ABSTRACT
Purpose: To study the trends in collection, storage and utilization of donor corneas in eye banks in India. Methods: The data was collected from 12 eye banks in India that collected more than 1000 corneas per year. The retrospective analysis of the parameters like characteristics of the donor and the host, storage media used, number of eyes collected, number of eyes utilized, causes of non-utilization of the tissue and the procedures performed was done. Results: A total of 20,564 eyes were collected by the 12 eye banks during the year 2013–2014. Voluntary eye donation (VED), and hospital cornea retrieval program (HCRP) contributed to 59.6% and 40.4% of tissue procurement respectively. Whole globe enucleation (52.3%) was more commonly performed as compared to in-situ excision of the donor corneas. The most commonly used storage media at all eye banks was McCarey-Kaufman (MK) media (83.3%). The utilization rate of the donor eyes was 50.5%. The most frequent indication for corneal transplantation was infection (active infection - 33.13%, healed infection - 10.78%) followed by Pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (PBK) (13.57%). Full thickness keratoplasty (optical penetrating keratoplasty - 47.23%, therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty - 31.74%) was performed most often followed by endothelial keratoplasty (12.41%) in the developing country. Conclusion: VED still contributes to majority of the donor tissue retrieval in India. The majority of the eye banks still utilize whole globe enucleation technique and store tissues in MK media. Trends from previous years showed a change towards HCRP, in-situ excision technique and preservation in the long-term storage media.
ABSTRACT
Background: Global burden of disease statistics indicate that 4 of 10 most important causes of disease worldwide are psychiatric in origin. Anxiety affects 1/8th of total population of the world and is a very important area of research interest in psychopharmacology. Medicinal plants and plant products are the oldest tried health-care products. Their importance is growing not only in developing countries but in many developed countries. Curcuma amada Roxb. (CA) commonly known as Mango Ginger is a rhizomatous aromatic herb which is used in this country for culinary purposes and also to treat various diseases. The rhizomes of Curcuma amada was screened for anxiolytic activity and locomotor behavior in Wistar albino rats.Methods: Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups as control (Distilled water with 0.1% CMC), standard (Diazepam - 1mg/kg) and test - Ethanolic Extract of Curcuma amada Rhizome (EECAR-250 mg/kg). They were administered drugs orally for a period of 10 days, and screened for anxiolytic activity using Light dark arena model and Actophotometer for assessing the locomotor behavior on the 10th day. The number of crossings and time spent in light arena for anxiolytic activity, and the number of movements in Actophotometer was noted. Data was analyzed by one way ANOVA followed by Tukey Kramer multiple comparison test using GraphPad InStat software.Results: Curcuma amada (250mg/kg) showed increased time spent in light arena and decreased locomotor behavior which was statistically significant.Conclusions: Curcuma amada possesses significant anxiolytic with CNS depressant activity.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To assess the changing trends in the antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas spp . isolated from bacterial keratitis over a nine year period with special emphasis on fluoroquinolone susceptibilities. METHODS: All corneal scraping cultures positive for Pseudomonas spp. (n=585) isolated from patients with bacterial keratitis at the Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai from 1995-2003 were evaluated. Cultures were performed in liquid and solid media and susceptibility testing was done against amikacin, gentamicin, tobramycin, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. RESULTS: The susceptibility of Pseudomonas spp. was over 90% from 1995-1998 to ciprofloxacin which decreased to 83% from 1999-2003. The total number of isolates resistant to ciprofloxacin was 51 (9.4%). No statistically significant increase in the number of isolates resistant to ciprofloxacin was noted. Ofloxacin showed 54% susceptibility from 1995-1998 but increased to 64% from 1999-2003. Analysis of in vitro activity of amikacin reveals that there was 43% sensitivity from 1995-1998 but later it increased to 76% from 1999-2003. In case of gentamicin, the sensitivity decreased marginally from 80% to 70% through the years. Tobramycin showed 45% sensitivity from 1995-1998 but increased to 75% from 1999-2003. CONCLUSIONS: The fluoroquinolones remain a good choice in the treatment of ocular infections, with high susceptibility of Pseudomonas spp. Among the aminoglycosides, gentamicin was found to be highly effective against Pseudomonas corneal ulcers when compared to amikacin and tobramycin. The results show a need for continuous monitoring of bacterial resistance trends.