Efficacy and toxicity studies of linkus and insty antipyretic polyherbal medicines

Linkus and insty are polyherbal medicines that are known to possess a variety of pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, expectorant, bronchodilator, antispasmodic, antipyretic, mucolytic, etc. In this study, preclinical efficacy and toxicity of linkus and insty antipyretic extracts have been determined on animal models with yeast induced pyrexia. It has been found that linkus and insty polyherbal products possess significant antipyretic activity and exhibited no toxicity. They were found to have antipyretic activity similar to paracetamol, which was used as a control in this study. This work has provided genuine in-house generated information reflecting efficacy and toxicity of linkus and insty antipyretics, which will facilitate the registration process of these agents

relation between the mesiodistal crown widths of the deciduous second molars and the permanent first molars

The objective was to determine the relation between mesiodistal dimension of primary second molars and permanent first molars in local population of Peshawar

One hundred children from age 4 to 11 years with healthy and fully erupted primary second molars and permanent first molars were included in the study. After taking impression in alginate and pouring in the dental stone, maximum mesiodistal width was measured with digital vernier caliper for primary second molars and first permanent molars. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Pearson co-efficient test was applied for relation between the mesio-distal crown widths of the deciduous second molars and the permanent first molars t-test was used to compared tooth sizes between males and females

One hundred cases; 50 males and 50 females were included in this study. The mean age was 8 +/- 1.2 years. Males had larger mesiodistal widths of than females [p<0.05]. A significant strong correlation existed between primary second molars and first permanent molars. The correlation was weaker in the females than males

A concordance was found between the sizes of the deciduous second molars with the size of the permanent first molars, this might be helpful in prediction for arch length discrepancy

Genotoxic evaluation of linkus polyherbal cough preparation in bone marrow of Wistar rats

A polyherbal Linkus cough syrup is popularly used against various respiratory ailments, however there is no information regarding its genotoxicity. Thus, Linkus extract [1 and 5 g/kg] was administered orally to Wistar rats [n=9-12] for 3, 7 and 14 consecutive days with 24h intervals. Negative and positive control animals received water or cyclophosphamide [20 mg/kg], respectively. At the end of experiment, rat femora were removed and marrow was collected in Hanks balanced salt solution, smeared onto glass slides and fixed in methanol [100%]. After drying, stained with Giemsa [5%] followed by the addition of DPX [A mixture of distyrene [a polystyrene], a plasticizer [tricresyl phosphate] and xylene] and observed under microscope at 100x magnification. In all the slides, normochromatic erythrocytes [PCE] with and without micronuclei were identified; their frequency was noted and photographed. In cyclophosphamide treated animals, number of both PCE and NCE with micronuclei increased significantly as compared to control indicating its genotoxic action. On the contrary, in the Linkus treated [1 and 5 g/kg] animals the frequency of micronuclei was similar to that of control group. Since, there was no difference in the duration of treatment with Linkus at 1 and 5 g/kg, the data was pooled. Additionally, mice [n=10/sex] treated orally with either 1 or 5 g/kg of Linkus showed neither behavioral changes nor mortality for a period of 1 week. It is concluded that Linkus [5 g/kg] in acute toxicity test is non-toxic and in rat bone marrow test it did not induce micronuclei formation and hence is non-genotoxic, thereby supporting its safe usage in humans

Patterns of minor salivary gland tumors in Khyber Pahktunkhwa

Present study was carried out to determine the pattern of minor salivary gland tumors, diagnosed at City Medical Laboratory, Peshawar [Pakistan]. The study was conducted at Sardar Begum Dental College using the Anatomical pathology records of City Medical Laboratory, Peshawar from January 2003 to December 2012 and were analyzed by Statistical Program for Social Sciences version 16. A total of 78 cases were diagnosed as minor salivary gland tumors. Out of these 47 were benign and 31 malignant. The male to female ratio for both benign and malignant tumors was 1:1.7. The mean age was 40.39 years. The most common benign tumor was Pleomorphic adenoma [89.3%] and malignant was Adenoid cystic carcinoma [87.09%]. The hard palate was the most common affected site [57.4% in benign and 32.2% in malignant tumors]. The present study showed a different pattern of occurrence of malignant minor salivary gland tumors among the population of Khyber Pahktunkhwa as compared with the European and American population