Efficacy of chloroquine and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine either alone or in combination before introduction of ACT as first-line therapy in uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal, India

Objective In India, till recently, Chloroquine was used as first‐line therapy in areas with Chloroquine sensitive Plasmodium falciparum malaria cases. The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP) has introduced artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) as first‐line option to treat all P. falciparum cases in the country. This study was carried out to ascertain the efficacy of Chloroquine and Sulphadoxine‐Pyrimethamine, either alone or in combination, before the launch of ACT by NVBDCP. Methods A total of 300 P. falciparum malaria cases were enrolled randomly in three study arms, Chloroquine (CQ), Sulphadoxine‐Pyrimethamine (SP) and Chloroquine plus Sulphadoxine‐Pyrimethamine (CQ + SP). All patients were followed up for 28 days as per WHO (Assessment and Monitoring of Antimalarial Drug Efficacy for the Treatment of Uncomplicated Falciparum Malaria, Geneva, 2003) Protocol. Paired blood samples of treatment failure cases were collected and subjected to MSP 1, MSP 2 and GLURP genotyping for differentiation between re‐infection and recrudescence. The data were analysed by Kaplan–Meier survival curve according to WHO standard procedures. Results The overall failure rate including both early treatment failure (ETF) and late treatment failure (LTF) of CQ, SP and CQ + SP were 61%, 14% and 8%, respectively, in the study area. Of 60 recurrent malaria cases, genotyping was successful in 49 cases, revealing that most of the (46/49; 94%) cases of recurrent malaria were due to recrudescence. Conclusion In Jalpaiguri District the overall failure rate of CQ was 61% and of SP 14%, which was well above the WHO recommended cut‐off threshold level (10%) for change of drug policy.     

Chemoimmunotherapeutic approach to prolonged survival time in combination with immunization and glutamic Acid derivatives with antitumor activity in tumor-bearing mice

Cancer is one of the major causes of death. For cancer, the general conventional treatment and standard of care for clinical oncology remains surgery followed by radiation and/or systemic chemotherapy as deemed appropriate based on the clinical findings. Chemoimmunotherapy is an approach to treat cancer where chemotherapy is given along with immunotherapy. Chemoimmunotherapy may be useful to enhance survival time in cancer by improve immunity of the patients. This approach may enhance the therapeutic efficacy. A comparative study was done to assess the therapeutic efficacy of the whole cell vaccine and the tumor extract with or without combination chemotherapy with the synthesized glutamine and glutamic acid derivatives and analogs as well as the standard drug etoposide against Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) cells in Swiss Albino mice. The study showed promising results with the compound 5-N-n-hexyl-2-(4-iso-butylbenzenesulphonyl)glutamine. The compound when combined with the whole cell vaccine as well as the tumor extract increases the survival time and the therapeutic efficacy which is comparable with that of standard drug etoposide.     

The sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)– phytochemical and therapeutic profile

Objectives Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. (Nymphaeaceae), also known as sacred lotus, is a well known medicinal plant. This article reviews the traditional uses, phytochemistry and therapeutic reports on different parts of N. nucifera viz. the seeds, rhizomes, leaves and flowers. This review also describes various compounds isolated from different parts of this plant and the therapeutic benefits derived from those phytoconstituents. Key findings There are several therapeutic benefits of this plant for which different parts are used. The extracts of rhizomes, seeds, flowers and leaves have been reported to have varied therapeutic potential. Several bioactive compounds have been derived from these plant parts belonging to different chemical groups, including alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, triterpenoid, vitamins etc., which all have their own therapeutic impact. Thus, the pharmacological effects and various active ingredients of different parts of N. nucifera are well understood. Summary In this review we explore the current pharmaceutical, phytochemical and pharmacological knowledge about this well known plant species as well as several emerging aspects for research on N. nucifera.     

Antioxidant and metabolic impairment result in DNA damage in arsenic-exposed individuals with severe dermatological manifestations in Eastern India

Arsenic is an environmental toxicant, free-radical generator, carcinogenic agent, and aging promoter. Recently, blood samples were analyzed from individuals (control- male 12, female 13; arsenic-exposed- male 16, female 14; and exposed to ≥100 μg/L As, ≥10 y) with dermatological symptoms in few affected villages in Eastern India to unravel their hematopoietic, metabolic, and antioxidant profiles. White blood cells recovered from buffy coat were used for DNA fragmentation test. Present observation suggests that significant number of individuals developed pigmentation and palmoplantar hyperkeratosis with black-brownish patch on their body and many of those developed carcinomas. Hematopoietic data show a significant increase in eosinophil and decrease in monocyte count in either sex. Though insignificant, an increase in neutrophil in female and lymphocyte count in male arsenic-exposed individuals are supported by the earlier report on sex dimorphic immune sensitization. Significant increase in serum alanine transaminase in both sexes and bilirubin only in male suggests the eventuality of hepatic disintegration. Arsenic exposure significantly decreased serum amylase in female. A significant decrease in antioxidant components like catalase, soluble thiol, and recently recognized uric acid worsened the situation by generating free radicals as observed in significant rise in malondialdehyde level, which finally increased DNA fragmentation and arsenic-associated mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. This could attribute to lowering in immune competence and related necrotic and/or apoptotic manifestations.     

Perceptually Motivated Generative Model for Magnetic Resonance Image Denoising

Journal of Digital Imaging - Image denoising is an important preprocessing step in low-level vision problems involving biomedical images. Noise removal techniques can greatly benefit raw corrupted...