Recent trends and advances in polyindole-based nanocomposites as potential antimicrobial agents: a mini review.

Infections caused by multi-drug resistant microbes are a big challenge to the medical field and it necessitates the need for new biomedical agents that can act as potential candidates against these pathogens. Several polyindole based nanocomposites were found to exhibit the ability to release reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hence they show excellent antimicrobial properties. The features of polyindole can be fine-tuned to make them potential alternatives to antibiotics and antifungal medicines.

Roflumilast: A potential drug for the treatment of cognitive impairment?

Phosphodiesterase-4 regulates the intracellular level of cAMP. Roflumilast, a selective PDE-4 inhibitor was the first agent in this class to have reached the market for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease worldwide. Numerous preclinical evidences indicate the role of PDE-4 inhibitors in reversal of ageing-related alterations induced in animal models by various pharmacological agents, overexpression of mutant forms of human amyloid precursor proteins and in aging, as well.

Solid-state to solution helicity inversion of pseudotetrahedral chiral copper(ii) complexes with 2,4-dihalo-salicylaldiminate ligands.

The enantiopure Schiff bases (R or S)-N-1-(phenyl)ethyl-2,4-X1,X2-salicylaldimine (X1, X2 = Cl, Br, I) coordinate to copper(ii) and provide pseudotetrahedral bis[(S or R)-N-1-(phenyl)ethyl-(2,4-X1,X2-salicylaldiminato-κ2N,O)]-Δ/Λ-Cu(ii) (Λ/Δ-Cu-R or Δ/Λ-Cu-S). An induced Λ and Δ-chirality at-metal centre has been launched along the C2-axis of the molecule. Steric constraints brought by halogen substituents on the coordinating salicylal ring provide diastereoselectively Λ-Cu-R or Δ-Cu-S as major and Δ-Cu-R or Λ-Cu-S as minor diastereomers at solid-state, as evidenced by X-ray crystal structures and PXRD analyses.

Transport features of nano-hydroxylapatite (n-HA) embedded silicone rubber (SR) systems: influence of SR/n-HA interaction, degree of reinforcement and morphology.

We report the transport characteristics of silicone rubber/nano-hydroxylapatite (SR/n-HA) systems at room temperature with reference to the effects of n-HA loading, morphology and penetrant nature, using toluene, xylene, ethyl acetate and butyl acetate in the liquid phase and methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol and butanol in the vapour phase as probe molecules. The interaction between the n-HA particles and SR matrix has been confirmed by FTIR analysis. As the n-HA content in the SR matrix increased, the penetrant uptake has been found to decrease.

Effect of preoperative pregabalin on postoperative pain relief in thyroidectomy patients: A prospective observational study.

Background: Effective management of postoperative pain leads to increased patient satisfaction, earlier mobilization, reduced hospital stay and costs. One of the methods used for management of postoperative pain is preemptive analgesia-blockade of afferent nerve fibers before a painful stimulus. It modifies peripheral and central nervous system processing of noxious stimuli and reduces postoperative opioid consumption.

Completeness of low anterior resection pathology report: a hospital-based audit with recommendations on improving reporting.

Aims: To audit the information content of the pathology report on Low Anterior Resection (LAR) specimens and to provide recommendations in order to improve the existing standard of reporting.

Materials And Methods: All the reports of LAR specimens during 2004 - 2005 were collected from the Hospital Information System (HIS). Individual items of information were compared with the minimum data sets provided by the Royal College of Pathologists (RCP).

Elderly and depression.

It is believed that it is 'normal' for the elderly per sons to become depressed and many cases aren't recognized and thus lead to untold misery for the sufferers and their families. We have found that majority of the clients under study were females belonging to low socio economic status, uneducated and unemployed. Majority of the clients had moderate depression (58%), And about 19% of them had severe depression.

Hypoparathyroidism: a rare treatable cause of epilepsy - report of two cases.

Hypoparathyroidism occurs due to insufficient production of parathyroid hormone to maintain extracellular calcium levels within the normal range. The acute clinical symptoms and signs of hypoparathyroidism are those of hypocalcaemia, ranging from tingling and numbness of limb extremities to intractable seizures. Often seizures are mistaken for epilepsy.

Conversion efficiency and nutrient digestibility of certain seaweed diets by laboratory reared Labeo rohita (Hamilton).

Impact of three different types of seaweed diets on growth, feed utilization and nutrient digestibility of L. rohita was studied for 120 days. The seaweed diet fed fishes, especially Ulva based diet showed comparatively higher growth and weight increment.

Combined effect of alcohol and cigarette smoke on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in rats.

The effect of long-term administration of alcohol and cigarette smoke independently and both in combination on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) was studied in liver, kidney, heart and lungs of albino rats. The levels of peroxidation products viz., malondialdehyde, hydroperoxides and conjugated dienes were increased in all the tissues of alcohol administered and smoke-exposed rats.

Molecular typing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae from hospital and community isolates by restriction fragment length polymorphism.

Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae are generally characterized by auxotyping, serotyping, plasmid profile, antibiotic sensitivity and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) amplification fingerprinting. The aim of this study was to analyse the generation of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns by BgIII digestion of total genomic DNA of N. gonorrhoeae isolated from the community (n =30) and the hospital (n =15) and to establish an association with serogrouping and antibiogram.