Use of Nasal Bubble CPAP in Children with Hypoxemic Clinical Pneumonia-Report from a Resource Limited Set-Up.

Objective: Nasal bubble continuous positive airway pressure (bCPAP) is preferred in developing economies for easy applicability and low cost. Because its use in older children is unexplored, we sought to evaluate its utility in hypoxemic clinical pneumonia.

Methods: Of 330 children (1 month-12 years) with clinical pneumonia enrolled prospectively over 1 year, those with increased work of breathing and/or SpO2 <92% received bCPAP delivered via an underwater 'T' tube through nasal prongs.

Comparison of Eucalyptus cinerea essential oils produced by hydrodistillation and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction.

The essential oil of Eucalyptus cinerea is reported to possess a higher 1,8-cineole content than other Eucalyptus species. Variations in the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of E. cinerea oil produced by hydrodistillation (HD) and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (SCE) techniques and a comparison between glycoside-bound and free volatile constituents produced by HD have been studied.

Antiinflammatory and antiulcer activities of phytic acid in rats.

Maximum antiinflammatory activity of phytic acid (PA) was seen at an oral dose of 150 mg/kg in the carrageenan induced rat paw edema model. Although PA showed ability to prevent denaturation of proteins, it showed less antiinflammatory activity than ibuprofen. Ability of PA to bring down thermal denaturation of proteins might be a contributing factor in the mechanism of action against inflammation.

Evaluation of nitric oxide scavenging activity of certain spices in vitro: a preliminary study.

The plant extracts of some commonly used spices were examined for their possible regulatory effect on nitric oxide (NO) levels using sodium nitroprusside as a NO donor in vitro. Most of the extracts tested demonstrated direct scavenging of NO and exhibited significant activity and the potency of scavenging activity was in the following order: Foeniculum vulgare (aqueous) > Citrus limettiodes > Murraya koenigii (seed, aqueous) > Murraya koenigii (leaf, aqueous) > Curcuma aromatica (aqueous) > Murraya koenigii (leaf, dichloromethane:methanol) > Mentha arvensis (chloroform) > Mentha arvensis (aqueous) > Curcuma longa > Gingko biloba > Foeniculum vulgare (dichloromethane:methanol) > Zingiber officinale (aqueous) > Curcuma aromatica (ethanolic) > Murraya koenigii (seed, dichloromethane:methanol). All the evaluated extracts exhibited a dose-dependent NO scavenging activity.