Use of Herbal Drugs in Local Health Traditions in Purnagiri Hills, District Champavat, Uttarakhand

The state Uttarakhand is rich with floral and faunal diversity including plants used by local inhabitance to cure health problems. Himalayan region always has been the treasure of herbs from ancient time. Himalayan herbs are highest in quality and potency. There are numbers of side effect are noted using allopathic medicines which leads towards reuse of medicinal plants available locally. Keeping this in view an attempt has been made to enumerate the common medicinal plants used in traditional therapeutic system of Uttarakhand, India. Results reveal that 29 plant species are used for primary healthcare. Purnagiri hills located in Champavat district of Uttarakhand is reservoir for a large number of medicinal herbs during the field survey large number of medicinal plants like Adina cordifolia (Roxb.) Hook. (Rubiaceae), Asparagus adscendence Roxb. (Liliaceae), Artemesia nilgirica (Clarke) Pamp. (Asteraceae), Berberis aristata DC. (Berberiridaceae), Colebrookea oppositefolia Sm. (Lamiaceae), Elephantopus scaber L (Asreraceae), Pinus longifolia Roxb. (Pinaceae), Tamarix gallica L. (Tamaraceae), Urtica dioica L. (Urtecaceae) and many more with their use in local health traditions by local habitants were recorded. One of the serious challenges to biodiversity and ecological functioning is climate change. Climate change and global warming are well known issue that has had an impact on the biodiversity. Second thing over exploitation of Himalayan forest leads these valuable herbs in endangered category. Some of the plants recorded are critically endangered and rare. We have to pay attention towards the conservation, cultivation of these herbs.

Poor School Performance And Auditory Evoked Potential- A Review

Poor school performance, defined as a lower than expected academic achievement for a given age, cognitive abilities, and schooling, is complex and multifactorial. Poor school performance can result in child with low self–esteem and can cause significant stress to the parents. It is essential that cause for the poor school performance to be identified and appropriate strategy or treatment plan to be started early so that child can perform with full potential. Disorders of the auditory system affect academic performance are well known. Unlike speech and other behavioral auditory processing tests, auditory evoked potential (AEP) can be recorded regardless of a child’s developmental age or language, motivation or attention level. AEP can provide numerical data that can demonstrate central auditory nervous system maturation and, therefore can function as a biomarker of poor academic performance. Present study focuses on the researches that are done on the auditory evoked potential in poor school performance till recently

Entomological surveillance for rodent and their ectoparasites with special reference to potential of Scrub Typhus at Kolkata Port Trust [KPT], Kolkata [India]

Rodents are well established at port areas and their ectoparasite can be vectors of many diseases. Ships at seaport play an important role in spreading disease by transporting infected vectors. Plague, murine typhus, salmonellosis, trichinosis, leptospirosis and rat bite fever are known to be spread by rats. In view of the seriousness of the problem present study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of rodent - ectoparasite association at Kolkata Port Trust, Kolkata [India]. A total of 442 rodent traps were laid and 17 rodents including two species of rodents Bandicota indica and Rattus rattus were collected with 3.8 trap positivity rate. Infestation rate of ectoprasites was 76.5%. Mites with 86.6% were the predominant ectoparisite retrieved from rodents followed by fleas and lice. The rodent ectoparasite index was 13.6 per rat. A total 78 vector larval trombiculide mite chigger [Leptotrombidium deliense] and 123 mesostigmatid mites [Laelaps sp.] were collected. Chigger infestation rate was found to be 11.1 per rat. Passenger terminal was the only site where no mite could be retrieved. A total 26 fleas were retrieved giving an overall flea index as 1.53. The flea species collected from rodents were Xenopsylla cheopis and Ctenocephalides felis. Serological examination of rodent serum was found non- reactive for Orentia [Scrub typhus] and plague antibodies. Bacteriological investigation of organs impression smear and tissue of rodents showed no plague bacilli activity and isolation of Yersinia pestis. Result of the study suggests routine surveillance for rodent and their arthropods ectoparasite to apply appropriate control methods for controlling transmission and spreading of rodent borne diseases

An HIV1/2 point of care test on sputum for screening TB/HIV co-infection in Central India - Will it work?

