Effect of calcium hypochlorite and chloramine on blood biochemistry and sodium pentobarbital induced sleeping time in mice

Disinfectants are chemical agents used to eradicate, deactivate or kill microorganisms. Chemical disinfectants especially chlorine compound are extensively used for water sanitization. Among these calcium hypochlorite and chloramines are commonly used now a day. Large number of chemical compounds, drugs and endogenous substances are metabolized by hepatic enzymes known as cytochrome P450 enzyme system. Many chemicals are capable of enzyme induction. Enzyme induction may change the metabolism of other drugs and endogenous substances which may alter the plasma concentration of these chemicals. To evaluate the enzyme inducing ability of calcium hypochlorite and chloramine, sleeping time induced by sodium pentobarbital was noted in mice. Normal saline was taken as negative control. Rifampicin, chloramphenicol and grapefruit juice were taken as positive control group. On completion of dosing after 4 weeks, alteration in sleep induction and recovery times was noted and compared. Histological evaluation of liver was observed. Asignificant decrease in sleeping time was observed in calcium hypochlorite and chloramine treated groups. Both calcium hypochlorite and chloramine caused a significant change in liver enzymes and in the values of complete blood count.In histological evaluation both caused fat deposition in the hepatocytes. It was concluded from the study that both calcium hypochlorite and chloramine were hepatic microsomal enzyme inducer

Evaluation of cytotoxicity and antiviral activity of ivermectin against newcastle disease virus

Cytotoxic and antiviral potential of ivermectin and ribavirin was evaluated. Cytotoxicity was checked on chick primary fibroblast cell line through MTT assay. Antiviral potential was determined against Newcastle disease virus on 9- day old chicken embryos. Six different concentrations [200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5 and 6.25[micro]g/mL] of both the drugs were evaluated. The 100[micro]g/mL concentration of ivermectin and higher were cytotoxic. The 25[micro]g/mL concentration of ribavirin and higher were cytotoxic. Comparison of ivermectin and ribavirin showed that ivermectin was safe at 50[micro]g/mL and lower concentrations. Ribavirin was protective for cell at 12.5[micro]g/mL and 6.25[micro]g/mL only. Comparison of antiviral activity indicated that ivermectin has strong antiviral potential at 100[micro]g/mL and higher but same concentrations were cytotoxic. Ribavirin showed strong antiviral potential at all concentrations

Antibiotic therapy in pyogenic meningitis in paediatric patients

To isolate and identify the causative pathogen, antibiotic sensitivity testing and success rate of empirical antibiotic therapy in pyogenic meningitis. Analytical study. The Children's Hospital and Institute of Child Health, Lahore, Pakistan, from March to July 2012. The study was performed on 72 culture positive meningitis cases in children less than 15 years of age. This therapy was evaluated by monitoring the patient's clinical picture for 14 - 21 days. The collected data was analyzed by Chi-square test. Seventeen different bacteria were isolated. The most commonly occurring bacteria were coagulase negative Staphylococci [25%], E.coli [12.5%], Klebsiella pneumoniae [8.3%], Streptococcus pneumoniae [8.3%] and Pseudomonas aeruginosa [8.3%]. All the bacteria were sensitive to vancomycin [96.7%], meropenem [76.7%], amikacin [75%], ciprofloxacin [65.3%], chloramphenicol [46.5%], ceftazidime [44.2%], cefepime [41.9%], co-amoxiclav [38.0%], oxacillin [34.8%], cefotaxime [21.4%], penicillin [20.7%], ceftriaxone [18.6%], cefuroxime [14%] and ampicillin [6.9%]. The combination of sulbactam and cefoperazone showed antimicrobial sensitivity of 81.4%. The success rate of empirical antibiotic therapy was 91.7%. It was found that Gram negative bacteria were the major cause of pyogenic meningitis. Mostly there were resistant strains against all commonly used antibiotics except vancomycin. All empirical antibiotic therapies were found to be most successful