Sivakumar

Mosquitoes are a major vector for diseases such as malaria, dengue, and yellow fever. Mosquito repellents today contain many synthetic chemicals, such as DEET, picardin, and permethrin. To safely repel mosquitoes, less effective alternatives made from essential oils have been used. To try to increase the effectiveness of the essential oil repellents, tests were conducted to find out if the essential oils have increased effectiveness when used in conjunction to each other. It was hypothesized that the essential oil mixture containing lemon eucalyptus and rosemary would make the most effective mosquito repellent. To test the hypothesis, a custom-made mosquito testing chamber with an aquarium warmer was used. A sugar based attractor and the prospective repellent solution were placed on a piece of cloth, which was tied to the aquarium warmer. The aquarium warmer was then placed into the testing chamber, where the mosquitoes resided. The effectiveness of the mosquito repellent was determined by the number of landings on the aquarium warmer over time. The results showed that the mosquito repellent made from Bael and eucalyptus was the most effective mosquito repellent.

Plants have been an exemplary source of medicine. Ayurveda, traditional medicine, tribal medicine and other literatures mention the use of plants in the treatment of various human ailments. Researches conducted in the last few decades on  exploring crude drugs mentioned in ancient literature or used traditionally for treating diseases is increasing. The term ginseng refers to the species within Panax, a genus of 11 species of slow growing perennial plants with fleshy roots, in the family Araliaceae. These plants grown in eastern Asia, typically in cooler climates. The two major species are American ginseng (grown in the Midwest of America and exported to China) and Asian ginseng. Ginseng is known to be an adaptogen – adaptogens are substances that help the body to restore itself to health and to work without side effects. The present paper summarizes the traditional uses and pharmacological actions of the roots and rhizomes of ginseng.

In this study, we formulated and investigated the effects of Temozolomide (TM)/Poly (lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles on the behaviour of C6 glioma cells. The nanoparticles were fabricated by the emulsifying solvent evaporation, and they were characterized by using X-Ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that such nanoparticles had a smooth surface and a spherical geometry. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) results indicated that TM trapped in the nanoparticles existed in an amorphous or disordered-crystalline status in the polymer matrix. The release profiles of Temozolomide from nanoparticles resulted in biphasic patterns. After an initial burst, a continuous drug release was observed for up to 1 month. Finally, a cytotoxicity test was performed using Glioma C6 cancer cells to investigate the cytotoxicity of Temozolomide delivered from PLGA nanoparticles. It has been found that the cytotoxicity of Temozolomide to Glioma C6 cancer cells is enhanced when TM is delivered from PLGA polymeric carrier and while Temozolomide powder shows activity only up to 12 hours, where as Temozolomide loaded PLGA nanoparticles shows cytotoxicity in much more enhanced way.

1,3,4 – thiadiazole derivatives derived from various reaction sequences with slight modifications in the side chain with primary amine group at 5th position in the thiadiazole ring. The docking studies were done by using scroodinger software version against the enzyme protein kinase. The structures of all the compounds were drawn using chemdraw software version 8.0. All the thiadiazole derivatives showed satisfactory ligand binding energy between -2.70 to -5.60 k.cal /mole. Compounds A3, A21,M34&M36 showed better glide score with -5.4, -4.9, -4.7 and-4.00 respectively.

The anti-ulcer activity of leaves of benzene and pet ether extract of cleome gynandra inn was investigated in  ethanol induced ulcer model in the male wistar albino rats. The parameters evaluated are ulcer index ,volume of gastric juice, gastric acidity, ph of gastric juice. Pet ether and benzene extract  at doses of 150 mg/kg produced significant inhibition of gastric lesion induced by ethanol induced gastric ulcer. The extract shows significant reduction in gastric volume ,and ulcer index when compared to control. The present study indicates that leaves of benzene and pet ether extract of cleome gynandra inn have potential anti ulcer activity in ethanol induced ulcer model. Further the study also implies that dietary polyphenolic phytochemical especially the flavonoid, saponins accumulated in leaves may supply substantial anti-ulcer agents, which in turn may inhibit the development of several chronic  diseases and there by provide health promoting effect.

This review presents the numerous researches which explore the potential use of polymeric nanoparticles as carriers for a wide range of drugs for therapeutic applications. Because of their versatility and wide range of properties such as better encapsulation, control release and less toxic properties, biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles are being used as novel drug delivery systems. In particular, this class of carrier holds tremendous promise in the areas of targeted drug delivery system.

A novel reverse phase Ultra performance liquid chromatographic technique was developed for the determination of balofloxacin in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms. The method was developed using waters Acquity BEH 50mm, 2.1mm, 2μm, C 18 column with mobile phase containing a gradient mixture of 0.1% phosphoric acid and acetonitrile. Detection was carried out at wavelength 295 nm. The retention time of balofloxacin was 0.89 min. The method showed good linearity in the range 0.5, 1, 1.5,2,3 µg/ml with correlation coefficient for balofloxacin. The proposed method has been validated as per ICH guidelines and successfully applied to the estimation of balofloxacin in their tablet dosage form.

A reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed and validated for the quantitative determination of two antiviral drugs viz. lopinavir and ritonavir. Chromatography was carried out by gradient  technique on a reversed-phase C18 Column, Phenomenex (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 µ) with mobile phase mixture of Buffer: Acetonitrile (45:55 v/v) was used as a mobile phase and the pH was adjusted into 4.5 by using with O-phosphoric acid, at a flow rate of 1.2 ml/min. The UV range was detected at 240nm for lopinavir and ritonavir respectively. The different analytical performance parameters such as linearity, precision, accuracy, and specificity, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were determined according to International Conference on Harmonization ICH Q2B guidelines. The linearity of the calibration curves for each analyte in the desired concentration range is good (r2 >0.9). The recovery of the method was between 102.1% and 100.1% for lopinavir and ritonavir respectively. Hence the proposed method is highly sensitive, precise and accurate and it successfully applied for the reliable quantification of API content in the commercial formulations of lopinavir and ritonavir. Key words: Lopinavir, Ritonavir, UV spectrophotometry, RP-HPLC.