Primary ileal volvulus: a rare cause of small intestinal obstruction

A 50-year-old lady presented to us in the emergency department with history of acute abdominal pain and vomiting since the past 24 hours. Abdominal examination showed tenderness and guarding in the hypogastrium, lumbar and right iliac fossa region. Initial diagnosis of ruptured appendicitis was considered but exploratory laparotomy gave us an intra-operative surprise. Small bowel volvulus is extremely rare in clinical practice and their symptoms are usually nonspecific. The diagnosis is typically confirmed at surgery most of the time just like in this case. No etiology of this volvulus was found in this patient. Ileal volvulus carries a significant risk of mortality. Awareness of this condition among surgeons will help to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with this unusual form of intestinal obstruction.

In silico–based combinatorial pharmacophore modelling and docking studies of GSK-3β and GK inhibitors of Hippophae.

Type 2 diabetes is an inevitably progressive disease, with irreversible β cell failure. Glycogen synthase kinase and Glukokinase, two important enzymes with diverse biological actions in carbohydrate metabolism, are promising targets for developing novel antidiabetic drugs. A combinatorial structure-based molecular docking and pharmacophore modelling study was performed with the compounds of Hippophae salicifolia and H. rhamnoides as inhibitors. Docking with Discovery Studio 3.5 revealed that two compounds from H. salicifolia, viz Lutein D and an analogue of Zeaxanthin, and two compounds from H. rhamnoides, viz Isorhamnetin-3-rhamnoside and Isorhamnetin-7-glucoside, bind significantly to the GSK-3 β receptor and play a role in its inhibition; whereas in the case of Glucokinase, only one compound from both the plants, i.e. vitamin C, had good binding characteristics capable of activation. The results help to understand the type of interactions that occur between the ligands and the receptors. Toxicity predictions revealed that none of the compounds had hepatotoxic effects and had good absorption as well as solubility characteristics. The compounds did not possess plasma protein-binding, crossing blood–brain barrier ability. Further, in vivo and in vitro studies need to be performed to prove that these compounds can be used effectively as antidiabetic drugs.