomorpha Antennina sp. was carried out under various experimental conditions. The effects of contact time, pH of the solution, average biosorbent particle size, biosorbent dosage and initial concentration of metal ion have been investigated by following the batch adsorption technique. 30 minutes of biosorption time was found to be sufficient to reach equilibrium rate of sorption for copper ion. The rate of copper removal was directly correlated to biomass amount and contact time. Biosorption of metal ion was pH dependent and the results indicated the optimum pH for the removal of copper as 6.0. The highest biosorption capacity was found to be 25.78 mg of metal ion per gram of biosorbent at initial concentration of 20 mg/L copper ion and increased for higher initial concentrations. The biosorption capacity increased with increase in the amount of biosorbent used for removal. Adsorption data was modled with Freundlich, Langmuir, Redlich- Peterson and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption isotherms. Isotherm studies showed that the data best fitted with the Langmuir isotherm model. The kinetic data corresponded well with the pseudo-first order equation, suggesting that the biosorption process is presumably chemisorption

Treatment of metallic effluents using coconut shell coke.

The effect of various parameters on the removal of metal ions (Zinc and Cadmium) by adsorption using coconut shell coke is investigated. The time of contact, initial metal ion concentration, adsorbent dosage, volume of the adsorbate solution, size of the adsorbent particle and the effect of the presence of another metal at various concentrations are the parameters studied. The adsorption isotherms so obtained in this study followed the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms showing a marginal average deviation.

Computer modelling studies on the modes of binding of some of the α- glycosidically linked disaccharides to concanavalin A.

The possible modes of binding of kojibiose, nigerose, maltose and ManPα(1 →2)Man to concanavalin A have been investigated using computer modelling studies. While α12 linked disaccharides bind to concanavalin A in two modes, i.e. by placing the reducing as well as non-reducing sugar units in the sugar binding site, nigerose or maltose can bind only in one mode, i.e. by placing the non-reducing sugar unit in the binding site. Though, both the sugar residues in α 12 linked disaccharides can reach the binding site, the preference is high for the non-reducing unit. When the non-reducing residue, in any of these disaccharides, enters the binding site, the allowed orientations and the possible hydrogen bonds with the protein seem to be independent of the glycosidic linkage. However, the number of hydrogen bonds the outward sugar residue forms with the protein are dependent on the type of linkage. Atleast one of the hydroxyl groups adjacent to the glycosidic linkage on the outward sugar residue is involved in the formation of a hydrogen bond with the protein suggesting the presence of an extended binding site. The orientation of the reducing sugar residue in the extended binding site is dependent on the linkage. Its orientation in nigerose is flipped when compared to that found in kojibiose or maltose leading to different non-covalent interactions with the protein which affect their binding affinities.

Studies on the conformations of sialyloligosaccharides and implications on the binding specificity of neuraminidases.

Theoretical investigations, using semi-empirical potential functions have been carried out to predict the favoured conformations of the terminal dissaccharide fragments of various sialyloligosaccharides. The proposed conformational similarity for these fragments has been correlated to the binding specificity of neuraminidases. These calculations predict that bacterial neuraminidases have a binding site which can accommodate only two sugar residues and virus neuraminidases have a binding site which can accommodate more than two sugar residues.

Theoretical studies on β-lactam antibiotics VI*: Conformational analysis and structure-activity relationships of penicillin sulfoxides and cephalosporins.

Conformational energy calculations were carried out on penicillin α- and β- sulfoxides and Δ2- and Δ3- cephalosporins, in order to identify the structural features governing their biological activity. Results on penicillin β-sulfoxide indicated that in its favoured conformation, the orientation of the aminoacyl group was different from the one required for biological activity. Penicillin α sulfoxide, like penicillin sulfide, favoured two conformations of nearly equal energies, but separated by a much higher energy barrier. The reduced activity of the sulfoxides despite the nonplanarity of their lactam peptide indicated that the orientations of the aminoacyl and carboxyl groups might also govern biological activity. Δ3- cephalosporins favoured two conformations of nearly equal energies, whereas Δ2- cephalosporins favoured only one conformation. The lactam peptide was moderately nonplanär in the former, but nearly planar in the latter. The differences in the.preferred orientations of the carboxyl group between penicillins and cephalosporins were correlated with the resistance of cephalosporins to penicillinases.

Theoretical studies on β-lactam antibiotics VI*: Conformational analysis and structure-activity relationships of penicillin sulfoxides and cephalosporins.

Conformational energy calculations were carried out on penicillin α- and β- sulfoxides and Δ2- and Δ3- cephalosporins, in order to identify the structural features governing their biological activity. Results on penicillin β-sulfoxide indicated that in its favoured conformation, the orientation of the aminoacyl group was different from the one required for biological activity. Penicillin α sulfoxide, like penicillin sulfide, favoured two conformations of nearly equal energies, but separated by a much higher energy barrier. The reduced activity of the sulfoxides despite the nonplanarity of their lactam peptide indicated that the orientations of the aminoacyl and carboxyl groups might also govern biological activity. Δ3- cephalosporins favoured two conformations of nearly equal energies, whereas Δ2- cephalosporins favoured only one conformation. The lactam peptide was moderately nonplanär in the former, but nearly planar in the latter. The differences in the.preferred orientations of the carboxyl group between penicillins and cephalosporins were correlated with the resistance of cephalosporins to penicillinases.