Unhealthy lifestyle habits lead to numerous diseases and among them heart diseases are predominant. Various factors play important role in heart diseases. Amongst such factors is Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) which tends to be significant. Though the discovery of ANP is the recent one, but its role in diagnosis of cardiovascular disease has taken fasttrack. In this context, authors have tried to review and summarise the current evidences and roles of ANP in cardiovascular diseases along with the focus on rising use of ANP in diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Hence, this is a brief account of discovery and biological actions of ANP, its synthesis and role as a biomarker
Background: Prescription pattern analysis is an essential tool to provide an insight regarding the existing drug usage and to ensure rational drug therapy. Even though drugs used for gynecological disorders are one of the commonly used, they are least studied in terms of prescribing patterns. Hence the present study was planned to analyze the prescribing pattern and WHO core prescribing indicators among post-operative patients of Gynaecology department in our institute.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in 76 post-operative patients of Gynaecology department for a period of six months. Each prescription was analyzed for demographic data, total number and various categories of drugs prescribed, the percentage of individual drugs prescribed in each category, the dosage forms and the percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name, and from essential drug list were also analyzed.Results: A total of 990 medications were prescribed among which anti-microbial agents (32.52%) were the most commonly prescribed category followed by analgesics (19.60%) and Intravenous fluids (13.53%). Metronidazole (27.02%) was the most commonly prescribed antimicrobial, Diclofenac (68.04%) was the commonly prescribed analgesics and Ringer lactate (38.81%) was the commonly prescribed Intravenous fluid. Most commonly prescribed antiulcer drug was ranitidine (75.0%), antiemetic was Ondansetron (76.39%). Majority of drugs (72.54%) were prescribed by generic name. Average number of drugs per prescription was 13.03. Percentages of encounters with antibiotics were 32.52%. The percentage of drugs prescribed from the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) was 82.16%. Injection (57.78%) was the most common drug formulation.Conclusions: Antimicrobial agents and analgesics were the most commonly prescribed drugs. Prescription by generic name was high, usage of antibiotics and injections were also high and Poly-pharmacy was common, especially among antimicrobial agents. Prescribing according to the national essential list of medicines was high, which indicates rational prescription.
Research is an evolutionary process and being complicated, time-consuming and costly one whose end result is never known at the outset. Discovering a new drug has been likened to searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. In test tube experiments called assays, compounds are added one at a time to enzymes, cell cultures or cellular substances grown in a laboratory. In the search for a new cholesterol drug, scientists found a fungus that inhibited the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme in a test tube. Chemists then had to identify which of the fungus' dozens of chemical by-products was actually inhibiting the enzyme. Once that was done, the chemical's structure was analysed and improved on to enhance its effects. Research has aimed at discovering what a drug does to the body. If a drug's active ingredients don't get into the blood, it won't work. In research one has to know when to cut losses if one goes down a wrong way. The role of FDA in the early stages of drug research is little. FDA first becomes involved when a drug company has completed its testing in animals and is ready to test a drug on humans. Drug research is a long, difficult and costly road certainly.
Antihistaminic activity of 3 or 6 mg dimethindene maleate was compared with that of placebo and 12 mg chlorpheniramine maleate in 60 healthy volunteers in a randomized, crossover study. Activity of each drug was assessed by measuring 2 μg histamine-induced weal and flare areas. Compared with placebo, both doses of dimethindene and chlorpheniramine significantly ( P < 0.001) reduced weal area. Both doses of dimethindene ( P < 0.001) and chlorpheniramine ( P < 0.05) also significantly reduced flare area. Dimethindene (6 mg) brought about the maximum reduction in weal area (28.8%) and flare area (39.1%). Dimethindene (6 mg) also reduced weal area significantly ( P < 0.01) compared with chlorpheniramine and reduced flare area significantly ( P < 0.05) compared with 3 mg dimethindene. Using a 100 mm visual analogue scale for assessment of weal and flare intensities, 6 mg dimethindene again produced the maximum response. The study confirmed that the antihistamine activity of dimethindene was better than that of chlorpheniramine.
Background: Although alcoholism is associated with causation of multiple diseases, alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the most common cause of mortality. Several drugs are being used in patients with ALD.
Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the prescribing pattern of drugs used in patients with ALD.
Materials and Methods: A retrospective, observational study was done by analyzing the medical records of patients with ALD at a tertiary care teaching hospital for 3 months. A total of 146 case records of patients with ALD were reviewed and details such as demographics, specified drugs prescribed with their dose and dosage forms were recorded and analyzed.
Results: Overall, 1,365 drugs were prescribed for 146 patients, out of which hepatoprotective agents were the most commonly prescribed drugs (19.63%) followed by vitamins and minerals (16.63%) and antiulcer drugs (12.60%). The most commonly prescribed antimicrobial drug was cephalosporin (37.7%), diuretic was spironolactone (58.8%), intravenous (i.v.) fluid was 25% dextrose (45.3%) and for treating the complications like hepatic encephalopathy and variceal bleeding were lactulose (46.9%) and propranolol (80.7%), respectively. Chlordiazepoxide was the most common and the only drug prescribed for treating alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Conclusion: Hepatoprotective agents along with vitamins and minerals were the most commonly prescribed drugs for patients with ALD. Corticosteroids were prescribed comparatively less in our study.
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