OBJECTIVE@#To determine whether the OraQuick® HIV-1/2 Assay (OraSure Technologies, Inc., Bethlehem, PA, USA) in sputum is a valid tool for HIV surveillance among TB patients.@*METHODS@#A cross sectional study was carried out on sputa of patients diagnosed with tuberculosis. Sputa were tested for antibodies to HIV using OraQuick® HIV-1/2 Assay (OraSure Technologies, Inc., Bethlehem, PA, USA). The results were compared with results of serum ELISA.@*RESULTS@#Compared to serum ELISA, the OraQuick® HIV-1/2 Assay in sputum specimens reported 90% sensitivity (9/10) and 100% specificity (307/307), with a positive predictive value of 100% (95%CI: 66.37%-100.00%) and a negative predictive value of 99.68% (95%CI: 98.20%-99.99%).@*CONCLUSIONS@#This testing method may provide a useful strategy for conducting HIV surveillance in possible co-infected TB patients at peripheral centres. Since there is no investment on infrastructure, it may be possible for paramedical health professionals to carry out the test, particularly in areas with low HIV endemicity.

Multiple insecticide resistance/susceptibility status of Culex quinquefasciatus, principal vector of bancroftian filariasis from filaria endemic areas of northern India

OBJECTIVE@#To understand the insecticide resistance status of Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae) (Cx. Quinquefasciatus) to deltamethrin, cyfluthrin, permethrin, lambdacyhalothrin, DDT and malathion in filarial endemic areas of Uttar Pradesh, India.@*METHODS@#Insecticide susceptibility assays were performed on wild-caught adult female Cx. quinquefasciatus mosquitoes to deltamethrin (0.05%), cyfluthrin (0.15%), permethrin (0.75%), lambdacyhalothrin (0.05%), malathion (5.0%) and DDT (4.0%), the discriminating doses recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).@*RESULTS@#The data showed that Cx. quinquefasciatus is highly resistant to DDT and malathion; the mortality was 28.33% and 27.5%, respectively and incipient resistance to synthetic pyrethroids (deltamethrin, cyfluthrin, permethrin, and lambdacyhalothrin), where mortality ranged from 95.83% in permethrin to 98.33% in cyfluthrin and lambdacyhalothrin. Knockdown times (KDT(50)) in response to synthetic pyrethroids varied significantly between different insecticides (P<0.01) from 31.480 min for permethrin to 21.650 for cyfluthrin.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The results presents here provide the status report of the insecticide resistance/susceptibility of Cx. quinquefasciatus in major filaria endemic areas of northern India.

Sensory, cognitive and motor assessment of children with poor academic performance: An auditory evoked potential study.

The present study aims to evaluate the auditory sensory process in the brainstem, thalamocortical and cortical areas by using auditory evoked potentials [auditory brainstem response (ABR), mid latency response (MLR) and slow vertex response (SVR)], cognitive functions by P300 and motor response by reaction time in children with poor academic performance. Thirty children between 6–12 years of age were selected as subjects on the basis of poor academic school records. While thirty children with good academic performance served as controls. The recordings were done using a computerized evoked potential recorder by 10–20 electrode placement system. There was no difference in the anthropometric parameters and IQ of the two groups. There was a significant increase in latency of waves II, III, IV and V, and Inter-peak latency I-V of ABR in poor performer females. All the component waves of MLR and SVR showed increased latency in the subjects but could not reach the level of significance. There was a significant increase in latencies of P300 at Cz and Pz electrode positions with no change in amplitude in poor performer females. The reaction time was also increased in the poor performer females as compared to the controls. The latencies of all the waves of ABR, P300 and reaction time are also increased in male poor performers as compared to male controls but could not reach the level of significance. The conduction of impulses is slower in pontine and midbrain auditory pathway along with inefficient cortical processing of task relevant stimuli and motor response in female children having poor academic performance.

Drug utilization study in dermatology in a tertiary hospital in Delhi.

The present study was undertaken to describe patterns of dermatological drug utilization in a tertiary hospital in Delhi by measuring WHO delineated drug use indicators. Six hundred and six prescriptions of dermatology out-patients were analyzed and the data collected were used to evaluate the following drug use indicators: average number of drug per prescription, average consultation time, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name, percentage of encounters with an antibiotic prescribed, percentage of encounters with an injection prescribed and percentage of drug prescribed from the essential drugs list or formulary. The average number of drugs per prescription +/- SD was found to be 2.6 +/- 1.2, average consultation time +/- SD was 4.4 +/- 2.6 minutes, percentage of drug prescribed by generic name was 6.98, percentage of encounters with an antibiotic and injection prescribed were 46.86 and 6.76 respectively and 23% of the total drugs prescribed were from Delhi State Essential Drugs Formulary.