Akshaya Alva

Tuberculosis is a major infective disease affecting Indian population with high socio-economic impact. For eradication of tuberculosis and successful implementation of Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program – Directly Observed Treatment Short Course RNTCP- DOTS program regular assessment of the condition is imperative.The aim was to determine  the sputum carried out in District Tubercular Centre (DTC), Mangalore. The data of all patients registered from January 2011 to December 2011 were examined.The study was conducted on sample population of 297 patients. Of these, 183 (61.6%) patients were NSP cases and 114 (38.4%) patients were retreatment cases. The mean age of patients in category 1 and category 2 was 40.86± 18.20 and 42.49 ± 13.32 respectively. Males constituted 71.2 % and females were 28.8% of population. No significant difference in distribution with respect to gender (x2 = 1.327, p = 0.249) and residential area (x2 = 1.290, p = 0.256) in each categories. There is significant difference in distribution in category 1 and category 2 with mean age in years in different age category(x2 = 21.521, p = 0.001). Of 183 patients in NSP, 137 patients converted to negative at the end of the 2 month intensive phase with conversion rate of 86.33% and 21 patients converted to negative at the end of extended intensive phase with conversion rate of 67.54 %.The sputum conversion rate was comparable to other study but was less than national average. Conversion rate is less in category 2 compared to category 1 showing the importance of treatment completion in patients with TB. Majority of patients belong to a productive age group between 21-60 years indicating the impact of the disease on socio-economy of patient as well as on the country.

Currently there is considerable interest in the development of drugs from natural products for various diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antidepressant activity of hydroalcoholic extract of leaves of Alocasia macrorrhizos(AM), which is known to have anti-oxidant activity. In this study, mice were randomly assigned to four groups of six mice each. Group 1and 2 served as control and standard where as group 3 and 4 were treated with hydro alcoholic extract of Alocasia macrorrhizos at the doses of 250mg/kg and 500mg/kg respectively. Drugs were suspended in 1% gumacasia and administered to mice orally one hour before test procedure. After 1 hour mice were screened for its antidepressant property using two well to established models for antidepressant screening like  Forced swim test and Tail suspension test. Study result showed that Alocasia macrorrhizos at 250mg/kg and 500mg/kg significantly reduced immobility duration in both the models when compared to control group showing its antidepressant property. Further when these groups were compared to standard imipramine there was significant difference in immobility duration with AM 500mg/kg where as AM 250mg/kg values were comparable to imipramine. Hence we have concluded that hydroalcoholic extract of leaves of Alocasia macrorrhizos is having  antidepressant property which was comparable to Imipramine at 250mg/kg and significantly better results than imipramine  at 500mg/kg dose.