Hypoglycaemic activity of dioscoretine from tubers of Dioscorea dumetorum in normal and alloxan diabetic rabbits

Dioscoretine isolated from the aqueous fraction of the methanol extract of Dioscorea dumetorum tubers when administered intra-peritoneally to normal and alloxan diabetic rabbits produces significant hypoglycaemic effects at a dose of 20 mg/kg. The fasting blood sugar in normoglycaemic rabbits was reduced from 112 mg/100 ml to 55 mg/100 ml after 4 hours. In alloxan diabetic rabbits, the blood sugar was lowered from 520 mg/100 ml to 286 mg/100 ml at the same time interval. The aqueous fraction of the methanol extract produced comparable effects at 100 mg/kg. The chloroform fraction of the same extract raised the fasting blood sugar of normal rabbits to 196 mg/100 ml after 6 h. The acute toxicity studies gave LD50 values of 1.4 g/kg for the aqueous fraction and 0.58 g/kg for dioscoretine when tested on mice. The hypoglycaemic effects were compared to those of tolbutamide.     

Development and testing of a decision tree for blunt trauma

The aim of the present study was to examine the essential problems in a retrospective study of 381 organ injuries in 260 patients, to identify problems, to define criteria, to describe decision rules, and to organize these rules into branch-chain decision trees or clinical algorithms. The basic hypothesis of this study is that criteria organized into a prioritized decision tree can provide objective standards to evaluate the quality of trauma care and to compare alternative approaches. The algorithm was designed to provide prompt therapy for the most life-threatening problems: respiratory and cardiac arrest, shock, head injury, tamponade, lacerations of the great vessels, cardiac contusion, ruptured parenchymal organs, lacerated viscera, and injury to other intraperitoneal organs. Resuscitation from shock, correction of circulatory problems, and monitoring of physiologic variables were prioritized to evaluate the presence of circulatory deficits and the adequacy of specific therapy to correct them. Concomitantly, diagnosis of the underlying problems was approached using peritoneal lavage, abdominal and chest x-rays, iv urograms, cystograms, endoscopy, upper and lower GI barium or hypaque studies, ultrasound, scintograms, and CT scans. In emergency conditions these are limited to a large extent by time factors. The diagnostic accuracy, priorities, and limitations of each of these were evaluated in emergency conditions. The algorithm was used to track management decisions in a prospective series; the mortality of 51 patients with satisfactory compliance was 4% and 44% in nine patients with major deviations from the algorithm.     

Conventional anticonvulsant drugs in the guinea pig kindling model of partial seizures: effects of acute phenobarbital,valproate, and ethosuximide

This study addressed the anticonvulsant effects of phenobarbital, valproate, and ethosuximide in the amygdala of kindled guinea pigs to further validate this model for the screening of anticonvulsant drugs. Behavioral toxic effects were assessed at 30 min following drug administration using quantitative locomotor tests, as well as scores on a sedation and muscle relaxation rating index. The anticonvulsant efficacy of the drugs were evaluated from measurements of afterdischarge threshold (ADT), afterdischarge duration (ADD), and behavioral seizure severity (SS) during early and late phases of kindling acquisition, and in kindled guinea pigs. ADD and SS were also measured in response to both threshold and suprathreshold kindling stimulation. All drugs exerted slight to moderate sedative effects in guinea pigs on both the behavioral tests and rating index. We found that phenobarbital exhibited effective anticonvulsant properties in guinea pigs by consistently reducing ADD and SS in response to both threshold and suprathreshold kindling stimulation. Valproate exhibited effective anticonvulsant properties at threshold stimulation and less effective properties at suprathreshold stimulation. Lastly, we found that ethosuximide lacked effective anticonvulsant action at either threshold or suprathreshold kindling stimulation. Our results indicate that the guinea pig kindling model correctly predicted the actions of phenobarbital, valproate, and ethosuximide in the treatment of partial seizures. Guinea pig amygdala kindling appears to serve as a useful and valid model for partial epilepsy.