Efficacy Of Chundai Vatral Choornam A Siddha Poly Herbal Formulation In Treating Tension Type Of Headache (tth) -a Case Report

Siddha system is an ancient system of medicine which is popularly practised around south India particularly in Tamilnadu. Siddhars were considered as the pioneer of Siddha system, this system of medicine mainly encompasses for a healthy life for human beings. Among the broad spectrum of treatment aspects in Siddha system Siddhars classify the forms of internal medicines into 32 types which are all unique by its preparations. Choornam is one of the forms of internal medicine which can be used as single as well as poly herbal formulations. In this case report a poly-herbal formulation in Siddha system was used to treat tension type of headache (TTH). A 30 years old male patient visited out-patient department of Ayothidoss Pandither Hospital in National Institute of Siddha, Chennai. Patient reported with the complaints of episodic and chronic headache which is band like around the head, the intensity becomes mild to moderate, pain increased during working hours for past 2 years. Patient advised to follow the internal medicine Chundai vatral choornam it relives the TTH immediately when he got those symptoms.

Comparison of a conventional polymerase chain reaction with real-time polymerase chain reaction for the detection of neurotropic viruses in cerebrospinal fluid samples.

Purpose : To compare a conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR for the detection of neurotropic DNA viruses. Materials and Methods : A total of 147 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples was collected from patients attending a tertiary care hospital in South India for a period from 2005 to 2008. All these samples were tested using a conventional multiplex/uniplex PCR and a real-time multiplex/uniplex PCR. This technique was used to detect a large number of herpes viruses responsible for central nervous system infections, including HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, CMV and EBV and the polyoma virus JCV. Results : Overall, in the entire set of samples, the real-time PCR yielded 88 (59.9%) positives and conventional PCR had six (4.1%) positives. Conclusion : Our results suggest that the real-time PCR assay was more sensitive compared with the conventional PCR. The advantage of real-time PCR is that it can be performed much faster than conventional PCR. Real-time PCR is less time-consuming, less labour-intensive and also reduces the chance of contamination as there is no post-amplification procedure. In the entire study population, the major viruses detected using real-time PCR were EBV (34%), HSV-2 (10.8%) and VZV (6.8%).

Could the products of Indian medicinal plants be the next alternative for the treatment of infections.

Indian medicinal plants are now recognized to have great potential for preparing clinically useful drugs that could even be used by allopathic physicians. Traditionally, practitioners of Indian medicine have used plant products in powder, syrup or lotion forms, without identification, quantification and dose regulation, unlike their allopathic counterparts. The present review explores the immense potential of the demonstrated effect of Indian medicinal plants on microbes, viruses and parasites. In the present context, with the available talent in the country like pharmaceutical chemists, microbiologists, biotechnologists and interested allopathic physicians, significant national effort towards identification of an "active principle" of Indian medicinal plants to treat human and animal infections should be a priority.

Detection of opportunistic DNA viral infections by multiplex PCR among HIV infected individuals receiving care at a tertiary care hospital in South India.

Purpose: Opportunistic viral infections cause increased morbidity and mortality among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected individuals, especially those who are not on antiretroviral treatment. Early diagnosis of these opportunistic viruses will be able to reduce the risk of disease progression with appropriate intervention. Materials and Methods: Multiplex PCR was attempted to detect the opportunistic herpes viruses (HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, EBV, and CMV), adenovirus and polyoma viruses (JC and BK) in three cocktails of PCR reactions. Subsequently, all the viruses detected were quantitated by testing using monoplex real time PCR. Whole blood samples collected between 2006 and 2007 from 68 treatment naοve HIV-1 infected and 30 normal healthy individuals were tested for these eight viruses. Among the 68 HIV -1 infected individuals 35 had CD4+ T cell count less than or equal to 200 while the other 33 had greater than 200 CD4+ T cells. Results: Among the 68 HIV-1 infected individuals, 49 (72%) were positive for EBV, 5 (7%) samples were positive for CMV. All the five CMV positive individuals had CD4+ T cell count of less than or equal to 200 cells/µL. The mean EBV load among the individuals with a CD4+ T cells of less than or equal to 200 cells/µL was 3.88 log 10 while among those with greater than 200 CD4+ T cells it was 3.75 log 10 . The mean CMV load was 6.98 log 10. Three samples were positive for both CMV & EBV. None of the samples was positive for HSV-1, HSV-2, VZV, Adenovirus, JC and BK viruses. Conclusions: In our study, multiplex PCR based detection system was found useful in detecting opportunistic viruses in HIV infected individuals. Though EBV is the most prevalent opportunistic viral infection among HIV infected individuals, there was no significant association between EBV load, CD4+ T cell counts and HIV-1 virus load. CMV was seen in HIV infected individuals with low CD4+ T cell counts (less than 200 cells/μL).